Agenda - 11-05-20; 8-a - Minutes

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7 homeless service system (latest gap analysis update from 2019). Orange County has had 1 proven success with a street outreach program, connecting people living unsheltered with 2 services and housing, administered by Housing for New Hope -- this program ended when 3 Housing for New Hope ended work in Orange County in 2016. 4 5 In April 2019, over thirty community stakeholders from the criminal justice system, healthcare, 6 behavioral health system, and housing came together to participate in the Orange County 7 Sequential Intercept Mapping Workshop facilitated by the North Carolina Department of Health 8 and Human Services. A systems intercept map and Final Report were created (SIM Final 9 Report) and one of the identified community gaps that emerged from this process was the need 10 to divert people who are high utilizers of the courts, health care, and homelessness systems 11 from further criminal justice contact. 12 13 At the same time, stakeholders from the criminal justice system including law enforcement, the 14 District Attorney’s office, the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department (CJRD), 15 and criminal justice reform advocates are seeking to expand harm reduction deflection efforts in 16 Orange County. The current pre-arrest diversion program administered by the CJRD (OC PAD) 17 allows for law enforcement to divert first-offenders, but the OC PAD Advisory Committee, 18 District Attorney’s Office and all law enforcement chiefs have endorsed proceeding with a plan 19 to expand to a separate harm reduction track, which would allow for diversion for low level 20 offenses committed by individuals impacted by behavioral health concerns, homelessness and 21 prior criminal justice involvement. These high utilizers will be linked to appropriate resources 22 and will avoid the trauma of arrest, short-term incarceration and justice system involvement. 23 This harm reduction model of diversion moves away from ineffective punitive models and 24 unnecessary law enforcement response and increases public safety, enhances stability and 25 improves public health. 26 27 With the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, homeless service providers reduced, 28 changed, and eliminated existing services to comply with social distancing and other response 29 recommendations. As a result, existing homeless service gaps, including street outreach, have 30 been exacerbated and deepened. On any given night, there are thirty to forty people living 31 unsheltered in Orange County. We are seeing these numbers increase during the COVID-19 32 response and recovery period. Research shows that street outreach programs that link people 33 with housing improve health outcomes and positively impact spending in other sections 34 including healthcare and the criminal justice system. In addition, recent national incidents of 35 police brutality have led to a new urgency in addressing systemic racism in policing and a 36 conversation about reinvestment in communities. Increasing therapeutic responses and 37 deflection from the criminal justice system, where it is safe and appropriate, have been widely 38 considered an evidence-based best practice for improved outcomes for individuals. Reimagining 39 law enforcement as one of the conduits for referring people in crisis to behavioral health 40 treatment experts and peer support is an important example of a reinvestment in impacted 41 communities. 42 43 In August 2020, the CJRD and Housing Departments were awarded an Emergency Solutions 44 CARES Act grant in the amount of $256,225.00 for the Street Outreach and Harm Reduction 45 Program. This one year of funding will support three positions to administer the program, which 46 is designed to connect people living unsheltered with housing, therapeutic interventions, critical 47 resources and ongoing peer support and case management. The program will also increase 48 harm reduction efforts and reduce unnecessary law enforcement response and justice 49 involvement, where deflection is appropriate. 50 51