County outlines housing and treatment expansion; stakeholders warn jack list and housing subsidy pauses are creating a bottleneck

The Public Safety & Justice Committee held a study session on April 10 to review how the county’s supportive‑housing system and behavioral health treatment expansion interact with justice‑involved populations. County staff from the Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), Behavioral Health Services Department (BHSD), community‑based providers, and justice partners described progress and an immediate capacity challenge: a growing “jack list” of people held in custody because housing or treatment placement is unavailable.

County presentation: OSH and BHSD staff outlined the countywide housing and treatment system and recent progress. Key points presented:

- Since 2020 the county set a target to house 20,000 people; as of December 2024 the county reported 17,485 people housed toward that goal. OSH said the system now has approximately 7,734 permanent housing opportunities when pipeline projects are included. The county reported a record year in 2023 with multiple projects opening and roughly 1,000 units added that year.

- OSH said the county operates a large temporary housing network and that its base annual investment in temporary shelter is about $47 million for roughly 1,900 shelter beds across the county.

- BHSD described a multi‑pronged behavioral‑health treatment facility expansion. Staff said they previously had access to about 1,000 treatment…