Score: +5
(5/2/0)
San Joaquin County Grand Jury
• 2015-2016
San Joaquin County Grand Jury Homelessness in San Joaquin County Time for Collaboration, Commitment and Communication
⚠️ 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 11 findings
F1
San Joaquin County’s “Homeless Prevention Plan” 2. “Homelessness in Lodi; Current Conditions, Challenges and Recommended Strategies; Committee on Homelessness (September 2015) 9 Appendix 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 Appendix 2 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
1 By Jan. 1, 2017, the County develop and implement a strategic plan to address homelessness in San Joaquin County that includes measureable long- and short-term goals and objectives with an established timeline and an annual evaluation process. Beds in a day room at the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless. 2.0 Coordination of County departments/agencies Homelessness is a complex problem requiring coordination, cooperation and communication among multiple departments within the County’s organizational structure. These include but are not limited to the Sheriff, District Attorney, Health Care Services, Human Services, Employment and Economic Department, Housing Authority and Community Development. Upper management/department heads need to be the leaders in this effort to improve coordination, cooperation and communication. Through the course of the investigation it became apparent that there was a lack of communication among the various County agencies to address the issue of homelessness; because the issue is everyone’s responsibility, it is nobody’s responsibility. The Board of Supervisors has taken some initial steps to form a task force to address homelessness. The process is still in its infancy and at this time there is no overarching leadership within the County. Funding this effort may require reprioritizing and reallocating existing resources.
F2
1 Departments within the County’s organizational structure have no consistent or focused strategies to work together in addressing homelessness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
1 By Jan. 1, 2017, the Board of Supervisors should appoint one individual within County government to oversee all matters related to homelessness reporting directly to the County Administrator. That person needs the authority and resources to bring together the necessary entities to develop and implement the County’s Strategic Plan on Homelessness.
F3
1 The City of Lodi along with private individuals and agencies have taken encouraging steps to address the homeless issue. The success Lodi has achieved can be attributed to the coordinated efforts of public agencies, non-profit groups and churches (see Appendix 2).
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
1 The County should use Lodi’s efforts as a framework to start the strategic planning process.
F1.1
The Consolidated Plan does not contain a clearly defined strategic plan to address homelessness. It does reference a “Homeless Prevention Plan.” (see Appendix 1).
No recommendations for this finding
F1.2
County staff members responsible for addressing homeless programs were not involved in the creation of the Consolidated Plan and have limited working knowledge of the report. Some statements in the Plan, i.e. expanding of the number of beds available, are not substantiated.
No recommendations for this finding
F1.3
No upper management County staff member is involved with the “Community Coalition on Homelessness Interagency Council.”
No recommendations for this finding
F1.4
The scope of the problem is compounded by a lack of accurate and comparable data.
No recommendations for this finding
F2.1
Departments within the County’s organizational structure have no consistent or focused strategies to work together in addressing homelessness.
No recommendations for this finding
F2.2
There is no lead County department or agency coordinating efforts directed toward the homeless. 6
No recommendations for this finding
F3.1
The City of Lodi along with private individuals and agencies have taken encouraging steps to address the homeless issue. The success Lodi has achieved can be attributed to the coordinated efforts of public agencies, non-profit groups and churches (see Appendix 2).
No recommendations for this finding
F3.2
The County’s “2010-2015 Consolidated Plan” listed seven “Weaknesses in Organizational Structure” to address the homeless population and actions necessary to eliminate those weaknesses. The County’s “2015-2019 Consolidated Plan” provided no evidenced the issues were addressed.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
-
CL1San Joaquin County’s “Homeless Prevention Plan” 2. “Homelessness in Lodi; Current Conditions, Challenges and Recommended Strategies; Committee on Homelessness (September 2015) 9 Appendix 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 Appendix 2 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Agency Responses 3
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.