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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 10-08-20; 2 - New Street Outreach and Harm Reduction Program 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: October 8, 2020 Action Agenda Item No. 2 SUBJECT: New Street Outreach and Harm Reduction Program DEPARTMENT: Criminal Justice Resource Department; Housing and Community Development Department ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Power Point Caitlin Fenhagen: 919-245-2303 Corey Root: 919-245-2496 Emila Sutton: 919-245-2490 PURPOSE: To share information about a new grant-funded county initiative supported through a collaboration between the Criminal Justice Resource Department and the Housing and Community Development Department with the Partnership to End Homelessness. BACKGROUND: Since 2017, each year people with lived experience of homelessness, housing and homeless service providers, the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, and other community stakeholders have identified a street outreach program as a gap in the Orange County homeless service system (latest gap analysis update from 2019). Orange County has had proven success with a street outreach program, connecting people living unsheltered with services and housing, administered by Housing for New Hope -- this program ended when Housing for New Hope ended work in Orange County in 2016. In April 2019, over thirty community stakeholders from the criminal justice system, healthcare, behavioral health system, and housing came together to participate in the Orange County Sequential Intercept Mapping Workshop facilitated by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. A systems intercept map and Final Report were created (SIM Final Report) and one of the identified community gaps that emerged from this process was the need to divert people who are high utilizers of the courts, health care, and homelessness systems from further criminal justice contact. At the same time, stakeholders from the criminal justice system including law enforcement, the District Attorney's office, the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department (CJRD), and criminal justice reform advocates are seeking to expand harm reduction deflection efforts in Orange County. The current pre-arrest diversion program administered by the CJRD (OC PAD) allows for law enforcement to divert first-offenders, but the OC PAD Advisory Committee, District Attorney's Office and all law enforcement chiefs have endorsed proceeding with a plan 2 to expand to a separate harm reduction track, which would allow for diversion for low level offenses committed by individuals impacted by behavioral health concerns, homelessness and prior criminal justice involvement. These high utilizers will be linked to appropriate resources and will avoid the trauma of arrest, short-term incarceration and justice system involvement. This harm reduction model of diversion moves away from ineffective punitive models and unnecessary law enforcement response and increases public safety, enhances stability and improves public health. With the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, homeless service providers reduced, changed, and eliminated existing services to comply with social distancing and other response recommendations. As a result, existing homeless service gaps, including street outreach, have been exacerbated and deepened. On any given night, there are thirty to forty people living unsheltered in Orange County. We are seeing these numbers increase during the COVID-19 response and recovery period. Research shows that street outreach programs that link people with housing improve health outcomes and positively impact spending in other sections including healthcare and the criminal justice system. In addition, recent national incidents of police brutality have led to a new urgency in addressing systemic racism in policing and a conversation about reinvestment in communities. Increasing therapeutic responses and deflection from the criminal justice system, where it is safe and appropriate, have been widely considered an evidence-based best practice for improved outcomes for individuals. Reimagining law enforcement as one of the conduits for referring people in crisis to behavioral health treatment experts and peer support is an important example of a reinvestment in impacted communities. In August 2020, the CJRD and Housing Departments were awarded an Emergency Solutions CARES Act grant in the amount of $256,225.00 for the Street Outreach and Harm Reduction Program. This one year of funding will support three positions to administer the program, which is designed to connect people living unsheltered with housing, therapeutic interventions, critical resources and ongoing peer support and case management. The program will also increase harm reduction efforts and reduce unnecessary law enforcement response and justice involvement, where deflection is appropriate. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goals are applicable to this item: • GOAL: FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE THAT REJECTS OPPRESSION AND INEQUITY The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or color; religious or philosophical beliefs; sex, gender or sexual orientation; national origin or ethnic background; age; military service; disability; and familial, residential or economic status. • GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their dependents. 3 • GOAL: CREATE A SAFE COMMUNITY The reduction of risks from vehicle/traffic accidents, childhood and senior injuries, gang activity, substance use and domestic violence. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There are no environmental impacts associated with this item. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board receive the presentation as information. 4 plod ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA Orange County Street Outreach and Harm Reduction Program Presentation to the Board of County Commissioners October 8, 2020 J, Oran e COLint ■ ■ Partnersh � t �r,-V6"b P n4wCHCD End Homelessness ORANGE COUNTY HOUSING&COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESOURCE DEPARTMENT 5 Orange County has a demonstrated community need for street outreach • Orange County Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM ) • Facilitated by N .C. Department of Health and Human Services • April 2019 • Homeless System Gaps Analysis • Expansion of Pre-Arrest Diversion/Deflection (C)C-PAD) • COVID-19 community response • Focus on re-imagining public safety i ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA This new program will connect people living unsheltered with housing and services • Funded by Emergency Solutions Grant CARES Act ( ESG-CV) • Begin operation October 5, 2020 • 12 months of funding Positions # Staff Location Harm Reduction Deflection 1 OC Criminal Justice Resource Department Coordinator Street Outreach Peer Navigators 2 OC Housing & Community Development with OC Partnership to End Homelessness f ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA 7 The program design uses a trauma-informed, relationship-based model • Ongoing engagement and harm reduction • People living unsheltered, many behavioral health issues • Visits to campsites, hospitals, jail, streets • Connections to housing, food, medical care, treatment services, transportation and employment • Therapeutic assessment, case plans, case management • Referral contact for community members, law enforcement, and businesses • Reduce policing and justice involvement f ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA 8 There are several sustainability and program needs to address • Program funding starting Fall 2021 • $257,000 annually • Downtown office space • Street Outreach one of several gaps to fill to end homelessness • Overlap with Behavioral Health Task Force Priorities • Crisis/Diversion Center • Day Center with integrated services • Increased behavioral health services f ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA 9 Contact us to talk further • Caitlin Fenhagen, Criminal Justice Resource Director • 919-245-2303 • cfenhagen@orangecountync.gov • Emila Sutton, Housing and Community Development Director • 919-245-2492 • esutton@orangecountync.gov • Corey Root, Homeless Programs Manager • 919-245-2496 • croot@orangecountync.gov ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA