Supervisors updated on Justice Grant Program

By APRIL KELLEY

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors received an update from Alison Hauser regarding the Justice Program Grant (JPG) which began in July.

According to Hauser, the JPG has already assisted more than 50 individuals in Humboldt County. Hauser’s records show that the grant was able to assist 33 new clients in July, 27 clients (16 of which were repeats) in August and 29 clients (16 of which were repeats) in September.

Many of those who have been referred to her program come from an interaction with law enforcement personnel.

Hauser talked about her role with the Justice Program.

“I think a lot of people just think it’s straight mental health but what it is, is it’s a reduction of individuals in our jail system with mental health and substance abuse. It’s also a reduction in law enforcement calls,” Hauser said.

“Cory has kept me very busy. A lot of law enforcement have kept me busy. That is my number one referral source.

Once Hauser gets the call, she meets with the individual to discover what their needs are.

“The first thing is they have to be willing to work with me. They have to want to. I have had referrals where the person needing help told me to pound sand, so it doesn’t always work,” Hauser said.

When it does however, the savings to the county is quite a bit. Hauser told the board that homelessness costs an average of $40,000 a year to the community. Law enforcement services including jail stays are figured at approximately $150 per hour.

Hauser has helped clients do a lot of little things that add up to big savings such as get into drug rehab, get charges amended so the individual will be able to get housing or a job and to ensure they have access to other agencies that can assist.

“Certain charges on an individual can prevent them from getting housing. When a landowner runs a background check for housing nowadays, especially low income, and they have any charges of harassment, trespassing, drug charges, then they are not able to get housing,” Hauser said.

Barriers in Humboldt County include providers and organizations that can work one on one on an intensive basis with people who have mental health and substance abuse issues.

These providers would be working with the individual to get social security cards, identification cards, helping them to make medical appointments and transporting them there, helping to apply for housing, employment, attend to legal matters and help with budgeting and daily life skills that they may struggle with.

Hauser told the supervisors that the issue is that many of her clients start on Medicaid and that Medicaid reimbursement is so low that providers are unable or unwilling to hire extra people to work with clients on Medicaid.

The four-year grant will go until June 30 of 2029.

Read the FULL story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!