The City of Riverside has taken a pro-active approach to addressing homelessness in our community in partnership with a wide-range of government agencies, non-profit organizations, social service providers and faith-based institutions.
In June of 2003, the City of Riverside adopted the “Riverside Community Broad-Based Homeless Action Plan.” Since its adoption, the City has aggressively pursued implementation of 30 action-based strategies within the plan including hiring a Homeless Services Coordinator, opening a new Emergency Shelter and Access Center program, expanding funding for community-based service agencies, allocating new funding for homeless prevention and rental assistance activities, and strengthening collaboration with faith-based service providers.
Significant accomplishments and milestones achieved during the 2006/07 program year include:
1. 2007 Homeless Census
In January of 2007, the City of Riverside participated with the County of Riverside in the biennial homeless census as required by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Based on the results of the census, 1,174 individuals were identified as being homeless in the City of Riverside on any given day. This number represents an almost 15% reduction from the point-in-time count conducted in 2005.
In addition, the Riverside Unified School District has identified 1,075 homeless children in the school district during the 2006/2007 school year. Another measurement of homelessness in this community is participation in the annual Cold Weather Shelter program. From December 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007, 1,079 unduplicated individuals spent at least one night at the during the cold weather season. This represents an 8% decrease from the 2005/2006 season.
2.Homeless Street Outreach Program
In October of 2006, the City of Riverside launched its Homeless Street Outreach program. The Homeless Street Outreach Team is made up of four professional service providers conducting daily mobile outreach and client services focused on the “hardest-to-reach” and “service-resistant” populations on the streets, in service venues, and other locations where they can be found. The Street Outreach Team works in partnership with local service providers, law enforcement, health professionals, and city staff to help people get off the streets and connected with services they need to enter stable housing and achieve self-sufficiency. The Outreach Team also responds to the needs and concerns of business operators, residents, and other community interests. Staff from local service provider agencies as well as community volunteers assists the Team through “ride-alongs” throughout the week.
In the first year that the program has been operating, the Outreach Team has encountered over 750 homeless individuals on the streets and other locations not meant for human habitation in the City of Riverside. Outreach staff works with community partners to get people connected to shelter, housing, employment, benefits assistance, behavioral health services, transportation back to their hometown and other assistance they need. Some of the outcomes of these engagements include:
- 771 clients engaged for potential service provision;
- 317 clients assisted with entering into either emergency, transitional, service-based or permanent housing;
- 113 clients assisted with employment placement;
- 43 clients assisted with transportation home to family or service-providers;
- 84 clients assisted with enrollment into mental health services;
- 92 clients assisted with enrollment in substance abuse treatment services.
The Homeless Street Outreach Team operates from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday thru Friday and various weekend hours.
To seek assistance with a homeless situation or to volunteer for a ride along you can contact the Outreach Team at 951-826-2200. |
3. Homeless Emergency Shelter Programs
The City continues to partner with Path of Life Ministries to operate a Year-round Emergency Shelter facility. Path of Life presently operates two distinct yet inter-related programs from the emergency shelter facility – the Year-Round Short-Term Emergency Shelter Program, and the Cold Weather Shelter Program. The City also supports Path of Life Ministries operation of the County Department of Public Social Services sponsored Riverside Family Shelter at 2530 3rd Street. Over the course of the last year, Path of Life has provided emergency shelter services to over 2,000 unduplicated homeless individuals and members of families with children at the two shelter facilities. Highlights of these services have included:
Year-Round Emergency Shelter Program: Provides 64 beds on a year-round basis connected with case management services for homeless men and women for up to 30 continuous days. From July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, 834 unduplicated individuals were served in the Year-Round shelter. Of these individuals, 270 of these individuals were assisted with securing transitional or permanent housing.
Cold Weather Shelter Program: From December through mid-April, provides an additional 56 beds on a night-by-night basis under the federal cold weather shelter initiative to prevent hypothermia. During the 2006-07 season, 730 additional unduplicated individuals were served through the cold weather program.
Year-Round Family Shelter: Provides 50 beds on a year-round basis connected with case management services for homeless families with children for up to 60 continuous days. From July 1, 2006 – March 31, 2007, 330 unduplicated individuals in 104 households were served in the Family Shelter. Of these households, 73 were assisted with securing transitional or permanent housing and 41 households were assisted with securing employment.
