Boosting Benefits Access for Homeless, Mentally Ill Clients

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

Placer County’s Human Services Outreach program collaborated with the Adult System of Care (ASOC) and Enhance Care Management (ECM) to provide a complete wrap-around program ensuring access to benefits among our homeless and mentally ill customers. COVID office closures made it very difficult for these populations to receive services. Most are eligible to receive CalFresh (California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program), General Relief or Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid and Medicare programs). The customer will apply for aid through one of our many avenues but is often denied for failing to provide necessary documents. Those already receiving these benefits are subject to semi-annual or annual reporting and become discontinued for non-compliance due to the difficulty of communication and providing verifications. The purpose of this program is to assist our most vulnerable population to apply for and receive all the services they need in a timely manner. Since starting this program we have been able to aid customers by effectively reaching out to them and guiding them to return documents. The positive effects of this effort continue to grow with additional partnerships with other programs such as Adult Protective Services, Probation, and a community based homeless shelter, The Gathering Inn.