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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
County budget troubles spur new idea for homeless program
by Kathleen Haley, published on September 13, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Storyline: Regional Issues
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Sacramento County’s budget woes are prompting county and city staffers and local groups to consider establishing a new nonprofit organization to address homelessness.
A new agency could lift some of the county’s burden to manage regional homelessness efforts, according to a recently released report from the county’s Department of Human Assistance.
After February 2011, DHA will not have enough funding to continue its homelessness program, according to the department’s report.
The county is running low on general fund dollars for the program, said Derrick Lim, a manager with the city’s Neighborhood Services division who is working on the issue at the city level.
“That’s why the situation is so dire,” Lim said.
The Sacramento City Council and the county Board of Supervisors are discussing the idea of a nonprofit organization in separate meetings on Tuesday.
The start date for the nonprofit could be June 2011, according to the DHA report. Money will need to be found for the nonprofit, the report said.
The nonprofit would do more than provide an alternative to the county’s current homelessness program. It would also help organize the region’s numerous homeless efforts, the DHA report said.
There are dozens of groups involved with homelessness issues in the region. A report that will be discussed by the City Council on Tuesday noted that 30 agencies were represented at DHA meetings on homelessness in May and June.
The county would continue to be a partner in regional homelessness efforts, said Kerri Aiello, spokeswoman for the Countywide Services Agency.
Read the report from DHA here.
Learn about the City Council’s role in this issue here.
Photo by Brandon Darnell. People rest at Loaves and Fishes.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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Out right , one on one counseling. one on one, get to know you.
I have tried it in Vancouver. Amazing what a few people can do.
I pray for the needs here "to be found" rtg. yvr.ca
for when we get down to it we are all in this together and we are all effected by it!
A high priority of the county ought to be the social safety net. Abandoning their responsibilities to the county's homeless population is outrageous. Sacramento County has a DIRECT responsibility to run and pay for operations to save people from utter destitution.
The county needs to provide oversight to protect homeless people from many of the homeless-services nonprofits that are out there. One right homeless people do have is a right to secular goverance in this country. Homeless people must not be fully put under the thumb of the fumbling, dunderheaded empire-building religious nonprofits that exist in this county.