In a new report titled “Homelessness: A County-Wide Issue,” the 2024-25 Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury offers cautious praise for Fort Bragg’s Care Response Unit (CRU), describing it as “exemplary” and “well-established.” But the report also highlights persistent gaps in services and coordination across Mendocino County, calling homelessness an “endemic” issue that demands urgent, countywide solutions.
The Grand Jury’s investigation focused on the CRU program, a Fort Bragg-based initiative blending law enforcement outreach with social services. Officers trained in de-escalation and mental health awareness partner with plainclothes outreach workers to provide food, medical care, shelter, and transportation to those experiencing homelessness. For individuals who decline services, CRU staff attempt to reconnect them with friends or family—or, if no options are available, sometimes transport them to nearby encampments outside city limits.
While the Grand Jury lauded CRU for its compassion-driven strategy and local leadership, it noted that “verified results… that would verify the success of the program” have yet to be published. Still, the report states that CRU has earned “much local praise and positive media attention” and is currently being studied by UCLA for potential replication across California.
The report marks a rare example of optimism in the face of a crisis that continues to strain Mendocino County’s infrastructure. Point-in-time counts and regional studies—including the influential 2019 Marbut Report—have long pointed to the systemic challenges behind local homelessness: untreated mental illness, substance use disorders, economic instability, and a fragmented patchwork of services.
In response, county officials are developing a new program, Community Outreach Response and Engagement (CORE), modeled in part on CRU. CORE is intended to unite Behavioral Health, Social Services, and the Sheriff’s Office under a coordinated outreach strategy to address homelessness beyond Fort Bragg’s borders.
The Grand Jury supports CORE’s development but warns that existing county services remain overextended. The report highlights the Sheriff’s Office’s limited coastal presence—just two deputies patrolling a 100-mile stretch between Gualala and Rockport—and points to small coastal communities like Mendocino, Albion, and Caspar, which lack their own law enforcement agencies and rely on under-resourced county services.
“While the homeless situation in Mendocino County is not yet dire,” the report cautions, “programs to address the issue before it becomes horrific are essential.”
The Grand Jury’s recommendations are measured but firm. It urges Fort Bragg to report outcome data on CRU by the end of 2025, and encourages CORE program developers to collaborate closely with their counterparts in Fort Bragg to avoid duplication and improve efficiency. At the same time, the jury acknowledges the moral and logistical complexity of the issue, noting that many individuals experiencing homelessness decline services entirely.
“A motivational strategy is used,” the report explains, referencing a tiered approach to outreach that attempts to engage those who are ready for help, as well as those who are reluctant or resistant. Yet it also acknowledges a persistent tension: some people simply do not want to accept assistance and cannot legally be forced to do so.
The report closes with an appeal to the County’s leadership to act with urgency and compassion: “The Grand Jury hopes Mendocino County will achieve greatness by developing and implementing a program to alleviate homelessness, while remembering that the unhoused are human beings deserving care that is sensitive and adequate.”
While Fort Bragg’s CRU may serve as a promising template, the path forward for Mendocino County will require more than one program—and far more than one city’s effort.
HOMELESSNESS-GJ-Report
Watch this video of a bum that now lives in San Francisco because of all of the free stuff that he is given. We are enablers.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Y22bZs3TFE0?si=b_stpByiMQRFsQFY
It’s only going to get worse as the average rent is $2500 a month – for anyone that can’t do brain math, that’s $30,000 per year for ONLY rent. That’s if you can find a house at all. And you need three jobs to make eating and gas happen after that rent. Let alone lights in your house and heat.
Whenever I go out to eat, my server is often a young person with children. All the men in my group tip at least 20%, but I still do not know how they do it. We need less oversight and regulation so the price of affordable housing can come down.
We are the state of enablers.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Y22bZs3TFE0?si=IyCsTl3kIEl01XZ0
Nice try but…it will get much worse. Read and learn how millions of working Californians cannot afford basic expenses. And gas prices, inflation are about to rise dramatically. It’s a train wreck headed our way. CA might be the wealthiest state but it also has the widest wealth disparity. Many working poor will be left homeless not due to drugs or mental illness but just economic reasons. Not being a doomsayer just relaying the news. Good luck everybody!!
I lived in Fort Bragg 10 years ago, and even back then I could see that homeless was going to be a problem. Here you have nearly your entire economy dependent on hospitality, which doesn’t pay a living wage paired with a low inventory of housing which is exasperated by the hospitality industry (there’s just under 1000 vacation rentals) and nimbys fighting tooth and nail to prevent affordable housing from being built. They want to make money off the labor of those who work in the tourism that has kept those towns alive, but don’t want them to have housing they can afford. Not to mention all the bay area people acting like those whose families have been there for generations, including the Pomo natives, isn’t for them because they can no longer afford it after they helped inflate the housing costs. Mendocino needs to stop pandering to the rich and start taking care of the people who work in the industry that keeps their economy alive. It’s just that simple.
Sosal services ma be doing there part but fort Bragg police department sure don’t now that the homeless people are still people Thay do nothing but harass them and taunt them constantly there the ones hew needs a heads up on how to treat people like people mainly Thay should try to be homeless for just one week then maybe they would realize the struggle we face Thay awt to put that in there training agenda
I work a fulltime job for the county, a good white collar job and I can not provide for my family. We make difficult choices every month. Eat or pay rent? Put gas in the car or get my prescription medication? Why cant a man working a good job live a comfortable life in this country? I am not looking for extravagance, I am looking for basic needs to be met. Food, clothing and shelter should be a guarantee if you are willing to put the work in. Not looking for a handout, I just want to be able to provide my family a normal life.