In addition, Path of Life operates a Temporary Access Center Program at the shelter facility which serves as a first point of entry into the Riverside continuum of care for homeless individuals and families providing outreach/intake/assessment and access to a range of on-site and off-site social services through referral under one roof. Access Center services are available at the shelter facility to both shelter residents and non-residents, Monday - Friday from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. To access Path of Life services contact 951/683-4101.
4. Riverside Homeless Care Network
Over 50 organizations, including nonprofit service providers, municipal service agencies, law enforcement, and faith-based institutions, are presently participating in monthly meetings of the City-sponsored Riverside Homeless Care Network (Network). The Network serves as a vehicle to facilitate effective communication, coordination, and collaboration within the continuum of care services to the homeless in the City of Riverside. Network meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Riverside Emergency Shelter on Hulen Place. During the last year, the Network coordinated two major events:
- Faith-based / Community Organization Summit on Homelessness
Over 250 people came together on a Saturday in September of 2006 to participate in the Faith-based/ Community Organization Summit on Homelessness held at California Baptist University.
Participants examined “best practice models” to more effectively utilize the efforts of faith-based organizations and other interested community members in providing assistance to homeless families and individuals toward the goal of developing solutions to ending the cycle of homelessness in our community. To view a national news article on the Riverside Homeless Summit click here.
- Riverside Project Homeless Connect
On Friday, December 8th, the City and County worked in partnership with the Network partners to join over three dozen jurisdictions across the nation participating in the 2nd annual National Project Homeless Connect Week.
Over 250 homeless individuals were assisted by over 175 volunteers with getting access to a wide variety of social and personal care services including housing, employment, health care, benefits enrollment, education, veteran’s services, pet care and more, all provided in one location. Among the results from the day:
- 85 people connected with housing opportunities including shelter, transitional housing, rental assistance and housing authority vouchers;
- 42 people connected with jobs;
- 80 people assisted with social security applications;
- 4 people provided with bus tickets home.
5. Annual Funding for Homeless Service Providers
The City Council appropriated over $500,000 to public and private service agencies that assist homeless individuals and families and those at-risk of becoming homeless through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership Act (HOME), and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) programs. Funding to these agencies includes support for homeless prevention, street outreach, emergency shelter, family transitional shelter, transitional housing, residential mental health and substance abuse treatment services, domestic violence assistance, rental assistance services, and general emergency assistance and referral services. Over $600,000 funding has been allocated to agencies providing these services for fiscal year 2007/2008. Programs supported with this funding include:
- Alternatives to Domestic Violence, providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, and counseling services for women and children victimized by domestic violence;
- Arlington Temporary Assistance, providing emergency food, clothing, information and referral services to homeless and low-income individuals and families.
- Catholic Charities, providing a range of basic needs assistance services including food, rental assistance, utility assistance, along with case management, counseling, information and referral, etc. for low-income households;
- County of Riverside Cold Weather Shelter program, providing over 100 beds on a nightly basis for individuals and families during cold weather months;
- Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, providing eviction prevention, rental assistance services, tenant/landlord counseling and discrimination services primarily targeted to low-income households and at-risk populations;
- Inland Counties Legal Services, providing free legal assistance to low income and elderly tenants residing in substandard housing who have reported code violation to the City of Riverside.
- Lutheran Social Services Genesis House, providing 32 transitional housing beds and supportive service assistance to women and their children;
- MFI Recovery, a private not-for-profit, state licensed/certified residential recovery center for single women and women with children dealing with alcohol and/or drug addiction including a transitional living program for homeless women and their children;
- Operation SafeHouse, providing 13-beds of emergency shelter for homeless and runaway youth, and 20 beds of transitional housing for homeless emancipated youth, as well as counseling, transportation and referral services to approximately 45 youths daily;
- Path of Life Ministries Year-Round Emergency Shelter program, providing 64 transitional shelter beds for homeless men, women and children on a year-round basis;
- Path of Life Ministries Riverside Family Shelter, providing 50 transitional shelter beds for families with children on a year-round basis;
- Volunteer Center of Riverside County, providing free information and referral services linking individuals with vital community services as well as providing a Shared Housing program for low-income seniors in crisis and emergency rental assistance for households at-risk;
- Whiteside Manor, a private not-for-profit, state licensed/certified residential recovery center providing emergency, short-term and transitional living programs for homeless adult men and women who are diagnosed with mental illness and a concurrent alcohol or drug addiction problem.
