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On Monday, the Pittsburg City Council is being asked to approve a 3-year agreement with Contra Costa health Services for homeless outreach.

The move comes as the latest Contra Costa County Point in Time Count showed the City of Pittsburg saw an increase in homelessness between 2023 to 2024. It jumped from 58 to 110.

According to the three-year contract, the total cost is $880,848 for a Coordinated Outreach Referral and Engagement (CORE) program services to assist individuals living in a state of homelessness within the boundaries of Pittsburg.

The Agreement will be funded by $874,738 in PHLA funds and Housing Successor Agency (HSA) funds will be used to pay for the difference between the total cost of the Agreement and the PLHA grant funds, which is anticipated to be $6,110. HSA funds will also be used as an advance in the event that HCD is delayed in remitting the grant funds to the City.

Through the State’s Project Home Key program, the County acquired Motel 6 and turned it into a permanent shelter named Delta Landing in 2022. Conversion of Motel 6 into a shelter has financially impacted the City because Motel 6 was no longer able to generate and pay transient occupancy tax to the City. To help ease some of the impacts, the County funded a CORE Team dedicated to Pittsburg (Pittsburg CORE Team) for fiscal years 2021/22 and 2022/23. The County’s funding of the Pittsburg CORE Team expired on June 30, 2023.

The CORE program works to engage and stabilize homeless persons and families through consistent outreach and to refer the unhoused to resources such as shelters, daytime drop-in care centers, emergency food, job training, healthcare, mental health counseling, transportation, substance abuse treatment, and other services. CORE teams serve as an entry point into the County’s coordinated entry system for the unhoused and work to locate, engage, stabilize, and house chronically homeless individuals and families.

Pursuant to the Initial Agreement, the Pittsburg CORE Team consists of 2 staff members who will each work 40 hours per week, Monday-Friday, 8 am-4 pm. The work schedule may be revised based on the City’s needs. The Pittsburg CORE Team will provide the following services:

• Identify and initiate contacts with homeless individuals living on the streets, assess their housing and service needs, and facilitate connections to shelter, benefits, behavioral health and primary healthcare services.
• Respond to calls for outreach and engagement from the City staff.
• Conduct a standardized intake and needs assessment assuring all homeless individuals contacted are entered into the Homeless Management Information System used by the Contractor.
• Conduct VI-SPDAT (Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization Assistance Tool), a housing assessment tool assuring that homeless individuals who are provided services hereunder are entered into the Coordinated Entry system for prioritizing their needs for longer term housing.
• Partner with assigned City officer(s) during CORE Team’s work shifts throughout the week as needed and as determined by the City.
• Connect homeless individuals, also designated as “homeless clients,” via phone or in person with other points in the homeless service continuum including, but not limited to, interim housing, substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, benefits, etc.
• Perform special assignments that include, but not limited to, homeless counts and presentations.
• Conduct patrols of strategic areas within the city limits on foot and via vehicle.
• Observe and report threats to the health and/or safety of homeless individuals (or threats by homeless individuals to the health or safety of others) encountered in the field and determine the need to request for uniformed police, fire or other emergency personnel.
• Maintain direct communications with the City’s Police Department to report illegal activity.
• CORE Team supervisors and outreach workers will participate in monthly meetings with the City’s Police Management, as well as with public and private partners as deemed appropriate by the City.
• Contractor will provide a monthly report to the City which will describe the services rendered during the previous 30 days, as well as the names of the persons rendering the service

According to the staff report, the homeless crisis is not particular to any city. Because most cities do not have the resources to tackle homeless issues on their own, many cities partner with counties and service providers as an efficient and cost effective way of addressing homelessness.

The City is no different. For example, the City uses some of its Community Development Block Grant funds to fund organizations who provide meals and conduct food distribution and administer healthcare services to the unhoused. Various housing funds have been used to assist projects that constructed residential units for those who were previously homeless or at the verge of homelessness. The City also provides in-kind services to assist the shower program offered to the unhoused. The City is dedicated to working with its partners in providing resources and assisting in the homeless efforts.

If You Go:

Pittsburg City Council Meeting
June 17, 2024  at 7:00 pm
65 Civic Avenue, Pittsburg

Staff Report, click here
Agreement, click here

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