Citrus Heights outreach program enrolls nearly 100 homeless clients

By Sara Beth Williams–
Community health workers in Citrus Heights have enrolled 95 unhoused individuals as clients within the last eight months in the Community Healthworks program, according to the city.

In partnership with the Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing and the City of Citrus Heights, the Community HealthWorks nonprofit has employed two outreach health workers who interact directly with the unhoused population in order to communicate and offer a multitude of services.

During a presentation to the City Council on June 13, the Community Development Department reported enrollment numbers and cited an active caseload of 59 individual unhoused clients. The program, since Oct. 1, has placed seven homeless clients in permanent housing, 17 clients in transitional housing or shelters, and has referred 39 clients to California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM).

CalAIM is intended to help Medi-Cal enrollees who are experiencing homelessness, especially those who have complex physical or behavioral health needs, and provides the individual with an Enhanced Care Manager.

Clients who are placed in permanent housing, transitional housing, shelters, or rehab facilities are exited from the Community HealthWorks program. Other clients can be dis-enrolled due to disappearance, inability to contact, death, or other circumstances.

Through funding allocated by District 4 Supervisor Sue Frost, Community HealthWorks provides two health workers for the city of Citrus Heights who work 20 hours each week, including one full day dedicated to office hours at the Living Water Church. The caseworkers also work in Fair Oaks, Orangevale, and Carmichael throughout the week.

Citrus Heights Housing & Human Services Program Coordinator Nicole Piva reported to the council that Community HealthWorks has provided 2,300 services to unhoused clients in Citrus Heights. Provided services include case management, assistance with government benefits, support in obtaining social security cards, ID cards, and driver’s licenses, goal setting conversations, obtaining medical, mental, and substance abuse assistance, resume and job application support, assistance with housing deposits and applications, transportation to and from appointments, and support with food, clothing, and hygiene items.

Scott Young, with Community HealthWorks, spoke about several success stories and outlined how the organization has helped break down barriers in order to find housing for local homeless individuals.

“We look at everybody’s needs individually, and everyone’s barriers are different,” Young said, adding that the program also works to reunite homeless individuals with families when shelter beds are not available.

Young said the process of working with individuals is “not an automatic process” but described it as a “one-to-one” process between case workers and individuals who are ready and willing to seek help.

Between March 1-15, the Citrus Heights Police Department conducted an internal count of homeless individuals and found 108 unhoused individuals in Citrus Heights. Comparatively, the Police Department counted 95 homeless individuals in 2023.

During the 2024 count, 79 individuals gave permission to be contacted by community health workers. The city said Community HealthWorks case managers are reaching out to 24 new clients who were identified as never receiving assistance from the program beforehand.

During the presentation to City Council, the city also presented Point In Time (PIT) count numbers released on June 5 by the nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward. According to the report, 62 people were counted as unsheltered in Citrus Heights.

The PIT count report details percentages of sheltered and unsheltered individuals throughout each city and unincorporated areas of Sacramento County as well as an overall percentage for the entire county. Comparatively, the report from 2022’s PIT count found 89 unsheltered individuals in Citrus Heights.

Twenty-five volunteers assisted in the count on Jan. 24. The PIT count is typically conducted over one night.

Community HealthWorks did not say whether they were able to identify or cross-reference any of the unsheltered individuals that were counted during the PIT count with their own caseload. An account of the volunteers who took part in the PIT count was not immediately available.

Community health workers are available on Mondays on site at Living Water Church located at 7605 Lauppe Ln.

On Tuesdays, workers are located at the Stock Ranch Nature Reserve from 3 to 4 p.m. Workers are also available by appointment to assist clients on a one-to-one basis.

Individuals in need of information regarding services can contact 211 and dial 8, or visit the city’s information page online here.