Summary of Objective Implementation Status

DHS has worked with the Community Development Commission (CDC) to create a tool that tracks in real time the County’s shelter beds, and temporary and permanent housing availability in one location. Staff has worked with IBM Watson to create the Care Management System, a bed inventory tool, allowing multidisciplinary case-managing teams to access the database and see spaces available across multiple sites. The tool will also show available units, when sites will be ready, eligibility for specific locations, and potentially private market leasing available and is currently being piloted by the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS). The goal is to use the tool in DHS’s Behavioral Health (BH) Substance Use Disorder (SUD) divisions. The tool could also be used to inventory and find permanent housing for the County’s low-income, most vulnerable residents. 

Coordination and Partnership Update

DHS partnered with the Community Development Commission (CDC) and IBM Watson to create the County’s Care Management System, currently being piloted at the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) in Petaluma.

Community, Equity and Climate Update

This tool required an attention to racial equity and social justice to ensure the tool is useful to all residents Sonoma County.

Funding Narrative

After successfully piloting for a few years, the Care Management System can expand and be further refined through increased funding.