by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach efforts to fight homelessness added another facet April 9 as the city council voted 4-0 to accept a $1.3 million grant from Healthnet for an “Outreach & Alternative Crisis Response” pilot program.
The sum also includes $768,000 previously designated for the expansion of the Redondo Beach homeless pallet shelter from 20 to 45 units.
Outreach & Alternative Crisis Response is a strategy to address 911 calls for nonviolent mental health matters, with crisis de-escalation, in-person intervention and transport to behavioral health services.
“We’re good at getting to homelessness,” said Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light, of the city’s overall efforts. “This now sends someone before the fact, in many cases, who is trained to handle the problem, to keep someone from being homeless in the future.”
Hermosa Beach has their own Outreach & Alternative Crisis Response program in effect, which Redondo will somewhat model theirs after.
“Our program is not yet solidified since we will be coming back to the city council with a potential agreement with a third party, “ said Joy Abaquin-Ford, Redondo Beach quality of life prosecutor. “So we’ll know at that point what the program will look like.”
The city aims to use its pilot funds to pair a mental health clinician with a substance abuse counselor. They would operate in plainclothes, in unmarked cars.
Last year, Redondo Beach approved in its budget a mental health counselor, but has not been able to hire someone for the job.
Working group
The city Outreach & Alternative Crisis Response (ACR) project originated last July when city councilmember Paige Kaluderovic went to a county mental health summit in Los Angeles, with Redondo city staff, Beach Cities Health District representatives and local school district staff.
Kaluderovic later spoke with Issaac Yang, a Redondo Beach Fire Department division chief, and they started a working group to develop an ACR pilot.
Meeting monthly, the group went through the past four years of data for mental health calls in the city.
Ronson Chu, senior project manager for homeless services for South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG), referred Kaluderovic to Health Net. The Redondo Beach city attorney’s office then worked with SBCCOG to create a proposal for an ACR. Health Net awarded funding ($570,000) for one year of the project.
Kaluderovic noted that Redondo’s locally-controlled police dispatch and fire department helps the program, making it easier to coordinate calls.
“It really is a public safety issue,” Kaluderovic said. “To get people what they need in that moment as opposed to police.”
While funding for the pilot is just for one year, it could extend further.
“The idea is it will continue. I’m exploring that now,” Kaluderovic said. “The challenge for everyone is there is just a lack of clinicians, across the board.”
The pilot is expected to begin later this year.
“My goal is this would start by summer,” Kaluderovic said. ER
