Sheriff Jim Hammond and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office say the Assertive Community Treatment team and the Frequent Users Systems Engagement program have shown signs of being successful. Next week, the county commission will vote to establish an ACT team for four years.
“This is a procedural resolution so we can move forward with negotiations on a contract,” Sheriff Hammond told the commissioners during their Wednesday meeting. “I know there’s been a lot of confusion and delay, and I have Gino Bennett here to talk about it.”
“We are now going forward with the new service provider, and they’ll be hiring the Assertive Community Treatment team so we can get started again,” Mr. Bennett said. “I’d like to give you a brief summary of the journey FUSE has been through this year.”
Janna Jahn, the FUSE program manager, stepped up to the podium and gave a brief summary of the program and where it currently stands. She said the organization they were contracted with pulled out of the agreement and so they need to find a new one. She did say there are still 10 people in the program along with a part-time case manager.
“No one has returned to homelessness, and seven are in permanent housing,” Ms. Jahn said. “We still have three more we’re working on. In the three years prior to these 10 folks being enrolled in the program, they had 68 arrests and 4,208 days in the county jail. Since they have been in our program, the number of arrests have dropped to 11 arrests and 150 days in jail.”
She said the county spent $315,000 in jail costs for those 10 people over the last three years before entering the program. And since then, they have spent only $11,250 (in a limited amount of time). Sheriff’s office spokesman James Matt Lea later said all participants have been in the program for at least six months, and some have been in the program for over a year.
“While this data is very preliminary, it does give us signs of hope and progress that what we’re doing is working and that housing is key,” Ms. Jahn said. “We just need to get our new partner in place and get started enrolling people in the ACT team again.”
Ms. Jahn said the county is planning to contract with RHD out of Philadelphia. If the Commission votes to approve the resolution, the sheriff’s office will be able to begin negotiating with RHD.
“This is what I get excited about, and want to extend a huge thank you to the sheriff’s office,” Commissioner Katherlyn Geter said. “This is long overdue in Hamilton County.”