Staff Report - Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan and Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) Funding Allocation Approval

City Council Report
915 I Street, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org

File ID: 2022-00787 June 28, 2022

Title: Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan and Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) Funding Allocation Approval

Location: Citywide

Recommendation: 1)Provide opportunity for public comment; 2) adopt a Resolution: a) approving the Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan, b) approving the City of Sacramento Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) Funding Allocation Approval, c) authorizing the City Manager, or the City manager’s designee, to submit these documents to the State of California, d) authorizing the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to sign all necessary grant agreements and related documents to receive the HHAP- 3 funding and contract it out based on the allocation approval, e) authorizing the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to establish the HHAP-3 Grant Fund Project (G02000970) (the “Project”); f) authorizing the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee to accept the $16,683,570 in grant funds and to establish the revenue and expenditure budget in G02000970 (Operating Grant Fund, Fund 2702), and g) authorizing the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to perform all other actions related to receiving and fully utilizing the HHAP-3 grant funds; 3) direct staff to return with further recommendations on integrating the Local Homeless Action Plan with the Comprehensive Siting Plan.

Contact: Danielle Foster, Housing Policy Manager, (916) 808-1869, [email protected], Office of Innovation & Economic Development; Nicholas Golling, Homeless Services Program Manager, (916) 808-7816, [email protected], Department of Community Response

Presenter: Danielle Foster, Housing Policy Manager, (916) 808-1869, [email protected], Office of Innovation & Economic Development; Nicholas Golling, Homeless Services Program Manager, (916) 808-7816, [email protected], Department of Community Response

Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Resolution
3-Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan
4-HHAP-3 Application Tables 1-5

Description/Analysis

Issue Detail: The Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) is a $1 billion block grant program authorized by AB 140, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on July 19, 2021. Administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) this third round of funding has been made available to support building regional coordination and a unified response to reduce homelessness across California. As with the previous two rounds of HHAP funding, eligible applicants include California’s 13 largest cities, 58 counties, and 44 Continuums of Care with allocations set by Cal ICH based on their proportionate share of the state’s homeless population as reported by the HUD in the 2019 Point-In-Time (PIT) count. Different from previous rounds of funding, not all HHAP-3 funding is being allocated now; $180 million is bonus funding which will be available to grantees who meet funding obligations and achieve outcome goal requirements.

The HHAP-3 Notice of Funding Availability was released on December 17, 2021, and the application is due June 30, 2022. State awards are anticipated to be made within 90 days of a completed application, with funding released upon completion of a standard contract with Cal ICH.

HHAP-3 requires grantees to expend funds on evidence-based solutions that prevent, reduce and end homelessness. Grantees may not use HHAP grant funding to supplant existing local funds for homeless housing, assistance, or prevention, and funds must be expended in compliance with Housing First requirements per Health and Safety Code Section 50220.7(g).

HHAP-3 funds must be expended on one or more of the following eligible uses:

1. Rapid rehousing, including rental subsidies and incentives to landlords, such as security deposits and holding fees.

2. Operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, emergency shelters, and navigation centers. Operating subsidies may include operating reserves.

3. Street outreach to assist persons experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing and services.

4. Services coordination, which may include access to workforce, education, and training programs, or other services needed to promote housing stability in supportive housing.

5. Systems support for activities necessary to create regional partnerships and maintain a homeless services and housing delivery system, particularly for vulnerable populations, including families and homeless youth.

6. Delivery of permanent housing and innovative housing solutions, such as hotel and motel conversions.

7. Prevention and shelter diversion to permanent housing, including rental subsidies.

8. Interim sheltering, limited to newly developed clinically enhanced congregate shelters, new or existing non-congregate shelters, and operations of existing navigation centers and shelters based on demonstrated need. Any new interim sheltering funded by round 3 funds must be low barrier, comply with Housing First, and prioritize interventions other than congregate shelters.

9. Improvements to existing emergency shelters to lower barriers and increase privacy.

Local Homeless Action Plan
The Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan (LHAP) was initiated in early 2022 to 1) meet the requirement of the HHAP-3 application, but more importantly 2) to create a cross-jurisdictional unified approach to addressing homelessness across Sacramento County. This three-year plan beginning on July 1, 2022 and going through June 30, 2025 was developed in partnership with Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF), Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care, Sacramento County, City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA).

The LHAP (Attachment 3) is actionable, relatable, and provides a roadmap for future funding.

Outlined in the plan are key system components that are in alignment with national best- practices and if resourced and implemented consistently across funders and providers, will bring the local response system to scale with capacity to move the needle on homelessness.

Through these efforts, homelessness in the county over time will become preventable whenever possible, brief, and non-recurring.

The plan is organized around five core strategies that facilitate a system-focused, equitable framework:
● Strategy #1: Build and scale a Countywide Coordinated Access System ● Strategy #2: Ensure current and new emergency shelter and interim housing is focused on rehousing
● Strategy #3: Increase permanent housing opportunities ● Strategy #4: Expand prevention and diversion resources ● Strategy #5: Invest in community capacity-building & training These strategies were designed to be scaled up (or back) over time within the confines of local resources including funding, workforce availability, and stakeholder agreement, as well as to meet local system needs as additional information is available and as the system components shift to right-size prevention and permanent housing. At present, they are presented as a framework that will require additional community conversations to identify supporting activities on an annual basis that will shape the implementation of these five strategies by identified agency leads. Staff envisions returning to the City Council within a few months with the first set of activities for the plan.

Gaps Analysis
The LHAP strategies and sub-strategies are based on the recent gaps analysis and needs assessment (Appendix A of the LHAP). The key take-aways from the gaps analysis are as follows:
• Investments in prevention, diversion, and permanent housing solutions (e.g., housing navigation, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing) will directly reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness, the time people spend homeless, and returns to homelessness. When funded, developed, and operated consistently, these responses can eliminate the need for additional emergency shelter capacity.
• Alternatively, without significant additional prevention and rehousing capacity (“business as usual”), more people will experience homelessness, requiring more emergency shelter and other costly crisis services.
• Near-term investment in additional shelter capacity is needed to ensure safety and access to rehousing assistance but should be flexible to allow for later repurposing/use for housing.
• Efforts are needed to increase positive turn-over (and openings) among current PSH units, increase the overall number of PSH units funded with homeless assistance and other resources, and increase other community-based affordable housing and service solutions to address gaps.
• The need for rehousing supports and affordable, supportive housing options cannot be met by the homeless crisis response system alone. Cross-sector collaborations to develop sustainable housing and service supports for people with needs beyond housing are needed, such as for people with severe and persistent disabling conditions, returning citizens (following incarceration), and for older adults. • Additional work is being completed to further assess the gaps in local services, with particular attention to county mental health and substance use service needs.

