Grand Jury report says Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency not addressing needs of people who live in South Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- A Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report released on Tuesday found that the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Department failed to meet certain standards due to limited resources as well as inadequate reporting in some South Santa Cruz County areas.

To mitigate this, the report suggests more accurately displaying outcomes and costs; increasing emphasis on enhanced case management services; reducing expensive out-of-county patient transfers; and addressing socioeconomic disparities within the community.

The report indicated that, "Santa Cruz County’s Behavioral Health Services, relative to other California counties, is charged with providing mental health services to a substantial, high-need population that the County does not have the resources to adequately address."

Back from the Grand Jury's 2022-2023 report, Santa Cruz was listed as having the most "homeless people per capita than anywhere else in California," with an estimated 37% of the Behavioral Health Services clients being considered homeless.

Additionally, the same report listed the county's BHD staff vacancy rate as 30%, in part due to the high cost of living in Santa Cruz.

As part of the recommendation, the Grand Jury Report said that people who live in the 95076 area code--which consists of Watsonville, Las Lomas and Interlaken--is the area with the most need.

Demand for mental health services has gone up since the pandemic and​ the growing homeless crisis.

Not to mention a mental health staffing shortage statewide.

“We are providing training supervision the opportunity to work directly with clients so that we are supporting students to seek a career in the behavioral health realm," Sandra Hughes HSA departmental Communication Officer said.

The report finds people living in the 95076 zip code are often transfering to other​ areas for treatment at a higher rate than others.

“I’ve had parents call me saying you know my kid is halfway across the state in Sonoma and it’s hard for us to visit because they don’t have vehicles and so we have a high number of cases where we have patients that are transferred to another county," supervisor Felipe Hernandez said.

Many of the statistics in the report highlight what the grand jury is calling a "disturbing reality" in the county's attempts to provide proper mental health services.

County supervisor Felipe Hernandez says the budget for these services needs to reflect the diverse community he serves.

“We’re going through this process, making sure that we hire people that are by bicultural, Spanish speaking because that’s who the majority of this represents," Hernandez said.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors as well as the County Superintendent of Schools have until Sept. 9 and Aug. 12, respectively, to respond to the report.

The Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Services Director and the County Chief Administrative Officer have been invited to respond to the report by Sept. 9.

To view the full report, click here.