Meeting Minutes - Final

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY Contra Costa

Council on Homelessness

1:00 PM

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Hybrid: 1025 Escobar St., Martinez or

https://homebaseccc.zoom.us/meeting/register/t

Zclf-uspzovGdR7op72t5-X4nsGdqdpvL-X#/reg

istration

General Meeting

COH Agenda 7.10.25

Attachments:

COH Slides 7.10.25 revised

Agenda Items: Items may be taken out of order based on the business of the day and preference of the

Committee

Roll Call and Introductions

Staff Attendance: Jaime Jenett, H3; Jamie Schecter, H3; Alex Michel, Homebase; Mark Mora,

Homebase; Michele Byrnes, Homebase; Tania Morales, Homebase

Community Member Attendance:

In-person: Jared Murti, City of Pinole; Daniel Busch, EHSD; Jilly Ray, Supervisor Anderson’s Office

Remote: Adam Hudson, BACS; C. Bullard, BACS; Michelle Albert, Bay Legal; Ishani Rasanayagam,

City of Pittsburg; Catherine Casimere, City of Richmond; Sonja Shephard, Community Member;

Peter Myers, Contra Costa County District 3; Janna Evans, CCCOE; Elizabeth Winstead, DOR;

Brittany Ferguson, H3; Carina Rodriguez-Pena, H3; Caroline Miller, H3; Cheryl Leonor, H3; Christy

Saxton, H3; Janel Fletcher, H3; Jacqueline Franco, H3; Kimberly Thai, H3; Natalie Siva, H3; Shelby

Ferguson, H3; Stephanie Bodisco, H3; Yessenia Aguilar, H3; Deanne Pearn, Hope Solutions; Carmen

Cano, LFCD; Julie Clemens, LSS NorCal; Elizabeth Yin, LWA; Rena Moore, Safe Return Project;

Andrea Foti, SHELTER Inc.; Cynthia-Bella Chavez, SHELTER, Inc.; Rebecca Gomez-Pellecer, SHELTER

Inc.; Abby Shamelashvili, Trinity Center; Nathan Pereyra, Trinity Center; Anastasia Padilla, YAB;

Amanda Aschow, Zócalo Health

Alejandra Chamberlain, Verneda Clapp, Sherina Criswell, Hope

Dixon, Wayne Earl, Maria E Fairbanks, Carolyn Foudy, Susan

Leslie Gleason, Nicole Green, Danielle Jimenez, Gabriel Lemus,

LeAnn Matthews, Yahel Moreno, Courtney Pal, Shawn Ray,

Bessie Marie Scott, Tony Ucciferri, and Heather Worobey

Present

Juno Hedrick

Non-voting

Public comment on any item under the jurisdiction of the Committee and not on this agenda

(speakers may be limited to two minutes).

COH Minutes 6.5.25

Attachments:

COH Staff Report 7.10.25

APPROVE minutes from the June 5, 2025 Council meeting and APPROVE staff

report for the July 10, 2025 Council meeting

Motion:

Earl

Second:

Clapp

Committee Report Out: Youth Advisory Board (YAB) Update

The Youth Advisory Board provided an update on their current activities, including subcommittee

meetings, participation in the Housing Needs Assessment Committee, and involvement in

community strategic planning. They continue to hold bi-monthly hybrid meetings at H3 offices

and report out to the Oversight Committee. YAB is working on three action steps derived from

their strategic plan, with Anastasia Padilla and Juno Hedrick coordinating these efforts. Juno

highlighted the June activities such as participating in the YAB Pride proclamation at the Board of

Supervisors’ June meeting and presenting key findings from youth and adult needs assessments

to support Measure X/ARPA funding recommendations. For July, the team plans to prepare for

the HUD Youth Homeless Demonstration Program re-release, participate in training sessions,

increase YAB coordinator capacity for peer support, and present needs assessment findings at the

Board of Supervisors meeting. Anyone interested in connecting with YAB may send an email at

ContraCostaYAB@cchealth.org <mailto:ContraCostaYAB@cchealth.org>. Anastasia Padilla shared

her experience with the foster system and her work with YAB. Nicole Green encouraged

attendees to join the strategic planning efforts with youth.

Old Business: Sector Report Outs from Council Members

The following COH members gave the following updates:

- Jaime Jenett welcomed Bessie Scott as the new City Government representative.

- Nicole Green shared a flyer about the event called First Page New Chapter tutoring that will

take place in Pittsburgh for youth ages 12 through 18. All interested youth may attend either

or both events on July 12th, 11am-1:00pm or August 2nd, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. RSVP is available at

the First Page New Chapter’s website <https://www.firstpagenewchapter.net/>. Nicole Green

also shared another event called Words with the Police on July 17th and July 24th at 8pm in

Pittsburgh. There will be resources available for community members from Behavioral Health

Department and La Clinica. Any other organization that has resources guides that they want

to share with the rest to the community may send them directly to H3 for distribution.

- Contra Costa College will host a resource fair about immigration with the participation from

many organizations on July 26th, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Agencies and organizations will offer free

legal consultations, education about know your rights, and family preparedness.

- The City of Antioch will host a Homelessness 101 event at the city’s library on September 13th

at 11 a.m.

- Wayne Earl shared that the Bay Area Rescue Mission will have a school supply giveaway event

on August 2, from 10 a.m. -2 p.m. in McDonald Avenue between 1st and 3rd Streets. In

addition to free backpacks filled with school supplies, attendees can get haircuts, food,

clothing, giveaways, etc. Tabling opportunities will also be available. Flyers and how to RSVP

will be shared soon.

- Tony Ucciferri announced that The Housing Authority’s project-based voucher program has 16

units. The waitlist will remain open until July 24th, 4 p.m. The Housing Authority’s Sign-Up

Waitlist notification form may be found at its website

<https://contracostaha.org/waitlist-form/>.

