Response to Grand Jury Report Report Title: Les Misérables Report Date: 7/8/19 Response by: Board of Supervisors,

The county agrees with the findings numbered F5 and F7.

The county disagrees with the finding numbered F4.

The financial cost of criminalizing the homeless far exceeds the cost of providing services that transition people into housing and a stable living situation. Response: Partially Agree The county agrees that there is a substantial body of research showing the cost of homelessness in the aggregate is greater than the cost of providing appropriate housing and services. However, that research looks at all of the costs of homelessness, such as unnecessary emergency room visits, that may not fully substantiate this finding by the Grand Jury. More research would be needed to determine whether the cost of criminalization alone is greater than the cost of meeting all housing and services needs for everyone experiencing homelessness.

The City of Eureka and Humboldt County governments are not effectively working together in coordination to solve the problem of homelessness. Response: Disagree The City of Eureka and County of Humboldt have, and continue to, coordinate efforts on homelessness. The city and county have collaborated on numerous projects including partnering on the Focus Strategies research and report which was accepted at a joint Eureka City Council-Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting. They have adopted the Housing First model shared by both municipalities, supported two housing developments in Eureka (The Lodge at Eureka and the Fourth Street project, 50 units each) with Danco Communities and the Housing Authority with tentative plans for a third. The city provides direct support for homeless clients at The Lodge, which is a county-run facility. Regular leadership group meetings are held between the city and county. Some city funds received from Measure Z are directed to DHHS to pay for housing and substance use disorder treatment. There has been collaborative development and operation of the Mobile Intervention & Services Team. And county staff were on-site linking homeless individuals to services during the Palco Marsh closing in partnership with the city. Additionally, the Board of Supervisors on January 23, 2018 approved allocating $100,000 to the City of Eureka in support of the development of seven construction trailers donated by PG&E in 2017 to the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation (BKCHF) to be used for low-income housing. This funding has been “rolled forward,” or saved, in the county’s fiscal year 2019-20 budget. These funds will continue to be rolled forward until there is an appropriate project to be funded. The two municipalities have a history of collaboration and coordination aimed at solving the problem of homelessness in the local community.

Criminalizing behavior that is largely part of being human, increases the misery of those being targeted. Response: Agree The county agrees with the finding. Although quantifying degrees of misery is difficult, DHHS staff routinely deal with effects of criminalization on its homeless clients. Loss of possessions including medications and identification has a direct impact on well-being of homeless persons and their health and ability to obtain services. Loss of clothing, tents, tarps and sleeping bags limits ability to rest and remain warm and dry. Homeless persons with chronic diseases are especially injured by loss of possessions needed to maintain some degree of health. Unsheltered homeless persons without a legal place to sleep suffer the effects of interrupted or no sleep which may increase symptoms and disruptive behavior of persons with mental illness and substance use disorders.

Dispersing homeless encampments creates roadblocks to providing services by making it more difficult to reach the people in need of them. Response: Agree DHHS HOME and MIST outreach staff provide clinical and supportive services to unsheltered homeless persons, including transportation to appointments for medical, mental health and social services. When encampments are cleared, people are dispersed over a wide area, increasing the difficulty of providing these services. However, the creation of sustainable encampments would require services, such as bathrooms, showers, trash pickup and 3 security, that would divert funds from other programs targeting low income and homeless housing services. DHHS is committed to meeting the challenges created by increased dispersal while ensuring adequate service levels.

Data gathering about the homeless community is inadequate, inconsistent, and inaccurate. Response: Partially Agree Through DHHS, the county is constantly working to improve data quality, as well as providing technical assistance to our nonprofit partners to do the same. HUD requires that all communities receiving Continuum of Care funding must establish a dedicated database system to collect and analyze data on homeless people in the community, what housing and services they access, and the results of the assistance they receive. The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is the database used locally to meet this requirement and is managed by DHHS. DHHS and several nonprofits use the system to meet reporting requirements for various grants, street outreach, shelter data collection, and for the Coordinated Entry System. This system makes it possible to more accurately evaluate how programs are performing by tracking participation in various programs with different providers and see whether participants return to homelessness after entering permanent housing. HMIS also provides a better understanding of the total number and demographics of people experiencing homelessness. DHHS continually seeks to increase the number of organizations and programs that participate in HMIS to improve data quality and collection across the county.