Three families with children living unsheltered were located and connected to immediate placement on Friday by the Sheriff’s Community Service & Reentry Division, Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement Team (H.O.P.E.).
The families were among 80 individuals who were contacted during a day-long outreach effort as part of the Sheriff’s “Operation Shelter Me” in the city of Victorville and surrounding unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County. Those individuals included 10 military veterans.
The team referred 67 individuals to services and 16 were assisted in connecting to a service. Over 75 percent of the individuals contacted were open to services. While service capacity is limited, the teams will continue to work with this population to get them into services as they become available.
Operation Shelter Me aims to connect staff with unhoused residents and offer them housing, medical and mental health treatment services. During this operation, the team focused on those with the most significant mental illness to get those individuals linked to restorative mental health pathways.
In June 2023, San Bernardino County opted into Laura’s Law, also called Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT). Laura’s Law provides opportunities for court-ordered community treatment pathways for individuals with histories of hospitalization or incarceration, and histories of violence to themselves or others. During Friday’s operation, two individuals were identified as potential Laura’s Law referrals. These individuals will be referred to the County Department of Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible additional services.
The team provided this focused outreach due to Senate Bill 170, which provided funding to the Sheriff’s Department to support ongoing operations of this nature. The H.O.P.E. Team and other aligned resources will continue operations of this type throughout the county over the next several years.
If you know of persons experiencing homelessness who need services, please get in touch with the H.O.P.E. Team at 909-387-0623 or hope@sbcsd.org.