Skagit County is investing North Star, in a cross-jurisdictional integrated behavioral health and homelessness plan, to combine the efforts of the County and its four cities to have a bigger overall impact. We’re working to increase the Sheriff’s Office Crisis Response Team to allow for 24/7 clinical coverage for crisis calls and have added a call code to better track behavioral health-related 911 calls. We are advocating to the state for increased behavioral health Medicaid reimbursement rates to address the issue of low pay and hopefully increase the behavioral health workforce. And we are developing an evidence-based recovery care model to help those in recovery stay in recovery.

Skagit County is working to provide all eligible inmates with re-entry services and is investing in the expansion of recovery housing to provide a supportive, accountable, and recovery-oriented place to live for people who don’t have other safe housing options. We’re also increasing the number of people enrolled in Community Court, a therapeutic court option that encourages treatment in response to misdemeanors. And finally, we’re advocating to the state to increase statewide transitional housing options for people declared incompetent to stand trial, including those who are waiting for restoration services, to interrupt the inhumane cycle of people with severe mental illness being released from incarceration back into homelessness without treatment or supportive services. 

Skagit County has an initiative to add drop-in, low-barrier, night-by-night shelter, a service that currently does not exist in the county. We are also working with shelter providers to ensure that the most vulnerable households are served first and that available shelter beds are occupied.