Board of Supervisors actions, May 21 – Welcome to San Bernardino County

Board approves additional facilities for Pacific Village homeless campus

Supervisors voted to advance three significant additions to the Pacific Village Campus in San Bernardino to provide housing and social services to county residents who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Unlike traditional homeless projects or large-scale congregate shelters, this development will include an array of housing interventions designed to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a viable pathway to independent living and permanent housing.

The County Department of Aging and Adult Services Pacific Village Platinum Campus will expand the existing Pacific Village Campus housing complex into a full-service continuum of care campus to promote community health and housing options to the most vulnerable residents within the county. The project will address gaps in the continuum of care for people with behavioral health conditions and will meet the needs of vulnerable populations with the greatest barriers, including older adults, adults with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness. This will include constructing 30 permanent supportive housing units with communal exterior common areas. The project will also convert a former chapel into a 32-bed recuperative care facility and remodel the existing cafeteria to support the facility.

The County Department of Behavioral Health Pacific Village Substance Use Disorder Program will create a comprehensive 13,148-square-foot residential treatment facility that will provide services to individuals with severe mental health illness and/or substance use disorders. This facility will provide effective, efficient, and culturally based services to facilitate residents’ ability to function within their families and communities. This facility will be a 24-hour residential facility with 16 beds for those needing mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment and services. Services will include withdrawal management and residential treatment.

The County Community Development and Housing Department Pacific Village Campus Expansion will create 28 permanent units and common areas. The property currently has 28 interim housing beds consisting of 20 travel trailers and eight units of interim housing. The new unit mix will include 27 one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit. The 20 travel trailers will be decommissioned upon completion of construction and the residents will be transitioned into the new units.

The county purchased the 6.82-acre Pacific Village Campus, which included six existing permanent buildings, one three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, two apartments, an administration building, a dining hall with a kitchen, former church facilities, and centralized parking. The Pacific Village Phase I project opened in March 2021 and created 28 individual living spaces to house homeless individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pacific Village Campus will contain communal areas for persons and pets throughout the grounds such as a laundry facility, sitting areas, shaded spaces, and pet areas.

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Supervisor Armendarez, Board help Fontana, Sammy Hagar open Stage Red Theater

The Board of Supervisors approved a request by Second District Supervisor Jesse Armendarez to invest $50,000 toward Fontana’s conversion of the Center Stage Theater into the Stage Red Theater, a project affiliated with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Fontana native Sammy Hagar, also known as “The Red Rocker.”

The source of the funding is the Second District’s Priorities Program budget.

Priorities Program projects help promote the vision of a complete county by recognizing the unique traits of each supervisorial district and allow individual board districts to work with community partners through county services and contractual agreements.

The investments are intended to support programs, projects, and initiatives that support the Countywide Vision, meet a public purpose and provide services to residents that promote health, safety, economic well-being, education, recreation, and other public services that enhance quality of life and meet the needs of the county’s residents.

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Supervisors expand capacity of homeless facility

The board approved plans to expand a 10-bed social rehabilitation home in Muscoy into a 30-bed adult residential project for the homeless.

The agreement will increase homeless housing capacity at the Kern Street Project for a 20-year term. The funding includes $2.5 million in Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Round 3 Grant proceeds awarded to the county, $1.3 million in Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program funding received from the Inland Empire Health Plan, and $360,180 from Molina Healthcare.

The Kern Street Project is an existing 10-bed Social Rehabilitation home that serves the housing and supportive services needs of individuals with a severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders who may also be justice-involved. The new beds are anticipated to be available for occupancy in spring 2026.

Residents will receive case management, care coordination, transportation to medical and psychiatric appointments and other customized services to meet individualized needs. The county’s investment in the project will support the overall well-being and rehabilitation of the residents as they reintegrate into the community.

The operator of the Kern Street Project has worked in the Inland Empire since 2015, successfully managing several residential rehabilitation and recuperative care facilities within the region.

Homelessness and the criminal justice system are deeply intertwined. According to the California Policy Lab, people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who were surveyed reported an average of 21 contacts with law enforcement in the past six months, 10 times the number reported by people living in shelters. This subpopulation is also at greater risk of recidivism, experiences more prolonged periods of housing instability, has poorer health outcomes, and are high utilizers of emergency response systems.

Providing targeted housing interventions for this subpopulation has significant benefits to the individuals, reduces crisis and justice interventions, and improves community conditions through a reduction in chronic homelessness.

The Board of Supervisors has implemented steps to address the need to make substantial and lasting impacts to decrease homelessness in the county. On November 17, 2020, the board approved the creation of the Homeless Strategic Plan. On March 28, 2023, the board approved the County Homeless Initiatives Spending Plan to financially support the expansion of homeless housing capacity countywide.

The Kern Street Project expansion was identified in the Homeless Initiatives Spending Plan and advances the board’s goals of increasing homeless housing capacity, reducing the unsheltered population, and serving those most at-risk. This project aligns with the Housing Development Guidelines approved by the Board on January 23, 2024, as it has a strong project proforma and operating plan, addresses a critical need in the homeless response system, and leverages an existing facility and operational system at an affordable price per bed.

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Board honors retiring ARMC director; Approves contract with new ARMC CEO

The board formally honored retiring Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Director William Gilbert, who departs after nine years of exemplary service to ARMC and more than 30 years in healthcare.

“Bill’s leadership of ARMC these past nine years has been a shining example of the successful execution of the health and wellness components of the Countywide Vision,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman and Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe.

“I want to express my deepest thanks to our talented staff, dedicated physicians, compassionate nurses, and all of ARMC’s support teams,” said Gilbert. “Team ARMC’s hard work, commitment, and resilience have been the cornerstone of our success. It has been an honor and a privilege to lead such an exceptional team.”

The board also approved a three-year contract with two possible one-year extensions with ARMC Chief Operating Officer Andrew Goldfrach to serve as the hospital’s CEO, succeeding Gilbert.

Since joining San Bernardino County in 2020, Mr. Goldfrach has served as ARMC’s Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining ARMC, Goldfrach was the Chief Executive Officer for University Hospitals Avon Rehabilitation Hospital, a joint venture hospital in Cleveland, where he brought that organization from its opening to a nationally top-rated hospital for quality.

Goldfrach has held several senior level hospital positions across the U.S. throughout his nearly 20 years in healthcare management. Mr. Goldfrach has been on multiple boards and committees, including with the American College of Healthcare Executives of Southern California and Community Health Association of Inland Southern Region. Goldfrach is on faculty at Concordia University, Irvine, as an adjunct professor in their Master of Healthcare Administration program and routinely guest lectures in healthcare management at UCLA School of Public Health, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, and Ithaca College in New York.

Goldfrach is board-certified in healthcare management and a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Goldfrach will oversee ARMC, a state-of-the-art acute care hospital that serves as a 456-bed university-affiliated teaching hospital licensed by the State of California Department of Public Health, operated by the county, and governed by the Board of Supervisors. It consists of 5,083 employees and a budget of approximately $851.9 million.

Additional County Update News – May 23, 2024