BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern-Bakersfield Regional Homeless Collaborative unveiled a new action plan to combat the complex issues stemming from homelessness in Kern County.
- Carlos Baldovinos, the Chairman of the Collaborative, says during and following the COVID-19 pandemic issues pertaining to the homeless community in Kern County have continued to get worse over time.
- Over the last two months, various organizations and leaders revamped the previous '10-year plan' that came out in 2018 to combat various issues that arose post-COVID.
- The plan's focus is to slow down the inflow to the homeless population through prevention and diversion efforts, strengthen support for those currently experiencing homelessness, and increase the outflow of the current homeless population by making investments in various support resources and affordable housing.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter here in Bakersfield, earlier this month, the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative unveiled its new Homeless Strategic Action Plan, but it's not quite new; according to Carlos Baldovinos, who chairs the collaborative, it's more of a revamp of a previous 10-year plan that came out in 2018 to combat new challenges that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We've had a 30 — 37% increase from year to year," said Baldovinos.
But what is the collaborative? Well, you've likely seen major players in it right here on this station and in your neighborhood banding together to systematically combat a complicated issue.
"Flood ministries, they're working on the outreach component of it. You have the Housing Authority [of the County of Kern], that's helping with affordable housing. You have organizations like The Mission, Kern County Open Door network that is working with a certain population, you know, the homeless. Then you have the two — M Street Navigation Center and Brundage Lane Navigation [Center] that is working with that population," said Baldovinos. "There's been an incredible amount of collaboration among the collaborative partners, which is very encouraging."
Looking at the Point-In-Time count, an annual metric looking into the number of unhoused individuals in communities across the county and the county as a whole, the number of unhoused people was declining year over year until about the time the COVID-19 pandemic and over the last handful of years, the number of unhoused individuals have steadily risen in kern county to their highest point in recorded history.
So, what's the focus of the plan?
It's split into three parts: reducing the inflow of people experiencing homelessness through prevention and diversion efforts, strengthening support and resources for those currently unhoused, and lastly, increasing the support and resources for people attempting to get out of homelessness through things like more affordable housing and services to exit the homeless cycle.
"Things have changed in the last four or five years, as you mentioned. So we have to address them. We got to be very aggressive, to be honest with you, that's where I look at, we have to be aggressive and intentional on sticking to the plan."
As the changes to the plan move into effect, Baldonvinos and many others within the homeless collaborative will be waiting with bated breath for the latest point in time count to see if their revamped plan is working as intended.
In Bakersfield, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
