Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento county department of human assistance"

Data: Homelessness declines in Sacramento County

2011-04-23T01:11:44Z

The number of homeless people in Sacramento County has sharply declined, according to 2011 figures on homelessness released Friday by Sacramento Steps Forward and Sacramento County. Long-term homelessness saw the biggest decrease, with a 50 percent drop since 2007.

Despite the lasting effects of the recession locally, the numbers for both long-term homelessness and overall homelessness have fallen compared to recent years.

On any given night in Sacramento County in 2011, there are 2,358 homeless people, said Paul Lake, director of the county’s Department of Human Assistance. That’s down from 2,800 people at any night in 2009.

“I think we were all pleasantly surprised,” Lake said.

The data released Friday is based on the Jan. 27 Homeless Street Count held by Sacramento Steps Forward.

“In addition to the substantial decrease of 50.8 percent in chronic homelessness between 2007 and 2011, this year’s homeless count also found a 15.8 percent decrease in overall homelessness since 2009,” according to a fact sheet on the data released by Sacramento Steps Forward and Sacramento County.

While the overall numbers are down, the county did see an 11.2 percent rise in families that are homeless since 2009, according to the figures.

Lake credited the drop in homelessness partly to the work of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, a partnership between local government agencies and private firms in the Sacramento County. LINK

“I was hopeful that we’d see the success of the efforts that we’ve been making in the 10-year plan,” Lake said. “I think this points out that we have achieved some success.”

Lake also said that a federal stimulus program that started in 2009, the Homeless Prevention and Rapid-Rehousing program, helped lower the number of homeless in Sacramento County.

He said about 1,600 people in Sacramento County gained housing help through that program.

The numbers, which were crunched by the MKS Consulting firm, will be used by the county’s Department of Human Assistance to maintain federal Housing and Urban Development Department funding, said Lake.

The fact sheet on the results of the homeless count says the data is based on a “statistically reliable research-based method of counting that is approved by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

Sacramento County must provide statistics on homelessness to the federal housing department every other year, according to Michele Watts, program manager for Sacramento Steps Forward.

Lake explained that the data cannot be broken down by city to show how many homeless people are in each city in the county. The data was assessed by splitting up the county into areas that have a high number of homeless people and areas that have low numbers of homeless.

Volunteers counted homeless people in 100 percent of the high-density areas, said Megan Schatz, principal consultant for MKS Consulting, the firm that analyzed the data. About two-thirds of the low-density areas were counted, she said.

Because not every portion of the low-density areas were covered in the count, there is “no way to extrapolate how many people are in a given sub-section of the county,” Lake said.

Read the fact sheet on the new results here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Editorial Note: This is an updated version of an earlier story.

Mayor's group, other agencies house 1,168 families

2010-08-25T02:23:26Z

A group he formed to address homelessness surpassed its target to work with agencies and provide housing for 800 families this year, Mayor Kevin Johnson told the media Tuesday morning.

The group, Sacramento Steps Forward, formed last November and worked with other agencies to set up housing for 1,168 families this year.

“We’re making a difference in people’s lives,” Johnson said.

By 2012, Sacramento Steps Forward hopes to work with its partnering agencies to house 2,400 families.

Sacramento Steps Forward works with Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing of Sacramento County (HPRP). The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency administers HPRP, which is a federal stimulus program.

Additional groups affiliated with Sacramento Steps Forward include the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and the Sierra Health Foundation.

Kyomi Jones told the media that the HPRP helped her when she nearly became homeless.

“They helped me find a job,” Jones said. “I was able to keep my home, able to keep my kids. And I just thank God for them and everyone that helped me.”

Private citizens and religious groups gave $400,000 during a “One Day to End Homelessness” effort held in March. The effort successfully brought $1.6 million in federal funding to Sacramento County’s HPRP.

A press release from the mayor’s office noted that $4 from the federal government were matched to each local dollar, totaling $1.6 million.

Johnson praised religious groups for their involvement in the fundraising effort. “You have to give the faith community a round of applause,” he said.

In response to a question after the press conference, Tim Brown, director of Sacramento Steps Forward, said there are still waiting lists at local shelters, but the lists “have gone down somewhat” because of the HPRP program.

Sacramento County has 2,800 homeless people, according to the most recent statistics, which were calculated in January 2009, Brown said.

Of the 2,800 homeless people, 1,200 people are living on the streets, he said. The remaining people are living in shelters or transitional housing, he said.

The next count of the county’s homeless will be in January 2011, he said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Q&A: County official describes social services cuts

2009-07-17T04:15:30Z

With Sacramento County’s approval of major budget cuts in June, how have things changed for the county department that works with the homeless and other low-income populations?

The Sacramento Press sat down with Bruce Wagstaff, director of the county’s Department of Human Assistance, to ask him how the budget cuts have affected the department and its work. Wagstaff provided details about the cuts and DHA’s role to manage homeless shelter beds.

He is also concerned about possible state budget cuts that could harm DHA.

Sacramento Press: Can you briefly explain the purpose of DHA?

Bruce Wagstaff: It provides services for the lowest-income individuals in our county through public assistance programs like CalWorks, Medi-Cal, food stamps. We also do homeless assistance programs. We do senior nutrition.

