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Home My WebLink About03/22/2022 Staff: Committee Members: Christian Clegg, City Manager Councilmember, Ken Weir – Chair Anthony Valdez, Assistant to the City Manager Councilmember, Patty Gray Crystal Rubio, Administrative Analyst III Councilmember, Eric Arias Regular Meeting of the Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council – City of Bakersfield Tuesday, March 22, 2022 12:00 p.m. City Hall North, First Floor, Conference Room A 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA 93301 A G E N D A 1. ROLL CALL 2. PUBLIC STATEMENT 3. ADOPTION OF THE FEBRUARY 22, 2022 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT 4. STAFF REPORTS 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Presentation by Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) regarding mental health and substance programming for homeless individuals in the City of Bakersfield – Presenters: BHRS Director of Behavioral Health Services Stacy Kuwahara 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT /S/ Christian Clegg Staff: Committee Members: Christian Clegg, City Manager Councilmember, Ken Weir – Chair Anthony Valdez, Assistant to the City Manager Councilmember, Patty Gray Crystal Rubio, Administrative Analyst III Councilmember, Eric Arias Regular Meeting of the Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council – City of Bakersfield Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:00 p.m. City Hall North, First Floor, Conference Room A 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA 93301 Agenda Summary Report The meeting was convened at 12:03 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL Committee Members: Councilmember, Ken Weir, Chair Councilmember, Patty Gray Councilmember, Eric Arias City Staff: Christian Clegg, City Manager Anthony Valdez, Assistant to the City Manager Joseph Conroy, Communication Coordinator Crystal Rubio, Administrative Analyst Josh Rudnick, Deputy City Attorney Brent Stratton, Bakersfield Police, Assistant Chief Jeff Burdick, Bakersfield Police, Lieutenant John Frando, Bakersfield Fire Department, Chief Paul Saldana, Economic and Development Services Nina Carter, Homeless Services Principal Additional Attendees: Members of the public 2. PUBLIC STATEMENT There were no public statements. DRAFT Ad Hoc on Homelessness Committee February 22, 2022 Agenda Summary Report Page 2 3. ADOPTION OF THE JANUARY 25, 2022 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT The report was adopted as submitted. 4. STAFF REPORTS Assistant to the City Manager Valdez reviewed monthly staff reports from the three largest contractors in homeless services, Flood Ministries, Mercy House and Bakersfield Homeless Center. Valdez highlighted the extension of contract with Flood Ministries to include a team that is dedicated to the river area. Mercy House saw dip in attendance due to shelter in place due to increase in COVID numbers in January. Once shelter in place was lifted, the number rose to capacity once again. Committee member Arias asked if Flood Ministries numbers represent both city and county area. City Manager Clegg clarified that Flood Ministries is working throughout the entire river area irrespective of jurisdiction. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Presentation by Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) regarding mental health and substance programming for homeless individuals in the City of Bakersfield – Presenters: BHRS Director of Behavioral Health Services Stacy Kuwahara BRHS Director Stacy Kuwahara provided a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of Mental Health Plan for Kern County and their role as both mental health plan and provider. Mandated services include Medi-Cal beneficiaries and children and adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Director Kuwahara provided committee members a general overview of where funding for services come from and how they structure and allocate those funds, as well as Behavioral Health & Recovery Services to homeless. Expansion opportunities that include BPD-Kern BHRS co-response for homeless outreach and homeless court was also shared with committee members. Committee member Gray inquired about detox beds mandated services and what is being done to provide those services. Kuwahara indicated that there are no detox beds available in Kern County for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Medical detox are primarily accessible by private insurance. However, there are recovery stations utilized by the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) and Flood Services available and if they required emergency medical services would be sent to hospital for emergency services. Additionally, information was provided on limitation on involuntary treatment and services. DRAFT Ad Hoc on Homelessness Committee February 22, 2022 Agenda Summary Report Page 3 Committee member Arias thanked BHRS for their hard work and proactive approach in meeting the behavioral health needs of our community. He inquired about the estimated timeframe for Assisted Outpatient Treatment Team, from the time an individual qualifies for the program to when they begin to receive services to better understand if there is any fault in the process that could be improved at a local level. Director Kuwahara will provided additional information at a later meeting but stated that those that AOTT have successfully engaged. She also expressed her gratitude with the collaboration between City and available partners, most notably the recent the homeless outreach between BPD and Kern BHRS. Committee Chair Weir asked how success is measured when operating with such constraints and with so many programs. Director Kuwahara shared that the measured level of success will vary depending on the focus of each interested party. However, with the aide of a new electronic health record would allow a better analytical response with more measurable success. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS No committee comments 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 1:03 p.m. DRAFT Monthly Report for Bakersfield City Council Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee February 2022 The City of Bakersfield contracts with Flood Ministries for street outreach services to unsheltered individuals. February Report Weekly Average Contacts with homeless individuals in the field 85 City’s Brundage Lane Navigation Center (BLNC) turn-aways due to lack of dorm or pet capacity (includes field contacts, walk-in, and call-ins) 43 BLNC turn-aways due to lack of dorm capacity 39 • Male 23 • Male with pet 1 • Female 7 • Female with pet 0 • Couple (# of individuals) 8 • Couple with pet (# of individuals) 0 BLNC turn-aways due to lack of pet capacity 4 • Male 1 • Female 3 • Couple (# of individuals) 0 The City of Bakersfield contracts with Mercy House to operate all aspects of the City’s Brundage Lane Navigation Center (BLNC). Mercy House has helped place 119 clients in permanent housing since the BLNC opened in October 2020. February Report Weekly Average Maximum Capacity % of Capacity Filled Weekly City’s Brundage Lane Navigation Center beds filled 144 150* 96% • Male 73 76 96% • Female 51 54 94% • Couple (# of individuals) 20 20 100% Housing Placements Month Total • Placed in permanent housing 7 • Guest/Family reunifications 2 * BLNC’s maximum capacity is 150 beds. Each night four (4) beds are held open for the Bakersfield Police Department to utilize which brings the functional capacity to 146. The City of Bakersfield contracts with the Bakersfield Homeless Center (BHC) for a jobs program serving multiple City functions, including but not limited to downtown ambassadors, green solid waste, high-way clean-up, animal shelter, and sump cleaning. The Bakersfield Homeless Center jobs program employed 43 individuals who were shelter clients in 2021. A new City-funded BHC Jobs Center building was completed in December. February Report January Total February Total Maximum Capacity % Filled Newly hired employees 2 12 Current employees 94 100 109 92% • Male 58 61 • Female 36 39 Program participants placed in permanent jobs 1 1