Implementation of this plan is supported by guiding principles and includes a commitment to racial equity; inclusion of partners with lived expertise; improved data collection; a person- centered, trauma-informed county-wide response system which provides access to immediate and ongoing supportive service needs (i.e. mental health, substance use, housing retention); and continuation of collaborative planning and decision-making across jurisdictions.

Once adopted by local governing bodies, the plan’s partners will continue to work with the community to develop an annual slate of activities that offer strong action steps toward the advancement of the strategies and sub-strategies and quantify the First Steps milestones. The LHAP will be measured through consistent review of system level performance goals and implementation of action steps. It is hoped that the LHAP will be adopted countywide, including by all local jurisdictions and the Housing Authority.

HHAP-3 Application Tables
As part of the HHAP-3 application requirements, Cal ICH has provided an application template table (Attachment 4) that is required to be agendized at the local governing board meetings and available for public comment as stated in Health and Safety Code Section 50220.7(b)(2).

The required sections include:

Table 1: A local landscape analysis that assesses the current number of people experiencing homelessness and existing programs and funding which address homelessness. The figures provided are annualized.

Table 2: Identification of the number of individuals and families served, including demographic information and intervention types provided, and demographic subpopulations that are underserved relative to their proportion of individuals experiencing homelessness. The numbers provided in this table are annualized and an estimate of the need for each intervention and population group.

Table 3: Identification of funds within the City providing housing and homelessness-related services to persons experiencing homelessness, how this funding serves subpopulations, and types of interventions funded.

Table 4: Outcome goals for system performance measures based on 2020 baseline data provided by Cal ICH. Reviewed at the May 11, 2022 CoC Board meeting, these goals were set to be achievable given the current baseline in several of the performance measures as the ability to receive bonus funding will be based on whether the outcome goals in this table are met. Table 4 also includes trackable data goals as they apply to underserved populations and populations disproportionately impacted by homelessness.

Table 5: Actionable strategies to be implemented to meet the Outcome Goals identified in Table 4. These strategies are based on the Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan and indicate all the outcome goals for which the strategy will help drive progress.

These tables must be approved as part of the HHAP-3 application. However, Councilmembers should note that the City, County, and CoC are relying on more up-to-date and accurate data for local planning purposes utilizing the Gaps Analysis work.

HHAP-3 Funding Allocation Recommendation
Collectively, the Sacramento region will be receiving a total of approximately $32.76 million in HHAP-3, with allocations to the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, and the Sacramento Continuum of Care (via SSF). Once the application process is complete, the City of Sacramento is anticipated to receive $16,683,570 in HHAP-3 funding.

Building upon the direction provided with HHAP-1 and HHAP-2 funding allocations, recent City Council discussions, and the gaps analysis and Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan, staff presents these HHAP-3 funding allocation recommendations:

Policy Considerations: The recommendations in this report further local coordination in response to homelessness, complete the necessary requirements for City application of HHAP-3 funding, and continue existing sheltering and navigation efforts, while beginning to move city contributions into the homeless response system towards an increased emphasis on prevention, consistent with the recommendations of the system Gaps Analysis, Cal ICH direction, and national best practices in reducing homelessness. Staff recommends additional review of these steps in relation to the City’s Comprehensive Siting Plan and direction that staff return with an update to further align the CSP and the LHAP.

Economic Impacts: Efforts to reduce and minimize the occurrence of homelessness in our community improves the economic outlook of all community members, including those who are able to avoid homelessness through prevention and diversion, those who are reintegrated into the workforce through local shelter and training options, individuals and families who gain permanent affordable housing and have greater expendable income to take care of their needs and support the local economy, and local businesses with access to a larger job pool and decreased impacts.

Environmental Considerations:

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): The current action is the establishment of a funding mechanism to finance various activities, including the environmental review necessary for the development of the ultimate housing project.

The establishment of a funding mechanism is not a project pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(4).

Sustainability: Not applicable.

TOTAL HHAP-3 Funding 16,683,570$
Administration (7% Maximum) 740,791$
Youth Sheltering Set-aside (10% Minimum) 1,668,357$
North Fifth Street Navigation Center 3,447,202$
Meadowview Navigation Center 3,578,800$
Grove Bridge to Housing (Youth) Navigation Center 3,262,000$ Motel Program- Non-congregate Sheltering 1,986,420$
Prevention Funding 2,000,000$
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable. The Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan was adopted by the Continuum of Care (CoC) Board of Directors at their June 8, 2022 meeting and the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors at their June 14, 2022 meeting.

Rationale for Recommendation: The actions in this report are consistent with the City of Sacramento Comprehensive Siting Plan adopted by the City Council on August 10, 2021 and the City of Sacramento Housing Element of the General Plan, specifically Policy H-7.2 that speaks to Regional Coordination in our response to homelessness.

Financial Considerations: On August 10, 2021, the City Council adopted the Comprehensive Siting Plan that included a list of sites, programs, and identified funding sources for the City’s response to homelessness. HHAP-3 funding is envisioned to be part of that funding stack. This report carries out the necessary steps to apply for and receive the HHAP-3 funds, establishing the HHAP-3 Multi-Year Operating Project (G02000970) along with the revenue and expenditure budgets (Operating Grant Fund, Fund 2702), once funds have been received, to continue existing sheltering efforts and implement new prevention funding.

Local Business Enterprise (LBE): These funding allocations will be used with all local organizations in the provision of shelter and prevention services.

Resolution No. 2022-

Adopted by the Sacramento City Council on June __, 2022

2022 City Council Adoption of the Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan and Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) Funding Allocation Approval

BACKGROUND:

A. Homelessness is an existential threat to the individuals living without quality housing and to the public health and safety of the residents and businesses in Sacramento. The right to an adequate standard of living for every resident of the City is one that must be protected and advanced by the actions and commitment of all levels of government, including the City of Sacramento. The interconnectedness of homelessness, housing and public health must inform the current and future policy, partnerships, prioritization of work programs, and budget allocations to prevent and reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness.

B. On January 5, 2021, the City Council unanimously approved the preparation of a Master Siting, Operations, Programmatic and Financing Plan (“Master Siting Plan”, later named the “Comprehensive Siting Plan”) and committed to a Council-led process to engage the community and identify public and private properties for a single up or down vote to approve the sites identified for shelter and housing, identify funding sources, and provide authority to the City Manager to implement the Comprehensive Siting Plan. This Plan was approved on August 10, 2021 and has been in implementation ever since.

C. According to the 2019 Point in Time Homeless County released by the Sacramento Steps Forward, Sacramento’s Continuum of Care, the County of Sacramento had a homeless population of 5,570 individuals, a majority of whom are unsheltered on any given night in the City of Sacramento. The 2019 Point-in-Time Count also estimates that in 2019 between 10,000 and 11,000 individuals would be unsheltered at some point in 2019. A disproportionate share of the homeless in the City of Sacramento are people of color. Recent numbers are indicating an increase in local homelessness as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and further housing market constraints, finding that approximately 16,500 to 20,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year in the County of Sacramento, with the majority occurring in the City of Sacramento.

