Supervisors Approve Funding for Homeless Outreach Program in SSF

REDWOOD CITY – The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has approved a grant of $227,564 to support one year of funding for two full-time Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) Case Managers to provide response services in the Cities of San Bruno and South San Francisco. Case managers hired by homeless service provider LifeMoves will continue to refer and offer unsheltered individuals to health care, shelter, and other available services.

LifeMoves is a social service agency focused on housing and homelessness operating 26 shelter and service sites from Daly City to San Jose providing temporary shelter, intensive and customized case management for unhoused people.

“San Mateo County is working to achieve ‘functional zero’ homelessness, and our partnership with LifeMoves and the HOT effort is a proven success,” said Supervisor Dave Pine. “The ability of the case managers to work with unhoused people to connect them to services and offering that help on individual terms is critical to the program’s effectiveness.”

LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) works throughout San Mateo County to meet unsheltered clients wherever they are and provide services in the field. HOT is the LifeMoves “boots on the ground” daily canvassing local streets and known encampments to identify, build relationships, and assist unsheltered clients as needed.

The two dedicated HOT Case Managers funded by this grant will respond to calls from the San Bruno and South San Francisco police departments to identify where homeless individuals reside, increase services to homeless individuals in the area, provide intensive case management, work to develop trust and rapport with homeless individuals, make referrals to primary and behavioral health care, connect people to housing resources, and provide access to basic needs (such as meals, showers, toiletries, and emergency shelter).

This past year, the HOT case manager worked to help and service 73 individuals experiencing homelessness in San Bruno and South San Francisco. Of these, 40 individuals received case management and 40 entered shelters with seven successfully transitioned to stable housing. The consistent outreach enables case managers to build strong relationships with the police and holistically assist those experiencing homelessness.