BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – Bakersfield officials are saying a city-run program aimed at helping residents at risk of homelessness with mental health and substance abuse is showing numbers “trending in the right direction.”
The program in question is through Proposition 47 funding from the California Board of State and Community Corrections, by which Bakersfield was awarded just under $2 million.
Jamie Achterberg, assistant to the city manager with the City of Bakersfield, said the three-year program funded by the proposition has served 144 participants.
The $1.9 million funding supported 76 individuals with behavioral health treatments, 47 people with substance abuse treatments and has referred 84 individuals to other supportive services, Achterberg said.
Achterberg added that the program has made nine temporary housing placements and 16 permanent housing placements since becoming operational 18 months ago.
Achterberg said that participation in the program is voluntary.
“It’s more so reflective of the willingness of individuals to engage and participate at this level,” Achterberg said. “These are our chronically homeless individuals who’ve been on the streets for an extended period of time. They’re often very resistant to placement.”
Specifically, the program works to address homelessness through “target interventions” by way of Proposition 47’s goals of rehabilitation and restorative justice.
The program’s core pillars include tackling the parole to homeless pipeline, strengthening services supporting individuals and increasing transitions into permanent housing.
She said it can also take time for an unhoused individual to be placed in a shelter, for example, once an individual agrees to be placed in a shelter, Achterberg said it can take one to three days for someone to be placed in a shelter like Brundage Lane Navigation Center in Bakersfield.
The Prop 47 funding was awarded to the city in October 2024, for a total of $1,999,374 and to be overseen by the Bakersfield Police Department’s Community Vitality Unit to support mental health treatment, substance abuse and “diversion-focused programming for justice-involved individuals.”
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According to city documents, the program was built to support two key initiatives over its three-year lifespan: have “intense case management services” for “high utilizers of homeless and emergency response systems” and services to help previously unhoused individuals seek shelter and stability to reduce the amount of homelessness and unhoused recidivism in Bakersfield after an individual is released from incarceration.
Achterberg said although the numbers are preliminary, they are trending in the right direction.
She said the early recidivism rate is at 12.4% for Bakersfield, 15.7% for all of Kern County and about 20.3% statewide.
“So that’s good news,” she said. “The pathway program is what is measurable so far.”
The program is funded solely through a grant and not through the city’s general fund.
Achterberg said the three-year program will operate through June 2027.
The data through the program comes as Flood Ministries, a nonprofit contracted through the city to assist with homelessness outreach, engagement and intervention efforts, had fewer referrals to local shelters this summer.
Between June and July, Flood Ministries reported that they referred 816 unhoused people to shelters in July, down from 1,024 in June, marking a 20.3% decrease.
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In a public City Council Homeless Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22, Manuel Vieyra with Flood Ministries, said out of those referrals, the nonprofit was able to place 53 individuals in temporary housing in July. He said most of those individuals went to Brundage Lane or to M Street Navigation.
Vieyra said 66 people were unable to be placed, with 46 people being turned away from shelters due to a lack of bed space, 13 people who Flood Ministries was unable to contact and seven people who had “shelter barriers.” Vieyra said shelter barriers can include active warrants or being a registered sex offender.
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