How will SLO deal with growing homeless population? City is working on 2-year plan
San Luis Obispo has announced its first steps toward forming a two-year strategic plan to respond to homelessness in the community.
At Tuesday’s San Luis Obispo City Council meeting, city officials cited areas of focus in addressing a growing unhoused population that has been the topic of countless concerned conversations.
The city envisions a plan featuring five key elements: data, communications, pilot programs, regional collaboration and engagement, and funding opportunities.
The work comes as San Luis Obispo County’s government is forming a 10-year strategic homeless response plan.
The county’s previous 10-year plan plan was adopted in 2008. Many advocates for the homeless community say it fell short of its mission to address affordable housing and services for unhoused people.
SLO County resources, including those offered by the Department of Social Services and the Public Health Department, extend far beyond what the city can provide through its budget.
However, San Luis Obispo can allocate discretionary general fund money to nonprofit partners that provide services.
“Whatever we publish in the form of a strategic plan will be supportive of the regional discussions and strategies, and doesn’t work in opposition to, or work in a different direction, than what we’ve agreed to with our regional partners,” said Michael Codron, San Luis Obispo community development director.
SLO seeks to assess key challenges
San Luis Obispo homeless response manager Kelsey Nocket, who was hired in April, said the city is advancing its strategy development after assessing key challenges, program effectiveness and ongoing needs.
That work has taken place over the past six months.
“What’s working?” read a slide presented by Nocket. ”What can we address now? Where can we focus to achieve the greatest long-term impact?”
Once the two-year plan is implemented, it will be continuously monitored and evaluated, Nocket said.
The council supported the use of $35,000 budgeted for public meetings to further gather information, materials and resources, and to pay for needed resources that could be implemented quickly.
Nocket said the meetings could involve panel discussions with experts, as well as engagement with homeless community members and advocates, among others.
“The more communication on the front end equals an easier time later,” San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart said. “The more informed people feel, the better people feel.”
“There’s a reality of a lack of housing, low-income and affordable, and there’s a lot in process,” Stewart added. “There’s the Master Plan at Cal Poly, what the city is doing, the county is doing, and the nonprofits the community may not know about.”
Councilmember Jan Marx, who is supportive of the city’s strategic approach, expressed concerns about the fractured nature of the current homeless response system regionally.
She particularly cited the need for a designated county government staff leader who could coordinate resources and efforts across departments.
“That’s my fear,” Marx said. “There could be a lot of good ideas, but it’s fractured across the county structure, (so) it could not be very productive.”
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Key components of city plan to deal with homelessness
Nocket cited gaps in data resources, echoing a report released this week by former U.S. Sen. Sam Blakeslee and local attorney Greg Gillett as part of their SLO County Citizens Homeless Commission.
The local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and Point in Time (PIT) Count are two key monitoring systems currently used. City agencies such as the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the San Luis Obispo Fire Department and San Luis Obispo Parks and Recreation all track data that relates to homelessness.
But sometimes the information isn’t saved or managed efficiently to work well enough for all organizations and agencies.
“What we’re hoping to accomplish in our strategic planning is to streamline this data so we can provide services more effectively within the city and feed into our (homeless service) partners and more accurately inform our HMIS and PIT,” Nocket said.
Among its other initiatives, Nocket said the city is researching what pilot programs may be used in addition to the city’s Safe Parking program by the train station, as well as its Mobile Crisis Unit, which involves who medics are available for emergency response, and Community Action Team, which pairs law enforcement officers and social workers.
In addition, the city seeks to tap into more channels of funding.
“As the federal government and state of California have recognized the urgency of the homeless crisis, more funding has become available and should be pursued to the extent that grant funded activities can be effectively implemented,” a city staff report noted.
Achieving results
What city resources for homeless people could be developed as the result of planning?
Examples proposed by the city include a dashboard that identifies overnight shelter capacity, forecasted hazardous weather events and scheduled clean-outs, and maps that identify the location and status of homeless encampments for coordination and outreach purposes.
Other aspects include reviewing the city’s existing grant guidelines to determine more efficient pathways to secure grant funding and identifying through the SLO County 10-year strategic plan process how discretionary dollars are allocated.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, San Luis Obispo resident Tim Jouet said that planning for the future is important, but it’s also important to address current needs.
“Just in the last week, I know of three people who suffered (drug) overdoses,” Jouet said. “These are people no different from you or I aside from possible trauma they experienced. I hope the city keeps a good eye on immediate needs as well.”
“This report gives me a little concern that we are still trying to muck our way through how we’ve done things in the past,” he added. “We have to do better in the future.”
In response, Nocket said the city’s park ranger service requested training on the drug naxolene, also known by the brand name Narcan, to treat narcotic overdoses in emergency situations since rangers frequently interact with homeless people.
Nocket also noted that portable restrooms have been added at city park locations for use when facilities are closed.
She added proactive measures will be implemented in the near term as needed as the long-term planning continues.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 9:52 AM.
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