Last week, the City of Antioch received a report on its Unhoused Resident Services program which claimed an 82% success rate. The only problem is it didn’t include any data.
82% success rate is a huge number when compared to Delta Landing in the City of Pittsburg at 74% success rate and City of Martinez reporting on Wednesday its CORE team is at 67% success rate. Given the “eyeball test” around Antioch, one cannot believe these figures without actual data and metrics being provided, if anything, homelessness in Antioch is actually growing which can be observed on Wilbur Avenue.
Unfortunately for Antioch, it continues to make blanket statements of accomplishments without providing substance or data—think crime and sideshows when Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe erroneously claimed both were down. Turns out, both are up! And by a lot according to the crime data.
I get it, Antioch desperately needs a win when it comes to their homeless programs because they received a ton of media attention, invested a lot of time, energy, and funding—I truly hope they are at an 82% success, but that is hard to believe they hit that number while lone wolfing the issue while everyone else is working with the county and state. Antioch hasn’t exactly been transparent with how they are doing things either.
Even last week, its vendor, BACS stated Antioch needed to do more and should be partnering with Contra Costa County and the Continuum of Care programs to open up more services and funding opportunities.
As for the report, I will not knock the individuals serving the homeless because it’s a difficult job and a no-win situation which no one can seem to solve, but the report out was weak and left a lot to be desired as key information should have been included—it also makes me wonder why this report was given in a facility that was not supposed to be recorded and posted on the city website. In case you unaware, Hernandez-Thorpe stated multiple times the meeting was not on TV and if you wanted the information one had to go to the meeting. Ultimately, staff got it right and recorded the meeting so there can be some accountability about what was stated.
However, it does make you wonder was the goal to report out the information and claim a win since few people would have been in attendance? Would the report out be a one-time thing ahead of election season? Most importantly, common sense says if you have an 82% success rate, you would want that “win” blasted across the world and on record.
Antioch unfortunately fumbled its report and it needs to be immediately corrected. Going forward, here is what Antioch should be reporting out in its Opportunity Village Program and its homeless services to avoid incomplete report outs to the public:
- Opportunity Village Acceptance – how are people selected to enter the program? Is Antioch cherry-picking the “easier cases” to inflate their success rates while the more difficult cases are sent to Delta Landing or placed on a waiting list? The criteria should be included in any report and examples provided as to why someone gets selected or dismissed. The metrics should have been included.
- 250 Person Waiting List – With a list this long, what is Antioch doing for these individuals? How are they being tracked so when they do become eligible to be accepted they are contacted? Are they being helped now in any capacity? Are they still on the streets? Getting some services? If the demand is this great, why did the council not hammer down on what staff is doing to help these individual while they wait?
- Success Rates – what is deemed successful? Is the number 65%? 75% or above 80%? Did Antioch determine what the program goals would be before spending taxpayer dollars? What are the metrics of success because success means different things to different people, programs and funding sources. It could be as simple as finding housing, medical services or providing a meal. Is it the goal they remain in housing for 1-month, 3-months, 6-months or a year? Antioch needs to better determine what they want exists to look like before it can determine any “success”.
- Follow up – I get people are just now graduating Opportunity Village, and maybe the data is not yet available, but what is the follow up plan to ensure these individuals do not return to the streets and remain receiving services?
- Success stories – with 42 positive exits, one would think Antioch would want to share this information and provide examples of its program success. None of this was provided. BACS said it has “touched” 90 lives this year, but no successes were made available to the public. We heard someone was placed in Antioch, Brentwood, Concord and Stockton—but that was it. A full list should be provided of successes without breaking any HIPPA laws.
- Housing– If people are graduating from Opportunity Village, who is deciding where they are placed? If its with family/friends that is one thing, but if they are placed in housing somewhere, who is pre-screening these places or paying for damages-repairs after? If Antioch is now paying for security deposits, 1st month rent and furniture, who is pre-screening the approval of funding? Just because BACS has 2,500 landlord partnerships, doesn’t mean they meet requirements of Antioch funding requirements. I can go down a rabbit hole of liability, but will digress for now.
- Financials: This was the biggest failure last week as no accounting was provided of total funds allocated, spent and remain available. A full list of expenses nor breaking down what funding was paying for items. An audit must be included with each report. An audit would also show any possible kickbacks are misuse of funds—which I hope is not happening. This is not a blank check with no requirements or rules so Antioch should stop treating it as one.
- Community Impacts – what is the impact on the Antioch Police Department, Contra Costa County Fire EMS, non-profits, and impacts seen across the city.
- Grant Opportunities: What is being done to ensure the program continues in the future?
Antioch must step up its reporting and transparency in the future since its using its own money to fund homeless programs. With funding not sustainable in the future, accurate data is needed to make better decisions on future homeless programs and services.
By having all of this data available, it will help continue improving success rates, but also assist in fixing what is not working–without data, its hard to even make informed decisions.
If Antioch is truly at 82%, then by all means double down and keep going, but it would behoove the Antioch City Council to demand better reporting metrics and data when presentations are given by staff, third-parties or consultants.
Transparency for a change would be nice coming from the City of Antioch, not just blanket statements with no substance behind it.
Mike Burkholder
Publisher of ContraCosta.news
burk@contracosta.news
Related:
- Feb 4 – Antioch Touts 82% Success Rate With Homeless Program
- Aug 21, 2023 – Antioch Set to Award $2.3 Million Homeless Encampment Cleanup Contract
- July 26, 2023 – Antioch to Spend $2.3 Million For On-Call Homeless Encampment Cleanup
- June 28, 2023 – Antioch Mayor Talks Ballot Measure to Fund Crisis Response and Homeless Hotel
- June 14, 2023 – Richmond and Antioch See Largest Gain in Homeless Population in Contra Costa County
- Aug 1, 2022 – Antioch City Council Approves Homeless Hotel Lease and Providing Services
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