Lompoc City Council votes to adopt Santa Barbara County’s Plan to Address Homelessness
LOMPOC, Calif. - Lompoc City Council voted earlier this week to adopt a countywide community action plan to address homelessness.
During Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Santa Barbara County employees reported on homelessness throughout the county and presented their Phase II Community Action Plan to Address Homelessness.
The plan includes five key strategies:
- Increase access to safe, affordable housing;
- Use best practices to deliver tailored support services;
- Build a collective action plan;
- Strengthen support system to obtain and maintain housing; and
- Build provider capacity to address complex needs.
In order to implement these, the county said it requires funding from throughout the region.
The resolution was approved by Lompoc City Council meeting with a 3 to 2 vote.
The Phase II Community Action Plan to Address Homelessness development process began in October 2019 and concluded in January 2021. The process included community outreach and input from more than 400 community members and key stakeholder groups.
County staff gathered data on funding amounts for housing and services dedicated to homelessness in the county over a 12-month period and analyzed recent state and federal investments to address homelessness.
The plan describes regional system level goals, focusing on priority populations, new resources, and performance, such as:
- Prioritize ending/dramatically reducing homelessness for specific populations;
- Increase housing inventory dedicated to homelessness and affordability;
- Create a culture of diversion and prevention across the homeless response system;
- Improve overall homeless system performance; and
- Achieve continuum of care strategies and benchmarks approved in 2019
More information on Tuesday's City Council meeting and the Community Action Plan can be found on the city's meeting agenda here.