Santa Barbara County Grand Jury
• 2023-2024
• Agency Response
Response to:
Homeless Encampments in Santa Barbara County
"homeless Encampments*
⚠️ 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 1 findings
F3
Encampments lack basic sanitation services. Administration Department: Tel (805) 356.3891 Fax (805) 343.5512 918 Obispo Street P.O. Box 908, Guadalupe CA 93434 Response: Agree
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The County and cities shall make trash cans, porta-potties, resources for handwashing, and sharps containers for safe disposal of needles and other hazardous waste available near encampments sites. Response: Will not be implemented. Currently, the city of Guadalupe has no identified encampments. Through the City of Guadalupe's proactive response to address these issues, city staff will be directed to identify potential cost and locations of the above-named resources if / when homeless encampments are identified and assistance to unhoused individuals are needed. The study should be completed and submitted after direction from City Council. Sincerely, Ariston Julian, Mayor Eugene Costa Jr., Mayor pro tem Christina Hernandez, Council member bert Robles, Council member Whitney Furness, Quncil member Administration Department: 918 Obispo Street P.O. Box 908, Guadalupe CA 93434 Tel (805) 356.3891 Fax (805) 343.5512 HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY Becoming Part of the Community Again
Conclusions 12
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CL1State funding for helping people without housing is becoming less available.
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CL2Most state encampment funding cannot be applied to environmental restoration.
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CL3When heavy rain is forecast and materializes, the persons in encampments along creeks and riverbeds are at high risk for loss of life, personal property, and living quarters.
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CL4Encampment residents are reluctant to transition to housing with strict rules of conduct.
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CL5Use of a team approach has made engagement with community services more acceptable to those who live in encampments.
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CL6The negative effects of encampment sweeps can be mitigated when a variety of community resources are present at the time of the clean-up. Response: Agree
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CL7Agree · Disagree wholly
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CL8Disagree partially with an explanation Responses to Recommendations shall be one of the following:
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CL9Has been implemented, with brief summary of implementation actions taken
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CL10Will be implemented, with an implementation schedule
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CL11Requires further analysis, with analysis completion date of no more than six months after the issuance of the report
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CL12Will not be implemented, with an explanation of why Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors - 90 days Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Commendations 1
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CM1Stereotyping individuals without housing by labeling them as "the homeless" or "the mentally ill" can lead to misconceptions about unhoused persons as somehow different. The Grand Jury commends our community leaders, service agencies, and news media for using appropriate language when referring to our unhoused citizens. This fosters greater compassion and empathy, empowering society to better address the needs of those without housing.
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.