County wins $2.5M encampment resolution grant; supervisors approve continued winter‑shelter funding but Truckee lacks a shelter location

County behavioral health and homeless services staff told the Board of Supervisors that the county has secured a $2.5 million Encampment Resolution Fund grant to help people living in concentrated encampments, and they asked supervisors to continue a $150,000 winter‑shelter allocation for 2025.

Phoebe Bell, the county’s behavioral health director, said the encampment grant will fund a landlord‑liaison team and rent subsidies to help people living in the county’s most concentrated encampments move into permanent housing. The county will pair the new funding with existing bridge‑housing beds paid for under a separate behavioral health bridge housing grant; staff said the combined approach is designed to create a “runway” of time and subsidy so program participants can get vouchers or stabilize incomes.

Bell said the county identified the Brunswick Basin as a qualifying rural encampment footprint for the grant and that the grant contains a $20,000 set‑aside for physical encampment cleanup inside that footprint. Supervisors asked staff for an itemized grant budget and a map of the qualifying footprint; staff said they would return with those details. Several supervisors also asked staff to explore a modest expansion of county‑funded camp‑cleanup capacity outside the Brunswick Basin to address roadside and county‑property encampments; staff will return with options.

Separately the board discussed winter shelters. The board in 2024 allocated $150,000 to support winter shelters in Truckee, Nevada City and North San Juan, and staff said they would request a similar funding level for FY 2025. County staff said the Truckee shelter lost a site and that no local providers bid to operate a seasonal shelter in Truckee this year. Staff said the county has contingency plans, could open an emergency shelter if a weather emergency requires it, and will continue to work with Truckee and regional partners on a longer‑term solution in the Tahoe‑Truckee region.

Ending: The Board of Supervisors asked staff to return with: (a) the encampment grant budget and Brunswick Basin map; (b) options for limited county‑funded cleanup capacity outside the grant footprint; and (c) trash‑cleanup and shelter contract updates. The board agreed to consider repeating the $150,000 winter‑shelter allocation during the FY 2025 budget process.