Historic Joint Meeting on Homelessness and Behavioral Health - October 30, 2025

Note on date discrepancy: The agenda and minutes provided list the meeting as taking place on Tuesday, October 28, 2025. However, the user instruction specifies the meeting occurred on 2025-10-30T10:45:00+00:00. This summary uses the date provided in the instruction, noting this conflict.

This historic joint meeting convened the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, the Sacramento City Council, and mayors or representatives from the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt, and Rancho Cordova. The purpose was to discuss collaboration on homelessness services and behavioral health across the county. The meeting included presentations on progress, behavioral health engagement, legal pathways to treatment, and federal/state funding impacts, followed by a facilitated visioning session and public comment. No formal votes were taken, but a strong consensus emerged to continue structured collaboration.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Over 20 members of the public spoke, including representatives from community organizations, advocacy groups, and individuals with lived experience.
• Several speakers from SAC Act urged prioritizing prevention of displacement, using behavioral data, and educating the public on the root causes of homelessness and impacts of funding cuts.
• A representative from Community HealthWorks highlighted the importance of coordination between government and community-based organizations.
• A formerly homeless individual stressed the need for dignity and inclusion in decision-making ("Nothing about me without me").
• Other speakers criticized jail release practices, alleged mismanagement of funds by SHRA, and called for more affordable housing and permanent supportive housing.
• Business owners and residents expressed frustration with visible homelessness and called for more effective enforcement and services.

Discussion Items

Progress and Possibilities in Addressing Homelessness

• Emily Halcon, Director of Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, presented data from the 2024 Point-in-Time count: 33% of homeless population is Black (vs. 9% countywide), 45% chronically homeless, 25% had child welfare system involvement, 62% identified as Sacramentans.
• Countywide investment in homelessness exceeded $418 million in the last fiscal year, with 66% coming from the county budget, but much of it one-time.
• Presentations from each jurisdiction highlighted local innovations: County's Safe Stay shelters and outreach teams; Citrus Heights' Sunrise Point Apartments (46 units) and enforcement; Elk Grove's 70% success rate in getting people to accept shelter through persistent outreach and mental health connections; Folsom's HOT team and Bidwell Street Studios (20 PSH units); Galt's reliance on partnerships and a county-assigned clinician; Rancho Cordova's Veterans Village (100 PSH + 46 transitional beds); City of Sacramento's Incident Management Team (2,427 placed into shelters), microcommunities (160 units targeting seniors), and Street to Housing program (114 people housed).
• Sacramento Steps Forward CEO Lisa Bates reported $90 million in state/federal funding secured, 840 households prevented from homelessness, 1,500 individuals housed, and urged creation of a regional task force. Supervisor Cerna clarified that “regional” should refer to Sacramento County, not the six-county region.
• Sacramento Metro Fire shared that since 2022, they have averaged over 8,400 calls per year related to homelessness, straining emergency response.
• Sheriff Jim Cooper reported that his HOT team has handled 20,000 citizen complaints, removed 4 million pounds of trash, issued 2,200 citations, 2,500 arrests (1,100 with violent histories), and identified 7,000 domestic violence incidents and 2,000 sexual assaults in encampments. He emphasized law enforcement involvement and data collection.
• District Attorney Thien Ho highlighted the need for collaboration, transparency in data from the Continuum of Care, and efficiency. He cited the St. Clair Hotel as an example of inefficiency with 800 calls for service.

Behavioral Health Engagement Strategies and Legal Pathways to Treatment

• Dr. Ryan Quist, Behavioral Health Director, presented an overview of services, a $668 million budget, 40,000 consumers served annually, and 11 core sites with walk-in wellness centers.
• Legal pathways discussed: Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), CARE Court, mental health diversion (587 assessments in 2025), and LPS conservatorships (261 active).
• Discussion focused on challenges: Dr. Quist noted that even with court orders, effective treatment requires willingness; the biggest need is housing. Mayor McCarty asked what more local officials can do; Dr. Quist replied, “We need housing.”
• County Executive David Villanueva and Deputy County Executive Siobhan Katari noted that SB 43 (expanding conservatorship for substance use) had limited impact—only 55 substance-only cases brought to emergency departments. CARE Court has had 113 petitions filed.

Federal and State Impacts on SafetyNet Programs

• Alex Vysotsky, Senior California Policy Fellow from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, detailed a looming funding crisis: proposed federal cuts to rental assistance (44% cut proposed), potential caps on Continuum of Care funding for permanent housing (30% cap would mean $25 million lost for Sacramento), and state HAP funding cut from $1 billion to $500 million.
• Emphasis that only 1 in 4 eligible households receives federal housing assistance; for single adults, 1 in 12.
• Supervisor Rodriguez stressed the need for more very-low-income housing and re-evaluating permanent supportive housing for those no longer needing wraparound services.

Visioning Session (Afternoon)

• Facilitated by Mosaic Strategies (Darby Kernan and Matt Kate). Results from pre-meeting surveys and interviews were shared: Elected officials want to be more directly involved; staff and CBOs are critical partners.
• Key themes: desire for a regular forum (monthly/quarterly) for elected leaders to discuss real-time data, share best practices, and make joint decisions. Concerns about adding bureaucracy and overcomplicating structures were raised by mayors from smaller cities (Folsom, Citrus Heights, Galt).
• Supervisor Kennedy noted that the vast majority of homelessness (77%) is concentrated in the City of Sacramento and unincorporated county, questioning the need for all eight jurisdictions to have equal governance. Others countered that homelessness is transient and that collaboration strengthens advocacy and grant applications.
• Councilmember Maple advocated for a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to enable nimble shared decision-making. Councilmember Kaplan stressed trust and putting agreements in writing.

Key Outcomes

• No formal votes or resolutions were adopted.
• A strong consensus emerged to continue structured collaboration, with many elected officials expressing willingness to commit to a multi-jurisdictional body (as shown in the final Mentimeter poll: overwhelming “yes” to commit).
• Staff were directed to prepare a report summarizing the meeting, survey results, and recommendations for next steps (to be provided by Mosaic Strategies).
• The chairs indicated this meeting should not be a one-off; future meetings in a similar format are anticipated.
• Several action items: improve data sharing across jurisdictions and between law enforcement and health/housing systems; consider adding elected officials to the Continuum of Care board; explore updating the existing City-County Partnership Agreement to include suburban cities; and develop a shared advocacy agenda for state and federal funding.
• A specific request from Councilmember Guerra: analyze how interactions differ between jurisdictions and how to structure effective collaboration. County staff committed to providing data dashboards and follow-up answers to questions raised.