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NEWS RELEASE
City Expands Services to Most Vulnerable through Local Service Providers
Rebuilding Together to Offer Job Training and Continue Downtown Cleanup and Shower Program. HomeFirst to expand its outreach services by connecting people experiencing homelessness with more housing solutions.
October 15, 2024 – As the City completes the third year of its Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, it announced today that it will be expanding job training services through Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP) for those experiencing homelessness in our community. Additionally, through a competitive request for proposals, the City has selected HomeFirst to expand its existing housing-focused street outreach by adding a Landlord Recruitment Program as another key strategy in addressing homelessness.
This year’s Sonoma County Point- in-Time count reported an increase in homelessness county-wide of 11%. One quarter of people surveyed said job loss caused their homelessness. In Petaluma, nearly three quarters of people experiencing homelessness lack adequate income to secure housing.
The contract expansion will allow Rebuilding Together to offer improved job training through downtown cleanup, graffiti abatement, property maintenance, janitorial services and operation of the City’s mobile shower program. These local job training programs will diversify the type of employment opportunities available to those who are experiencing homelessness in Petaluma and help them gain the economic self-sufficiency they need to secure and keep permanent housing.
Petaluma Director of Community Development, Brian Oh, who oversees the City Housing Division, which leads homeless services and affordable housing development. “The strong collaboration among our nonprofit service providers ensures we have a strong program that provides key services to our community. It will be a game changer for people who need to earn more in order to get back into housing.”
Currently, the Downtown Streets Team (DST) provides assistance with cleanup and the City’s mobile shower program. A recent shift in the organization’s approach to a volunteer model combined with the City’s need to strengthen outcomes, especially with employment and housing, for our most vulnerable residents precipitated a need to allow the current DST contract to expire so resources can be applied to an expansion of services by both Rebuilding Together Petaluma and HomeFirst.
“The City is deeply grateful to Downtown Streets Team, who introduced us to the concept of integrating job training and addressing basic needs for people experiencing homelessness in a way that serves the entire community. Our expanded program with Rebuilding Together and HomeFirst will increase and diversify the number and type of job training opportunities available,” affirmed Petaluma City Manager Peggy Flynn. “While sunsetting this current partnership with DST was a difficult decision, it remains crucial that the City adapt to the changing needs of our unhoused neighbors to provide services that are relevant and effective in order to achieve the goals set out in our ambitious plan to end homelessness in Petaluma.”
The expanded job training initiative is the latest system improvement as part of Petaluma’s Strategic Plan to End Homelessness (available at https://cityofpetaluma.org/documents/petalumas-strategic-plan-to-end-homelessness/). As the city implements year three of this Homeless Services Strategic Plan, it is also focused on providing more services in the area of homelessness prevention and landlord recruitment to increase available housing stock for people currently experiencing homelessness.
The City’s first priority in expanding the job training initiative with Rebuilding Together is ensuring a smooth transition for clients who currently work with DST. Managing the transition is a team of providers from Rebuilding Together, HomeFirst, Downtown Streets Team, and the City’s emergency shelter provider, COTS. A transition service plan will be created for every DST client to ensure there are no gaps in services. Clients will be successfully transitioned to partner organizations.
To support these ongoing efforts and in recognition of Petaluma’s commitment to ending homelessness in our community, the City was recently awarded an $8 million grant from the CA Department of Housing C Community Development – one of only 18 cities in the state to receive an award in this grant cycle. The grant funding will ensure that over the next three years, the city will be able to maintain the existing level of services, as well as invest in programs focused on housing. Additional information about City of Petaluma Homeless Services and Housing Programs is available at https://cityofpetaluma.org/departments/housing/.