A public press conference in February 2008 and resulting media coverage, including in The Sacramento Bee, achieved the goal of public accountability for Sacramento City and County's 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness created in 2006.

Public reporting and community education were included in the five strategies in Sacramento's Plan, and the new Progress Report provides the future foundation for the public accessibility to outcomes that the Plan called for.

Mayor Heather Fargo, County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, 10 Year Plan point person Bruce Wagstaff, Director of the Sacrament County Department of Human Assistance, and former Plan point person Diane Luther prepared and released a report card on progress, "The First Year: 2007 Progress Report For Sacramento's Ten Year Plan To End Chronic Homelessness."

The report card fulfills two purposes.

First, it quantifies progress in achieving the goal of new housing for persons who are chronically homeless, in preventing homelessness through housing preservation and development, and creating the new Leadership Structure to oversee implementation and measure results. The report also provides illustrated profiles of formerly homeless neighbors who are succeeding in their new housing.

Second, the report card explains key concepts and plan activities in an easily read format, giving the progress report added value in educating the broader community about strategies and goals.

The report card defines the housing and services pipeline ahead in the next phase of action steps, as well as potential barriers and challenges (budget issues, development underway, and funding applications pending).

Persons who are chronically homeless benefit by Sacramento's public expression of political will by the Mayor and County officials demonstrating public commitment and accountability for the 10 Year Plan and its goal of ending homelessness for the most disabled and vulnerable persons in the community

Community infrastructure - law enforcement, hospitals, emergency rooms - benefits by seeing the continuing expression of political will of jurisdictional CEO's from the City and County who are committed to ending chronic homelessness.

Residents of Sacramento benefit by learning about what's working to end homelessness for their neighbor, including engagement strategies and housing opportunities organized for results for the most vulnerable, disabled, and expensive.

A public press event for the release of the scorecard and resulting regional media coverage ensure broad community knowledge of the 10 Year Plan and its first year results.

Quantifiable outcomes reported in the scorecard demonstrate that results are being measured, including:

Goal: The Plan's 3-year housing goal was the creation of 218 new rental opportunities for persons who are chronically homelessness.

Result: 171 persons housed in year 1 and funding for an additional 140 rental units planned for 2008 - 2009.

Goal: The Plan called for preventing homelessness through housing preservation and development, with a goal to create 200 new SRO units and preserve 100 SROs for extremely low income people with disabilities.

Results: The 100-unit downtown Berry Hotel has been purchased by a developer who is assembling financing to rehabilitate and preserve the building as very low income housing. Two more projects are in the pipeline to preserve or replace SRO resources; the YWCA has requested funding to preserve an existing 32 SRO units, and a site at the corner of 7th and H Streets may be developed to provide up to 160 replacement units.

All of the Sacramento 10 Year Plan Committee, Plan Chair Jeanne Reaves, President-CEO of River City Bank, and public and private sector leaders, including Mayor Fargo and County Supervisor Dickinson, committed to the Plan's goal of evaluation and reporting to the community, which resulted in the preparation and release of the report card.

City and County leaders, under the new 10 Year Plan Leadership Structure called for by the Plan and now in place, are implementing the Plan's strategies and measuring and reporting results using a community-oriented report card format.

The new Policy Board, made up of high-level public and private sector community leaders, has the task of providing strategic direction, oversight, and advocacy for the 10 Year Plan and for homeless services. The Board, chaired by Tom Gagen, CEO of Sutter Health Systems, is made up of political and private sector representatives such as Mayor Fargo, County Supervisor Dickinson, Police Chief Rick Braziel and others. The Policy Board provides community accountability, oversight and advocacy for homeless housing and services.

The new Interagency Council, made up of government agencies, service providers, and community stakeholders, is tasked to plan and coordinate service delivery and recommend policies and strategies to the Policy Board. The Council's 30 members represent "the critical housing and services sectors which must come together in new partnerships to end chronic homelessness." The Interagency Council includes more than ten committees which focus on specific issues related to homelessness, such as health care, criminal justice, and Project Homeless Connect. These committees report to the Interagency Council.

To read "The First Year: 2007 Progress Report For Sacramento's Ten Year Plan To End Chronic Homelessness," visit www.communitycouncil.org/homelessplan

To learn more about Sacramento's Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, contact: Tim Brown, Chronic Homelessness Initiative Director at: 916-447-7063.

20 in 20, A Month of Innovations, continues tomorrow with a Special Issue focused on:

Securing an ID
for persons who are homeless:
A Project Homeless Connect innovation
from San Francisco and Norfolk

Don't miss a single episode during this 20 in 20 Month of Innovations . . . but, if you do, you can always access the Council's "on demand" service and catch up. Just visit our web site at www.usich.gov/innovations

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov