Concord is currently developing a Homeless Strategic Plan to help assess gaps in services, clarify community goals, identify strategies, and help set priorities for funding investments to effectively respond to and prevent homelessness.
An update about this project, including the proposed vision and goals, was presented to the City Council at its Aug. 22 meeting, during which the Council approved the overall vision and provided input on the goals.
The 11-member Working Group is continuing to meet monthly to work on goal and strategy development, and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. at the Concord Senior Center (2727 Parkside Cir.). The project team is expected to return to the City Council in November with additional information about the team’s progress.
Following additional plan progress, the team is scheduled to hold community meetings to gather additional input about the proposed goals and possible strategies for addressing homelessness in the Concord community. While we previously reported that these meetings would be held in September, they are now expected to be held later this year, following Council input on the Working Group’s proposed strategies. Once the dates have been finalized, we will publicize the information in this e-newsletter and through our website.
For more information about this project, please visit the Homeless Strategic Plan web page.
33 comments
Hope there will be ample emphasis on substance abuse counseling and professional mental health services.
I just read this article and saw no progress except talk. The only thing planned is more talk and not for a couple of weeks. Are these people paid?
I also heard that donkies fly.
Oh sure… looking good there, way to go!
Walked Newhall Park last week. A homeless guy was passed out on the grass with all of his crap and his stolen bike right next to him . That is a nice park filled with kids playing soccer, moms pushing strollers, and seniors walking for exercise. I have zero sympathy and zero patience for homeless, and even less patience for these stupid “Working Group” programs that accomplish nothing. Stop enabling them. Stop rewarding them. Most of them are homeless due to substance abuse – which is a choice they have made. If they’re drug addicts: arrest them. If they’re mentally ill: hospitalize them. Problem solved.
Here’s something from TMZ ..”Robert Downey Jr. says prison may have saved his life — explaining to a judge that he’s 100% rehabilitated from his drug addiction … and says his time behind bars helped get him on the right path.” Sounds like a workable plan to me.
David Crosby made a similar statement in an interview. He said he finally realized that he had to get off drugs when he was laying on the floor of a jail in Texas. That was the final straw that convinced him that he had to get clean. He also said he looked back on his life and regretted all the years he wasted. Enabling addicts is not helping them.
My plan = one way ticket out of town.
Not so many years ago hospital in Nevada did just that.
Term for it was, Bus Therapy.
San Diego sued, https://tinyurl.com/ye27d7ed
Some of the homeless want complete freedom from society but with all of the benefits.
Freedom is expensive and no one should get a free ride.
Help those who need help, let the rest fend for themselves.
If they don’t want any help move them along! Do not give them a bunch of freebies make them work just like everyone else! You’ve heard the old adage about feeding stray cats.
I’ve adopted many stray cats. Adorable, loving, little souls. They’re in bad situations that they have not caused. Comparing them to homeless humans is unfair. These humans have chosen this lifestyle. They have chosen substance abuse. They have chosen to “ drop out” of society – yet they expect society to take care of them. They expect to live wherever they want without paying rent or contributing to the betterment of the community. I’d rather take care of 100 stray cats than one homeless human.
An employee must go above and beyond to prove that he or she is up for the job in the first 3 months of employment. After that, the employee’s hiring terms come with not only a list of dos and don’ts but also with the caveat that he or she can be let go at any time and for any reason. These same employment stipulations should also apply to politicians.
Newsom has dropped the travel ban to the 26 states he feels were not friendly enough to the LGBTQ enthusiasts. This is a pretty clear sign he’s running in 2024. Therefore expect to see him get serious about the homeless problem very soon. He can’t afford to have pictures such as the above with the caption “Newsom wants to do for America what he’s done for California” hit the national stage.
The good news is this should benefit the homeless very soon. The bad news is we could be stuck with this guy.
Bahahhhhahhhhahhhhahhhhhahhhhhhhhahhahaahh😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Sure they are!!!!!!! I can see 👀 the PROGRESS!!!!
Oh please! The only things their working on is trying to figure out a way to ask us for more money! 😑
Less talk – more action.
This could be the goal. Just talk about the problem. The alternative would to build a homeless Mecca in town. That would attract them from all over the country
Bahahhhhahhhhahhhhahhhhhahhhhhhhhahhahaahh😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Sure they are!!!!!!! I can see 👀 the PROGRESS!!!!
Progress? As in getting rid of them?
