Calaveras Grand Jury Critical About Lack Of Homeless Shelter
San Andreas, CA — The Calaveras County Grand Jury has released a new report taking a deep dive into the local Health and Human Services Agency’s response to homelessness.
The Grand Jury serves as a government watchdog, and the new report is entitled, “Breaking the Cycle: Re-integration Strategies for Homeless Families with Children.”
A summary provided, notes, “Calaveras County may not have the large homeless population that other counties have, but we also have fewer resources available to assist the homeless we do have. Everything from emergency shelter availability, permanent housing opportunities, and funding for supportive services becomes a challenge to provide.”
Making the case for Calaveras County needing a homeless shelter, the report continues, “Finding housing for the homeless is not an easy task. There is a need for both temporary emergency shelters as well as permanent housing. There is an active landlord engagement program where landlords may contact HHSA when they have available properties. These may come with a reduced rent or financial assistance from HHSA. However, this is not enough. Studies show that homeless shelters often provide access to healthcare services, helping residents address physical and mental health issues. This helps reduce the strain on emergency medical services in the community which improves stability of service availability as well as the individual lives of the homeless.”
It notes that Calaveras County had strongly considered, around 2019, using property in West Point and near the government center in San Andreas as locations for tiny houses for homeless residents. However, the efforts were scrapped after public outcry at a town hall meeting and at supervisor meetings.
The report states, “While the apprehension of taxpayers to have emergency shelters located in or near their communities is understandable, to simply not provide the service due to disagreements about the location does nothing to resolve the lack of emergency shelters. It is far more productive to work together as a community to remedy the concerns causing the objections.”
The report’s final findings and recommendations are below:
Finding 1: Calaveras Health and Human Services Agency’s ability to respond quickly to community needs by applying for grants or securing contracts is negatively impacted by the current $50,000 limit before requiring Board of Supervisors or State approval.
Response 1: The Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury recommends the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors and Health and Human Services Agency develop methods of improving accessibility for funding above $50,000 by October 1, 2025.
Finding 2: Calaveras County does not have a dedicated emergency shelter which greatly limits the County’s ability to provide emergency housing for residents in crisis.
Response 2a: The Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury recommends the Board of Supervisors and Calaveras Health and Human Services Agency coordinate with local non-profits and other members of the Housing Resource Partnership to reevaluate the County’s need for an emergency homeless shelter by October 1, 2025.
Response 2b: The Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury recommends the Board of Supervisors and Calaveras Health and Human Services Agency coordinate with local non-profits and other members of the Housing Resource Partnership for the purpose of developing plans to mitigate the resident concerns that resulted in the cancelation of the 2019 emergency shelter plan by October 1, 2025.
Finding 3: With annual budgetary and resource allocations being based on Point-In-Time data collected on a single day of the year, County agencies are not able to accurately plan to accommodate the changes in the homeless population and their needs throughout the year.
Response 3: The Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury recommends the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, with the assistance of Calaveras Health and Human Services Agency, develop supplemental data collection methods to compile a more accurate real-time count of the homeless population throughout the year by January 1, 2026.
The full report on Calaveras County Homelessness can be found here.
