Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Homelessness Outreach topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City staff outline operations and staffing limits for Care and Care Plus outreach teams
Summary
City sanitation and homelessness staff described how the Care and Care Plus teams operate across council districts, warned of frozen positions for the coming fiscal year due to a budget shortfall, and identified next steps for tracking performance and coordination with other agencies.
City sanitation and homelessness staff delivered a status update on the Care and Care Plus outreach and sanitation program, describing team roles, recent organizational changes, staffing levels and data improvements intended to track program performance.
The update, delivered to committee members by city staff including a speaker identified as Mr. Orozco and Salvador Rosales, said the program had been reorganized: hygiene and outreach functions that had previously been combined are now split into two divisions for fiscal year 2024–25. Rosales said the sanitation division has 64 authorized positions, of which 29 were filled; the remainder remain frozen or on pause due to a budget shortfall. “La división de higiene se le dieron sesenta y sesenta y cuatro autoridades, de la cual doscientos noventa y uno posiciones se se llenaron. Solamente se quedaron cincuenta y nueve acá están trabajando… y con el déficit presupuestario, esos puestos están en pausa,” Rosales said during the presentation.
Staff described how teams are deployed by district, how they coordinate with the city’s outreach, transportation and animal-services teams, and how operations are scheduled when a Care Plus action is planned. A presenter explained that Care Plus operations are typically scheduled with a two-hour notice to sanitation staff, and that teams make multiple outreach attempts before a clearance; outreach staff then offer services, stabilization, medical transport and temporary housing options during the operation.
City staff said the program currently runs multiple daily operations in different configurations and that a five-day expansion is under consideration for some districts if resources are secured. The presentation noted one team cost estimate: approximately $220,000 per team per year for vehicles, technology and personnel; staff said 56 full-time equivalents (FTE) make up 23 teams across Care and Care Plus, and the program’s annual cost for those teams was presented as about $5 million.
Presenters emphasized recent investments in data infrastructure intended to move casework and operational records out of spreadsheets and into a common database to better coordinate activities and measure outcomes. The update included discussion of an “acuity index” being used every 90 days to help determine appropriate housing pathways for program participants, and the separation of navigation and housing functions to speed placement.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield asked about coordination and follow-up after a clearance; staff said teams perform outreach, arrange services and expect other departments to follow up to maintain cleared sites rather than rely on single one-off cleanings. Staff also cautioned that reductions in funding for the coming fiscal year will constrain operations and that final plans depend on the mayor’s proposed budget and subsequent council decisions.
The committee did not take formal action on the update; it was presented for information and to aid next-year budget recommendations.
The presentation included a request for clearer staffing and budget figures in the upcoming budget cycle and noted plans to return with additional financial detail and program metrics for committee consideration.
