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Sacramento County proposes elected Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board to steer regional strategy
Summary
County staff proposed a Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board (SHHB) that would merge certain Continuum of Care (CoC) functions with a publicly accountable elected board to set regional goals, performance targets and data priorities while leaving local budgets and land-use authority intact.
Emily Halkin, director of the Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, presented a regional model Tuesday that would create a Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board (SHHB) to provide elected-official oversight and strategic direction for homelessness response across Sacramento County.
Halkin said the change would ‘‘retain local jurisdictional control of existing housing and homeless funding, as well as land use decisions,’’ while creating a single, Brown Act–compliant elected board to set regional goals, performance targets and funding priorities. She told the council the county’s Continuum of Care (CoC) currently oversees ‘‘just over $40,000,000’’ in federal funds and that most of that money is tied to existing programs.
The proposed SHHB would act as the CoC board in some functions and expand responsibilities beyond traditional CoC duties, Halkin said. Under the plan, the CoC’s broader membership would remain a convening body; the new elected board would be smaller and focused on strategic leadership. ‘‘We’re really hoping to create more transparency and accountability for the public,’’ she said.
Halkin described two participation options. Both would reserve seats for individuals with lived experience; Option B would set aside additional seats for community-sector representatives. The county would not ask cities for immediate funding, Halkin said, and recommended retaining Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) as the CoC collaborative applicant and HMIS administrator.
Council members welcomed the emphasis on more public accountability but pressed for measurable results and clearer timelines. Council member Schaeffer said previous regional efforts had ‘‘not yielded a ton of results’’ and urged that the board focus on ‘‘how we’re gonna get to that goal’’ with process indicators and timely data rather than larger membership that slows decisions. Halkin pointed to SSF’s expanding dashboards and named staff working to provide more real-time HMIS reporting so the board would not have to rely solely on biennial point-in-time counts.
Next steps described by county staff include targeted outreach to cities through October and a request that jurisdictions indicate interest by the end of the calendar year, so staff can draft an MOU and bylaws for possible appointments early next year.
