On Wednesday, the Martinez City Council will look at amending its contract with Contra Costa County for services to Unhoused Persons.
If approved, it will allow the Martinez Police Department to execute an amendment to its current agreement to increase Coordinated Outreach Referral and Engagement (CORE) services to full-time for one year — The proposed action will cost $269,729, with $130,000 funded by ARPA and $139,729 by the General Fund in FY 23-24
Martinez and the County of Contra Costa entered into an agreement on May 18, 2017, in which the County agreed to provide specified services for unhoused persons in the City through a program known as CORE. The CORE program provides for a half-time team of two outreach workers (20 hours per week) shared with Pleasant Hill.
Back in November of 2022, the Martinez City Council allocated ARPA funding to increase CORE services to a full-time team of two workers providing 40 hours per week of services in Martinez.
The County offered a proposed amendment to the contract increasing the level of service to a full-time team for one year, from July 2023 to June 2024. The City has collaborated with other agencies in this area who contract with CORE (Concord, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek), to develop a standardized scope of services for the new fiscal year period. Specifically, this scope of services as proposed would include the following:
- CORE Outreach Specialists shall wear highly visible and easily recognizable CORE vests indicating “Martinez CORE” when engaged in fieldwork and during contacts, to increase the visibility of services.
- Provide weekly and monthly reports regarding contacts made by the CORE team, including summary statistical information showing year-to-date information.
- Include Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping information containing locations where contacts were made and services rendered.
- CORE workers will answer voicemails received by the City related to unhoused resident needs.
The city is calling this expansion of service coming at the right time.
The Police Department’s Community Resource Officer assignment was recently vacated with the incumbent officer accepting a job in the private sector. Due to ongoing staffing shortages, the Department does not anticipate being able to fill this position until the Spring of 2024 at the soonest.
The expanded CORE team could help offset the impact to the community while the Department rebuilds staffing.
The cost of the proposed one-year extension is $269,729. This includes an 8% increase in base program costs year over year. Program costs have been steadily increasing since the inception. Of the total, $130,000 will be funded by ARPA and $139,729 by the General Fund.
According to the Staff Report, the ARPA support is one-time funding and the biennial budget does not have sufficient revenues to continue beyond the first year without cuts in other areas. The one-year period will provide an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the higher service level. If the Council decides to continue the program, the City’s recently hired grant writing firm may be able to assist in identifying and securing additional funding streams. Alternatively, the Council may decide to go in a different direction at the conclusion of the fiscal year.
The proposed action will cost $269,729, with $130,000 funded by ARPA and $139,729 by the General Fund in FY 23-24. These appropriations are already incorporated in the proposed FY 23-24 budget.
Staff Report — click here
Editors Note — according to the Martinez Police Department, its responded to more than 60 “transient calls” since April 26, 2023.
Staff Report on Jan 2017: Joint contract for collaboration on homeless outreach with Contra Costa County and the City of Pleasant Hill — total contacts between the police and outreach personnel amount to 227 homeless contacts per month which calculates to 2,724 contacts per year.
Previous Stories:
- Nov 5, 2022: Martinez to Coordinate Resolution of Homeless Camp, Known as “Camp Hope”
- Dec 4, 2022: Martinez City Closes and Cleans Up Homeless Camp
