Three homelessness organizations with ties to county governments across Utah say they were not consulted by the state’s top homelessness policymaking board on its recommendations for the upcoming general legislative session.
The Utah Homeless Services Board’s proposals, if adopted by legislators and Gov. Spencer Cox, could reset how the Beehive State responds to those without stable shelter while also embedding drug and mental health treatment more deeply in the services system.
The three “continuums of care” organizations that have bristled at these recommendations are responsible for coordinating federal homelessness funding and programs through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to Salt Lake County.
These organizations include the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, which represents Salt Lake County; the Mountainland Continuum of Care, which represents Utah, Summit and Wasatch counties; and the Balance of State Continuum of Care, which represents Davis, Weber and the remaining 23 counties within the Beehive State.
The three organizations operate under the Utah Homeless Network and represent “a broad coalition of service providers, housing agencies, behavioral health organizations and law enforcement partners who work daily with Utah’s homeless population,” according to a news release from the group.
Risk of ‘alienating’ partners
Each organization sent a letter last week to the state Homeless Services Board about the strategies proposed during a meeting of the panel on Sept. 25, when members largely finalized their recommendations for lawmakers.
“Excluding [service providers’] input is not only a missed opportunity for expert insight,” the Salt Lake Valley group wrote in its letter, “it risks alienating the very partners essential to implementing the state’s strategies.”
The groups had “serious concerns” that several of the board’s recommendations could carry significant implications “that may exacerbate challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness and the organizations that serve them,” according to the release.
“Transparency and inclusion from key voices are vital to adequately shaping the direction of the state’s homelessness response in a way that serves the entire state,” Utah Homeless Network co-chair and Mountainland Continuum of Care lead Heather Hogue said in a statement. “This is too important to not get right.”
What are the recommendations?
Homeless Services Board members voted 10-1 to back a suite of recommendations for lawmakers that would reorient Utah’s system toward drug and mental health treatment for those experiencing homelessness, and aim to boost the number of professionals working with struggling Utahns. Board member Jennifer Campbell, who chairs the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, cast the lone dissenting vote.
The panel advised state leaders to:
• Create a consistent funding source for the planned 1,300-bed homeless campus.
• Build a substance use disorder treatment facility that’s an alternative to jail where entry and exit are not voluntary.
• Evaluate and fund a 300-bed civil commitment unit for those with severe mental illness.
• Increase Utah’s case management workforce.
• Work with the White House to deploy federal mental health response teams in Utah.
• Instruct homelessness officials to review system accountability measures and reporting standards.
• Develop integrated homelessness data-sharing measures.
• Extend Utah’s policy of adding more shelter beds during the winter.
In its letter to state leaders, the board also wrote it would identify additional gaps in Utah’s homelessness policies and solutions to fill them at its meeting on Nov. 20. A provisional list mentioned pairing housing with treatment and employment requirements, as well as creating enforceable re-entry plans for people leaving incarceration.
State vows to collaborate
In response to the letters from the continuums of care organizations, Office of Homeless Services spokesperson Sarah Nielson said state officials value input and clarity on proposed policies.
“The Office of Homeless Services supports transparency and collaboration, and will continue to pursue a data-driven, coordinated system that meets state and federal directives,” she wrote in an email. “The state coordinator is currently engaging with service providers to solicit input and feedback on the recommendations that await possible consideration in November and beyond.”
Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, requested the Homeless Services Board make proposals that would align the Beehive State with President Donald Trump’s July executive order on public safety, which, in part, calls for ditching the long-held priority of helping homeless people into housing first and, instead, beefing up behavioral health care policies.
Hogue said the state’s continuum of care groups were not aware of the recommendations until the board’s Sept. 25 meeting, and that as of Monday, the groups still didn’t know the totality of the recommendations.
“Before these recommendations, we need to take a look and include the voices of people who are running successful programs — housing programs, service programs, treatment programs — and get an idea what the impact and the destabilization of our homeless response system across the state would be,” Hogue said in an interview, “and that hasn’t happened at all.”
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