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• ‘They’re Killing People’: HUD Announces Funding Changes to Homeless Services, Sparking Chaos Locally

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The federal government recently announced plans to throw a big curveball at local jurisdictions when it comes to funding for housing and homelessness programs, only for an umpire to halt the pitch at the last minute. Local officials are relieved.

Here’s what happened, as previously outlined by my colleague Isabella Vanderheiden: In mid-November, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced policy changes to its Continuum of Care (CoC) program, changes that would have slashed funding for permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. The announcement panicked local service providers, who said the cuts would have severe negative impacts on the roughly 70 Humboldt County households (about 80 individuals) who rely on such housing.

However, the plan was blocked (at least for the time being) by a preliminary injunction in the courts after two state governors and 19 attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta, sued the Trump administration, arguing that the “unlawful” funding cuts “would force tens of thousands [of] formerly homeless individuals and their families back onto the street.”

At today’s meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, a panel of administrators from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) outlined where things stand with the Humboldt Housing & Homelessness Coalition (HHHC). That’s the local Continuum of Care, a super-group, of sorts, comprising nonprofit service providers, government agencies, faith-based organizations and community members dedicated to ending homelessness.

Robert Ward, the housing and assistance coordinator with DHHS, explained that the county received about $1.2 million in HUD CoC funds for the one-year period from last October through this September. These are the funds that pay for permanent supportive housing, and historically the county could count on 90 percent of that funding being automatically renewed each year.

The changes proposed by HUD in its Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) would have reduced that to only 30 percent being automatically renewed for permanent supportive housing. The remaining 70 percent of HUD’s CoC funding would then have been placed into a “nationally competitive pool,” meaning some communities stood to gain at the expense of others.

“And the NOFO would have given HUD the right to reject applicants that previously or currently embraced policies that facilitate racial preferences or engaged in activities that violate the sex binary in humans,” Ward said. (The HHHC has dared to measure racial disparities and integrate LGBTQ supports through partner organizations.)

The preliminary injunction came as good news to the county, Ward said, because the court order required HUD to go back to its Biden-era plan, meaning our local CoC can simply indicate that it wants to renew the existing funding.

At the state level, the largest chunk of funding to combat homelessness comes through a grant program called Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention. Amid a severe budget deficit, the state allocated zero dollars for this program in the 25-26 budget, but Ward said Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning (though not promising) to allocate $500 million in the next round of funding. 

The share of that funding allocated to Humboldt County is based entirely on the annual Point in Time (PIT) Count, where county personnel and volunteers venture out across the county and attempt to tally the total number of people experiencing homelessness.

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Humboldt’s share for the sixth round of funding (covering 2024-25) is about $3.7 million, though Ward said the application still being finalized. “We don’t yet know what the what the breakdown is going to be for round seven,” he explained.

That will be based on the next PIT Count, which is scheduled for the morning of next Friday, Jan. 23. Ward said the county still needs volunteers for that effort. (You can find more information here.) Locally, those funds have been divided roughly 50-50, with half going to county-run programs and the other half being awarded to partner organizations through competitive funding proposals.

So, is all this spending and effort having an impact? Ward said it is, and as evidence he cited the growing number of permanent housing units over the past decade, which was accomplished by leveraging private-market rentals with rental assistance and adding dedicated units in neighborhoods from Pine Hill to Bayview to Rio Dell. 

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Bugnacki discussed some of the challenges in helping people with grave disabilities. Following the passage of California’s Senate Bill 43, which expanded the definition of “grave disability” to include severe substance use disorders (SUD), the county worked with “a cross section of interested community organizations, such as hospitals, police departments, law enforcement [and] substance use disorder organizations” to come up with new “pathways to treatment” for such individuals, he explained. 

Mandatory treatment of people on SUD holds is not an option in California — nor does evidence suggest that it’s effective, Bugnacki said — so the focus has been placed on “developing relationship with those individuals, to help them to get to a place where they are voluntarily willing to go into treatment.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn expressed frustration with the level of visible homelessness in Eureka and elsewhere, and he voiced interest in the potential for court-ordered mental health treatment. 

