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homeless encampments

Meet Bridgette Dean who is coordinating Sacramento’s efforts to fix the homeless crisis

in People

SACRAMENTO, Calif — Homeless issues continue to be a major problem facing Sacramento. Sacramento County's Point and Time homeless count indicates more than 5,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. 

In July 2020, Sacramento created the Department of Community Response to reduce reliance on police in responding to many situations including homelessness and mental health situations.

Bridgette Dean spearheads the department as its director. 

Dean is a licensed clinical social worker. Before joining DCR she created the first social services unit in law enforcement in the Sacramento area. Dean previously oversaw the Sacramento Police Department’s Mental Health, Impact Team, and Hospital units.

"I'm in my position to respond differently to homelessness and a lot of the issues that are around that. All of that social work experience for me has -- really paid off [because] we have to have a system change to how we respond to the needs of our community," Dean told ABC10. 

Continue Reading on ABC 10

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City turns focus from homeless encampments to long-term planning

in Community/News/People

After clearing out major homeless encampments throughout the city in recent months, the Turlock City Council on Tuesday approved the next steps in addressing the local unhoused crisis.

The Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to terminate a previously ratified local emergency proclamation, which focused on encampments and ratified a new local emergency focusing on unsheltered homeless and re-appropriates unspent funding from the first proclamation to be used for the issue moving forward.

Interim Chief of Police Steven Williams provided the Council with an update Tuesday on the City’s local emergency in response to its Unsheltered Homeless and Encampment Crisis, which was ratified on March 16. Since then, City staff has partnered with county resources and local shelters to make contact with unhoused individuals living in notable encampments throughout Turlock, connecting them with available resources before clearing out the camps.

Continue Reading on Turlock Journal

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