Murrieta Council Agrees To Aid Wildomar With Homelessness, Services

MURRIETA, CA — Murrieta City Council voted unanimously to work with the city of Wildomar to further reduce homelessness in Southwest Riverside County, it was decided in the recent Murrieta City Council Meeting.

The six-month pilot program, presented by Community Services Director Brian Ambrose at Tuesday's city council session, will enable the cities of Murrieta and Wildomar to work together to help the area's homeless population within hours of people needing services. It's an extension of the Regional Homeless Alliance of the communities of Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula, and Wildomar, but Tuesday's decision will add special guidance and resource sharing between the two towns.

According to the agreed-upon proposal, Murrieta will provide expertise and oversight toward ongoing homelessness services that Wildomar will pay for to the tune of $20,039.21 per month.

"Homelessness is not a city issue but a regional issue," he said.

Recently, Wildomar officials sought out assistance from Murrieta for contracts essentially "erasing the border" during a six-month pilot program regarding street outreach, emergency shelter, and case management.

"The same procedure we use in Murrieta will be used in Wildomar. That means when street outreach finds a homeless individual, we can find resources for them and have them housed within one hour if there are no additional issues that need addressing," Ambrose said.

At the meeting, it was decided the city would:

• Approve a six-month Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Wildomar for homeless services for a maximum monthly reimbursement to the City of Murrieta of $20,039.21.
• Establish a revenue budget for reimbursement of costs from the City of Wildomar in the Fiscal Years 2023/24 and 2024/25 Operating Budgets for the six-month pilot period;
• Authorize the City Manager to execute the Memorandum of Understanding and utilize existing grant funding to support the collaboration between Murrieta and Wildomar.

Across the county of Riverside, homelessness has increased by 49 percent, according to Ambrose's report.

"We have verifiable evidence that our plan is working, "Ambrose said. "Homelessness in the five RHA communities has not increased since 2017. Murrieta is one of the only cities in the county that has achieved functional homelessness. In spite of our good work, homelessness will likely continue to increase, however."

Though Murrieta's homeless shelter currently can house 16 people a night, Wildomar is looking to build an additional shelter.

"Tonight, it's raining, and there may be nights when beds aren't available," he said. Those beds are filled by priority, first and foremost by families in Murrieta with children in the district, then by Murrieta veterans. "We find those we are able to and get them shelter right away," Ambrose said, adding that more shelters are needed in each city.

According to Ambrose, the currently in-place Regional Homeless Alliance proves that homelessness cannot be viewed by city borders.

"We should be doing point in time as a region, not by city. I want to scale a program where all five cities would have homeless facilities within their borders," he said. "The county's role in this has been one of a partner. We have received a lot of grant funding, and we anticipate coming back with a grant for four of the RHA cities that would amount to millions of dollars."

Councilmember Holliday spoke at the presentation, saying: "It's a shining example of how a city should handle homelessness. Even though Wildomar is paying its share, we benefit because homelessness is not a city issue but a regional issue. It's not just crossing a border, and 'it's not my problem.' We currently have the bandwidth and existing staff to cover it all. It's a win/win for us all."

Related:

Southwest Riverside County Gears Up To Tackle Homelessness