CEO’s Message | Sacramento Homelessness Progress Report

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The Point-In-Time Count released last month put a huge exclamation point on where we stand with homelessness today. As a community, we need to work smarter and closer than ever to both manage the problem and ultimately, end homelessness altogether.   

We must prevent homelessness from happening in the first place, and help ensure that for others, it is short lived. And when a crisis requires temporary sheltering, it must be immediately paired with efforts to obtain permanent housing and the appropriate services that will help a person rebuild their life.

Achieving this can only be done with a systems approach, which shifts from “rush to action” to thoughtful, coordinated processes. It improves overall efficiency of service and outcomes, and working together, strengthens trust among partners. 

This unified effort is now fully underway. The city, county, and the Continuum of Care (CoC) recently pooled resources to invest $12 million to create a “coordinated access” program aimed at ensuring people needing services have a single front door to go through to access the right help within over 100 homeless and housing programs. This investment–including navigation support to services–will ensure that help is more equitable, expedient, and easier to find by our unhoused neighbors.  

Systems change and scaling capacity will be supported by the core strategies recently developed collaboratively by the city, county, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, and our CoC in the three-year Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan to move the needle significantly on homelessness.  

Underpinning all our combined efforts is data. Over time, we have gained great insights from Point-In-Time counts about what is needed. Our recent gaps analysis added to that baseline knowledge. Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF)'s next level effort will be to gain and work with more real time data, which will help us adjust much more quickly to make progress.  

Going forward, we at SSF will continue to reinforce system solutions. We see our role as an agent and committed stewards to driving change that supports the alignment of service providers, stakeholders, and decision makers. And like local governments and others, we will hold ourselves accountable for our actions. 

The City of Sacramento, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, SSF, and the County of Sacramento are collaborating to keep you informed about our collective efforts to address Sacramento homelessness. In this newsletter, we discuss more about HUD’s Special NOFO opportunity and how our community is looking to respond to the call.

The US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the Special Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to Address Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness (Special NOFO) on June 22, 2022. The Sacramento CoC is only eligible for the unsheltered component. The CoC intends on applying for these funds and plans to engage people with lived expertise, the CoC Board, and Committees throughout the process. The application is due on October 20, 2022. Take a quick survey for us to gain insight on how to prioritize the Special NOFO funding opportunity. For questions regarding this funding opportunity please email Jesse Archer, SSF CoC Analyst.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Fiscal Year 2022 CoC Program Competition was released yesterday on August 1, 2022. The entire grant application is due on September 30, 2022, giving the community approximately 9 weeks to complete the full application process. Register to attend the Sacramento CoC's mandatory Technical Assistance Workshop on Wed., August 10, 2022 from 1:00 pm to 3:00pm via Zoom. 

Sacramento County is currently experiencing high COVID-19 transmission. In response, SSF is making available additional COVID-19 tests to continue supporting your work with people experiencing homelessness, especially shelters that are experiencing outbreaks. With the county’s current state, it is also recommended to continue adhering to effective public health practices (i.e., wear masks indoors in public settings, stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination, get tested if symptomatic, maintain a 6-foot distance, take additional precautions if at high risk for severe illness). There are limited supplies. Please complete the form below ASAP to reserve COVID-19 testing kits for your program.

The multi-year Coordinated Access System (CAS) project aims to create efficient, equitable processes that connect people experiencing housing crises with resources including available emergency shelter beds when needed. Its soft launch on September 1st will involve a single shelter assessment to be utilized for assessing need and eligibility prior to shelter placement. 

Recognizing that housing problem-solving is the first intervention in the crisis response system, SSF held its first two-day, housing problem-solving skills training for frontline staff this June. It focused on household-centered, strengths-based, exploratory conversations that explore safe housing options outside of the crisis response system. 

The CAS official launch on October 1st will see 211 as the primary referring entity for all City-funded shelters. The addition of a Coordinated Access Navigation (CAN) team will provide shelter connection and problem-solving support. CAN RFP applications, which were due on July 22, will be reviewed by a non-conflicted panel within the next month. The selection of the awarded agency(ies) will be determined on September 2, 2022. 

SSF and the core development team are excited to continue working with participating providers in the development of the CAS.

The Sacramento CoC was awarded the Cal ICH Family Challenge Homelessness Grant in June to focus on family households with dependent minors. This grant will be leveraged with SSF's Bezos Day1 Family Funds in partnership with the Black Child Legacy Campaign to address racial disparities of families experiencing homelessness, particularly among our Black/African American community. 

In collaboration with these grants, the CoC will build a system level coordinated response to ending family homelessness by creating the Family Collaborative project. Efforts will focus on expanding the capacity to collect real time quality data, develop shared goals and strategies, address racial disparities, and build cross-agency case conferencing.

As part of this work, SSF is currently hiring a Family Collaborative Director who will partner closely with the SSF Executive Leadership team, members of the CoC, County, City and other related agencies to help achieve the goal that “no child sleeps outside.”

The Sacramento Homeless Policy Council (SHPC)  will come together next on Friday, August 12 at 10AM to engage in broad-based, collaborative, and strategic discussions in response to Sacramento’s homelessness crisis. This will include elected officials and Sacramento’s CoC leaders. Please register in advance and stay tuned for an agenda.

The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is our community hub for documenting services provided to those who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. SSF has hired new HMIS staff and the department has several exciting projects in the works. Check out their newly updated HMIS pages for information about accessing and using this powerful system. More information is to come! 

The SSF Staff continues to grow! Please help us welcome Trent Simmons, Scott Murphy, and Sundiata Bahati. They are all dedicated to ending homelessness in our communities by using their gifts in the Data Management and Program Contracts Departments.

We’re hiring! We are currently accepting applications for the new Family Collaborative project and for the Coordinated Access System. We encourage you to browse our job postings and share them with your networks.

We're monitoring available trainings and hosting community learning events to support the continued training and development of Sacramento professionals working in homelessness. Browse upcoming trainings (below and at the link) and access our previous discussions.

08/9 - 08/11 | HUD Office of Housing Counseling 2022 Community Conference 

08/18 | Paving the Way to College for Students Experiencing Homelessness 

08/30 | Understanding Doubled Up

The Sacramento CoC meetings occur on a monthly basis. Stay informed by attending the upcoming meetings:

08/10 at 8:00 AM  | CoC Board

08/11 at 2:30 PM  | Coordinated Entry System Committee

08/17 at 9:00 AM  | Racial Equity Committee

08/25 at 9:00 AM  | System Performance Committee

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