With the economy being what it is, our data suggests that we touch -- through our various programs, one way or the other -- one out of every four residents of this county. And that’s kind of staggering, when you think about it. You go into our intake offices...and you’re seeing the effects of the economy firsthand. Caseloads are going way up. Our intake offices are really crowded. We’re also having to close some of our sites because of our budget reductions.

SP: A total of 154 shelter beds were cut when the Board of Supervisors adopted the county budget on June 17. Has anything changed since then?

BW: Frankly, due to the result of some really legendary work that folks did to try to address this -- notwithstanding any further cuts that might come down -- we have found a way to essentially mitigate the impact of the reductions on the shelters. It’s by doing several things: [One of the things is] looking at the stimulus dollars. [DHA is also able to mitigate the impact of the reductions on shelters] because the board gave us some money. The board gave us some economic development funds. Plus, we moved money around within the existing system.

The nutshell is this: On the shelter side, we think that we’ve been able to mitigate the reduction on the shelters. Where we have a hole, frankly, is in the winter shelter. So, here’s the deal: If we were to continue the winter shelter at Cal Expo, we think we have enough funding for one month. And we haven’t decided what month that would be. However, we have to have more discussions because we may decide, let’s do it somewhere else besides Cal/Expo.

I’m hopeful that by the time the winter comes along, we’ll be able to say something different, pending further cuts. This is not a done deal yet. Plus, we’re waiting to see what happens at the state level. My department is very heavily impacted by what happens at the state level. I just have to emphasize [that] further cuts could be coming. Among other things, the [Board of Supervisors] is looking to find $10 million to give to the sheriff. I am saying: I don’t know where [the $10 million] is going to come from. So, we’ll have to see. But I’m just very pleased the description I’m giving right now is much different than when we went into this.

But I’m pleased to say that the Mather Children’s Services program -- which was going to be totally eliminated -- will not be. It will probably be operating at a reduced level -- pending further cuts.

SP: Can you explain overall how your department was affected by the recent cuts?

BW: We certainly have been impacted. The homeless area is a big one. We also had to make significant reductions in our General Assistance program. General Assistance is for, largely, single adults who aren’t eligible for other public assistance programs. We reduced the amount of cash that those clients will get. The department has also had major staffing reductions at the same time that caseloads are growing to unprecedented levels that we’ve had to adjust to.

SP: How many staffers?

BW: Twenty-five people will be laid off. But on top of that, we’ve unfunded close to 200 positions that were left vacant. So basically, we put a hiring freeze on the department last year. And those positions have been unfunded, basically. So, it’s not just the people being laid off -- which is very unfortunate. I wish that number [of layoffs] could have been zero. But also, we lost all these positions. By doing that, we kept our layoff numbers down. So, that’s certainly been an impact.

In my department, only about 7 percent of the funding comes from the county. So, when we have to take big cuts in the county general fund, they’re focused in a relatively narrow part of the department. So, a lot of my public assistance money, for CalWorks and Medi-Cal and things like that, comes from the state and the [federal government]. So, when they ask me to take general fund reductions, it’s in homeless programs, in senior nutrition, in volunteer programs.

We’re also waiting to see what the state does because there have been major reductions proposed in the CalWorks program, and that could affect us hugely.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County homeless programs could face major cuts

2009-06-12T02:31:01Z

The director of the county department that works with the homeless population said Thursday that the department is still significantly hampered by the budget crisis even though county managers want to provide it with additional funding.

Bruce Wagstaff, director of Sacramento County’s Department of Human Assistance, told the Board of Supervisors the department is facing a general fund budget gap of $36.8 million and will no longer have the ability to fund 154 shelter beds for homeless people. Wagstaff presented his department’s outlook during the board’s third day of budget hearings on the county’s $180 million budget gap. A proposed budget for the 2009/2010 fiscal year may be approved by supervisors next week.

The social services presentations, which included DHA, attracted a crowd of more than 250 people Thursday morning. All seats in the auditorium were filled, and a second crowd filled additional seats that were set out in the lobby.

“While I am extremely appreciative of all the hard work that has gone into this -- to provide the reduced impact we’ve been able to come up with -- I am not here today to tell you we have fully addressed this reduction,” Wagstaff said.

The department continues to have a “very serious problem” that will lead to fewer services for homeless people, he said.

DHA’s general fund has been reduced about 38 percent over the last two years, Wagstaff said. Meanwhile, the department’s “case loads in every program are reaching unprecedented levels,” he said.

County officials are recommending that the board move $350,000 more to DHA’s budget. Wagstaff originally projected that the department would be forced to stop funding 328 shelter beds. DHA, with the help of other county departments and stakeholders, was able to restore 174 beds. But that still leaves 154 shelter beds in the county that will disappear, according to Wagstaff.

The department also plans to lay off 40 employees, according to its most recent count.

After Wagstaff’s presentation, Supervisor Susan Peters said that there were so many people who wanted to speak that testimony from the public could take more than three hours.

Valerie Feldman, acting managing attorney for Legal Services of Northern California, was one of many speakers who opposed cuts on county programs that help the homeless.

“At the time of the greatest need, this is not the time to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable,” Feldman said.