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San Diego County Grand Jury
• 2022-2023
Permanent Supportive Housing for the Homeless
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 5 findings
F1
The installation of a fraud hotline could improve the San Diego Housing Commission’s efficiency in administering its rental assistance programs as well as helping to identify potential areas of fraud, waste, and abuse on the part of Housing Commission employees and contracted staff. Fact: The Coordinated Entry System (CES) of the Continuum of Care is responsible for referring potential tenants to fill a room vacancy in permanent supportive housing. Fact: According to its procedure, the CES refers only one potential tenant at a time to fill a vacancy in permanent supportive housing. Fact: The CES referral is initiated by the contracted property manager or service provider at the requesting facility. Fact: The staff at the requesting facility often waits to request a replacement until a unit is vacant, instead of the date of being notified of a planned move. Fact: Staff of the facility’s service provider are responsible for locating and notifying a potential tenant that a placement in supportive housing is available. Fact: If the prospective tenant cannot be found within five working days, or if he or she does not want or need the placement, the Coordinated Entry System provides another referral; this process continues until a prospective tenant who accepts the vacancy is found. Fact: The Housing Commission must certify that the prospective tenant is eligible for a project- based rental assistance voucher before he or she can take occupancy.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Staff vacancies and recruitment continue to be a challenge and have a negative impact on the program’s productivity and staff burnout. Recruitment efforts and staff development/wellness have been a priority. San Diego Housing Commission Report HAR 22-001 for the 3/15/2022 agenda of the City of San Diego Housing Authority 9
F2
The City and County of San Diego can often take up to two months to fill a vacancy in permanent supportive housing. Fact: Both the City and County of San Diego have representation on the San Diego Regional Continuum of Care, which oversees the coordinated entries system.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Staffing vacancies continue to be a primary challenge, not only the hiring of new staff, but more importantly, the retention of current staff. This continued trend results in difficulty meeting performance requirements… It is hoped that the shift in pay ranges allows resource agencies to become more competitive with other companies.
F3
Because the Coordinated Entry System provides only one referral at a time, there are frequent delays in filling supportive housing vacancies. Fact: A small percentage of residents of some supportive housing facilities are provided with Clinical Case Management services. Fact: The screening criteria for permanent housing prioritizes chronically homeless persons who have a mental and/or a physical disability. Fact: Housing First principles do not require residents of supportive housing to accept services but require service providers to perform assertive outreach to those tenants who refuse.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Staffing has been a struggle… It takes a lot of time to train new staff and get them providing services on their own. In addition, the Behavioral Health Services Strategic Housing Plan noted that staff turnover and the lack of staff to provide services were identified by stakeholders as among the major challenges faced by provider agencies. Staff turnover can undermine the rapport established between worker and client. The result could be less effective services until replacements are in place. The Grand Jury is recommending local public housing agencies work with San Diego County Behavioral Health Services to commission a workload and salary study that would establish parity in compensation between contracted supportive services workers and government employees doing similar work. The Grand Jury also recommends that San Diego County Behavioral Health Services work with local public housing agencies to develop a standard training syllabus that would assist service providers in training new staff. Input from supportive services providers should be solicited in the implementation of both recommendations. Sustainability Concerns: In its September 2022 Regional Community Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in San Diego, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness estimates the region needs an additional 4,347 units of permanent supportive housing, including 2,676 units in the City of San Diego. In order to achieve that goal, this plan recommends:
F4
The reporting form used by County of San Diego Behavioral Health Services, Health and Human Services Administration to monitor the effectiveness of its contracted service providers does not adequately document the provision of Clinical Case Management services. Fact: Service providers at supportive housing facilities, in common with other homelessness services programs, are experiencing staff shortages. Fact: It takes time for a newly assigned staff member to be sufficiently trained to provide effective services to supportive housing residents. Fact: Staff turnover complicates maintaining well-trained personnel.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Evaluating all parcels of land regionwide available for housing development – public (federal, state, and local) and private (privately owned, non-profit owned, and faith-based);
F5
The City and County do not monitor the staffing and recruitment of contracted service agencies, and low staffing impacts the ability to deliver meaningful services.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Building capacity within smaller cities to develop housing, specifically permanent supportive housing;
Additional Recommendations 12
These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.
