October 27, 2017 – In an effort to increase services for those experiencing homelessness and to get more individuals housed, Nevada County Behavioral Health is partnering with Turning Point to provide two service coordinators at Hospitality House using Mental Health Services Act and MediCal funds. Hospitality House, a local non-profit organization, provides a critical safety net for emergency shelter to individuals and families. Hospitality House is full with over fifty guests every night and has a need for more staff that help connect their guests to services. In addition to the two service coordinators, Behavioral Health has also increased their contract with Hospitality House by $44,000 to help with general operating expenses, using Prevention and Early Intervention funds to support the contract increase. These increases were approved by the Board of Supervisors during their October 24th meeting.
The service coordinators will help Hospitality House guests connect to needed services, such as applying for MediCal and/or food stamps or to physical or mental health services or substance use treatment. They will work with Hospitality House guests on getting housed, and will continue to provide support while housed by helping to build respectful tenant/landlord relationships and by providing support with the goal of long-term, permanent housing.
Nevada County is grateful for the hard work of the Hospitality House staff and “we are excited about the fresh spirit their new Executive Director, Nancy Baglietto, brings to the agency” says Behavioral Health Director, Rebecca Slade. Nancy is also looking forward to deepening Hospitality House’s partnership with the County through the additional support, saying, “Our staff is poised to work with Turning Point to embed the two service coordinators into Hospitality House as quickly as possible. We currently only have one in-house shelter Case Manager to serve over fifty clients. With the assistance of two additional service coordinators, Hospitality House will be able to more effectively and comprehensively work with our shelter guests to help them regain their self-sufficiency and independence, and move into permanent homes of their own.”