D. Since 2019, housing affordability in the state has worsened with rising rents and limited new construction of affordable and permanent supportive housing. The City Council declared a Shelter Crisis annually since January 14, 2020 under chapter 7.8 of division 1 of title 2 of the California Government Code and directed the City Manager to take action to streamline the provision of homeless shelters (Resolution 2020-0017).

E. Recent increases in households relocating from the Bay Area have placed further demand on the local housing market by households with higher incomes.

Regionally, over the last year, median household income increased by twelve percent, far outpacing the typical three percent average and it is estimated that these increases are primarily resulting from new residents, making the housing market more competitive than ever.

F. The City Council has also acknowledged that to reduce the number of first-time homelessness and persons who return to homelessness after experiencing homelessness, that homeless prevention, diversion, workforce training and job placement resources are necessary.

G. Since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a public health emergency in California, the City Council has allocated significant one- time funding sources to provide shelter and emergency housing. The homelessness response included the first safe parking overnight spots for vehicles; triage capacity for overnight respite; Safe Ground organized camping on Caltrans and City property downtown and later at Miller Park; 500 motel rooms for City interim motel vouchering including outreach and supportive services for 100 chronically homeless individuals; housing voucher coordination and support services for 100 homeless individuals; 104 traditional shelter beds at North Fifth Street and an expansion to 163 beds; 50 beds at the Meadowview Navigation Center, a women’s shelter expanding to 100 beds as COVID-19 protocols allow; 100 beds at the X Street Navigation Center for men, women and pets; 109 HomeKey permanent supportive housing units and 11 interim supportive housing units with another 200 under construction; 24 cabins at Grove Avenue expanding to 48 beds for transitional aged youth as COVID-19 protocols allow; 20 beds at a 24/7 methamphetamine sobering center for three months; over 500 households rehoused from Project Roomkey; 75 shelter beds for transition-aged youth; and 40 units of scattered site housing have been purchased.

H. In an effort to provide a systematic and comprehensive approach to address the humanitarian crisis of homelessness, staff from the City, County, SHRA, and Sacramento Steps Forward have been collaborating in the implementation of a Coordinated Access System, as funded by the City Council and partners, and in

the drafting of a Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan to implement prevention/diversion programs, expand shelter and housing options and right- size services, as directed by the City Council, Board of Supervisors, and the Continuum of Care Board and Committees.

I. The HHAP-3 funding allocation is an opportunity to both continue existing sheltering programs and expand prevention programming, consistent with the local gaps analysis and state direction, to move towards adjusting our system focus onto prevention and permanent housing as a means for reducing experiences and duration of homelessness locally.

BASED ON THE FACTS SET FORTH IN THE BACKGROUND, THE CITY COUNCIL RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. The City Council, with this action, approves the Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan (Attachment 3) as a regional plan that coordinates local response to homelessness by its participating partners, with the direction that additional information regarding activities and organizational roles return to the City Council by October 2022 for consideration.

Section 2. The City Council approves the City of Sacramento Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program Round 3 (HHAP-3) Funding Allocation Approval, as follows:

Section 3. The City Council authorizes the City Manager, or the City manager’s designee, to submit the attached tables (Attachment 4) and all necessary documents to the State of California, for the HHAP-3 grant funding application.

Section 4. The City Council authorizes the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to sign all necessary grant agreements and related documents to receive the HHAP-3 funding and enter into agreements based on the funding allocation approval and consistent with the authority provided under the City’s Comprehensive Siting Plan.

Section 5. The City Council authorizes the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to establish the HHAP-3 Grant Fund Project (G02000970) (the “Project”).

Section 6. The City Council authorizes the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee to accept the $16,683,570 in grant funds and to establish the revenue and expenditure budget in G02000970 (Operating Grant Fund, Fund 2702), once received, and authorizes the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to perform all other actions related to receiving and fully utilizing the HHAP-3 grant funds.

Section 7. The City Council directs staff to return with further recommendations on integrating and aligning implementation of the Local Homeless Action Plan with the City’s Comprehensive Siting Plan.

Developed in partnership with:

Sacramento Steps Forward
Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care
Sacramento County
City of Sacramento
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency
2022
Local Homeless
Action Plan
Sacramento
Sacramento City
and County
Continuum of Care
I
n our pursuit of addressing
homelessness within the
Sacramento region, we wish to
acknowledge that Sacramento is the
homeland of the Southern Maidu,
Valley, and Plains Miwok, the Nisenan
people, the Patwin Wintun people,
and members of the Wilton Rancheria
Tribes, who have inhabited this
landscape since time immemorial.

We extend our gratitude to
the ancestors of all California
Native American Tribes and their
descendants, as we recognize that
wherever we are joining from in our
virtual community, we are all on
California Native American land.

We recognize the systemic inequities
created by the negative impacts
of colonization, past and present.

We stand committed to dismantle
ongoing legacies of oppression that
have dispossessed California Native
Americans of their lands and denied
their rights to self-determination.

Written by the Wilton Rancheria Tribe

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
3 Introduction ................... 4–5
Background ................... 6–9
Methodology ................... 10
National Best Practices for Optimal
Homeless Response Systems ....... 11
Guiding Principles ................ 12
Strategies & Activities .......... 13–19
Conclusion ..................... 20
Appendix A:
2022 Needs Assessment
and Gaps Analysis ............. 21–24
Appendix B:

Summary of Strategies,
Sub Strategies, and Activities ...... 25
Appendix C:

Glossary of Terms ............ 26–27

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
4 INTRODUCTION
T
his local homeless action plan creates a cross-jurisdictional unified approach to addressing homelessness across Sacramento County. This is a three-year plan beginning on July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025. It is actionable, relatable, and provides a roadmap for future funding. Outlined in the plan are key system components that are in alignment with national best-practices and if resourced and implemented consistently across funders and providers, will bring the local response system to scale with capacity to move the needle on homelessness. Through these efforts, homelessness in the County over time will become preventable whenever possible, brief, and non-recurring.

Reducing the
length of time
persons remain
homeless
Reducing the
number of persons
who return to
homelessness
after exiting
homelessness to
permanent housing
Increasing
successful
placements from
street outreach
Reducing the
number of people
experiencing
homelessness
Reducing the
number of people
who become
homeless for the
first time
Increasing
the number of
people exiting
homelessness into
permanent housing
Specifically, this plan envisions making a collective impact in the following performance measures:

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
5 Build and Scale a Countywide
Coordinated Access System (CAS)
Increase Permanent
Housing Opportunities
Invest in Community
Capacity-Building and Training
Ensure Current and New
Emergency Shelter and Interim
Housing is Focused on Rehousing
Expand Prevention and
Diversion Resources
1 2
34 5
The plan is organized around five core
strategies that facilitate a system-focused,
equitable framework:

These strategies were designed to be scaled up (or back) over time within the confines of local resources including funding, workforce availability, and stakeholder agreement.

