Victorville’s two-year-old Wellness Center says it has helped more than 200 people move from homelessness into permanent housing and credited the city’s outreach strategy for steep declines in local homelessness. “We are pleased to report that more than 200 clients have graduated from homelessness to permanent housing thanks to the services being offered at our center,” host Sue Jones said on the city-produced episode.

The episode, produced by the City of Victorville, also said the number of people identified as unhoused decreased 57% in one year and that overall homelessness decreased 27%, figures attributed on the program to the city’s strategy. A city staff member described a field team of four officers who make daily contacts with people living outdoors and connect them to emergency shelter, food, water and case management through partner contractor Simba Outreach. “The city has created a team of 4 officers that go out every day and make contact with our most vulnerable and offer them shelter,” the staff member said.

Bridget Gonzales, a wellness-center participant featured in the episode, recounted roughly nine years living on the streets before entering the program a little over 10 months ago. She described long-term engagement by outreach staff: staff said they had made more than 50 contacts with her over approximately three years before she accepted shelter. “I was there for almost 3 weeks, and then I came back to Victorville. Knowing that I wanted to stay clean and sober, I needed a place to go, and I knew that this is a safe place to be,” Gonzales said.

Staff on the episode outlined the center’s clinical and wraparound approach. The center runs baseline labs at intake to assess health needs and provides housing navigation, enhanced care management, recuperative care, mental health services and substance-use treatment on-site. The program emphasized continuing case management even when people decline shelter, commenting that not everyone experiencing homelessness has a substance-use disorder and that trauma and mental-health conditions are common drivers.

As part of her transition, Gonzales said she signed a housing contract with an organization called Step Up and was given a three-month timeframe to move into her new home. “We have a time frame of 3 months to be in my new home,” she said. Program staff presented Gonzales’s case as a long-term engagement success: persistent outreach, individualized planning and on-site clinical supports combined to create an opening for housing.

The episode closed with staff and Gonzales encouraging people who are struggling to seek help through the wellness center. The city’s podcast asked listeners to submit topic suggestions for future episodes and noted the program is produced by the City of Victorville.