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R6Taking full advantage of new federal and state funding for housing development, including increasing applications for State of California Project Homekey funds; and
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R7Supporting innovative development strategies to bring housing online faster and cheaper, such as modular/prefabricated homes, relocatable homes, tiny homes, and accessory dwelling units. Homekey is the State of California’s program confronting homelessness by rapidly creating housing by purchasing hotels, motels, and other buildings. Homekey funding was essential in the San Diego Housing Commission’s acquisition of the Valley Vista and Kearny Vista supportive housing facilities. Like many State programs, several counties are competing for limited funds. This Grand Jury report has demonstrated that Section 8 project-based vouchers often make the difference in determining whether a project is financially viable. Section 8 is a stable program, but it is dependent on annual allocations by Congress, as are other HUD programs, such as Community Development Block Grants and Emergency Solutions Grants. Funding for new supportive housing facilities is often pieced together from a combination of these funds. Also, the issuance of project-based vouchers will decrease the number of tenant-based vouchers, for which there is a long waiting list- over 12 years and 13,000 applicants in the City of San Diego, according to witness testimony. Local housing authorities must make policy decisions to balance the two types of vouchers. Until September 2021, the County Department of Housing and Community Development Services had issued only 231 out of a total of 11,003 vouchers as project- based. The Board of Supervisors, seeking to stimulate the development of more supportive housing, directed the Health and Human Services Agency to develop a plan to utilize more project-based vouchers.4 Since then the County has increased its supply of supportive housing units with project-based vouchers. The Grand Jury found the vacancy rate in the six permanent supportive housing facilities visited is about 10%. This is confirmed by the San Diego Housing Commission, which was requested by its supportive housing facilities to provide new tenants for 182 vacancies out of 1,940 permanent supportive housing units. Many tenants opted to stay in supportive housing when offered a tenant-based voucher after two years. The Regional Task Force on Homelessness reported that for every ten persons who exit the homeless system, thirteen people become newly homeless, thus increasing the demand for supportive housing. Another report of the 2022/2023 Grand Jury, entitled Housing in San Diego County, documented that Lemon Grove was the only City to achieve its very low-income housing goal in the most recent Regional Housing Needs Assessment cycle mandated by State Housing Law; Lemon Grove and Poway were the only two Cities to meet the low-income goal. Lemon Grove’s facilitation of the development of two permanent supportive housing projects, Citronica One and Citronica Two, was a key factor in meeting its development goals. The Grand Jury report cited in the previous paragraph made several actionable recommendations pursuant to the development of housing in San Diego at all income levels. While not specific to permanent supportive housing per se, they complement the recommendations listed above. Instead of re-stating them in this report, the reader is referred to the Housing in San Diego County report. FACTS AND FINDINGS Fact: The San Diego Housing Commission does not have a telephone hotline to receive and register allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse against employees, contractors, and clients. Fact: Fraud hotlines have been an effective tool in combatting fraud, waste, and abuse in government agencies, especially those that administer publicly assisted benefit programs. Board of Supervisors Letter Item 1 for County of San Diego Housing Authority meeting agenda of 9/1/2021 11 Fact: The County of San Diego’s Housing and Community Development utilizes a fraud hotline in its rental assistance programs.
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23-62Page 13Establish a fraud, waste, and abuse hotline to receive and
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23-63Page 13Work with contracted facility managers and service providers to
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23-64Page 13As a member agency of the Continuum of Care Advisory Board,
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23-65Page 13In collaboration with the County of San Diego Health and Human
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23-66Page 13Collaborate with the Health and Human Services Agency and
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23-67Page 14Direct Behavioral Health Services, Health and Human Services
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23-68Page 14Direct the Health and Human Service Agency's representatives to the
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23-69Page 14Direct the Health and Human Services Agency to collaborate with the
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23-70Page 14Direct the Health and Human Services Agency to collaborate with the
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23-71Page 14Advocate for the Coordinated Entry System to provide a minimum of
Agency Responses 5
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
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