Douglas County Homeless Initiative

BOCC Hearing Room, Conference Rooms A & B

Agenda — 10 items

1. 1. Welcome & Introductions: Commissioner Laydon
2. 2. PIT Summer Count: Rand Clark, Community Services Manager: This Summer the County is conducting a Point-In-Time (PIT) count on the evening of Monday, July 29th. Last year’s Summer PIT count results showed a total of 93 people experiencing homelessness, 54 were unsheltered, and 39 were sheltered. There will be four HEART Teams conducting the count. The target areas will include parking lots, outdoor spaces, intersections, transit centers, and our community partners. The Strive to Thrive community resource fair will be on Tuesday, July 30th from 4:00-6:00p.m. at Southeast Christian Church in Parker.
3. 3. HEART: • Tiffany Marsitto, HEART Supervisor: HEART received a total of 114 referrals for the month of June. Of those 114 referrals, 56% were proactive street outreach by HEART, 24% were dispatched by law enforcement, 12% were citizen calls, 4% were public referral forms, and 4% were community partner calls. The call outcomes included 35 individuals contacted by HEART, six were not from Douglas County, nine were not homeless, 10 refused services, one law enforcement action, 50 no unsheltered person found, and one unoccupied encampment that has been cleaned up. The three highest categories of HEART program enrollments included: 17 transport assistance, 68 hotel vouchers, and seven referrals to housing support. During the month of June services provided by location include Highlands Ranch 41%, Castle Rock 16%, Parker 20%, Lone Tree 17%, Castle Pines 2%, and Englewood 4%. • Success Story: HEART received a call in the beginning of June from a family of five that relocated to Colorado from Virginia. While they were waiting for their apartment to become available, they ran out of funds to stay in a hotel. They found themselves homeless and living out of their vehicle. The family applied for multiple county programs and contacted numerous churches for assistance. A seven-night hotel stay was secured for the family and a local church helped fund their security deposit. The family moved into their apartment on June 18th and are grateful to Douglas County for their assistance.
4. 4. Legal Update: Jeff Garcia, Douglas County Attorney’s Office: The Grants Pass ruling stated that criminal punishments for sleeping outside where there is no access to shelter due to limited capacity, restrictions on entry, and other reasons is a form of cruel and unusual punishment according to the 8th amendment. The decision became the benchmark across the country for camping and public sleeping bans. Douglas County’s ordinance was based on the Grants Pass case and a second case from Boulder called Feet Forward. The Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Grants Pass ruling stating that city ordinances which prohibited sleeping or camping on public property, and which provided for progressive consequences in the form of civil fines, exclusion orders, and criminal prosecution for trespass, did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment when applied to individuals experiencing homelessness because it applies to all citizens, not just those experiencing homelessness. In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the County is considering an amendment to our camping ordinance to remove the shelter requirement.
5. 5. GOALS: Dontae Latson, CEO, Family Tree: Family Tree partners with all people to prevent and overcome the interconnected issues of child abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness to promote safety, stability, and healing across generations. Generational Opportunities to Achieve Long-term Success (GOALS) program offers families with children experiencing homelessness to break cycles of poverty and homelessness through economic empowerment and creating opportunities for health and wellbeing across generations. Each family has access to a private room with common living areas, bathrooms, and kitchens. The program length for FY2023-2024 averaged 143 days but the program can go up to nine months. Programs include early intervention parenting programs such as Safe Care and Incredible Years, financial literacy, tech workshops, and Family Voice which allows participants to speak about their needs. From the feedback received from Family Voice, in June 2023, an onsite early childhood education center was developed which serves 70 children, six weeks old to five years of age. Ability Connection Colorado provides the childcare services. The GOALS outcomes for FY23-24 included providing 10,695 nights of shelter to 35 individuals and 31 households, including 61 children, 71% of GOALS households exited to safe and stable housing, and 52% of households increased or maintained their income. Facility renovations have begun to include ADA accessibility and a 10-room expansion. There have been delays in renovation due to code requirements. New completion date is expected to be at the end of August and hope to begin accepting referrals for families in mid-September. There are private and faith based organizational volunteer opportunities to adopt a room with a current need to adopt 10 rooms. Donations include bedding, furniture, neutral wall art, decorations, etc.
6. 6. Reintegration: • San Castillo, Douglas County JBBS Programs Administrator: The Douglas County Reintegration Team consists of the Jail Based Behavioral Services (JBBS) Programs Administrator, and from the Sheriff’s office, Lieutenant Taylor Davis, and Reintegration Deputy Shawn Sanchez. The JBBS Team consists of two Substance Use Disorder (SUD) clinicians, a Competency Case Manager, a Pre-Sentence Navigator, a Jail Medication Assisted Treatment (JMAT) Case Manager, and a Re-Entry Program Case Manager. Partnerships include A/D Works! workforce center employment specialist and Douglas County Human Services (DCHS) support specialists. • Lieutenant Taylor Davis: Release planning happens for each individual exiting from the jail and includes documentation replacement, employment, Medicaid/food assistance, transportation, social supports, housing, and SUD and mental health (MH) treatments. From January 1 - June 30, 2024, of those being released from jail, 86% had a history of SUD, 68% have MH diagnosis, and 80% self-reported as homeless. The JMAT program offers medication-assisted treatment to individuals entering the jail with addictions to reduce unmet treatment needs and opioid related deaths. From January 1 – June 30, 2024, there have been 28 individuals on Naltrexone, 233 on Suboxone, and 17 on Methadone. • Deputy Shawn Sanchez: From January 1-June 30, 2024, the Douglas County jail booked 276 inmates that self-reported that they were homeless and transported 215 inmates from jail. In a statistic comparison between 2023 to 2024, the county utilized 75 Lyft concierge services. In 2024, we have already used 153. In 2023, 144 individuals were transported to a shelter, sober living or RTD. In 2024, there have been 62 transports since June. In 2023, there were six MH Holds transported. In 2024, there have been two MH Holds transported. Lastly, in 2023, 20 community visits were conducted with the SUD clinicians to those who have been in the program and been released. In 2024, there have been 33 visits and 3 community partners visits. • Chief Duffy: The Reintegration team works diligently to avoid releasing individuals back into homelessness and individuals only have an average length of stay at jail from 15-17 days. Therefore, this plan begins the instant someone enters the jail. • Dan Makelky: Deputy Sanchez is at the Human Services offices on Mondays. HEART’s offices are also at Human Services so if anyone is stranded but needs help obtaining services, they can transport them to where they’d like to go. • Jennifer Eby: We appreciate the partnership and collaboration between HEART and JBBS/Reintegration. It has made a big difference in the community.
7. 7. Executive Committee Member Updates: • Mike Waid: The Douglas Has Heart fund is back at the beginning of the distribution cycle. • Ellie Reynolds: Douglas County Economic Development has scheduled a luncheon with the business community to help inform local businesses about HEART and the Homeless Initiative’s purposes. • Sasha Easton: Save the dates for a Veteran networking event at Arapahoe Community College (ACC) Sturm campus on 9/27 at 9:30a.m. and a job fair at Manna Connect at Cherry Hills Church on 9/25. Thank you to San and her team for recognizing A/D Works! in the reintegration process. We have increased the in reach at the jail with increased number of days and services provided.
8. 8. Public Comment: Rich, Michael Lopez
9. 9. Closing Comments: Commissioner Laydon
10. 10 **The Next Meeting Will be Held on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 @ 9:00 a.m**