City Attorney’s HEART program seeks county grant to clear records for people experiencing homelessness; committee approves acceptance

City Attorney staff described on May 14 a county grant packet to support the Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART), a unit that provides mobile legal intake, traffic/ticket motions, expungement work and an outreach-based community court for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Cynthia Gonzalez, supervising attorney for HEART, said the team has existed since 2006 and currently deploys mobile teams countywide to connect people to legal services, draft motions for outstanding tickets, and run a monthly community outreach court in Skid Row where misdemeanor cases can be resolved in the field with the public defender and a presiding commissioner.

Kyle Kirkpatrick, director of grants for the city attorney's office, and Deputy City Attorney Barak Vaughn described program mechanics and contracting. HEART said it submits quarterly MOU reports to the county that track demographics, outreach events, motions submitted, and motions granted. Under the current MOU, HEART is expected to reach 1,200 participants; staff said they have exceeded that target by conducting additional outreach.

Committee members voiced support for the program but noted funding uncertainty for FY26. HEART staff said they were exploring Measure A funding and working with the CAO to identify funding for the next fiscal year. Members also discussed limitations: DOT parking tickets are handled through the Department of Transportation's community assistance parking (CAP) program; HEART said it can make direct referrals and is working with DOT on database access and coordination.

The committee approved the CAO recommendations to accept the county grant packet and to note and file the city attorney report (vote: three ayes).