Title
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MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Todd Metcalf, Behavioral Health Administrator
DATE: September 26, 2017
SUBJECT: Adopt Resolution to Approve Lake County's application for No Place Like Home Technical Assistance Funds, Authorize the Lake County Behavioral Health Administrator to sign and submit the funding application and Authorize the Lake County Behavioral Health Administrator to sign the resulting funding agreement with the State of California.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On July 1st, 2016, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1618 (Chapter 43, Statutes of 2016), "No Place Like Home" (NPLH), allocating $ 2 billion to house severely mentally ill Californians. Subsequently, on April 10th, 2017, the California Department of Housing and Community Development asked counties to apply for Technical Assistance Funds that support planning and creating partnerships. A grant in the amount of $75,000 is now available to Lake County upon submission of an application approved by this Board.
Lake County's Housing Situation for Behavioral Health Consumers
Like all California jurisdictions, Lake County has experienced a significant reduction in available housing for seriously mentally ill residents met by a 52 percent reduction of available inpatient beds over the past 15 years. The recent catastrophic fires in Lake County have further reduced housing availability. As a result, the homeless count increased by 195% from 170 in January 2015 to 315 in January 2016. The National Coalition for the Homeless and the U.S. Department of Urban Development estimate that 25% of the homeless are afflicted by a severe mental illness. For Lake County, this would require building an additional 79 beds for severely mentally ill clients. This estimate is supported by clinical reports of Lake County Behavioral Health counting an average of 53 individuals at any given time placed in long term care and 32 individuals in short term care most of whom have no option to be discharged ...
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