San Bernardino outlines outreach gains, motel voucher use and data platform as navigation center comes online

City staff used a special council workshop to summarize the city’s homeless response system, including outreach outcomes, interim shelter programs and a new data platform the city says will coordinate services across departments.

"We have nearly 40% of the county's homeless that reside in our streets," Cassandra Searcy, deputy director of homelessness and housing, told the council while presenting data and a system overview. Staff emphasized that the 2025 point‑in‑time count (1,535) likely undercounts true street homelessness and noted outreach teams reported 4,434 individual engagements since 2024.

Outreach and ERF: The Salvation Army is a primary outreach partner and received a reallocated $680,000 in ARPA funds for outreach after an earlier contract ended, staff said. The city's Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF) supports an ERF outreach team funded at $1,400,000 over three years to staff one program coordinator, three full‑time outreach specialists, a part‑time specialist and two outreach vehicles; staff said that allocation sunsets in 2028. Gabby Leon reported outcomes including roughly 1,500 formal enrollments and close to 2,000 accepted services from outreach efforts.

Mobile hygiene and interim housing: The Community Action Partnership operates a mobile hygiene unit funded with ARPA dollars; staff said it has helped 249 individuals and provides showers, washers/dryers and hygiene kits. The city’s motel voucher program provides up to 200 short‑term beds (two contracted motels) as an interim shelter; staff said 1,500 motel vouchers were issued between 2023 and Dec. 31, 2025, benefiting about 2,000 people and noting that many placements can be extended if clients engage in case plans (some clients have stayed up to 90 days).

VARP and rapid rehousing: Staff said the city contracted VARP for interim housing and originally planned 18 beds; due to permitting and marshal approvals VARP currently provides 12 beds under amended agreements. Rapid rehousing investments include $600,000 general fund support that staff said yielded 52 households housed (114 individuals), ESG‑funded support and ERF‑backed placements.

Public safety and street medicine: Lieutenant Luna described the Peace Team (Proactive Enforcement and Community Engagement) that grew out of Operation New Hope and reported more than 1,300 CRM responses in 2025, removal of substantial trash and hazardous materials, and several hundred housing referrals. The department has been selected for Prop 47 funding to expand outreach, case management, and a street medicine program in collaboration with community health partners.

Data coordination: The city is piloting Deep Blue, a proprietary CRM and case tracking platform the housing division will own, staff said. "Deep Blue is designed to build internal capacity and strengthen the city's response to homelessness," staff explained; the platform will integrate with HMIS and allow partners to report bed availability and service utilization in real time.

Staff stressed that outreach is labor intensive — engaging chronically unsheltered people often requires many repeat contacts — and that nonprofit capacity and procurement, contracting and audit requirements complicate program expansion. Council members asked for more regular performance reporting from subcontractors and for a clearer breakdown of metrics such as "accepted services" to show how many people accepted housing versus a meal or a single contact.

The council directed staff to return with the items requested in the motion (regional/county funding exploration and Palm Field study) and acknowledged the city will continue expanding outreach, pursuing state and federal grants, and refining operational metrics for partners.