By Dianne Anderson

Help is on the way for San Bernardino County’s unhoused, and the destitute sleeping in the streets with $72 million flowing down for additional beds, shelter and support services.

The allocation unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors pulls federal, state and county resources together to bolster goals in the County’s Homeless Strategic Framework and Strategic Action Plan, which calls for increased housing supply, action on healthcare needs, equity and expansion, and better delivery systems.

One collaborative project, Pacific Village in Highland, is allocated $29.7M to expand to Phase II for more semi-private and private housing with an increase in services from 698 to 726 individuals annually.

There, families and individuals will receive long-term recuperative care, permanent supportive housing and necessary assistance to deal with the greatest challenge facing the county, addressing housing capacity.

The Kern facility, located in Muscoy, allocated $2.5M, and will help those who are out on the street, and can not take care of themselves.

SWAG, the Social Work Action Group, has allocated an additional $3.4M, extending that contract for another two years. That effort is with the Sheriff’s Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement (HOPE) team, Department of Behavioral Health, Department of Aging and Adult Services and community-based providers. Since December 2021, the county and SWAG engaged 165 individuals. Of those, 38% were provided shelter.

“We’re extending the contract with SWAG. Our street outreach team, which is non-law enforcement goes out throughout the county and tries to get homeless individuals connected to services and help,” said Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr.

Baca said the county is taking a huge step to address homelessness through five key components of programming, with the main priority on ensuring additional housing capacity.

Other initiatives in the budget approval will also shore up capacity, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOME-ARP Program with $12.7M to help with homeless services.

According to the San Bernardino County HOME-ARP Allocation Plan, Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) or Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs) will go out to partnerships with housing and service providers. The County’s Department of Community Development and Housing will coordinate the RFQ or NOFA application process from for-profit and nonprofit entities for project sites with a San Bernardino County address.

Still in the formulation stage, the County Housing Development Grant Initiative is also looking to offer $20M in grants to third parties, mostly cities and those with supportive community-based homeless housing projects. The hope is to support the homeless with additional beds and low-cost housing units.

Shelter capacity, where to put people in need of homes, is one of the biggest aspects of the housing crisis. The county wants to partner with cities, which can also compete for funding to support housing projects.

“For example, [if] the city of San Bernardino is putting together a housing project and they are short maybe $1-2 million, this is an opportunity for the county to be able to partner and provide funding that will finish some of these projects,” Baca said.

Findings from the San Bernardino County 2022 Point in Time homeless study showed that over three-fourths of the 3,333 homeless adults and children were counted in seven cities, including Barstow, Colton, Fontana, Ontario, Redlands, San Bernardino, and Victorville.

The study reports that nearly half, 47%, of unsheltered adults who agreed to be surveyed stated that the city where they first became homeless was San Bernardino and 6% for Victorville.

“In that same period, there were only 851 transitional and emergency shelter beds available. This represents a significant gap between the numbers of beds available in comparison to the number needed. In 2022, 1,027 individuals were identified as chronically homeless (44% of 2,292 unsheltered individuals counted in PITC), potentially qualifying for permanent supportive housing beds,” the study said.

In May, Baca said all of the county’s cities, and their city managers are invited to a roundtable event where the focus will be defining the county’s role in the process, and letting cities know how the county can help.

It’s a good opportunity to show leadership and bring heads together to solve the problem, he added.

“I think we need to get away from the times when people want to continue to finger point, blame the county, the cities. We just want to make sure we have a clear path on how to address this issue,” he said.

For the county’s Homeless Strategic Action Plan, see http://bit.ly/3ZAcNe8

For information on the San Bernardino County HOME-ARP Allocation Plan, see http://bit.ly/3Ge9tyD

For more, see https://sbcountycdha.com/