By Sara Beth Williams–
The Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing hopes to include Citrus Heights and other cities on a new Homelessness and Housing board by 2026.
In a presentation to the Citrus Heights City Council on Wednesday, Sept. 10, Director of Sacramento County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing Emily Halcon presented a regional homelessness and housing partnership model, which would merge two existing entities into one Sacramento County Homelessness and Housing Board.
The new proposed board would merge the Continuum of Care board, which is comprised of non-elected community members, and a Homeless Policy Council, which is comprised of mostly elected officials, into one entity. The goal of combining the two entities into one would be to increase transparency and help “provide a greater level of accountability,” Halcon said. The new board’s tasks would include approving an monitoring a Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan, as well as setting local performance goals, setting priorities for any new federal funding related to homelessness, and other tasks.
Although no vote was taken, present council members spoke in favor of an option to establish a larger board with elected officials and community leaders, versus a smaller board of elected officials, saying that including extra voices in the effort to address homelessness was an important component of the new board. Vice Mayor Marijane Lopez-Taff who currently sits on a homeless commission, said she appreciated the proposal of a “balance of bodies” of elected officials and community leaders.
Councilmember Tim Schaefer said the plan looked “great on paper,” and added that he wants to see “goals that are achievable.”
“Throwing more and more and more money at this without showing some progress is how we wound up where we are today,” Schaefer said.
Councilmember Porsche Middleton was absent from the City Council meeting.
Several council members questioned the cost of implementation of the board and asked the department to present an estimate of the cost earlier in the process.
Halcon acknowledged that the department has not yet identified how much it would cost to implement the board or the staffing that would manage the activities of the new board. Those decisions would be made once the department determines the level of willing participation from local jurisdictions.
Lopez-Taff expressed concern over making a final decision without knowing a more detailed cost breakdown, and whether the city would be expected to contribute funding. Halcon said local cities would not be expected to contribute financially.
Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa asked whether the proposed partnership model was initiated in response to Senator Angelique Ashby’s (D-CA) recent push to create a regional joint powers authority to address homelessness. Halcon said the model brought forth to the council has been under consideration for over a year before Ashby presented Senate Bill 802 to the state legislature.
Halcon said Sacramento County, the City of Sacramento, and Sacramento Steps Forward hired a consultant nearly two years ago to explore new leadership models for addressing homelessness. After the report, staff began drafting restructuring options. After a presentation in May, the Board of Supervisors requested the proposed model be brought to local jurisdictions for feedback.
Role of the new proposed board
The board would be the key body in establishing a strategic plan and vision for how the county will address homelessness, including monitoring the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, establishing and tracking system-level performance targets, establishing local performance goals and informing data reports, setting expectations and overseeing the performance of Sacramento Steps Forward, which manages the homeless management and information system, seeking new funding, setting funding priorities, and establishing and seating subcommittees.
The Continuum of Care, or CoC, is typically comprised of a smaller board and larger membership. The CoC membership includes representatives from various organizations working to help prevent and end homelessness. The board oversees applications for funding, point-in-time counts, the homeless management information system, and the administrative entity, which runs the day-to-day work. The Continuum of Care was launched in 1994.
The new board Halcon is proposing would act as the Continuum of Care Board, but it would operate in a more formalized fashion, subject to the Brown Act, with published agendas prior to meetings. Sacramento Steps Forward would continue to work as the “collaborative applicant,” Halcon said. The CoC membership would remain intact.
Additionally, the new model proposes utilizing subcommittees that could either act as decision-makers or advisory committees to the Homelessness and Housing board.
Halcon presented two different options: Option A would be a board comprised of 11 individuals, 10 elected officials from throughout Sacramento County, including two Sacramento County Supervisors, plus one member who has experienced homelessness, which is required by law. Option B would be a board of up to 15 members, with 10 elected officials, one member who has experienced homelessness, and up to four seats set aside for community leaders from specific sectors that would be defined later.
All eight elected bodies in the county, including seven cities and the County Board of Supervisors, would retain local policymaking and budgeting authority.
“This new structure would really seek to infuse the voices of the community that currently are really integral to the CoC, and to all of the other decisions happening in our community that are outside of the purview of the CoC,” Halcon said.
The CoC is in charge of delivering homeless funding and services and has obtained $40 million from the federal government and roughly $8 million allocated by the state to put toward homelessness. The $40 million is tied to specific programs, Halcon said, adding that state funding dollar amounts fluctuate annually.
Next steps
The county plans to continue to present and gain feedback on the regional partnership model from other city councils, and within the next two months, the department plans to draft a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and partnership agreement.
Once a finalized model, the MOU, and a partnership agreement are established, the department will return to local jurisdictions for approval and for appointments from local councils. Halcon said the final model could be presented to councils as early as February of next year.