At present, they are presented as a framework that will require additional community conversations to identify supporting activities on an annual basis that will shape the implementation of these five strategies.

Implementation of the plan is supported by guiding principles identified by the broader community and includes a commitment to racial equity, inclusion of partners with lived expertise, improved data collection, and continuation of collaborative planning and decision- making across jurisdictions.

Initial seed funding to begin implementation of the plan include state allocations from the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program, a recognition of emerging opportunities with CalAIM, leveraged with federal, county, city, and private funding sources.

This plan was developed in partnership between Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care, the City of Sacramento, the County of Sacramento and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). These entities, and in close collaboration with the neighboring cities will be the primary stewards of this plan. 1 3
2 4
5 5 Core Strategies
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
6 BACKGROUND
A
recently completed gaps analysis indicates that the estimated number of persons experiencing homelessness annually in Sacramento County ranges from 16,500 to 20,000 people. Falling into homelessness is often described by partners with lived expertise as a downward spiral of broken safety nets. In Sacramento, rising rents and limited affordable housing options is a leading driver into homelessness. This dynamic may have been exacerbated during the Coronavirus Pandemic due to loss of employment and/or COVID related health conditions. Other drivers include histories of foster care and domestic/intimate partner violence.

By most observations, unsheltered homelessness continues to increase. At the time of this writing, it is anticipated that the 2022 Point-in-Time Count data (available later in June 2022) will likely show an increase from 2019. This trend reflects communities statewide who are also grappling with post-pandemic increases in the number of households experiencing homelessness. Solutions to addressing homelessness, however, are locally driven. 2022 Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis
Among people who experience literal homelessness annually, it is estimated that1:

One out of four people (~23%) are adults
and children in family households
Almost half of all people (~45%) are
unsheltered (1 or more days) and do not
or cannot access shelter
Two out of three (~66%) access homeless
assistance (outreach, shelter, re-housing,
etc.) but the remainder do not due to
insufficient capacity, access, quality of
services, or other issues
Black and African American people are
significantly overrepresented among
people who experience homelessness:
39% of all people experiencing
homelessness compared with 11% overall
in Sacramento County2
Just over half of all adults (~54%) report
having one or more severe and persistent
disabling condition:

One out of five adults (~22%) report
having a severe mental illness
One out of ten adults (~11%) report
having a substance use disorder
One out of four adults (~24%) adults
are chronically homeless (disabled
and homeless for 12 months or more),
most are adult only households
12022 Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis report
2American Community Survey, Sacramento County Population Estimates, July 2021 (V2021) SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
7 The gaps analysis approach
involved the following:

The gaps analysis estimates that among people who experience homelessness each year in Sacramento, approximately 15% of individual and family households experience only a brief episode of homelessness and are able to self-resolve and return to housing with limited assistance, if any. An additional approximately 38% could avoid homelessness with timely and targeted homelessness prevention assistance or could otherwise be diverted from the homeless response system with one-time or short-term problem-solving, financial assistance and/or housing navigation services.

Among the 47% who cannot avoid or quickly exit homelessness, it is estimated that 65% of all households will need individualized short- to medium term housing navigation and financial assistance, while 33% will need ongoing rental assistance and supportive services to quickly resolve their homelessness and remain stably housed. Overall, over 90% of all households experiencing literal homelessness also need temporary housing (emergency shelter or interim/ transitional housing) while they are working to resolve their homelessness.

Estimating the
annual number
of people who
experience literal
homelessness
in Sacramento
County.

Estimating the
annual service
needs of those who
experience literal
homelessness
based on an
optimal range
and availability of
services that result
in homelessness
being prevented
or quickly and
successfully ended.

Examination
of current and
planned (i.e.,
funded and under-
development)
capacity expected
to be available
currently and in the
next three years
in Sacramento
County to address
service needs.

Estimating the service
gaps remaining
after accounting for
current and planned
capacity. Additional
work is ongoing to
better understand and
quantify the service
needs of people who
experience literal
homelessness,
including physical
and behavioral health
needs.
1 32 4
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
8 This data reveals a need for increased investments in and expanded access to prevention, rehousing assistance, and affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing and other forms of ongoing housing and service assistance outside of the homeless response system. When fully scaled and available, such investments can effectively reduce homelessness and the need for more costly crisis responses, including emergency shelter.

In the near-term however, until prevention and rehousing resources are more fully scaled, more emergency shelter is needed to reduce harm experienced by people who are unsheltered and to provide a safe, stable, and temporary shelter to access rehousing assistance and address other critical health and wellness needs more readily.

The Sacramento Continuum of Care Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis: Summary Findings can be found in Appendix A.

Addressing Racial Disparities
Nationally and locally, race and ethnicity are additional risk factors of homelessness. Several national organizations such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have developed toolkits to assist local continuum of cares to identify and mitigate racial disparities within their homelessness programs. Addressing racial disparities within the countywide homeless response system is a priority for all the sponsoring partners and further advances the County’s Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis3 and the City’s Race & Gender Equity Action Plan 2020-20254.

In Sacramento, the CoC formed a Racial Equity Committee in 2020 after reviewing the local data that revealed persons identifying as Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native communities experience homelessness at disproportionate rates.

While persons identifying as Black only represent 11% of the population in our CoC’s geographic area, they represent approximately 39% of individuals who are experiencing homelessness and approximately 39% of families with children experiencing homelessness have a Black head of household5. Additionally, local data reflecting persons identifying as American Indian/Alaskan Native are not accessing homeless services in proportion to the number of people believed to be experiencing homelessness from that community. 3https://www.saccounty.gov/news/Documents/RES_-_Racism_Public_Health_Crisis.doc.pdf 4https://www.cityofsacramento.org/-/media/Corporate/Files/CMO/RGEAP-20202025-Overview-v710012020.pdf?la=en#:~:text=Racial%20 Equity%20Statement8%20%E2%80%93%20The,service%20all%20our%20diverse%20communities 5HUD’ CoC Racial Equity Analysis Tool and Gaps Analysis CA-503 Sacramento City and County CoC: https://www.hudexchange.info/ resource/5787/coc-analysis-tool-race-and-ethnicity/
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
9 The Racial Equity Committee conducted a community analysis including quantitative and qualitative date that identified contributing factors that highlighted a wide range of disparities that culminated into an action plan titled, The Findings & Recommendations from the CoC Racial Equity Committee6. Key report findings included: disparities in access to homeless services, undercounting and poor data collection within historically under-resourced communities, negative impacts of racial biases across the system including the assessment and prioritization processes for the allocation of resources, implementation of a trauma- informed and racial equity approach to engage landlords to reduce historical discriminatory tenant leasing practices, and a lack of racial/ethnic, and lived expertise participation across all levels of the homelessness workforce.

