Grand Jury Report Response Form for Mandated Respondent Grand Jury Report Title: HOMELESSNESS, A COUNTY-WIDE ISSUE Report Dated: April 17, 2025
Response Form Submitted By:
Fort Bragg City Council, Jason Godeke, Mayor 416 North Franklin Street Fort Bragg, CA 95437 Response MUST be submitted, per Penal Code §933, no later than July 16, 2025 I have reviewed the report and submit my responses to the FINDINGS portion of the report as follows:
X I (we) agree with the Findings numbered:
Findings 1, 2, and 3_________________________
I (we) disagree wholly or partially with the Findings numbered below and have attached, as required, a statement specifying any portion of
the Finding that are disputed with an explanation of the reasons therefore. ________________________________________________
I have reviewed the report and submit my responses to the RECOMMENDATIONS portion of the report as follows:
The following Recommendation(s) have been implemented and attached, as required, is a summary describing the implemented actions:
___R2______________________________________
The following Recommendation(s) have not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, attached, as required is a time frame for implementation:
__R1_______________________________________
The following Recommendation(s) require further analysis, and attached as required is an explanation of the scope and parameters of the planned analysis, and a time frame for the matter to be prepared, discussed, and approved by the officer and/or director of the agency or department being investigated or reviewed (this time frame shall not exceed six (6) months from the date of publication of the Grand Jury Report):
__________________________________________________
The following Recommendations will NOT be implemented because they are not warranted and/or are not deemed reasonable, and attached as required is an explanation therefor:
_________________________________________________
I have completed the above responses, and have attached, as required the following number of pages to this response form:
Number of pages attached: ___2____
I understand that responses to Grand Jury Reports are public records. They will be posted on the Grand Jury website: www.co.mendocino.ca.us/grandjury. The clerk of the court is required to maintain a copy of the response.
Please submit this signed response form and any attachments as follows:
First Step: E-mail (word documents or scanned pdf file format) to:
The Grand Jury Foreperson at: [email protected] The Presiding Judge: [email protected] Second Step: Mail all originals to:
Mendocino County Grand Jury
P.O. Box 939 Ukiah, CA 95482
Printed Name: _____Jason Godeke_________________________ Title: ______Mayor, City of Fort Bragg_______________
Signature:___________________________________ Date: ____7/8/2025_________ City Council of Fort Bragg’s Response to the Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury’s Report, Entitled:
Homelessness, A County-Wide Issue
Introduction
The City Council of Fort Bragg thanks the Grand Jury for its inquiry into the issue of homelessness in Mendocino County, the City of Fort Bragg’s response to that challenge, and ongoing collaborative efforts to address the issue on a county-wide level. We welcome this opportunity to respond the Grand Jury’s report, entitled: “Homelessness, A County-Wide Issue.”
Pursuant to the request of the Grand Jury, the City Council is responding to the following:
R2. The Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury recommends the Community Outreach Response and Engagement program developers continue to collaborate with the County Behavioral Health, Social Services, Sheriff’s Office and other County departments and program managers to work with the Care Response Unit. (F3) The Recommendation has been implemented:
The City of Fort Bragg’s Care Response Unit (CRU) has recently extended its services geographically, and has initiated further collaboration with County law enforcement, behavioral health, and social services. In May this year, the Fort Bragg Police Department partnered with Mendocino County to apply for a grant from the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) and the Proposition 47 Grant Program to expand Care Response Unit (CRU) outside of Fort Bragg on the coast. The total grant awarded is $2.5 million to be used over the next three and a half years. These funds will also be used to dedicate temporary and transitional housing to CRU Team clients. The $1 million portion to the Fort Bragg Police Department pays for a third Care Response Unit team member, whose time will be split between Fort Bragg and county areas from Albion to Westport. A part-time administrative assistant, administrative costs, and other associated costs are also covered. Also included in this partnership is the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, who will have a CRU team member to address the same issues in the county in which CRU has been so successful within the City of Fort Bragg. The Fort Bragg Police Department and CRU are fostering both dialogue and active collaboration with the County’s CORE program.
R1. The Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury recommends that verified results from the Care Response Unit program, both positive and negative, be reported to the City Council of Fort Bragg by December 2025. (F1)
This Recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future with the following structure and timeline:
The City Council has received a number of reports on the CRU program’s impacts since its inception. One of the main results is that police officers have been able to dedicate far more of their time to law enforcement activity unrelated to the homeless population, even as the CRU’s social services liaisons have connected homeless individuals with substance abuse and mental health services, (transitional) housing, and other social supports, resulting in a lower population of homeless individuals in Fort Bragg, and far lower numbers of homeless-related arrests. The following table summarizes impacts with comparisons of data pre-CRU and post-CRU:
2018 2019 Introduction of CRU 2023 2024
Number of Homeless
Arrests 369 291 CRU 181 61
Total Arrests 755 534 CRU 637 312
Percentage of total
arrests connected to
the homeless
population
68.42% 59.09%
CRU
28.41% 19.55%
A concern cited in the Grand Jury report stated that CRU transports homeless individuals to homeless encampments outside the city limits. That statement is categorically false.
The CRU does use its Homeward Bound program to transport individuals back to their home towns, covering the cost of transportation, and assisting individuals with accessing transportation. CRU first establishes contact with supportive family and friends in the individual’s hometown, so that they will have a social network when they arrive. CRU also assists in transporting individuals to services (substance abuse rehabilitation, various out-of-town mental health services, etc).
It is undoubtedly true that some individuals who decline services have chosen to move outside the city limits. Some of those individuals may have done so to avoid further interactions with CRU (the CRU team is persistent with checking in and encouraging individuals to take advantage of available support).
The recommendation from the Grand Jury requests further outcomes data with regard to CRU’s effectiveness in addressing homelessness in Fort Bragg. The recent implementation of a Proposition 47 grant to expand CRU services includes several Process and Outcomes Measures of effectiveness. For example, these measures include Process Measure 4: “Provide case management to no fewer than 130 unduplicated individuals,” coupled with Outcomes Measure 4: “ At least 50% of clients receiving case management services subsequently received alcohol or other drug recovery services.” Data for the Process and Outcomes measures will be collected by the Fort Bragg Police Department, Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. The program evaluation reports will be presented to the Local Advisory Committee that accompanies this grant, and also to the City Council, prior to December, 2025.