Long Beach launches Homeless Court program that could expunge convictions, connect people to services • Long Beach Post News lbpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lbpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Efforts to help homeless people get out of the criminal justice system and into more social services might get a boost Tuesday night. That’s when the City Council will vote on a proposed $254,000 grant to run a pilot Homeless Court program.
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The money, which comes from a Community Development Block Grant, would run the new Homeless Court through June 30, 2022, and would include the hiring of an additional full-time Homeless Court Coordinator in the City Prosecutor’s office, according to a report to the City Council from Health and Human Services Director Kelly Colopy. The grant funding includes the option to renew the program for three one-year periods.
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Starting this week, anyone facing of a misdemeanor in Long Beach will now be considered for the program if there’s evidence the defendant has a mental health condition or substance-abuse disorder, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert announced Tuesday.
Before, the program known as Priority Access Diversion (PAD) was only open to people who were already in custody and were facing a minimum of one year in county jail.
Haubert’s office created PAD in 2018 to offer repeat offenders with drug and mental health problems the option of going into live-in treatment programs instead of jail. Most people who’ve taken advantage of the PAD program so far have done so after having charges filed or after being convicted, but Haubert said his office is working to offer the option to more people soon after they’re arrested or cited before their cases even makes it to a courtroom.