The Racial Equity Action Plan also identified a number of initial steps to begin redressing systemic harm. These include increasing access points in historically under-resourced communities; diversifying language and literacy levels on key documents to improve participants’ understanding and consent for services; increase hiring of diverse staff including partners with lived expertise across all organizational levels within the homeless response system; engaging in practices of restorative justice; and replacing the current common assessment tool with a culturally responsive design. These recommendations may become activities under one or more strategies within the plan.

Cross-Jurisdictional Coordination under the Coronavirus Pandemic During the Coronavirus pandemic, the County, Sacramento Steps Forward on behalf of the Continuum of Care (CoC), City of Sacramento, neighboring cities, and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) came together in unprecedented coordination to provide safe sheltering to Sacramento’s most vulnerable experiencing homelessness7. These leaders leveraged an infusion of state and federal relief dollars to operate 522 units of temporary sheltering that served nearly 2,000 people through Project Roomkey; reduced evictions for over 12,000 people from falling into homelessness through the Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance program; and deployed an additional 30+ regional outreach workers. The plan sustains this demonstration of cross-jurisdictional planning, decision-making, and action. 6https://sacramentostepsforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/10_SSF-Racial-Equity-Action-Plan-12-copy.pdf 7Persons aged 65 and older and/or with a chronic health condition.

RESOLUTION NO. __________

A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF

SACRAMENTO DECLARING RACISM A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
WHEREAS, Sacramento County is one of the Nation’s most diverse communities broadly recognized for celebrating its multi-cultural and ethnically diverse population, and it is the diversity of people of color who make the mosaic of Sacramento County such a wonderful place to live, work, play, learn, worship and raise a family; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent on all locally appointed and elected policy makers to embrace, nurture, and protect the diversity of our community, and to ensure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a life free from institutional, structural, systemic and interpersonal racial prejudice, bigotry, bias, derision, and hate; and
WHEREAS, institutional, structural, systemic and interpersonal racism adversely impacts the physical, mental and emotional health of people of color, and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism is a social determinant of health that threatens health equity objectives; and WHEREAS, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
acknowledges and welcomes the inherent responsibility to shape policies, appropriate resources, implement programs, issue directives, and to otherwise advocate for racial equity and to speak-up and -out when it is clear institutional, structural, systemic and interpersonal racial prejudice, County’s Resolution Declaring
Racism a Public Health Crisis
Updated October 2020 1

RACE & GENDER EQUITY ACTION PLAN 2020-2025

OVERVIEW
JULY 2020

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND – PAGE 2

CALL FOR COORDINATED CITYWIDE ACTION – PAGE 3

GOVERNMENT ALLIANCE ON RACE EQUITY – PAGE 4

REFLECT THE CITY TO BETTER SERVE THE CITY – PAGE 4

WHY FOCUS ON RACE? – PAGE 6

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS – PAGE 7

PHASED IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH – PAGE 9

ACHIEVING THE CITY’S VISION OF RACIAL AND GENDER EQUITY – PAGE 9

RGEAP STRATEGIC PLAN ROLL OUT STEP OBJECTIVES AND TIMELINE – PAGE 11

City’s Race & Gender Equity
Action Plan 2020-2025
HUD’ CoC Racial Equity Analysis Tool and
Gaps Analysis

SACRAMENTO CONTINUUM OF CARE (COC)
ACTION
PLAN:

SUMMER 2021
Findings &
Recommendations
from the CoC Racial
Equity Committee
The Findings &
Recommendations
from the CoC
Racial Equity
Committee
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
10 METHODOLOGY
T
he development of this plan leveraged existing efforts to address homelessness and included the following process:

Reviewed current City, County, and CoC plans including:

City of Sacramento Comprehensive Siting Plan (2021)
County of Sacramento Homeless Plan (2018)
County Programs exclusively Serving Homeless Population (May 2021, February 2022) Sacramento CoC Action Plan: Findings & Recommendations from the CoC Racial Equity Committee (2021)
Sacramento CoC Gaps Analysis (2021)
Synthesized key points and created an inventory of all current and planned programs and activities.

Designed a recommended theory of change in alignment with national best-practices to meet required state and national system performance outcomes by clustering activities into five key strategies.

Held an in-person visioning session with strategic partners to further refine the theory of change model.

Sought input from select CoC Committees and the larger community during the Annual CoC public meeting held on April 21, 2022.

Concurrent to these steps, the Continuum of Care also commissioned the 2022 Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis referenced above. Emerging data from this effort has been integrated into this plan. See Appendix A for a summary of the 2022 Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
11 NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES FOR

OPTIMAL HOMELESS RESPONSE SYSTEMS
C
ommunities across the country are implementing national best practices identified by leading entities such as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the National Alliance to End Homelessness to optimize their homeless response systems.

Key elements supported by evidence-based research include the following components:

Coordinated Access System (CAS)
Prevention, diversion, and problem-solving resources
Crisis Response focused on rehousing participants
Permanent housing opportunities dedicated to persons exiting homelessness A robust, diverse workforce reflective of participants experiencing homelessness and inclusive of partners with lived expertise
Quality HMIS data with participation and coverage of all homelessness programs Collaborative & coordinated cross-jurisdictional planning and implementation process These system elements were considered in the development of the proposed countywide strategies and activities outlined in the plan.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
12 GUIDING PRINCIPLES
S
takeholders identified several qualitative principles in addition to the quantitative measures to apply across all proposed strategies in support of a shared vision for a more collaborative, accessible, equitable, and transparent homeless response system.

These principles include:

Strive to make homelessness in Sacramento rare, brief, and non-recurring Implement a person-centered, trauma-informed countywide response system, which provides access to immediate and on-going supportive service needs (i.e., mental health, substance use, housing retention)
Promote housing-first policies and practices
Address racial disparities across programs and system outcomes Create partnerships that value the experience, voice, and contribution of Partners with Lived Expertise
Collect quality data and use to inform decisions on program prioritization and resource allocation
Facilitate collaborative planning and decision-making across jurisdictions SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
13 STRATEGIES & ACTIVITIES
T
he local homeless action plan is arranged into five
core strategies that represent essential components
to build an effective and coordinated homelessness
response system with capacity to move the needle and
make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring within the Sacramento community. Each strategy is supported
by sub strategies to provide additional strategic direction.

Strategies can be thought of as strategic initiatives or focus points to guide investments by local decision-
makers in the deployment of resources including funding, workforce, capital investments, and cross-jurisdictional planning. The five strategies presented in this plan are offered as foundational steps and create a transitional roadmap towards the development of an optimal
Countywide response system that can be scaled up
over time, while creating measurable impact during
these first three years of implementation.

