Paso Robles approves homelessness plan 

Paso Robles has a new standard to guide the city's efforts to deal with rising homelessness after its City Council voted 4-1 on Dec. 5 to approve the Paso Robles Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness.

A product of nearly two years of work toward a collective city and San Luis Obispo County goal to address homelessness in the long term, the plan calls for hiring a new city staff member to implement the plan, communicating the city's goals to residents, and formulating a budget for the work.

click to enlarge

• Photo Courtesy Of The City Of Paso Robles
• GOING FORWARD On Dec. 5, the Paso Robles City Council approved a strategic plan to address homelessness, including establishing a new homeless services manager position within city.

City Councilmember Chris Bausch voted against the plan's approval, questioning some of the initial costs that approving the plan would bring, including the projected $200,000 expense of creating and hiring the new position of homeless services manager.

"The salary that was identified is very high, especially if the person making that money is on the edge of homelessness potentially [before] getting this role," he said at the meeting. "It would be difficult for me to approve that wage this evening. I am sure it's an inclusive wage, I'm sure you can back up why that person earns that wage [but] there is a disconnect for me that needs to be addressed as to why it's so high."

Bill Whalen, a consultant on the plan, said that while he understood the concern over the salary, hiring a person to fill the new role was important.

"The council has the final say in all of these matters, but we think these are first-year goals to meet," he said, adding that the council was voting on whether to approve the plan's objectives, not how to fund them.

"We didn't want to include things like, 'Let's increase this number by this,' or 'Let's reduce this number by this,' because we don't have anything current to base it off of right now," Whalen said. "We believe that once a plan is in place and someone specific is in charge, we will be able to understand the specifics."

While the city would be on the hook to pay the new staffer's salary, outside funding such as state grants is expected to help fund the plan. Whalen said, the plan doesn't intend to bind the council into approving future city dollars to fund it.

"Once you approve the plan and we have someone serving the role of homeless services manager, they can come to you with projected costs, and you can decide then whether they are worth funding or not," Whalen said.

The strategic plan is a work in progress, but with the city's approval, Whalen said, it can be a guide for the city.

"This is a guiding document," he said. "So if we don't get all of the grant funding we have something to look back to and return to you with when that situation happens." Δ