Homelessness Awareness Month
Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA) is observing Homelessness Awareness Month. As part of those efforts, Sophia Kaufman ATCAA Communications Coordinator, went out with the Homeless Outreach Support Team (HOST) for a day to learn about their services and write a highlight about what they’re doing for our community:
Homeless outreach, in this context, is when the HOST Team comes together once a month to connect in person with unhoused individuals in our area.
The HOST Team is putting their boots on the ground and actively working to improve the state of homelessness in the City of Sonora. This team features a variety of local professionals and individuals who actively connect with unsheltered individuals to help get them in touch with the resources that they need. Led by Sonora Police Department, contributors to the HOST Team include City of Sonora, Tuolumne County Probation, Tuolumne County Behavioral Health, Tuolumne County Public Health, Tuolumne County Social Services, Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA), Mathiesen Memorial Clinic, Compassion Outreach, and several other local organizations that participate periodically.
The HOST Team comes together once a month to do outreach. Their day starts with a meeting to discuss what individuals may have the highest needs and discuss updates on individuals that they have interacted with in the past. Once they’re all clear on their goals for the day’s outreach, they hit the streets of Sonora together as a team to visit common locations where unhoused populations can be found.
Many members of the HOST Team have built rapport with the local unhoused community through their work through their respective organizations and through repeated contact on HOST outreach days. They approach the unhoused people that they encounter with kindness and respect to check in with them, listen to their needs, and encourage them to utilize resources available to them. When the HOST Team comes across unhoused individuals that they haven’t met yet, they introduce themselves and offer them the same kindness and respect. “If we meet with them out on HOST, we express the fact that ‘Hey, you’re being given this opportunity. Utilize this opportunity. Take it for all the good that there is in it,’” says Nikki Hyske, ATCAA Sonora Shelter Coordinator.
Hyske has been participating with the HOST Team since the beginning of 2024. She learns more about the community she serves with every HOST outreach day and often has success in bringing unhoused individuals that she meets into the shelter. “Every time that I have gone out on HOST Team, I have brought one, sometimes two people in, depending on my beds. If I have empty beds when I go out on HOST, I fill those beds from HOST. Every single time I have,” says Hyske. Although, Hyske explains that not everyone that the HOST Team encounters will engage with services, “If they don’t feel like they’re serious about it, they’ll kind of say, ‘I’m not really that interested in shelter.’”
Once in the shelter, Hyske assists residents with identifying their needs, prioritizing next steps, and giving them a safe place to rest their head as they work to improve their situation. She explains, “There was only one client that I got from HOST that wasn’t successful, everybody else has been placed [in housing] that came here from HOST or is being placed. I actually just got a guy a couple weeks ago from HOST and he is going to be moving into his own trailer within a week. I have another guy that we got from HOST and he is here. He is compliant with probation. He is clean and sober. I mean, everyone that I get from HOST also stays in their sobriety while being here [in the shelter].” Hyske shares another success, saying, “One of the guys that we just got not too long ago, he’s got a full-time job already and he’s only been here a few weeks… Those that are serious come in here and we jump on what we need to be doing with them, and they become very successful and go on.”
You may be wondering just how successful the HOST Team has been in sheltering unhoused individuals that they make contact with. Here is a breakdown of their efforts so far:
- 0 instances of violent encounters
- 35 individuals have been sheltered
- 47 individuals have found permanent housing
- 109 entries have been made by the HOST Team into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
- HMIS is a system overseen by ATCAA for the Central Sierra Continuum of Care meant to clarify and streamline efforts to address homelessness across Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa Counties.
- 341 total contacts made by the HOST Team
- Contacts are defined as encounters with individuals. Multiple contacts can be recorded for the same individual.
“The value is that we’re bringing services to them. They don’t have to go looking [for resources],” says Chris Neves, Sonora City Homeless Outreach Coordinator. Neves was previously the ATCAA Sonora Shelter Coordinator and has years of first-hand experience working with the unhoused community. Hyske and Neves work together now to address homelessness in Sonora through the HOST Team. Hyske agrees, saying, “We run into a lot of people that don’t even know about all the services that are provided in the county… It’s difficult for people to get places, right? Not just with transportation but to get places with motivation. When we go out with the HOST Team and we’re all there in one group, we’re all right there to provide everything that they need in one go. It’s like a one stop shop.”
Homelessness is a complex issue without a single solution. Various organizations and agencies coming together to address homelessness in the City of Sonora has proven to be effective. The HOST Team will continue their efforts to encourage unhoused individuals to utilize local services. ATCAA is proud to be involved in the HOST Team efforts and will continue to support them.
