In an effort to improve services to San Diego County’s severely mentally ill homeless population, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the Project One for All Implementation Plan that began earlier this year.
The plan includes a mechanism for county housing resources to be matched with homeless individuals with a serious mental illness who reside in unincorporated areas, and a protocol for cities, local housing authorities and nonprofit organizations to pair housing resources with wraparound services.
“We’re going to help these vulnerable men and women regardless of where they live in this county, and it won’t be easy,” Board Chairman Ron Roberts said. “Collectively and individually, these are the people who are the very hardest to reach.”
The San Diego region conducts an annual so-called Point in Time Count, which identifies the number of individuals living on the streets or in shelters on a specific day. The information provides insight into the prevalence of homelessness throughout the county and the challenges faced by individuals experiencing homelessness.
In 2016, the Point in Time Count was conducted on January 29, and almost 8,700 individuals were identified as living on the streets or in shelters throughout the county. Of those who were unsheltered, more than 14 percent self-reported that they had a mental illness. That’s an estimated 1,250 people who were experiencing homelessness and mental illness.
“I’ve had a chance to see their faces, hear their stories and feel the pain that they’ve had to endure,” Supervisor Greg Cox said before the 5-0 vote. “These are the people who have basically lost the struggle with behavioral health issues and are about as down and out as human beings can possibly get.”
Roberts and Cox recommended the project in February. It connected a series of recommendations adopted by the board in January to immediately expand an array of behavioral health contracts that provide services to the homeless.
“When you walk downtown, you realize there is no time to waste and we have to act,” Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer said. “As a region, this is one of our finest moments of cooperation and collaboration. We’re working together in ways that are unprecedented.”
Implementation of Project One for All relies on a coordinated approach that combines treatment and housing. To facilitate its implementation, the county will integrate the Department of Housing and Community Development into the Health and Human Services Agency, effective July 1.
“This initiative will save the lives of thousands of San Diegans,” City Councilman Todd Gloria said in remarks to the board. “The City of San Diego has also heard this call for action and is a committed partner in this effort.”
Housing resources have been dedicated by the city in an effort to make the program a success, according to Gloria, who encouraged other cities in the county to do the same.
The Project One for All implementation plan has four components, including outreach and engagement, treatment services, housing resources, and performance measurement.
“This is just a phenomenal visionary effort in trying to solve the homeless problem,” Supervisor Dianne Jacob said. “I’ll be anxious to see the results in the two-year period that we have laid out here, because this well could be a first step, but a giant first step in solving the homeless problem in this region.”
— City News Service
