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HOPE lO-Year Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in San Mateo County For those who are at imminent risk of community champions and leaders who will becoming homeless primarily due to lack ensure continued, sustainable engagement of adequate income, the Plan calls for the and action around the vision of HOPE, and provision of refined and expanded Homeless the mobilization of a critical mass of citizens, Prevention services in order to secure and/or decision makers, and key constituencies to maintain their existing housing. HOPE also support and implement effective solutions to recommends that every individual or family end homelessness. discharged from a public or private institution (such as a hospital, mental health facility, jail or foster care) has access to safe, accessible, Resources Needed to End affordable or supportive housing. Both of these Homelessness recommendations are based on the provision of coordinated and integrated mainstream In addition to working smarter, implementation of services such as health, mental health, the HOPE Plan will require new and reconfigured substance abuse, social and employment resources to carry out the recommendations. services. Although much of the needed funding will come from state and federal resources, it is estimated 3. Create system performance standards, that it will cost approximately $1.56 billion over track progress towards ending and ten years to create and operate the recommended preventing homelessness, and report 7,900 new units of permanent affordable and results to stakeholders and the broader supportive housing. community. While this cost estimate is sizeable, the price of Developing the housing and services necessary not doing things differently is also significant, to prevent and end homelessness depends in with poor outcomes for the monies spent. large measure on having good information Estimates from other communities suggest that to track progress, evaluate results, and the emergency and social services used by people determine whether scarce resources are being who are homeless can cost as much as $70,000 used most efficiently and are accomplishing per person per year. If applied to San Mateo the goals set forth in the Plan. Good data is County, this figure suggests it could cost nearly $2 also essential to ensure accountability to the billion over 10 years to simply continue providing community and to build public support - by expensive emergency interventions that do not for demonstrating that progress is being made the most part end homelessness for those receiving to prevent and end homelessness. Progress these services. will be reported to community leaders, policymakers, funders, providers, consumers Therefore, the HOPE Plan lays out several and the general public to ensure continuous strategies for securing the needed resources: quality improvement of housing and services for people who are homeless. . through working smarter, using existing funds more strategically and efficiently; 4. Develop long-term leadership and . through coordination and collaboration, using community will to prevent and end local funds to leverage more state and federal homelessness. funding; and, Accomplishing the Plan's recommendations . by showing tangible results, increasing public depends in great measure on building broad- and private support for and investment in based community support and developing solutions to end homelessness. a structure that will create and sustain the community's will to prevent and end homelessness. The Plan calls for cultivating iv