HAP announces actions to address Santa Cruz County homelessness in 2020
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) The Homeless Action Partnership announced actions the county will take next year to improve the community's response to homelessness.
HAP worked with each city in the county, local homelessness service providers and the county to decide on the actions to take, and they were approved by the Board of Supervisors.
HAP said these actions will be implemented around the county in early 2020:
- Updating the Smart Path entry program to help get people into services more quickly and reduce the number of homeless
- Start using systematic diversion strategies to help those who are at risk of becoming homeless to use existing resources and networks
- Revising shelter strategies to make housing resources more effective and accessible and move people from shelters to permanent housing quickly
- Redesigning street-level outreach to the homeless using a new approach that brings outreach teams and funders to share information, methods and measurable outcomes.
- Restructuring homelessness governance between agencies to make decision-making, planning, funding and outcomes more effective and efficient
According to the 2019 Point-in-Time Count, there are 2,167 people who are considered homeless in Santa Cruz County. About a third of them are employed, and about three-quarters of them lived in Santa Cruz County before becoming homeless.
