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Jefferson County committee approves contracts, funding plan to expand homeless outreach, data collection and warming centers
Summary
The Health & Human Services Committee approved a package of contracts and budget amendments to expand street outreach, maintain warming centers through spring, and pay for a county homelessness data dashboard; work will use opioid settlement, state and remaining ARPA funds.
Jefferson County’s Health & Human Services Committee on a voice vote approved a set of measures to expand homeless services, fund street outreach and pay for data collection and warming-center capital needs.
Presenters from the county Department of Social Services (DSS) outlined recommendations including a county homelessness data dashboard, two street-outreach teams, continuation of three warming centers through the end of the Code Blue winter period, and investments in supportive housing planning. The committee then approved related agreements and budget amendments.
County administrators said homelessness and affordable housing rose to the top of residents’ priorities in recent outreach and that the county has been working on these issues since high-profile incidents in 2021. Presenters warned homelessness is a complex, long-term management problem shaped by national and state trends, local housing affordability and a decline in long-term psychiatric inpatient capacity.
The committee approved a not-to-exceed agreement for a homelessness data collection dashboard with…
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