Mpp, Jd, Chc Executive Director The Honorable Bradford J. DeMeo, Presiding Judge Sonoma County Superior Court Hall of

The critical shortage of emergency shelter beds for the homeless youth population limits the County’s ability to serve this population adequately. Response: The Community Development Commission disagree partially with this finding. Occupancy of all shelter beds varies throughout the year, but typically rests between 80-90% on a given night for a total of approximately 70 beds (prior to the pandemic). Data also shows that 172 youths spent nights in adult shelters in 2019 for short periods of time, and that County shelters continue to have available beds during the winter. There is capacity to serve this population, however, the CDC recognizes that best practice for successfully housing homeless youth is to shelter them with other youth populations rather than with adult populations and in non-shelter settings. Our goal is to advocate for additional investments and appropriate housing solutions with a targeted focus on transitional aged youth.

Shelter beds for homeless youth are currently concentrated in Santa Rosa, leaving inadequate services in other parts of the County. Response: The Community Development Commission disagrees partially with this finding. Over the years, our homeless count results have shown that homeless youth tend to congregate in County central, particularly in the City of Santa Rosa. This is due in part to service partners located in Santa Rosa and access to public transportation. We agree that there is a need for youth sheltering in other parts of the County. The Commission will work with youth homeless providers and other stakeholders to identify where youth are concentrated currently. The Commission will also utilize data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and the 2020 Homeless Count to identify youth hotspots. This will assist staff with mapping out where additional shelter beds are needed. Through the Governor’s 100-Day Challenge, transition age youth (TAY) providers and other stakeholders will design a strategy to take bold action to house and shelter TAY in 100 days.

The share of funding for youth homeless programs is disproportionally smaller than the relative size of the homeless youth subpopulation. Response: The Community Development Commission disagrees wholly with this finding. Over the past two years the County and the Home Sonoma County Leadership Council (LC) have made significant investments in youth homeless programs. In 2019 and 2020 the County and LC invested $2 million in funding for services and nearly $1 million in additional capital funding into the program. These represent the highest investments in youth homeless programs over the past ten years. Youth funding for both Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) and Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP) were both far higher than the minimum request to the State of California. Below is a breakdown of funding in the last two years. In the 2019 Homeless Survey, 540 or approximately 18% of the homeless population were TAY. With input from the Homeless Youth Task Force, comprised of youth and youth providers, and approval from the Leadership Council, 18% of total homeless services funding was allocated to youth. Additionally, preliminary results for the 2020 Homeless Survey show that the TAY population is 47% lower; however, the Commission has still allocated 19% of the total homeless services budget to TAY in the Fiscal Year 20-21 budget. Homeless Services Funding for Transition Age Youth FY 2019-2020 % of FY 2020-2021 % of Service Category Dollars total Dollars total Permanent Supportive Housing $159,778.00 13% $111,104.12 12% Homelessness Prevention 105,000.00 9% 30,000.00 3% Rapid Re-Housing 462,866.00 38% 369,587.62 41% Street Outreach 304,217.00 25% 211,542.40 24% Emergency Shelter 200,000.00 16% 169,215.46 19% TAY Services Budget 1,231,861.00 100% 891,449.60 100% Total Homeless Services Funding 6,704,845.00 100% 4,715,003.17 100% TAY Services Funding percentage of total Approx. 18%* Approx. 19%** * FY 2019-2020 Total Homeless Services Funding: $6,704,845 – 18% dedicated to youth services. ** FY 2020-2021 Total Homeless Services Funding: $4,715,003.17 – 19% dedicated to youth services. The current strategic plan being developed for Home Sonoma County Leadership Council incorporates youth feedback into the overall plan for funding, policy, and Coordinated Entry recommendations. Youth will also be critical in providing input into funding decisions by the Leadership Council in future funding allocations.

The County’s failure to fund a Youth Action Board has likely contributed to its lack of success in obtaining HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program funding. Response: The Community Development Commission disagrees wholly with this finding. The lack of a Youth Action Board (YAB) may have contributed to the County not obtaining the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program grant, but this is not definitive. In fact, in the HUD debriefing document, the Continuum of Care (CoC) Scored 90.92 out of 100 points; in the Youth Collaboration section, it scored 9.08 out of 10 points and higher than the median score of 7.42 for all applications.