The sub strategies support the strategies and are designed to evolve each year with increased understanding of
local needs through processes of continual feedback,
system refinement, and improved data-collection. First
Steps are presented as a year one guidepost to track
progress. As data is collected during the first-year
numerical targets may be added to the First Steps to
measure progress over years 2 and 3. The partners will
continue to work with the community to identify annual
activities that will advance these strategies.

These core strategies and sub strategies listed
below align with national best practices to address
homelessness, integrate in the guiding principles, and
provide a critical path toward making a collective impact in addressing homelessness.
1 2
34 5
Build and Scale a Countywide
Coordinated Access System (CAS)
Increase Permanent
Housing Opportunities
Invest in Community
Capacity-Building and Training
Ensure Current and New
Emergency Shelter and Interim
Housing is Focused on Rehousing
Expand Prevention and
Diversion Resources
1 3
2 4
5 SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
14 Strategy 1: Build and Scale a Countywide Coordinated Access System (CAS) Sub Strategy 1.a: Increase targeted participation in homeless crisis response services.

Sub Strategy 1.b: Grow and embed problem-solving/diversion in all system access sites, safe grounds, respite centers and emergency shelters.

Sub Strategy 1.c: Provide comprehensive and aligned outreach Countywide.

Strategy 2: Ensure Current and New Emergency Shelter and Interim Housing is Focused on Rehousing
Sub Strategy 2.a: Align the Cities’ and County’s current and emerging shelter and interim housing programs with the Coordinated Access System to increase access and occupancy of available units.

Sub Strategy 2.b: Increase permanent housing exits across all emergency shelter & interim housing programs.

Strategy 3: Increase Permanent Housing Opportunities
Sub Strategy 3.a: Increase rehousing assistance and improve access to existing and new units in market and subsidized programs.

Sub Strategy 3.b: Increase the stock of permanent supportive housing units and other dedicated affordable housing units for people experiencing homelessness.

Sub Strategy 3.c: Develop a regional landlord engagement partnership program to increase the number of participating landlords across all homelessness rehousing programs.

Strategy 4: Expand Prevention and Diversion Resources
Sub Strategy 4.a: Coordinate and leverage prevention resources across jurisdictions to connect households at imminent risk of homelessness to stabilization resources to avoid literal homelessness.

Sub Strategy 4.b: Scale existing prevention and diversion programs into a countywide rehousing program.

Strategy 5: Invest in Community Capacity-Building and Training Sub Strategy 5.a: Create an inclusive & supportive working environment to retain the current workforce and attract new staff from historically under-resourced communities and partners with lived expertise.

Sub Strategy 5.b: Increase community stakeholder support for countywide homelessness activities through increased engagement.

A matrix of all strategies and sub strategies can be found in Appendix B.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
15 Sub Strategy 1.a: Increase targeted participation in homeless crisis response services Sub Strategy 1.b: Grow and embed problem-solving/diversion in all system access sites, safe grounds, respite centers and emergency shelters
Sub Strategy 1.c: Provide comprehensive and aligned outreach Countywide Currently, a person seeking homeless services in Sacramento County must potentially navigate over 100 “front-doors” to find the right assistance to meet his/her/their need. There is not one single access point at this time that can connect a person experiencing homelessness to the right shelter and/or housing resource and there is not sufficient capacity that results in a positive exit from homelessness even if the person could find the right door. Instead, programs are siloed, and services are limited to the offerings of a particular service provider without a systemwide mechanism for uniform assessment and to make referrals to or directly provide crisis services, including temporary housing, and rehousing assistance based on identified client needs. Additional barriers to services include limited or no access points in key under-resourced communities and mono-lingual materials on homelessness services that are not inclusive of all the key languages reflective of the diverse demographics of people experiencing homelessness.

A countywide coordinated access system is a mechanism and national best practice that will centralize access to and improve the efficacy of homeless and rehousing services across a variety of geographically and virtual access points and within all existing and future shelter sites. When fully implemented, it will: increase access to immediate housing crisis screening, problem-solving, and navigational support through expansion of 211 and partnerships with trusted cultural community partners; allow for more streamlined and standardized assessment, prioritization, triage and intake processes across all available forms of rehousing assistance currently and as new rehousing capacity is added; and improve accuracy and timeliness in matching the right person to the right resourced pathway for successful rehousing.

First Steps:

Increase dedicated coordinated access navigators to support diversion and system access Increase dedicated 211 coordinated access staff
Build and Scale a Countywide
Coordinated Access System (CAS)1
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
16 Sub Strategy 2.a: Align the Cities’ and County’s current and emerging shelter and interim housing programs with the Coordinated Access System to increase access and occupancy of available units.

Sub Strategy 2.b: Increase permanent housing exits across all emergency shelter & interim housing programs.

According to the 2019 Point-in-Time Count, approximately 70% of people experiencing homelessness within the County are unsheltered, residing in places not meant for human habitation such as vehicles and street encampments, increasing visibility and raising concern over the health and safety of all. Unsheltered homelessness was exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic when traditional safety-nets closed or transferred services to online platforms, leaving many under-resourced homeless communities without access to basic needs.

Local jurisdictions have responded with investments in temporary sheltering initiatives including safe grounds and safe parking programs, Respite Centers, increased use of motel vouchers, and plans to open and/or expand emergency shelters and navigation centers. An estimated 2,200 to 2,700 total emergency shelter and transitional housing beds for individuals and 300 to 350 units for families will be needed once the system has fully developed prevention, diversion, and various forms of rehousing assistance. This is roughly equal to the amount of shelter and transitional housing currently available in Sacramento County. In the near-term, current shelter and transitional housing capacity is only available for approximately one out of four individuals and families in need. Investments are needed in the short-term to meet local crisis response needs for shelter and other forms of temporary housing, while investments to increase prevention and permanent housing options are secured that will reduce this need.

This strategy highlights the need to identify additional resources required to ensure that current and new emergency shelter options have access to and/or provide pathways to rehousing opportunities for all clients. It also outlines a plan to develop additional units (congregate and non-congregate) of flexible, emergency shelter and interim housing in the near-term that can later be repurposed into permanent housing options as the demand for shelter falls when new permanent housing options come online.

First Steps:

Increase emergency shelter, interim, and transitional housing full-service beds dedicated to rehousing
Increase dedicated housing navigators in contracted shelters Ensure Current and New
Emergency Shelter and Interim
Housing is Focused on Rehousing2
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
17 Sub Strategy 3.a: Increase rehousing assistance and improve access to existing and new units in market and subsidized programs.

Sub Strategy 3.b: Increase the stock of permanent supportive housing units and other dedicated affordable housing units for people experiencing homelessness.