Old Business: Update: Housing Support Program

Jamie Schecter reported that Contra Costa County received an allocation of nearly $3 million for

the Housing Support Program (HSP, also known as Housing WORKS!) for fiscal years 2025-2026,

with a request submitted to the California Department of Social Services (CDESS) for the full

amount. The HSP data for FY 2024-2025 showed that 190 families were served, with 31 in eviction

prevention and 159 in Rapid Rehousing programs. If awarded, HSP will continue to provide direct

financial assistance to CalWORKs HSP families.

Old Business: Funding Updates

Jamie Schecter discussed the submission of the Village of Hope Project application under the

COC Builds NOFO competition, with results expected at the end of October. H3 posted a Request

for Proposal (RFP) notice for Transitional Housing for Transition Age Youth (TAY), with

applications due July 1st, 2025. The official RFP may be accessed on the Contra Costa Health’s

website here

<https://www.cchealth.org/home/showpublisheddocument/32071/638869767709614418>.

Additionally, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Transitional

Housing Program-Plus (THP-PLUS) RFP, a federal funding for similar services with a quick

turnaround timeline of two weeks. Agencies interested in applying for this fund may reach out to

H3 to receive support for the application. The Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention

(HHAP-6) program is due on August 29th, 2025, with stakeholder feedback session on July 10th.

The HHP-7 State budget for FY 2026-2027 will include $500 million, a substantial decrease from

previous years, and that $100 million in encampment resolution funding was available for

various cities and the county.

Jamie concluded by sharing that there are some expected impacts on Medicaid per the Federal

budget approved by Congress in early July.

Jamie also reported that HUD has reversed their previous commitment to a two-year funding

cycle for Continuum of Care (COC) programs, instead planning to release a new Notice of

Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that would require reapplication for all funding. If this NOFO is

released, it may prioritize street outreach and behavioral health services, though specific details

are not yet available. It was emphasized that while local control will still influence priorities, the

COH committee needs to prepare for potential changes to funding structures and encouraged

participants to contact their representatives to express concerns about the funding changes. H3

has already reached out to its funding committee members to be prepared to convene in case

NOFO drops. Jamie recommended members to sign up for ’The National Alliance to End

Homelessness (NEAH)s newsletter

<https://endhomelessness.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/> to receive federal budget

updates.

Old Business: Update: CoC Monitoring

Michele Byrnes presented the results of the 2025 compliance monitoring process with reviewal of

eight agencies and 20 projects. They found overall positive compliance with previous

recommendations, particularly noting improvements in timekeeping systems across agencies. The

areas of improvements identified were grant spend-down progress and fair housing policies, with

recommendations made for agencies to access technical assistance and update their fair housing

policies. The names of the eight agencies were shown as well as the monitoring timeline.

New Business: (ACTION ITEM) DISCUSS and APPROVE 2025 Quarter 2 Council on

Homelessness Recommendations for Report to County Board of Supervisors

Jaime Jenett discussed the upcoming Council on Homelessness quarterly recommendations to the

County Board of Supervisors as: 1) Continue to advocate for ongoing support for people who lose

eligibility for services and other resources due to federal and state policy decisions; and 2) Share

Annual Report and Point-In-Time Count reports and open seats on the Council on Homelessness

with your constituents. In terms of COH membership and open seats, about half of current seats

will expire in December and recruitment will begin in September.

To approve the recommendations for the Q2 COH report to the FHS Committee of

the Board of Supervisors.

Motion:

Ucciferri

Second:

Criswell

10.

New Business: Learning Corner: AB 109 Programs Update

Jamie Schecter and Nicole Green presented updates on AB 109, a California law shifting

responsibility for nonviolent and non-serious sexual offenders from state prisons to local county

jails and probation departments per the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States that

prisons violated the 8th amendment due to inadequate medical and mental health services and

overcrowding. The legal requirements for spending were shared. The Community Advisory Board

(CAB) is a 15-member body of community stakeholders that is formally responsible for advising

the AB 109 Community Corrections Partnership, with Community Corrections Partnership (CCP)

being responsible for making AB 109 policy and budget recommendations to the Public Protection

Committee (PPC). The one-time AB 109 funding allocation to H3 was shared with priorities given

to housing, employment, and rehabilitation services. Part of next steps include implementing all

services in FY 2025-2026, ongoing coordination with re-entry partners, data sharing exploration,

and ongoing updates to CAB.

11.

2025 PIT Infographic

Attachments:

Janel Fletcher provided an overview of the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) count for

homelessness in Contra Costa County, which was conducted at the end of January.

Data showed that there is a 26% decrease in the number of people experiencing

homelessness

on a given night (725 fewer individuals). Part of the methodology used were through

HMIS or via survey for non-HMIS participating programs for sheltered count and

observational count conducted by volunteers from the community, partner agencies,

and CORE for the unsheltered count. The 2025 PIT count included survey questions

about displacement experience (e.g., if program participants were offered services

when they were required to move). The data collected will help determine funding

for homelessness initiatives.

The next meeting is currently scheduled for 8/7/25

Adjourn

The Committee will provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities planning to attend

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disclosable public records related to an open session item on a regular meeting agenda and distributed by

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available for public inspection at 2400 Bisso Lane, D2, Concord during normal business hours. Staff

connection malfunctions for any reason, the meeting may be paused while a fix is attempted. If the

connection is not reestablished, the committee will continue the meeting in person without remote

access. Public comment may be submitted via electronic mail on agenda items at least one full work day

prior to the published meeting timest one full work day prior to the published meeting time.

For Additional Information Contact: contracostacoc@cchealth.org