RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY
BROAD-BASED HOMELESS ACTION PLAN
JUNE 3, 2003
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On March 4, 2003, the Riverside City Council adopted in concept the Homeless Report submitted by the Homeless Task Force. The report was the second report prepared by the Task Force designed to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of the homeless community in Riverside. As a result of the March 4 City Council meeting, staff was directed to return to the Council in 60 days with an implementation plan of the recommendations in the report. Staff was also directed to work with a modified Land Use Committee to consist of Council Members Beaty, Moore, and Pearson. The City Manager assembled a staff team to prepare the City Manager’s Proposed Homeless Action Plan.

The proposed action plan is presented in seven sections as follows:

Section I: Introduction and Background
Section II: Continuum of Care
Section III: Facilities
Section IV: Education
Section VI: Enforcement and Livable Communities
Section VII: Funding

Based upon the Task Force’s recommendations, the action plan calls for the City to establish an Access Center where homeless individuals can receive basic services for survival such as showers, referrals for medical care, mental health services, job training and placement services, and substance abuse counseling. The Access Center would serve as the first point of contact for homeless in the city and be designed to get homeless individuals and families into an immediate program or to connect with services necessary to remedy the homeless situation both short and long term. It would also serve individuals or families to help prevent an impending homeless situation through financial assistance programs, counseling, or referral to support programs.

In addition to the Access Center, the plan proposes implementation of the recommendation to establish a 150 bed emergency shelter to serve as a short-term facility to serve immediate needs until the individual or families can be placed in a permanent or long-term arrangement. While this facility is intended to be short-term, it is not recommended that a strict timeframe for care be adopted, as each case should be considered separately with the intention of moving the individual on to a more permanent center being the key. The shelter can be co-located with the Access Center or located separately.

It is recognized that a continuum of care must be provided to ensure that homeless receive the full opportunity to remedy the causes of homelessness. The action plan establishes an integrated system that collaborates with many partners to provide service to the homeless through the Access Center, including the County, faith-based community, not for profit organizations, businesses, and other governmental agencies. All of these partners are needed to help with this highly complex issue.

Staff proposes that the City fund and hire a full-time Homeless Coordinator to coordinate the action plan and oversee the City’s program. Two Outreach Workers are proposed through a partnership with the County of Riverside Departments of Public Social Services and Mental Health. Access Center workers are proposed to be provided through partnerships with either existing providers of care being relocated to the Center or through other programs that desire to operate their services from this location that may also serve as initial intake and assessment staff. Finally, existing City staff in the Housing and Community Development Division has been identified to conduct much of the on-going work, including securing of financing for many of the identified tasks.

The Land Use Committee worked with staff and the community to develop criteria for locating the Access Center and an emergency shelter. Research suggests that an Access Center be no less than 3,800 square feet and that an emergency shelter facility for 150 people be somewhere around 8,000 square feet. Based upon the criteria and the needs of the facilities, staff investigated possible sites. Three sites are being presented in the body of the report for consideration and discussion. It should be noted that only one of the three sites is currently listed for sale and that no contact has been made with the property owner. This contact would not occur without direction by the Committee or Council to do so.

The action plan includes a component for education. During staff’s work, it was apparent that a key to connecting homeless or pre-homeless individuals or families with assistance is education—education of options available and education of how to access the services. The educational component calls for information to be made available to homeless, pre-homeless, care providers for referral purposes, law enforcement, businesses, and the community. The educational process will help the community understand how best to meet the homeless while promoting healthy and safe neighborhoods.

The Homeless Task Force and other groups that have discussed the problems created by homelessness have stressed the need to promote and enforce responsible behavior in public places. While law enforcement continually addresses criminal behavior in the community, the effectiveness of their actions are diminished without long-term remedies and places to refer homeless for services that break the cycle of homelessness. As the City creates the continuum of care program, there are increased opportunities to be more aggressive with those who refuse to act responsibly or who reject assistance from beneficial programs. The action plan provides for work on additional laws and aggressive enforcement of existing laws in a more focused attempt to encourage full participation in effective programs.

There are many variables that will need to be considered in estimating the total cost of the action plan. Potential funding sources have been identified that would need to be explored for each component of the program. The primary sources of funding identified are federal community block grant (CDBG) and the federal emergency shelter grant (ESG). Many other sources, however, are proposed.

The problems facing the Riverside community due to the presence and numbers of homeless are substantial. The policy issues before the Mayor and Council are complex and have significant ramifications. The action plan proposed by the City Manager is intended to separate the problem into manageable tasks for the purposes of discussion and problem solving. Taken as a whole, it is proposed to provide a full-scale continuum of care to positively impact problems created by homelessness and to offer individuals a way to stop the downward spiral that results ultimately in homelessness. There are many partners in a solution. These partners have been helpful in the preparation of this action plan. They include the County of Riverside, nonprofit organizations, Homeless Task Force, faith-based community, the City Attorney, and the City Departments of Development, Planning, Police, and Park and Recreation.

