Gina James of Health and Human Services told the board the county will hold the required public hearing on the local homeless housing plan on Dec. 16. She said the plan work has been driven largely this year by a task force and that her time working on the plan has been billed to the Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG), reducing direct county-funded time costs.

James described planned contract amendments to align several programs with state fiscal cycles and grant schedules. She said coordinated entry contracts are being transitioned from document recording fee funding to CHG, and recommended extensions and six-month allocations so contract end dates align to 6/30/2026. James identified two larger construction projects (Habitat for Humanity and the Catlin & Maine project) that have unspent funds and will likely carry forward into 2026 if contract end dates are extended.

On other funding lines, James said the county has a two-year criminal justice treatment account contract worth $590,000 (state funding through the Health Care Authority) in place to support substance use treatment for people in therapeutic court programs; providers include Columbia Wellness and Cowlitz Family Health Center. She also said the Community Development Block Grant allocation for this year is $70,000, with about $3,500 retained by the county for administration and approximately $67,050 to be passed to Lower Columbia CAP for Meals on Wheels. James flagged a state public-health infrastructure award (up to $200,000) that the county plans to use to move the food program to an Acela database and said an RFP will be issued for that work.

Commissioners discussed program design and coordination (single coordinator versus multiple providers for coordinated entry) and asked staff to return with additional details; no final action was taken at the briefing.