Just over a year ago, Sacramento made a decision to create an equitable community where everyone has a safe place to call home. The Coordinated Access System (CAS)—a collaborative effort between Sacramento Steps Forward, 2-1-1, the City of Sacramento, and Sacramento County—launched in December 2022 to provide a single point of access and support for people experiencing homelessness. The recent completion of a Year One Annual Report provides opportunity to understand the impact of the CAS and opportunity for improvement in the year ahead.
The CAS has been pivotal in its approach, connecting Sacramento’s service providers and partners to create a more accessible, efficient, and person-centered system for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
In addition to the ability to connect households experiencing homelessness to emergency services quickly, we invested significantly in preventing homelessness before it begins. In the first full year of operation, the prevention program supported 805 households with obtaining or maintaining housing with an average investment of $3,114. Of these households, 85% remain housed after one year.
Despite the progress, we still have very real challenges in our community, including the gap in shelter demand, currently at 34%. We are actively working with community partners through efforts such as the All In Sacramento Action Plan to address this and other gaps in our system, providing data and helping to draft solutions.
Ending homelessness requires deep commitment and change, and our entire community to go “all in” together. If you are a provider, you can find ways to get involved here. If you want to learn more about CAS and the report. visit our website here. However you choose to participate, we deeply appreciate your part in this work.
Ultimately, we are proud to see that we have helped thousands of people to have, as one person expressed, a “second shot at a new life”—and look forward to working with you to help thousands more.
For a more comprehensive overview of our progress and planned improvements, review the 2023 annual report, linked below.
Peter Bell
Planning Director, Sacramento Steps Forward