“It’s great to [be] voluntary, but voluntary hasn’t been very successful,” he said, adding that a lot of money gets spent on administration for all these programs. 

Bugnacki said the county has pursued resolutions through a state program called CARE Court, which offers a civil (not criminal) process that can bring people with serious mental illness into a structured, court‑supervised treatment plan. Humboldt has been a leader in submitting petitions for that program, and Beck pointed out that the county is developing a new Behavioral Health Crisis Triage Center in Arcata, with a target of opening later this year. 

“So we are doing a lot,” she said. “I know it feels like it’s not fast enough, but we are doing a lot.”

Bohn said he appreciates the work being done but still notices that the homelessness issue is “always number one or two on the hit list when people [are asked], ‘What bothers you about Humboldt County?’”

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo highlighted the work that’s been done to develop permanent supportive housing and said that while there are still visible people living on the street, “We have many dozens of people who are in longer-term housing because of programs that are are resource intensive.”

She asked staff whether the processed ushered in by SB 43 is helping people more than what they were doing before.

“Well, it’s early, but I would say no,” Bugnacki replied. But he spoke highly of CARE Court, citing in particular Humboldt County Superior Court “Judge [Timothy] Canning’s ability to connect with people, which is powerful and effective and kind and compassionate.”

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone said more public outreach might help people appreciate the success of programs in this area, and he floated an idea for a sanctioned camp on a plateau area near the county Elections Office, a parcel of surplus property owned by Caltrans. 

“Of course, that takes resources and money; I realize that,” he said. “But there could easily be 20 camps or more up on that terrace, fenced in with 24/7 support systems, a place to bring … assistance for drug abuse and mental health and other issues … .”

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell noted the relative dearth of resources in Southern Humboldt and brought up the challenge of helping people who turn down offers of help. 

“And a lot of folks, when they say, ‘Help them; get them off the streets … ‘ don’t understand that they have the right to say no, and that some folks just want to be homeless,” she said.

Third District Supervisor and Board Chair Mike Wilson directed the focus to the issue of nationwide wealth inequality, saying the consolidation of “housing as assets” has caused housing to remain vacant in many areas. But he also said there has been “a huge amount of success” alongside the “huge amount of challenges.”

Once again, to assist the county in its Point-in-Time Count, click here or send an email to hhhc@co.humboldt.ca.us. 

Broadband Connectivity

Later in the meeting, the board received an update on Humboldt County’s broadband access from Connie Stewart, executive director of initiatives at Cal Poly Humboldt. Stewart, who appeared via Zoom as a ghost-like apparition sharing a forest with Bigfoot, outlined the progress that has been made on local broadband connectivity over the past two decades.

In short, there has been a lot. A generation ago, leaders planned for multiple routes to deliver “middle-mile” connectivity — east-west along State Routes 299 and 36, north-south along Hwy. 101 and SR1, through tribal communities via Bald Hills Road — and today Stewart said, “I’m pleased to report that all of the middle miles that we had envisioned in that plan so long ago are now either built or funded and on the way to being built.”

That includes a deep-sea fiber line stretching from Humboldt to Singapore.

“Cal Poly [Humboldt] is a partner with other research institutions on that offshore fiber as well,” Stewart said.

Now the focus is on “last-mile” delivery — bringing affordable high-speed internet to the doorsteps of those still lacking such connectivity — and Stewart said progress is being made on that front, too. A grant of nearly $40 million was recently awarded for last-mile delivery along 299, and the Yurok Tribe is actively working on four projects connecting remote communities from Klamath to Weitchpec to Wautec and beyond.

Meanwhile, Cal Poly Humboldt and Brightscape Networks recently received a $1 million USDA Broadband Technical Assistance Grant to develop “near shovel-ready” broadband plans for 23 small, rural communities in Humboldt and Trinity counties, including Alderpoint, Miranda, Myers Flat, Petrolia, Shelter Cove, Weott, Willow Creek and others.

Brian Court, senior director of technical operations for Brightscape, said this endeavor will focus on planning and design, rather than construction, so communities are ready to apply quickly when larger funding opportunities become available. 

The supervisors unanimously voted to approve and file the broadband update report.