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Monterey County allocates about $250,000 for targeted street outreach to unincorporated areas
Summary
The Board of Supervisors set aside roughly $250,000 to form a focused street outreach team serving unincorporated Monterey County, officials said, to transport people to shelter and services and to document outreach outcomes for the county.
Monterey County announced funding of "about a quarter million dollars" to create a focused street-outreach team serving unincorporated communities and encampments, homeless services director Roxanne Wilson said during a county news briefing.
Wilson said the money will allow the county to augment existing outreach capacity and build a team dedicated to areas outside city service footprints, including Carmel Valley, San Ardo and Castroville. "The goal of this special street outreach team is to meet people where they are," she said, describing transportation to shelters and medical and social-services appointments as a core function.
Why it matters: County outreach teams already cover broad territory; Wilson said the dedicated team is intended to provide more consistent contact and relationship-building in remote locations that are currently underserved.
Identification and data: Wilson said encampments are reported through Monterey County's Connect system (residents can "report an encampment" in the app), and the county also uses point-in-time (PIT) data to guide outreach. She noted PIT location data is not public but that her office uses it for targeting.
Contracting and partners: The county is drafting a contract to augment an existing outreach team and will require reporting from any contractor on contacts and outcomes (e.g., connections to shelter or benefits). Wilson named existing partners involved in outreach work: Interim, Inc. (behavioral-health connections), Access Support Network (harm reduction and field case management), Community Human Services (youth outreach) and city-based outreach teams.
Next steps: Wilson said the contract and partner agreement will go to the Board of Supervisors for approval; she emphasized the need for measurable reporting demonstrating benefit in unincorporated areas.
The county did not specify an exact start date for expanded deployments during the briefing and said provider agreements require board approval before changes are implemented.