Sub Strategy 3.c: Develop a regional landlord engagement partnership program to increase the number of participating landlords across all homelessness rehousing programs Access to affordable housing is a central reason why many people fall into homelessness in the Sacramento region. The homeless response system cannot solve the County’s affordable housing crisis on its own; however, it can leverage homelessness funding to expand rehousing opportunities dedicated to this population. Housing opportunities include ongoing rental assistance, permanent supportive housing, time-limited rehousing services and rental assistance (including individualized housing navigation) and other forms of affordable permanent housing dedicated or prioritized for people experiencing homelessness.

According to the Gaps Analysis, the County’s homeless response system optimally needs 2,800 to 3,400 short/medium term rehousing service slots for individuals and 250 to 320 service slots for families, leaving a current gap of 600-750 total rehousing service slots. Additionally, approximately 5,900 to 7,100 total units of permanent supportive housing (PSH) are needed for individuals and families with at least one severely and persistently disable household member, particularly for people who are disabled and experience chronic homelessness. This capacity would address PSH needs among households who are currently chronically homeless, as well as those who become chronic homeless each year. After accounting for current and planned PSH capacity coming online in the next three years, it is estimated that an additional 2,700 to 3,300 PSH units are needed.

For other disabled individuals and families with a disabled adult or child, approximately 1,600 to 2,000 annual placements in permanent housing that is subsidized and provides access to supportive services (e.g., assisted living, service-enriched housing, skilled nursing facility) are needed beyond what individuals and families are currently able to access.

Housing discrimination remains a barrier to housing for many persons identifying with historically under-resourced communities. Landlord engagement programs coming online under this initiative will implement a trauma-informed and racial equity lens in working with participating landlords.

First Steps:

Increase housing exits for households connected to outreach, shelter, and other crisis response programs through a landlord engagement & rehousing initiative Increase Permanent
Housing Opportunities3
SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
18 Expand Prevention and
Diversion Resources4
Sub Strategy 4.a: Coordinate and leverage prevention resources across jurisdictions to connect households at imminent risk of literal homelessness to stabilization resources to avoid literal homelessness.

Sub Strategy 4.b: Sub Strategy 4.b: Scale existing prevention and diversion programs into a countywide rehousing program.

Investment in the expansion of prevention and diversion resources presents the greatest opportunity to reduce inflow into homelessness and minimize cost in crisis services, including the unnecessary trauma caused by loss of housing. It is estimated that there are approximately 3,200 individuals and 350 families that could be prevented from becoming homeless if the homeless response system had at least 29 FTEs and at least $7.5M annually in financial assistance for prevention and diversion resources. These resources will need to grow over time and coordinated with other system components for maximum effectiveness.

As funding for the expansion of prevention and diversion resources is sought, this strategy seeks action steps that can prevent at-risk households from falling into homelessness and/or divert from entry into the homeless response system.

First Steps:

Increase availability of housing problem-solving and diversion services for all people engaged with the Coordinated Access System.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
19 Invest in Community
Capacity-Building and Training5
Sub Strategy 5.a: Create an inclusive & supportive working environment to retain the current workforce and attract new staff from historically under-resourced communities and partners with lived expertise.

Sub Strategy 5.b: Increase community stakeholder support for countywide homelessness activities through increased engagement.

Successful implementation of this plan relies on the local homelessness workforce and support from the broader community. During the Coronavirus pandemic, homeless response system staff at all levels of leadership and stature demonstrated incredible resilience on the frontlines with an all-hands-on-deck approach to ensure necessary services for the community’s most vulnerable residents. Sacramento residents were also gracious in support of new crisis models such as Project RoomKey and expansion of safe parking and safe ground initiatives.

Despite the tremendous show of commitment from the homeless provider community during COVID, higher turnover rates and difficulty filling vacancies has become commonplace. As the community seeks to adapt to its new post-pandemic normal, there is a concern that the response system will continue to lose workers through the burnout, competition with higher- paying industries, and compassion fatigue.

This strategy seeks to reinvigorate the workforce and workplace culture to retain and advance current staff while leveraging position vacancies to attract an increasingly diverse workforce more reflective of participants being served from historically under-resourced communities, including partners with lived experience. Embracing workforce strategies that support employees from under-resourced communities improves the workplace culture for all staff.

This strategy also seeks to engage trusted community organizations who may not provide direct homeless services but would make great partners to increase awareness and access to this expansion of homelessness services. Finally, this strategy seeks to work with homeless service providers, faith-based, and grassroots organizations to develop community education strategies and volunteer opportunities to engage the community at-large in the implementation of these solutions.

First Steps:

Implement workforce recruitment and retention activities to support all employees, targeting staff from under-resourced communities including partners with lived expertise.

Develop a standard high-quality annual training agenda for homelessness services staff Develop and provide general educational materials that explains how to access services and navigate the homeless crisis response system.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
20 CONCLUSION
T
he Sacramento community is at the crossroads of an incredible opportunity to harness existing homelessness efforts and bring them to scale to address this urgent crisis.

Investment and implementation of the strategies and sub strategies outlined in this local homeless action plan will transform the status quo and generate visible and meaningful change to make homelessness in Sacramento rare, brief, and non-recurring.

This plan sets a unifying strategy for optimal homeless response and enhances current crisis response investments made by cities and the County. With current and additional funding opportunities on the horizon, this plan opens pathways to future funding by presenting an assessment of need and gaps that new dollars can fill. It demonstrates the cost effectiveness in pivoting from investments in crisis-only-responses to additional investments in homeless prevention, diversion, and problem-solving services to make them accessible for all people at- risk and/or seeking emergency shelter. The plan also identifies additional rehousing opportunities that are needed to create a streamlined flow so that system-users can exit homelessness in an efficient and streamlined manner, hopefully matched to an appropriate rehousing resource to mitigate their return to homelessness.

Additional efficiencies that this plan may generate upon successful implementation include increased HMIS participation with improved data collection and analysis; expansion of shelter and rehousing programs participating with the coordinated access system; increased coordination among funders and providers for staff recruitment and provision of staff training initiatives; and collaborative cross-regional planning and decision-making.

Success of this plan requires real commitment to implementation; additional investments; collective action; transparent progress reports and impact measurements and engaged stakeholders. It will require expanding the circle to include increased participation by the local healthcare, philanthropic, and business sectors. It will also require the ongoing support of the local community including creating additional opportunities for volunteerism and education on homelessness programs and services.

The plan will be measured through consistent review of the system level performance goals and presentation of these in a public-facing dashboard to be managed by Sacramento Steps Forward.

All together we can make a collective impact on addressing homelessness in Sacramento.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
21 Appendix A
Sacramento Continuum of Care
Needs Assessment and Gaps Analysis: Summary Findings
The following are summary findings from a comprehensive gaps analysis conducted by Sacramento Steps Forward, in consultation with the Sacramento Continuum of Care, City of Sacramento, and Sacramento County. The gaps analysis approach involved the following:

1. Estimating the annual number of people who experience literal homelessness in Sacramento County.

2. Estimating the annual service needs of those who experience literal homelessness, including need for targeted prevention assistance, based on an optimal range and availability of services that result in literal homelessness being prevented or quickly and successfully ended.

