On Aug. 31, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with a plan to get individuals out of homeless encampments by providing needed services and coordinating across cities and the county.
Department of Housing and Community Development Homeless Assistance Program Manager Kimberlee Albers and Deputy Director Dinah Lockhart presented a plan to the board that would resolve 45 camps over the next three years with 60 percent of participants accessing alternative shelters through an encampment response protocol and team, increased access to shelters, long-term rental subsidies, mental health assistance, new permanent housing units and sustained adequate funding.
“It is not safe or healthy for people to live unsheltered. Concerns for health, sanitation and safety should be addressed. This outreach will be released on county properties with intense one-on-one engagement and increased housing in a three-year effort,” Albers said.
In the past six months, the county gained 339 rapid re-housing units, 137 temporary housing beds, 46 permanent housing units and saw an overall increase of people transitioning out of homelessness, but Albers said there is an overarching need to completely end homelessness in Santa Barbara County.
“We looked at previous strategies in other communities, and received input from stakeholders and task forces. This is a resolution strategy that benefits all jurisdictions,” Albers said.
Housing and Community Development asked the board to adopt the plan, provide direction on resources, and give a budget of $1.9 million for a new encampment response coordinator, a new data entry system using infrared technologies to track encampment populations, training the response team, and new transitional housing issues.
“The availability of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, as well as secured and anticipated state and federal funding initiatives through COVID-19, present a unique opportunity to respond to the increased presence of encampments, and to assist the unsheltered population,” a county staff report states.
Even with funding for the first three years of the program, the problem is the “funding cliff,” Albers said. Funds addressing homelessness are often one-time state grants, so the project can get off the ground but there is nothing to sustain it. Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart said that the county needed to express the need for predictable, accountable funds to state and federal entities.
“We need them in a timely manner to get solutions. There are logistical constraints that will require patience and just can’t roll with it and clean it up,” Hart said. “We are engaging and doing the work that needs to be done to build a path to end homelessness.”
Part of the long-term solution includes collaboration with other jurisdictions, private entities, and residents. First District Supervisor Das Williams specifically called for collaboration with lot owners in order to gain lots and space for housing facilities.
“If people want to do this faster, we need 14 more sites to make this happen. Don’t be more afraid of the solution than you are of the problem. Don’t rely on government sites, but allow us to rent your sites from you for you to make money and help in solving this issue,” he said. “We need to do more, we can do more.”
Although he is concerned about finances, Hart said it was really important for the community to understand the information presented at the meeting.
“We’ve all been concerned with homelessness for decades,” he said. “There is an urgency to take bold action, change lives, and see a long-term reduction in homelessness in the county.”
This article appears in Sep 2-9, 2021.