Sacramento County supervisors signed off Tuesday on a new Community Defined Wellness Practices Program, locking in $16.38 million for mental health focused housing and on site wellness services aimed at people experiencing homelessness. County officials say the idea is simple, if not exactly small: pair housing with culturally defined, community led care in neighborhoods where unhoused residents are most heavily concentrated.
The board approved a pooled contract authority of $16,380,000 for the effort, with agreements running through June 30, 2029, according to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. The item landed in the Health Services section of the Nov. 18 meeting packet and directs staff to build a contracting pool so the county can quickly bring on community providers. Staff told supervisors the pooled setup is meant to speed the launch of multiple program sites and partner projects around the county.
What The Program Will Do
The initiative, labeled in county documents as the “Unhoused Individuals INN Project,” is designed to deliver long term mental health services, expand outreach to people who repeatedly cycle through homelessness, and grow the county’s peer workforce, as reported by The Sacramento Bee. The plan calls for co locating clinicians and peer specialists with community groups and building housing supports that center culturally defined wellness practices. Officials say putting providers where people already are is supposed to lower barriers to care, make it easier to accept services, and accelerate moves into stable housing.
Funding And Policy Background…