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MONDAY, MARCH 30-APRIL 05, 2026
Annual county summit spotlights strategies for reducing homelessness
State warns 15 cities, including 1 in SoCal, to comply with housing law
By Staff
By Joe Taglieri
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overnment officials and service providers from the nonprofit community across San Bernardino County gathered earlier this month for the annual Homeless Summit with a focus on longterm, innovative strategies to support youth and adults experiencing homelessness, the county announced Thursday. This year’s theme was “The Cure for Homelessness is a Home” for the summit hosted by the county Office of Homeless Service and the county Homeless Partnership. The summit assembles service providers and community partners each year for networking, education and discussions about homelessness and ongoing efforts to get people housed and connected with supportive services. Attendees discuss strategies and best practices while getting familiar with new initiatives to address the needs of county residents experiencing homelessness. “The Homeless Summit reflects our shared commitment to improving outcomes for people experiencing homelessness,” Board of Supervisors Vice Chair and 5th District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. said in a statement. “By bringing our partners together, we strengthen our ability to support people experiencing homelessness and move closer to a community where everyone has a safe and stable place to call home,” said Baca, who also chairs the local Continuum of Care Board of Directors. The 2026 summit, held March 5 at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Bernardino, opened with a keynote address by Jevon Wilkes, executive director of the nonprofit California Coalition for Youth. Wilkes shared lessons from his advocacy work, as well as his personal experience with homeless-
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Panelists discuss efforts to address homelessness in San Bernardino County at the annual Homeless Summit in March at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Bernardino. | Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County
ness and the foster care system. His remarks focused on the power of hope and the importance of mentorship and community support. “A psychiatrist believed in me and saw me beyond my circumstances of homelessness,” said Wilkes. “A light was in me that she saw and decided to flame it so that I could get support.” He talked about the evolution of California Coalition for Youth, starting with crisis hotlines and advisory boards and expanding to statewide organizing efforts that Wilkes said have helped secure billions of dollars in funding. He also emphasized that young people have long been key to effecting systemic change. “In 1990, a year after I was born, young people were marching through the Capitol of California to elevate a comprehensive policy report so that the state could understand the severity of serving and reaching our young people experiencing homelessness,” he said. Wilkes closed his address with emphasis on the need
for long-term structural solutions such as state-supported financial aid for current and former foster youth. He added that breaking generational cycles within the system is crucial to reducing youth homelessness. “This is the work that we do,” he said. “My life started from darkness, but the Lord blessed me with a light and a calling to move this work forward.” Following Wilkes’ keynote address, a discussion panel titled “How Healthcare is Helping the Homeless Community” examined how care providers are shifting from treating symptoms to addressing the root causes of illness, such as housing instability, food insecurity and lack of transportation. Panelists described programs under the state’s Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal program and managed care efforts that fund housing navigation, case management, recuperative care and street medicine. See Homelessness Page 31
This represents a cultural shift in how providers of medical services are actively partnering with community organizations, according to panelists. Dr. Takashi Wada, chief medical officer at Inland Empire Health Plan, emphasized the importance of addressing the underlying factors affecting health. “You can’t keep someone healthy if you don’t address some of these social drivers,” he said. Wada noted that some homeless patients struggle to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes. “Some of these patients can’t get access to healthy foods, they don’t even have a refrigerator to store their insulin, and they don’t have transportation to get to those special appointments,” he said. “Without addressing everything comprehensively, we’re not going to get these individuals healthy.” The panel concluded with an update on housing
ov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Housing and Community Development issued final warnings Wednesday to 15 municipalities that have failed to adhere to affordable housing law requirements. The cities and counties are more than 60 days away from securing a certified housing element, according to the governor’s office. They have 30 days to respond to this week’s Notices of Violation before HCD takes further action, including referral to Attorney General Rob Bonta for likely litigation. The 15 municipalities that received Notices of Violation this week are the city of Montclair located in San Bernardino County, along with Atwater, Avenal, California City, Corcoran, Escalon, Half Moon Bay, Hanford, Kings County, Lemoore, Merced County, Oakdale, Patterson, Ridgecrest and Turlock. HCD has previously entered court-enforced agreements with the Southern California cities of San Bernardino, Coronado, Fullerton, Malibu, La Habra Heights, Artesia and Norwalk. The state is in active litigation against Huntington Beach over housing law compliance. “I’m disappointed on behalf of the state and the people of California that after years of effort, we still have communities that aren’t meeting the needs of their residents,” Newsom said in a statement. “There’s no carveout here. No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access. We’ll keep pushing forward by enforcing the law, fighting NIMBY actions, and holding See Housing law Page 31
local governments accountable, because every Californian deserves a place to call home.” Montclair officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a February statement after a U.S. Supreme Court refusal to hear Huntington Beach’s appeal in the ongoing legal battle with the state, Mayor Casey McKeon said, “The voters ... elected us to defend our local control over municipal affairs, especially housing, and that’s what we will continue to do relentlessly. Even though this path has ended, other paths will always exist for us to continue to rigorously fight to defend the Huntington Beach residents’ local control.” Huntington Beach officials added that they “will continue to vigorously defend (the city’s) environmental stewardship, its charter-city authority, and its right to fair and evenhanded enforcement of State housing laws in the Superior Court.” Under California housing law, every municipality must adopt a plan for affordable housing, called a housing element, that demonstrates intentions for meeting regional housing needs for residents at all income levels. Local officials must submit housing elements to HCD for review. State officials said that with HCD’s guidance and technical assistance, along with enforcement, 92% of California communities have complied with housing element requirements in the sixth cycle. Wednesday’s notices to the 15 cities and counties that remain out of compliance begin a final push to