6.Homeless Prevention / Rental Assistance
The City allocated $400,000 in March of 2006 to fund a new Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program (TBRA). TBRA provides one-time assistance with security deposits, eviction prevention rental assistance, and utility payment aid to homeless individuals and families and those at risk of becoming homeless in the City of Riverside. The City contracts with the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County (FHCRC) to operate the program. During the nine months of operations, 65 low-income households qualified for and received rental assistance through FHCRC. Of the 65 households, 28 were homeless and 37 were at-risk of becoming homeless.
This program is available to City of Riverside residents only.
For more information, please contact the Fair Housing Council of San Gabriel Valley at 951/682-6581. |
7. Family Transitional Housing at March Air Reserve Base Path of Life Ministries has recently secured HUD SHP funding through the County of Riverside to operate a 140-bed transitional housing program for families with children and chronically homeless women at March Air Reserve Base (MARB).The program is operated out of King Hall, a 3 story facility at MARB where Path of Life has operated a 32-bed transitional shelter program for families during the 2006/07 program year.
Over the last year, more than half of the program operations and building rehabilitation work has been accomplished through contributions and volunteer time provided by a number of faith-based organizations and donated goods and services from local businesses.
Final completion of the building rehabilitation will be accomplished over the next few months with assistance from HomeAid Inland Empire, a Building Industry Association charitable service program providing donated and low-cost materials and labor through support from local homebuilders and their trade partners to nonprofit organizations providing shelter and housing services.
The Transitional Housing program is presently being operated in half the building with the remaining rehabilitation work slated for completion over the next 6 – 9 months.
8. Safe Haven Supportive Housing Service Center
The City continues to work in partnership with the County of Riverside to develop a new facility that will serve as a 24-hour Safe Haven Supportive Housing Service Center for chronically homeless individuals with severe mental illness. The facility, located next door to the new emergency shelter, will include 25 permanent supportive housing beds for chronically homeless individuals as well as access to a drop-in center with supportive services for homeless people dealing with mental illness.
The program called “The Place” will be operated by Jefferson Transitional Programs (JTP) under contract with the County Department of Mental Health. JTP has begun operating a temporary drop-in center at an alternative location until the permanent facility is slated to open by the end of 2007.
For more information on “The Place” contact JTP at 951-779-3057. |
9. One-Stop Multi-Service Access Campus
The City is actively pursuing a long-term strategy to establish a centralized location for providing a wide-range of homeless assistance and prevention services in one location modeled after the nationally acclaimed “PATH Mall” concept and other similar models around the country.
The goal is to provide a variety of social services in a “campus setting” where a wide-range of service needs can be addressed in a coordinated system of care, including employment development, benefits assistance, housing placement, health care services, substance abuse recovery, basic needs assistance, centralized feeding services, homeless prevention resources, and other services, all under one roof.
City staff is presently working with the operators of the PATH Mall to develop a sustainable plan for establishing and operating a multi-service campus program.
10. HUD SHP Permanent Supportive Housing Grants The City has been awarded over $1.4 million dollars through the HUD Supportive Housing Program (SHP) to support the acquisition, development and operations of 16 units of permanent supportive housing. Permanent Supportive Housing is defined as long-term supportive housing for homeless persons with disabilities.
The intent of this type of housing is to enable special needs populations to live as independently as possible in a permanent setting. Permanent housing can be provided in one structure or several structures at one site or in multiple structures at scattered sites.
The City was awarded funding for two separate projects. One project provides for 8 units of supportive housing specifically targeting chronically homeless individuals. A person who is chronically homeless is defined as an unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.
The second project provides for 8 units of supportive housing for homeless persons with disabling conditions and their families and is not restricted to chronically homeless individuals. The City is presently exploring opportunities for acquiring suitable properties to operate the supportive housing program. |
