City of September 3, 2024 City Council Hon. Pauline Maxwell Paula Perotte Presiding Judge of the Superior Court Mayor*

R2

The County and the cities shall ensure that all sweeps occur utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach. Cremona Drive, Suite B, Goleta, CA 93117 P 805.961.7500 F 805.685.2635 www.cityofgoleta.org Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Response September 03, 2024 City of Goleta Response: Agree: Has been implemented Since FY 2021-2022, the City of Goleta has funded and implemented an outreach and engagement program that combines street-level engagement, interim housing, behavioral health, and public health as the first response to encampments on public property. In general, when an encampment is identified, the outreach team enters the encampment into a cloud-based tracking system, Fulcrum, that is used countywide. This system is used by nonprofit outreach workers, government officials, including City of Goleta employees, and law enforcement. Once entered and engaged by outreach, the encampment is reported to the City of Goleta's Neighborhood Services Department. City staff then coordinate the proper response with both contracted providers such as City Net and Santa Barbara County agencies such as Behavioral Wellness and Public Health. Prior to any discussion of clearing an encampment on public property, the encampment residents receive numerous attempts to provide basic needs, shelter, housing navigation, and other help the person may request (e.g. rides to medical appointments). Even in areas where public health and safety are deemed to be the primary issue—like fire zones and construction areas—the first response is provided by contracted outreach teams. In short, the City conducts sweeps with significant efforts to help people find alternatives to living in their encampments, with offers of basic needs and assistance, and implements multi-disciplinary approaches in these efforts as described above.

R3

The County and the cities shall make trash cans, port-potties, resources for handwashing, and sharps containers for safe disposal of needles and other hazardous waste available near encampment sites. City of Goleta Response: Disagree: Will not be implemented The City of Goleta treats encampments as hazardous to the health of both encampment residents and the surrounding community. For residents, the nature of living outside unsheltered exposes people to a host of real and potential hazards and unhealthy conditions. Not least of these includes the high propensity of alcohol and illegal drug use, sex trafficking, and lack of safety from the use of propane and other fuels. The real and potential fire danger posed by encampments also poses a risk to public health and safety. Given this determination, the City of Goleta's policy has been to use both the outreach teams described in Recommendation 2, and law enforcement to rapidly move people out of their encampments to shelter or permanent housing. This approach ensures that unhoused individuals receive care of the type described in the recommendation, while allowing the City to focus its limited resources on providing the opportunities for shelter. Implementing Recommendation 3 would require resources from the City of Goleta that are better used for moving people from encampments to housing. Providing sanitation and waste disposal to encampment residents further enables the perpetuation of encampments, when the primary purpose of the City of Goleta's Homelessness Strategic Plan is to rapidly house people experiencing homelessness. Additionally, these encampments are typically few in the City and are quickly moved. Providing these services to those encampments when the encampments will ultimately be removed is an inefficient use of limited resources to provide aid. Providing services to encampments has been attempted in many major metropolitan areas such as Oakland and Los Angeles, and locally, in the community of Isla Vista with disastrous results. Rather than creating incentives for moving into permanent housing, such services help encampment residents continue to stay in those conditions and reduce the desire of people to seek shelter and housing when offered. The local experience in Isla Vista showed not only this reluctance to seek shelter but also reports of violence, illegal drug use, prostitution, theft, and vandalism. The Grand Jury recommendation would create a de-facto shelter in an area where the City does not want to create one and reduces the incentive to leave the encampment. CITY OF GOLETA 130 Cremona Drive, Suite B, Goleta, CA 93117 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Response September 03, 2024 Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this Grand Jury Report. Sincerely, Robert Nisbet City Manager JoAnne Plummer, Neighborhood Services Director CC: