By Dianne Anderson

Mired in the throes of the state’s homeless epidemic, they live in tents on streets, under bridges, in the parks, some are out in the open, but many are largely hidden and unaccounted for.

Pastor Paul Jones, whose nonprofit is connected with 211 Access, verifies the homeless wherever and whenever he sees them, which is often. For those who want a bed, he’s always trying to get them into local programming, but he knows that good programming is hard to find.

“We get them into a couple of programs that we have a connection,” he said. “It’s trying to get hotel vouchers to get people off the street until we can get them into housing, maybe 15 days. A lot of times that doesn’t work. Nobody I know has them,” he said.

Around homeless camps, he gets food and resources out amid the proliferating tents at Perris Hill and Seccombe Lake parks. In the past few months, he was able to help a few seniors off the streets.

He said it is a small dent in the problem.

“We find people that have beds. I’m happy that one lady, 76 years old, we were able to get her off the streets, but there’s not a whole lot of beds,” said Jones, CEO and Founder of the Benjamin E Jones Community Resource Center.

The County’s last Point in Time Count and Survey shows a sharp uptick, now with 4,195 homeless adults and children identified over the 2022 count of 3,333, representing a 25.9% increase. While Blacks only represent 9.3% of the county, the count found that more than half of accompanied children under age 18 in families were identified as Black, African American, or African by an adult in the family.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced State grants to combat homelessness

Those were just the ones counted. One study by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty estimates that the U.S. Department of HUD Point in Time Count misses up from 2.5 to 10% of the unhoused.

Last week, Gov. Newsom addressed new funding and accountability for $192 million in awards to help move homeless people out of encampments and into housing with support through 20 projects in 17 California communities. That funding, part of the state’s Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF) grants, is administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH).

Newsom stressed that local governments must ensure the funding is utilized on the ground where homelessness is happening.

During the announcement, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran said the funding is a significant step forward in the city’s ongoing efforts to provide essential support and resources to individuals experiencing homelessness.

The city has been awarded a $4.6 million Encampment Resolution grant, concentrated within a 5.2-mile corridor along Waterman Avenue.

“The City of San Bernardino has met with a lot of challenges and obstacles with our homelessness issues. As you may know the City of San Bernardino has the largest homeless population in San Bernardino County. Our Community is deeply committed to addressing this pressing issue with compassion, innovation and collaboration,” Tran said in the virtual meeting.

Cal ICH, created in 2017, develops policies and coordinates resources, among other benefits, to prevent and end homelessness in the state. The agency is leaving some discretion to cities and jurisdictions regarding how they want to spend funding through the Encampment Resolution Funding Program, a competitive grant program available to assist local jurisdictions.

“Cal ICH grants are available to California cities, counties, and Continuums of Care – not nonprofits, at least not directly,” said Russ Heimerich, spokesperson for California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, in an email. “However, the grant recipients may contract with local nonprofits and other service providers to work on the project the grantee designed for the grant application. Each grant recipient determines how they will select subcontractors for the grant and will likely include local nonprofits.”

San Bernardino City expects the Grants Division or Office of Housing and Homelessness to have more information about the recent award in the coming weeks. As yet, the timeline has not been announced for when funds will be received and when the program will launch.

Jeff Kraus, the city spokesperson, said some partnerships and components are already established through the Encampment Resolution Program, along with funding to be made available to local businesses, non-profits, CBOs, and other organizations that can provide the required services.

Topping the list is rapid rehousing, along with funding for local landlords. Through the city’s ERF award, VARP Inc., Gibson House, received $871,600, which includes supportive Interim Housing, and intervention to prevent clients from returning to encampments.

Community Action Partnership received $450,000 ARPA funds in the past to provide mobile showers and laundry services for the unhoused until May, with requests for an additional $450,000 ERF to cover the anticipated cost of three years of laundry and showers.

Other anticipated competitive local awards include Rapid Rehousing at $600,000 and adjacent services, Rental Assistance Subsidy for one-bedroom units at $608,958, along with $84,420 for two-bedroom units, both to include security deposit and six months of rental assistance subsidies. Landlord incentive includes $99,054 to be paid to landlords with up to one month’s rent based on Fair Market Rent as an incentive for permanent housing placement.

In the webinar, Gov. Newsom addressed criticism from a recent state audit that found $24 billion did not properly track homelessness and services over the past five years. He emphasized increased accountability and tracking of this new funding that cities and counties receive must ensure the money goes where intended.

He said he expects to apply pressure to target homelessness, and what’s happening on the streets and sidewalks in the state.

“People have had it, they’re fed up. I’ve had it, I’m fed up. I know the Mayors and the city administrators are fed up as well. None of us are naive about the expectation that has been set in terms of our constituents. People want to see these tents and encampments removed, but they want to see them removed in a compassionate and thoughtful way,” he said.

For more information on state and federal funds, see
https://bcsh.ca.gov/calich/documents/putting_the_funding_pieces_together.pdf

Other Grant RFP opportunities are also available with San Bernardino County, see

Nonprofits can participate in RFPs by visiting:
https://wp.sbcounty.gov/purchasing/ to become registered vendors.

To view and search “Active RFPs,” see https://epro.sbcounty.gov/bso/view/search/external/advancedSearchBid.xhtml?openBids=y