3.
18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office:
• Corie E. Caler, Senior Deputy District Attorney: In San Diego, CA the Homeless Court
Program uses innovative ways to address and divert homelessness from the court systems.
It is a voluntary program and serves a wide range of misdemeanors. They use progressive
plea bargaining whereas Douglas County uses deferred plea bargaining. Douglas
County’s courts are reactionary and can’t prevent homelessness. The County’s current
diversion program has additional barriers including the 6-month length of program when
participants will usually serve only 10 days in jail for offenses, location, access to local
services, transportation, and many who commit crime in the County but don’t live in the
County. Judicial processes take time and effects the ability to effectively intervene.
Pre-trial services don’t target interventions and can’t mandate services. Current successes
in the County include a defendant who had mental health issues and was experiencing
homelessness and was connected to CRT. They were able to resolve the warrant and
dismiss minor criminal offense and client has not reoffended. A mentally disabled adult
was able to get restitution to replace his stolen I-pad. Lastly, the court passed a felony
conviction for an assault on a homeless individual but were unsuccessful at engaging him
or connecting him to resources.
4.
HEART:
• Tiffany Marsitto, HEART Supervisor: HEART received a total of 170 referrals for the
month of March. Of those 170 referrals, 56% were proactive street outreach by HEART,
17% were dispatched by law enforcement, 14% were citizen calls, 8% were public referral
forms, and 5% were community partner calls. The call outcomes included 55 individuals
contacted by HEART, no camps were found this month, and no law enforcement action
was taken. The four highest categories of HEART program enrollments included: three
shelter referrals, 15 transports, 20 hotel vouchers, and three referrals to housing support.
During the month of March services provided by location include: Highlands Ranch 32%,
Castle Rock 21%, Parker 24%, Lone Tree 8%, Englewood 8%, and remaining areas 7%.
HEART is now providing extended coverage from Monday-Thursday 10a.m. - 8pm and
Sunday 8:00a.m. - 6:00p.m.
• Success Story: The HEART received a referral from the Parker Police Department of a
woman living out of her vehicle. Tiffany Marsitto, HEART Supervisor, met with the
woman to assess her needs and barriers. The woman was newly evicted from her
apartment, working two jobs, and struggling to find enough funds to repair the vehicle
that she was residing in. A local non-profit paid to have her vehicle repaired, and the
HEART was able to refer her to organizations to help with a motel voucher while her car
was in the auto shop. The woman was able to gather enough funds to register her vehicle
and she currently has an apartment application pending. Tiffany is working with the
woman to ensure she is connected to an agency that can provide her with long-term case
management and budgeting assistance so that when she does get into a place of her own,
she can regain self-sufficiency.
