June 6, 2023 — Fresno County Board of Supervisors
Documented by Rachel Youdelman
What happened: The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to donate 23 county-owned travel trailers to local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that serve homeless individuals, to be used as temporary housing.
The decision follows some controversy after supervisors reallocated $1 million of federal pandemic relief funds in May — originally allocated to make the trailers available for temporary housing — for the kitchen remodeling of Poverello House.
Four of the trailers will be donated to Elevate Community Services (RH Community Builders), four to Poverello House and 15 to the Fresno Mission Foundation, according to the agenda.
Deputy County Administrative Officer Amina Flores Becker said that seven of the trailers are currently being used as emergency housing at the community-based organizations, while 17 are now serving as emergency shelter for evacuated residents displaced as a result of flooding or expected flooding.
Becker said that all of the trailers would be available to the organizations in mid-August when flooding was no longer a threat.
And also: The board adopted a resolution supporting the California State Association of Counties (CSAC)’s AT HOME Plan to address homelessness throughout California in a statewide, integrated, systematic manner.
Graham Knaus, CSAC’s executive director, gave an overview of the plan, which was launched in mid-March.
“AT HOME” is an acronym for “accountability, transparency, housing, outreach, mitigation, economic opportunity.” Knaus explained these “6 pillars” of the plan.
He said that until now, there was no unified statewide system to address homelessness and that, despite dozens of homelessness programs, none of them are integrated, and they represent different levels of government without clear roles.
State funding, said Knaus, has no relationship to what goes on locally, because it is not a part of a total system. “That will change,” Knaus noted and directed the board to the CSAC website, where all details are available.
Brandi Nuse-Villegas, a local advocate for the homeless, said that “transparency is crucial.” She said that there was a need for setting protocol when someone is dismissed from a shelter; she cited a case in which a woman on oxygen was turned away from a shelter.
Up next: The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will meet again on June 20 at 9:30 a.m.
