Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Ken Cole, Director, Human Services Agency
Subject: Measure K: Agreement with Samaritan House for Diversion and Coordinated Entry System Services
RECOMMENDATION:
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Measure K: Adopt a resolution authorizing an agreement with Samaritan House for Diversion and Coordinated Entry System Services for a term of July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024, for a total obligation amount not to exceed $2,721,457.
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BACKGROUND:
The Human Services Agency (HSA) Center on Homelessness and its community partners closely collaborate on a broad spectrum of homeless services that work together to form the community's homeless crisis response system. Focused on enhancements to the homeless crisis response system and the County's goal to reach a functional zero level of homelessness, the County's Strategic Plan to End Homelessness focuses on creating a unified system, investing in best practices, and reorienting the homeless system towards the housing crisis response, and Diversion and the Coordinated Entry System (CES) is a key component of the strategic plan on homelessness.
CES is a system designed to efficiently match individuals or households experiencing homelessness to available housing, shelter, and services. It is designed to coordinate program participant intake, assessment, and provision of referrals to efficiently and effectively connect people to housing and service interventions that will prevent or end homelessness.
Diversion is an intervention designed to address the needs of someone who has just lost their housing or is at imminent risk of losing their housing. This approach is centered on the individual or household, and the goal is to help them find safe alternative housing immediately, rather than entering shelter or experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
The goal of Diversion and CES is to coordinate access into the programs available throug...
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