Eventual success will depend on how many years experience dealing with mental health, the homeless and those with substance abuse problems. From 40 years dealing with substance abusers, they need to hit a bottom then decide they’re sick-n-tired of being sick-n-tired and are ready to work towards change.
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Some manage to get clean and sober, those who can’t, usually don’t survive.
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When personal drug use became a misdemeanor it took an extremely successful tool away from Judges. Ability to impose a harsh Felony sentence which would be immediately stayed, provided defendant got clean n sober, stayed that way and maintained steady employment. Defendant was placed on 3 – 5 years of probation with the VERY CLEAR understanding if terms of probation were not adhered to the original Felony sentence would immediately be imposed. Saw it work more times than I can count over the years.
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These days IF a substance abuser even gets to Court and Judge learns of substance abuse and offers treatment, defendants decline opting instead for jail. Knowing full well due to jail overcrowding they’ll be back out on our streets after serving a mere fraction of their sentence and long before any treatment program ended.
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Result, our jails have been turned into farcical jokes.
Front jail doors should be ripped out and revolving doors installed.
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ONLY way to turn CA around is vote DEMs out of office at all levels of government.
I can GUARANTEE that the only result from this effort will be another report which will recommend more studies, and which will require more money.
Newscum claimed decades ago that he was going to eliminate homelessness in SF. Then he claimed that he was going to eliminate it in California.
Guess what? The only thing eliminated was that money from your pocket.
Anyone that thinks they can “eliminate homelessness” is lying to you.
First of all, I would demand a scope, schedule and budget. If they can’t provide all three, then go back to the drawing board.
I used to help homeless personally. I’ve volunteered for groups that officially help.
I now see that overall they are a bunch of mooches that we are enabling in their current situation by helping them. We need to get tough. We even need to start calling them bums and tell them to get a job. yes t a kick in the pants they need to get straight… not all this mambi pambi misguided kindness we’ve been doting on them for years.
I read the headline and thought finally i will learn how many fewer homeless people there are in Contra Costa County. I found no evidence of progress of any kind in the article. The tragedies of our time are our so-called compassion and tolerance. The governments we elect rob the relatively few who genuinely deserve judiciously awarded public assistance by making it easier for others to continue engaging in their addictions and illegal activities. The mentally ill are left to self diagnose—and too often and too easily to self-medicate—instead of committing them to treatment.
Couldn’t we begin by accurately and consistently measuring and regularly publishing the number of homeless by type, be it mental illness, drug addiction, both, and neither, and then hold those in power accountable to reducing these figures over time? Otherwise, at some point residents may become so frustrated at government impotence that they vote with their feet—as I have.
public assistance those who use homelessness to further their illegal activities;
They need a dog catcher with a noose on a pole to catch the rabid strays. Oh sorry you said homeless people, they need poison darts
That’s progress?
No schedule or deliverables ?
But that’s “progress?”
Bull crap.
Curious, did they close the Southern border where all the drugs are flowing in freely (among the illegal border jumpers from over 125 other countries) ?
No? Keep me posted when we address the root of the problems, m’kay.
Build more jails. That’s where these people belong and it’s cheaper than rehab. Which never works anyway.
If you build it they will come!
Homelessness is a money maker for politicians.
Get a grant then hire family and friends to administer it… I would rather flush cash down the toilet.
Core only helps who they like. Friends and family
Elderly and people on parole
Generalizations aren’t helpful. Not every homeless person is simply making a choice to be a substance abuser. There are many people who are dual diagnosed with mental illness and addiction. They are caught in a system with limited healthcare to address their mental illness, so they begin to self medicate. Even those who want an in-patient behavioral health program to address their mental health are unable to receive that treatment because MediCal won’t cover it. Most are incapable of navigating the complexity of the system on their own, so embarrassed and broken the slip into addiction. We must address the mental health of young prople prior to the slippery slope of addiction. We can all see the results when people start self medicating in their teens to escape their thoughts and emotions, they become the homeless of tomorrow.
Several years back, the PD used its Community Impact Team to combat the homelessness problem. The officers offered benefits and services to get people off the streets. They did halp a few, A FEW, but really what it did was caused the homeless population to increase substantially. Homeless from all over the Bay Area flocked to Concord for the free benefits not to get out of there predicament. Most never left. You cannot fix a problem that does not want fixing!!+
Climate change has simply made it too hot to work in the summer & too cold to work in the winter.
I have no idea why these people can’t work in the Spring & Fall months but I’m sure they’ll think of something.
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