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County unveils HARP coalition and targets faster exits from homeless services
Summary
County staff reported a modest year-over-year decline in homelessness but a longer average trajectory to housing (190 days) and announced a new Homelessness Alliance Response and Prevention (HARP) interdepartmental team to prioritize prevention, coordinated referrals and a unified data hub to reduce time-to-housing.
The Santa Barbara County Community Services Department told supervisors on July 14 that recent investments and prevention pilots produced measurable results, but systemic bottlenecks still keep many people waiting for housing.
"When you combine it with the audit results, you have a much more wide view and can see where staffing impacts particular audit areas," Jesus Armas, director of Community Services, said while presenting HMIS and Stella performance data. Staff said the annualized homeless-management information system (HMIS) metrics show roughly a 6% decrease in overall homelessness compared with prior years, but the average time from coordinated-entry enrollment to permanent housing has risen to about 190 days.
Assistant director Joe Dzvonick and homelessness manager Jet Black Meritz described shifts toward prevention, diversion and rapid rehousing as the most effective pathways out of crisis. Stella mapping presented to the board showed that households entering rapid re-housing achieved a 71% placement rate, while exits from emergency shelter alone yielded a 17% permanent housing success rate.
Staff described a new cross-departmental Homelessness Alliance Response and Prevention (HARP) team that will bring Behavioral Wellness, County Health, Probation, Social Services, Community Services and other partners together to braid funding and coordinate early interventions. Staff also proposed a unified data hub so different county systems (HMIS, social services, public health, justice) can trigger upstream prevention before people lose housing.
On vehicular homelessness, the county reported a rise in people living in vehicles (point-in-time counts from 675 to 962 between 2022 and 2025). A county qualitative survey of vehicle-resident clusters with UCSB researchers found many were working households with median monthly income about $2,000, demonstrating a prevention window for targeted interventions.
"Moving toward prevention and retention is the most cost-effective solution to housing instability," Dzvonick said.
What happens next: the board received the presentation, directed staff to continue aligning annual reporting (including County Health audits) and to return with operational priorities for HARP. Staff said they will bring regular updates beginning in September.