3. Examination of current and planned (i.e., funded and under-development) capacity expected to be available currently and in the next three years in Sacramento County to address service needs.

4. Estimating the service gaps remaining after accounting for current and planned capacity.

A complete description of gaps analysis methods, assumptions, and results will be provided in a separate report, pending availability of 2022 point-in-time (PIT) count data and any resulting adjustments to the gaps analysis findings reflected below.

Estimated Annual Number of People who Experience Literal Homelessness in Sacramento County: 16,500 to 20,000
It is estimated that between 16,500 and 20,000 people in any given year experience literal homelessness in Sacramento County1.

Key Characteristics
Among people who experience literal homelessness annually, it is estimated that:
• One out of four people (~23%) are adults and children in family households. • Almost half of all people (~45%) are unsheltered (1 or more days) and do not or cannot 1The range is based on -5% and +15% of the specific estimate of 17,355 people annually. A range is used as the exact estimate is used only as a baseline for system modeling. The annual estimate was calculated using a combination of Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data for calendar year 2021 and the 2019 Point-in-Time (PIT) count for the Sacramento CoC geographic area (Sacramento County).

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
22 access shelter.
• Two out of three (~66%) access homeless assistance (outreach, shelter, re-housing, etc.), but the remainder do not due to insufficient capacity, access, quality of services, or other issues.
• Black and African American people are significantly over-represented among people who experience homelessness: 39% of all people experiencing homelessness compared with 11% overall in Sacramento County2.
• Just over half of all adults (~54%) report having one or more severe and persistent disabling condition.
o One out of five adults (~22%) report having a severe mental illness. o One out of ten adults (~11%) report having a substance use disorder. o One out of four adults (~24%) adults are chronically homeless (disabled and literally homeless for 12 months or more currently or over four episodes in three years); most are in adult only households.

Estimated Annual Prevention and Homeless Assistance Needs The following service estimates are based on documented or otherwise assumed needs among those who experience literal homelessness annually. The estimates assume a much higher use of services than currently (91% vs 66%) due to greater availability of services, improved community-wide and equitable access, and adherence by providers to evidence- based practices. The gaps included in the table are estimates and assume that each type of service is generally available when needed and desired by qualifying populations. 2American Community Survey, Sacramento County Population Estimates, July 2021 (V2021)

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
23 Key Takeaways
Estimates will be adjusted as more current data is available (e.g., forthcoming 2022 PIT data).

Investments in prevention, diversion, and permanent housing solutions (e.g., housing navigation, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing) will directly reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness, the time people spend homeless, and returns to homelessness. When funded, developed, and operated consistently, these responses can eliminate the need for additional emergency shelter capacity.

Alternatively, without significant additional prevention and rehousing capacity (“business as usual”), more people will experience homelessness, requiring more emergency shelter and other costly crisis services.

Near-term investment in additional shelter capacity is needed to ensure safety and access to rehousing assistance but should be flexible to allow for later repurposing/use for housing.

Efforts are needed to increase positive turn-over (and openings) among current PSH units, increase the overall number of PSH units funded with homeless assistance and other resources, and increase other community-based affordable housing and service solutions to address gaps.

The need for rehousing supports and affordable, supportive housing options cannot be met by the homeless crisis response system alone. Cross-sector collaborations to develop sustainable housing and service supports for people with needs beyond housing are needed, such as for people with severe and persistent disabling conditions, returning citizens (following incarceration), and for older adults.

Factors Influencing Future Need
Population growth and demographic changes:

Although the Sacramento County general population growth is just under 1% on average per year over the past ten years, changes in demographic makeup (e.g., higher rate of growth among low- and very low-income households) of the County can directly affect the number of people experiencing homelessness and potentially needing prevention or shelter and rehousing assistance. The gaps analysis assumes no marked changes in population growth or characteristics will occur over the next five years.

Availability of affordable housing and other forms of assisted/supportive housing in the community:

The severe lack of naturally occurring and subsidized affordable housing options directly impacts the number of households that are precariously housed and inherently at-risk of literal homelessness. The average rent in Sacramento County has increased 16.7% since 2019, increasingly pricing out lower-income households, while at the same time vacancy rates SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
24 3Fair Market Rents are often not fully representative of typical rental costs and likely understate actual rental costs in many areas. are declining, directly decreasing viable housing options for lower-income households, and increasing risk for housing insecurity and homelessness. According to the latest Out of Reach report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, a full-time worker would have to earn at least $28.75 to afford a two-bedroom apartment at current fair market rental rates ($1,495)3.

The gaps analysis assumes housing market conditions will not materially improve.

Landlord partnerships:

Landlord partners are essential the success of homeless crisis response system, both to support and prevent households who are facing eviction, as well as to increase access to housing options in the rental market that might otherwise not be available to people experiencing homelessness and systemic racism. Increased investment in landlord partnerships and the capacity to maintain and grow partnerships can indirectly and directly influence the success of prevention and rehousing efforts, particularly with owners and property managers willing to consider applicants with potential credit, rental history, or criminal justice system involvement. The gaps analysis assumes growing investment and partnerships will occur as part of the natural evolution of the homeless crisis response system, consistent with other communities around California and the U.S.

Fidelity to evidence-based and best practices:

There is a growing body of empirical research on program practices and interventions, and documented evidence-based practices that prevention and homeless assistance providers can adopt to improve service quality, equity, and outcomes. Adherence to practices such as Housing First, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, and positive youth development, are key to improving system performance while ensuring efficient and, when needed, targeted use of resources. The gaps analysis assumes local providers will continue to adopt and iterate evidence-based and best practices, while local public and private funders continue to further standardize such practices and requirements in program funding, monitoring, and compliance activities.

Funding availability and strategic allocation:

Funding availability and strategic allocation for prevention and homeless services is a critical ingredient to developing a comprehensive, coordinated, and community-wide approach to preventing and ending homelessness. Coordinated approaches to determining local priorities, allocating resources, and monitoring investments for intended outcomes are hallmarks of high functioning, equitable, and effective homelessness prevention, and crisis response systems.

The gaps analysis assumes that local entities – the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, other Sacramento County municipalities, and the Continuum of Care – will continue to align funding priorities and allocation decisions toward achieving the regional plan, closing gaps, and achieving better outcomes for Sacramento residents.

SACRAMENTO LOCAL HOMELESS ACTION PLAN – 2022
25 Appendix B
Summary of Strategies and Sub Strategies
Strategy 1: Build and Scale a Countywide Coordinated Access System (CAS) Sub Strategy 1.a: Increase targeted participation in homeless crisis response services.