Susana Alcala Wood, City Attorney Jorge Oseguera, City Auditor Mindy Cuppy, City Clerk Howard Chan, City Manager John Colville, City Treasurer City Council Report
915 I Street, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2021-01438 March 1, 2022 Discussion Item 19
Title: Coordinated Access System Presentation
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Contact: Bridgette Dean, Director, [email protected] , Department of Community
Response; Nick Golling, Homeless Services Program Manager, [email protected], Department of Community Response; Danielle Foster, Housing Policy Manager, [email protected], Office of Innovation & Economic Development
Presenter: Nick Golling, Homeless Services Program Manager, [email protected], Department of Community Response; Lisa Bates, Executive Director, [email protected], Sacramento Steps Forward
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
File ID: 2021-01438 Discussion Item 19
March 1, 2022
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City of Sacramento
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: The crisis of unsheltered homelessness is one that impacts our entire community, both those experiencing homelessness and the broader community of housed residents, businesses, and neighborhoods. Over the past several years, the City has made significant investments to increase availability of shelter, services and permanent housing for people and families experiencing homelessness. Despite these efforts, homelessness and its impacts continue to rise:
• In 2019, the last time the community completed a Homeless Point-in-Time Count, Sacramento County counted 5,570 individuals as homeless and saw a 19% rise in homelessness overall, with 70% of the population unsheltered. (The Sacramento Continuum of Care, with community support, is currently conducting an updated Point- in-Time Count after delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.) • According to data published by Sacramento Steps Forward from the Sacramento region’s Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS), 3,025 people were experiencing unsheltered homelessness at the end of 2019 and had been homeless, on average, for 29 months.
• According to the most recent Sacramento County Homeless Deaths Report, there were 137 deaths among the homeless population in 2020.
Last August, the City Council adopted the Comprehensive Siting Plan, which included the siting and expansion of services, shelter, and affordable housing, including standing up local safe grounds. With the recent safe ground programming, City and Sacramento Steps Forward staff were able to confirm that 70% of the safe ground participants had no prior activity in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Lack of connection into HMIS means there is no shared data on these households or their needs, and they do not have direct access and referral to all potential services that could support them in our response system.
While this could partially be due to the increases in first-time homelessness as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it also points to a lack of Coordinated Access and HMIS data entry locally. In a separate 2021 encampment survey, researchers estimated that 60-80% of unsheltered households surveyed were also not in HMIS, so this presents as a statistical trend within the unsheltered community. With the delay in conducting a Point-in-Time Count due to COVID-19 impacts and inconsistent data and points of entry into HMIS, there is inadequate data on current local needs and demographics of our unsheltered population. Having a functional Coordinated Access System would address these issues.
A recent Continuum of Care (CoC) Gaps Analysis completed by Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) identified 61 access points for 112 local shelter and housing programs, with no single coordinated access point. The same analysis identified that shelter and outreach teams within
File ID: 2021-01438 Discussion Item 19
March 1, 2022
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City of Sacramento
the CoC system inconsistently enter information into HMIS, including reports on contact/rapport building and diversion efforts. Real-time, comprehensive data is essential to properly identifying and responding to local needs and ending homelessness. While the City, under the leadership of the Department of Community Response and support from the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, has made concerted efforts in requiring all programs, shelters, and housing projects to enter into HMIS, additional steps are needed to ensure a local Coordinated Access System for countywide homeless response activities.
Creating a Coordinated Access System will overcome existing barriers to entry and increase equitable access across the system. Currently, a person’s point of entry determines the crisis and housing services made available to them due to the number of doors into the system and the knowledge of their initial point of contact. The current system is incredibly challenging to navigate and front-doors and pathways into the system are not well advertised or understood by organizations within the system and are continually changing. The 61+ access points at any given time make it challenging for anyone to navigate and track what is available and makes it impossible for us to best match local resources to individual needs.
Policy Considerations: The Coordinated Access System (CAS) being implemented will make the following improvements to our local homeless response system and data system in HMIS:
- Reduce inflow into homelessness through immediate problem-solving/diversion when people are at-risk
- Create a coordinated “front door” with a focus on diversion and equal access to all resources, improving overall system flow in using available resources - Compile real-time data on who is experiencing homelessness within our community - Clarify for providers and people experiencing homelessness how to access emergency shelter, crisis resources, and housing referrals, regardless of changes to the system - Identify a team of specialists to assist with system access - Improve integration of “front door” resources with permanent housing/throughflow programs
- Implement weekly strategy meetings to match households with available resources
CAS will provide a centralized access point with 24/7 operations, not currently available, that will be staffed by trained 2-1-1 staff. Program staff and clients alike will be able to access these resources through this centralized system. This system change will also include a greater system-wide emphasis and coordination on diverting households away from homelessness through problem-solving and prevention options, whenever possible. Additional efforts will be made to add countywide community field-based staff that can assist navigating households and individuals in crisis with rehousing resources. And these efforts will be tracked and iterated on regularly through monthly and quarterly data reporting and real-time operational data reviews, through a better-utilized HMIS data system.
File ID: 2021-01438 Discussion Item 19
March 1, 2022
powered by Legistar™
City of Sacramento
Through the implementation of Coordinated Access System improvements, the following can result:
- Easily accessible “front door” to resources
- More people are able to avoid homelessness through diversion - Comprehensive, real-time, by-name data availability
- Strategic, data-driven program, shelter, and housing investments - Transparent outcomes with clear metrics, consistent systemwide - Efficient and effective use of resources
- Equitable access and outcomes across all demographics and improved understanding of equity within the system
- Increased understanding of systems and circumstances that are unintentionally resulting in homelessness and opportunities to make broader changes to prevent homelessness
By implementing changes towards a countywide Coordinated Access System, other communities saw the following results:
- 10-20% of single adult households diverted from homelessness - 30-50% of family households diverted from homelessness - Higher Utilization of Existing Resources- shelter beds, programs, housing and better matching of available resources to local needs
- Reductions in Homelessness
Economic Impacts: Investment into Coordinated Access will positively support the whole community and result in an easier system to navigate, increased diversion from homelessness, and measurable reductions in homelessness. These shifts will support businesses and the local economy overall.
Environmental Considerations: This report does not involve activities that constitute a “project” as defined by Sections 15061(b)(3) and 15378(b)(4) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Sustainability: None.
Commission/Committee Action: None.
Rationale for Recommendation: Implementation of the Coordinated Access System (CAS) is critical to the local homelessness response system. In order to more completely respond to local needs, the first necessary step identified by national experts is the importance of having accurate, real-time, local data. CAS will also make the existing system more user-friendly, equitable, and accessible to community members who are unsheltered or at-risk of homelessness, while also furthering identifying gaps and needs in the system.
File ID: 2021-01438 Discussion Item 19
March 1, 2022
powered by Legistar™
City of Sacramento
Financial Considerations: The City Council set-aside $1 million for the first year of Coordinated Access System improvements as part of the mid-year budget review and actions.
Annual $1 million contributions by the City will be necessary to continue the system going forward in partnership with the Continuum of Care (CoC), the County of Sacramento, and the other partnering cities in the CoC (Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, and Rancho Cordova). Here is the budget breakdown for CAS and the contributing partners:
Annual Budget for Coordinated Access System
- $1.3 million supports 2-1-1 staffing and program infrastructure - $1 million supports SSF HMIS expansion and staffing needs - $1.2 million in approximately 12-18 NEW Coordinated Access Specialists to help with diversion and system navigation
Anticipated Contributing Partners
- $1.5 million annually- Continuum of Care (two years committed) - $1 million annually- City of Sacramento (first year committed) - $1 million annually- County
- $200,000 annually- Smaller Cities, approximately $50,000 per city
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): None.