SUMMARY OF ACTION PLAN

ACTION 1: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to conduct a Request For Proposals (RFP) to find a service provider to run a homeless prevention program and to bring back an agreement with a provider for City Council consideration.
ACTION 2: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to help organize the faith-based community-feeding program so that there are no days without adequate meals. Direct the Coordinator to involve multiple faith communities in the feeding program, to ensure that there are enough providers to maintain a stable schedule without feeding in the Parks. Direct the Coordinator to help find volunteers for the Guest Chef program at Project ACHIEVE and the Access Center. Direct the Coordinator to work with those providers who are feeding in the parks, and help them to channel their services into Project ACHIEVE, the Access Center, or another faith-based group that is willing to share their facilities.
ACTION 3: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to work with a local nonprofit agency to develop a program that would provide bus tokens or passes to allow the homeless to travel from services to a facility. (Also, see Action 28.)
ACTION 4: Continue to support Project ACHIEVE with the City’s allocation of Emergency Shelter Grant funding.
ACTION 5: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to work with the County of Riverside on the regional coordination and provision of residential-based community programs that target individuals with specific needs.
ACTION 6: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to educate Support Services providers on the Continuum of Care and encourage them to actively work with the homeless.
ACTION 7: Establish homeless services as a consideration for CDBG funding.
ACTION 8: Support Riverside Unified School District’s grant application to fund a liaison position for homeless children and youth. Encourage Alvord’s Unified School District to be a partner with the City and the Riverside Unified School District in creating programs that deal with the needs of homeless children and youth.
ACTION 9: Direct City housing staff to prioritize the creation of units that are affordable to the recently homeless population (i.e. very-low-income rental units, especially three or four bedroom apartments that can serve large families).
ACTION 10: Authorize HCD staff to contact the owners of the identified properties to inquire about the availability of the property. Staff shall also investigate opportunities for the cold weather shelter.
ACTION 11, 12 & 13: Staff shall explore the feasibility of acquiring available property to develop an Access Center and short-term Emergency Shelter. Direct Real Property Services in conjunction with the Building and Safety Division to conduct the due diligence on the three properties referenced in the homeless action plan. Specific tasks include negotiating with a property owner to donate land or offer it at a discount. Properties with existing structures should take priority over vacant property.
ACTION 14: Direct HCD staff to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the County regarding an arrangement for the Outreach Workers and bring it forward to City Council for approval. (Also, see Action 26.)
ACTION 15: Direct the Human Resources Department to create and hire a Homeless Coordinator staff position within the Housing and Community Development Division.
ACTION 16: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to develop the “Good Neighbor” brochure and Pocket Resource Guide, with assistance from the City’s Legal Department, non-profit agencies, and faith-based organizations. (Also, see Action 29.)
ACTION 17: The City Attorney shall present a draft regulation, addressing aggressive solicitation and present to the Mayor and City Council for consideration.
ACTION 18: The City Attorney shall work with the Assistant City Manager and Director of Parks and Recreation to draft a regulation addressing the unlawful feeding in parks and present to the Mayor and City Council for consideration.
ACTION 19: The City Attorney and the Chief of Police shall draft a code to regulate the sitting or lying in front entrances of businesses during certain late night and early morning hours.
ACTION 20: The City Manager shall work with the Chief of Police and the City Attorney to examine other possible laws or regulations to address the secondary effects of homelessness on neighborhoods and surrounding communities.
ACTION 21: The City Attorney and the Chief of Police shall prepare training and hold roll call sessions on the enforcement of livability laws concerning the homeless; such training shall ensure that homeless individuals are provided transportation to the Access Center upon his/her first contact.
ACTION 22: The Chief of Police shall begin a focused enforcement effort of livability laws as they apply to the homeless upon opening of the Access Center and homeless shelter (it is acknowledged that criminal homeless laws are now being enforced aggressively).
ACTION 23: The City Manager shall establish a working arrangement with all departments involved in livable communities to ensure that these issues are given the highest priority organization wide.
ACTION 24: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to identify and apply for funding to create a homeless prevention program.
ACTION 25: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to work with the local faith-based community to track donations of food and time given to the feeding program so that this community investment can be used as matching funds to leverage homeless grant funding.
ACTION 26: Direct HCD Staff, in conjunction with the County, to identify and secure funding sources for the two Outreach Workers.
ACTION 27: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to identify and apply for funding to develop the Access Center and Short Term Emergency Shelter.
ACTION 28: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to work with the Riverside Transit District regarding donations of bus tokens or passes to supplement any shortfall in donations or grant funding.
ACTION 29: Direct the Homeless Coordinator to identify and secure funding to pay for the printing and distribution of the “Good Neighbor” brochure and Pocket Resource Guide, specifically soliciting assistance and donations from the business community that will benefit from diminished panhandling activity.
ACTION 30: Direct HCD staff to return to City Council with a budget transfer request, which will reallocate the above-mentioned existing funding into a Homeless Coordinator position.

For a copy of the full report call 951-826-5879.