City Council
MEETING DATE: 7/22/2015
TITLE:
Title
Homelessness Update
End
FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Provide direction to Staff on homelessness issues in our city and the establishment of a Homeless Liaison Officer Program in Cathedral City.
Body
BACKGROUND:
Homelessness is an on-going problem that continues to grow throughout the Coachella Valley. According to the 2015 Point-In-Time Homeless Count, Riverside County has over 2,467 homeless individuals, Cathedral City has 38 and Palm Springs has 118. Homelessness has a severe negative impact on the community and the homeless person itself. The average chronically homeless person costs the public over $2,800 per month and the average chronically homeless alcoholic costs the public over $4,000 per month. 37% of the homeless suffer from severe mental illness. 56% of the homeless have been addicted to drugs or alcohol in the past 12 months and 76% have been addicted to drugs or alcohol their entire lifetime.
Traditionally Police Departments have believed that homelessness was not their problem to resolve and that Social Services and Mental Health Agencies should address the issue. As a short term solution for a very complex problem, police departments arrested the homeless, however, it has been determined that it is too costly for police departments to address the homelessness issue in this manner.
Cities and Counties have implemented programs to aid in finding long term solutions to the homelessness problems in Southern California. Palm Springs Police Department and Indio Police Department both have established the position of "Quality of Life Officers". Orange County and Los Angeles County have several agencies that implemented successful Homeless Liaison Officer programs. San Bernardino County implemented the project HOPE (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement) model. All programs have proven to be successful because of multi-agency collaborations with government and non-profit organizations working together to seek long term solutions towards reducing and ending homelessness.
DISCUSSION:
On June 11, 2015, the Riverside County Mental Health Community Response Evaluation and Support Team (CREST) introduced mental health providers as field based teams to work collaboratively with law enforcement officers in the field. They currently work Sunday through Wednesday from 12 pm to 10 pm. They plan on being operational seven days a week from 12 pm to 10 pm in the near future.
On May 28, 2015, the Riverside County REACH Team began providing a mental health team that responds only to hospitals Wednesday through Saturday between the hours of 2 pm and 12 am in the Coachella Valley. They plan to be operational seven days a week beginning July 5, 2015. 40% of the individuals contacted at hospitals have been diverted to some type of service since its implementation.
Recovery Innovations has received a Grant through the County of Riverside to fund a brick and mortar mental health crisis stabilization center in the west end of the Coachella Valley, which is an immediate resource center. This program will consist of Advance Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Therapists and Recovery Coaches with the intention of connecting the homeless and the mentally ill with needed services. This facility is expected to open in October or November of 2015.
In an effort to address the homeless issue in Cathedral City, the Police Department would like to implement a Homeless Liaison Officer Program. The heart of community policing requires patience, understanding, willingness, and trust between the community and city departments to improve quality of life. The police officer assigned as the Homeless Liaison Officer will have the ability to merge several critical components to successfully address a significant community challenge. Complaints from the public can be reduced because the assigned officer will be dedicated to focusing their efforts on the locations frequented by the homeless individuals, which relieves patrol officers from handling ongoing complaints and therefore redirecting their efforts to proactive patrols and calls for service. This program will work with the businesses and residents providing an immediate liaison for those who have long term and ongoing issues with the homeless. The program will help the homeless find services such as housing assistance, healthcare, mental health, drug rehabilitation and financial aid through the County, Social Security, the VA and private organizations. This program will also work in conjunction with the CREST, REACH and Recovery Innovations programs.
Having a Homeless Liaison Officer program in place in Cathedral City will reduce crime, reduce calls for service, improve public safety and mitigate problems that arise from homelessness through long term problem solving and community partnerships.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Homeless Liaison Officer position will be created from current staffing with no additional cost to the current budget at this time.
ATTACHMENTS:
None