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Project Touch outlines street outreach, shelter intake to Wildomar Measure AA committee
Summary
Project Touch and city outreach staff described street outreach coordination, intake criteria for emergency shelter and case management, and monthly outreach contacts and bed utilizations for mid-to-late 2025, emphasizing 24/7 intake and regional collaboration with Marietta and other partners.
Project Touch representatives and city outreach staff told the Measure AA Oversight Advisory Committee on Feb. 26 that their coordinated street outreach brings people into emergency shelter and follow-up programs and operates 24/7 to respond to crises.
Project Touch’s presenter, Ann, said the shelter’s intake is designed to serve many people with felony histories while excluding registered sex offenders and arsonists. "We do accept people with felonies — absolutely not sex offenders, arsonists," Ann said, adding that serious untreated psychiatric illness can sometimes make placement in the program unsafe. She said Project Touch uses what she called "turbo case management" to connect people from emergency beds to transitional or permanent housing and to coordinate with county mental health and other agencies.
The committee heard that city outreach and Project Touch coordinate regionally with neighboring jurisdictions and agencies to reach encampments, provide transportation to contracted shelter beds, and make referrals to service providers. A city outreach staff member described intake screening and nightly procedures for deputies who encounter people in the field: an intake form with a brief four-question screening, criteria for eligibility for Project Touch beds, and options when people decline services or are on private property.
The presenters gave recent outreach numbers showing repeated contacts with the same individuals as well as new contacts. For October–December (reported in the presentation), the outreach team recorded monthly contact counts and bed utilizations: October had seven new contacts and 136 bed utilizations; November had four new contacts and 148 bed utilizations; December had six new contacts and 125 bed utilizations. The outreach staff also described specific field hazards, including unpermitted structures and propane tanks found in freeway-adjacent tunnels and coordination with Caltrans to remove hazardous items from right-of-way.
Ann said Project Touch provides co-case management with partners that include county mental health and local social-service agencies, offers transportation assistance and hygiene services, and works to move clients into transitional shared housing when possible. She cited several recent individual successes, including a family displaced by a house fire who moved through emergency shelter into transitional housing and, later, out of state to family supports.
Committee members thanked the presenters and were provided a resource book of regional services. No formal action was taken on the homeless services presentation at the time; the presenters remained available for follow-up questions.
The committee took no vote specific to Project Touch’s presentation; the meeting moved on to the Measure AA financial report.
