Sacramento County Grand Jury
• 2022-2023
Mental Health Care for the Homeless: Who Cares?
⚠️ 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
The current fragmented system of homeless services fails to serve the homeless and their mental health and substance abuse challenges nor the Sacramento County community and its taxpayers.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The County should complete a comprehensive strategic plan to address homelessness by July 1, 2024, to improve mental health and substance abuse services for the homeless, to include timelines and measurable goals and objectives, building on The Homeless Action Plan, using templates and examples from other communities and organizations such as the California State Association of Counties.
F2
The County lacks a comprehensive strategic plan to include the mental health and substance abuse issues that face the homeless.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The County should immediately begin to develop and implement an interim plan that incorporates all or some of the recommendations in this report and will result in measurable improvement in the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the short term.
F3
The current strategic plan, the Homeless Action Plan published by SSF, has not been successful in addressing the mental health and substance abuse needs of the homeless because goals are not quantified, accountability is not assigned, and performance is not monitored.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The County should appoint a new Deputy County Executive position by January 1, 2024, that holds budget and policy implementation authority for all homeless services provided in the County, including mental health and substance abuse programs, and to the extent possible, authority over other governmental entities.
F4
The County does not have a senior executive position that holds budget and policy implementation authority for all homeless services provided in the County, including mental health and substance abuse programs.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The County should dedicate funds in the 2023-2024 budget for innovative solutions that may not be supported by the County’s flow of external funding (Ex: more CRBH sites, outreach teams, substance free transitional housing, board and care facilities).
F5
Lack of measurable process and outcome metrics correlated with funding and expenses of homeless mental health and substance abuse programs has resulted in lost opportunities to fund those programs that demonstrate the most success.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The County should immediately begin a process to establish and track outcome data related to the treatment of mental health and substance abuse for the homeless.
F6
Lack of transparency in financial reporting of mental health and substance abuse services and access to other funding for the homeless is not publicly available and reduces public trust.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The County should track funding and spending specific to support homeless, including treatment for mental health and substance abuse, and post this information at least quarterly on the County website in a manner that is easily accessible to the public
F7
There are too many boards, committees, and government entities which create waste and redundancy in the planning and distribution of mental health and substance abuse treatment resources.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
Elected officials should immediately take a more active role to lead, coordinate, and consolidate various advisory boards and committees to assume direct accountability for improved outcomes in mental health and substance abuse prevalence and result in a reduction of duplicate efforts, administrative costs, and inefficiency.
F8
Mental health and substance abuse issues among the homeless are aggravated by poor government planning.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
Sacramento County should immediately fully staff a total of six HEART teams and the City of Sacramento should immediately establish at least two additional IMPACT Team within Sacramento PD to increase engagement with County and City homeless encampments and improve access to mental health and substance abuse treatment services.
F9
The outreach teams (County HEART teams, Sacramento PD IMPACT Team) are poorly supported and understaffed which results in lost opportunities to positively engage the homeless to accept mental health and substance abuse treatment and other services.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
Law enforcement should communicate at least weekly with all outreach teams to collaborate in decisions as to which encampments to clear and when, and post this information on a shared web site to increase the trust of the homeless and support offered by outreach teams.
F10
Poor communication between law enforcement and outreach teams erodes the trust of and negatively impacts the mental health of the unhoused population.
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
A communication plan should be developed to timely inform all stakeholders and staff of goals, actions, and events related to planning and execution of homeless mental health and substance abuse services.
F11
There is a shortage of mental health professionals which continues to exacerbate the inability of the County to meet the need for mental health services for the homeless.
Related Recommendations (1)
R11
The County should continue to improve incentives and hiring of mental health professionals to meet the demand for mental health services in the County.
No Responses Found 3
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Sacramento
City
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office
Sacramento County Sheriff
Elected County Office