Human Services Element

Sacramento County General Plan
Human Services Element

Adopted March 2, 1994
Amended November 9, 2011 & September 26, 2017

SECTION I: ELEMENT BACKGROUND

Introduction

The Human Services Element facilitates the consideration of health and human services provision within the land use planning process. It sets forth human values and principles which are to be taken into account as Sacramento County’s orderly growth and development occurs. It provides the basis for assuring that the social and health needs of people will receive attention and that there is an opportunity to provide services in appropriate settings. All residents of the community, regardless of their socio-economic situation, are recipients of human services from either the private, not-for-profit or government sectors. As such, this Human Services Element is applicable to all segments of the County.

The Element establishes a framework for examining the social and health consequences of various development proposals. It enhances the capacity of the County to interact with the physical planning process through recommendations for policies which improve access to a broad range of human services. The focus is not only on response to growth issues, but also on planning for existing communities where human social and health needs are concentrated.

Inclusion of this Human Services Element in the Sacramento County General Plan represents an important policy advance. Traditional land use planning focuses on how various physical properties are configured and related to one another. While the intent is to promote public convenience, consideration of the need for a planned social and health infrastructure is overlooked. There is an urgent need for long-range comprehensive human services planning that places human service concerns on the same level as physical development in the planning process and based upon fundamental principles.

Values

The Human Services Element reflects a set of values to be considered in the context of other County policies. The goal of human services should be to enable everyone to be born healthy and function at maximum capability throughout a high quality life. All public policies, including those regulating the use of land, should enhance attainment of this goal. These human services principles apply:

• Build on strengths of natural support systems, such as family, neighborhood, social, religious, cultural and linguistic networks in provision of services.
• Support personal responsibility and social respect, empowering people to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency.
• Emphasize ease of service availability, accessibility, prevention, service integration, public/private partnerships, leveraging of resources, and neighborhood service provision.
• Target resources to proven effective services, while constantly seeking novel and innovative methods and remaining open to new approaches and devices.
• Achieve optimal health through healthful neighborhood conditions including safe routes for accessing human services without requiring use of a personal vehicle.

Assumptions

The goals, objectives and implementation strategies incorporated into this Human Services Element reflect assumptions about the human services environment for the total community in Sacramento County. Among these are the following:

Assumptions about the needs of the population:

Sacramento County’s population will become increasingly richly diverse, with the Latino and Asian populations showing the most dramatic growth,¹ challenging service delivery systems to deliver culturally and linguistically competent services.

• The aging of the population will impact demand for human services in terms of service needs, as well as mobility of consumers and their ability to travel to service facilities. For example:
• The 60 and older population will nearly triple between 2000 and 2040.
• There will be a five‐fold increase in the 85+ population between 2000 and 2040.
• The number of people 100 and older will increase by a factor of fifteen by 2040.
• Most Baby Boomers (over 54%) will live to age 85 and about 21% will live to age 95.
• The proportion of Hispanic/Latino seniors (the fastest growing ethnic group) will nearly triple between 2000 and 2040 (from 7% to 20%).
• With rates for Fair Market Rent and median home price both higher than what can reasonably be afforded by a low-wage worker or someone receiving SSI/SSP,² there will be an increasing demand to provide decent, safe and affordable housing opportunities for all Sacramento County families and individuals as well as accessible housing with supportive services for the elderly and special needs families and individuals.
• Families and individuals continue to need accessible transportation, health care, child and dependent care, and decent, accessible, safe and affordable housing no matter their economic situation, but low wage individuals may need assistance from the community to meet these needs.
• Multiple factors, including increasing levels of employment of former welfare recipients and persons with disabilities, the rising number of households with multiple wage earners and the increasing distance citizens may have to travel for work necessitate changes in the way the agencies providing human services conduct operations, such as expanded hours of operation, integrated or holistic service approaches and increased accessibility of information and services through technology and communications advances.
• All sectors of the community require physical activity to maintain health and quality of life. Physical activity is most easily achieved through walking and biking to routine daily tasks and activities.
• With a growing number of the County’s population being uninsured,³ the need of the uninsured and the underinsured for health and mental health care will continue to place a significant demand upon county supported health care services and on community emergency services by those who are not qualified for public supported health care and/or cannot obtain access to other sources of health care delivery.

Scope

Attention in this Element is frequently given to neighborhoods. For purposes of this Element, Neighborhood is defined as an area with geographic or man-made boundaries whose residents share a common link such as a school, public street pattern, parks, architectural styles or time periods, or infrastructure and services that meet daily needs (e.g., child care, coffee house, convenience market). Community as used in the Element gives reference to a grouping of neighborhoods that also includes those services needed less frequently (e.g., doctor’s offices, large retail).

For the purposes of this Element, Human Services is broadly defined to include all of those community services that provide support and protection for individuals and families including services in the following areas: food and shelter; employment and training services; education services; financial services; health care and protection; mental health care; dependent care; substance abuse services; protective and supportive services; legal and criminal justice services; recreation services.

Implementation

Successful implementation of the Human Services Element will require understanding of human services assets and gaps as they currently exist in the county, as well as how the assets and needs of Sacramento County’s residents will change with time. As the County embarks on implementing the Human Services Element, periodic data review and analysis of demographics, as well as human service needs, usage, and access will be necessary. Collaboration and information sharing with Community Planning Advisory Councils, human service providers, and others is also necessary to proficiently project needs and promote placement of human services facilities as part of the planning process.

With the aforementioned information, the Human Services Element will be able to identify if an appropriate amount of land has been designated for human service usage. The Human Services Element will also be able to indicate what types of services are most needed in particular infill, commercial corridor, and new growth areas.

Section II identifies specific policies and implementation measures to enact the Human Services Element of the Sacramento County General Plan.

SECTION II: HUMAN SERVICES POLICIES AND IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES

GOAL:

Human services shall be recognized as an integral part of the fabric of the community.

Building and Sustaining Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities.

Objective:

Human services are available to all communities.

Intent:

Policies have been identified in the Human Services Element that emphasizes ease of service availability, accessibility, prevention, service integration, public/private partnerships, leveraging of resources, and neighborhood service provision.

Policies:

HS-1.

To the extent feasible, public, private and non-profit human service facilities shall be located throughout the County.

HS-2.

Ensure that human services related programs are available, accessible and responsive to a wide range of individual, cultures and family structures, including single parents, working parents and the aging population.

HS-3.

Develop and maintain human services facilities (i.e., public health offices, day health care centers, field offices) to adequately serve Sacramento County residents.

HS-4.

Locate facilities on sites which have adequate acreage for short term needs, but which can also accommodate expansion, if expansion is anticipated or projected.

Implementation Measures:

1. The County will decentralize county-provided services to the extent feasible when adequate funding and resources are available in correspondence to the needs of the population being served, and strive to place services in infill, commercial corridor, and new growth areas. (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES)
2. Proactively promote location of human service facilities in designated redevelopment districts and along aging commercial corridors. (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND HUMAN ASSISTANCE)
3. Allow and encourage public facilities no longer being used for their original purpose to be used for provision of human services. (PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, HUMAN ASSISTANCE)
4. Improve access to services, information and training through the use of new technologies. (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND HUMAN ASSISTANCE)
5. Address human services issues during community planning efforts. Incorporate an asset-building approach into this process to inventory the human resources available to help meet community needs. (PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, HUMAN ASSISTANCE)
6. Identify service area standards, location criteria and facility size for various human services facilities. (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND HUMAN ASSISTANCE)

Objective:

Human services in Sacramento County are physically accessible to all residents.

Policies:

HS-5.

New human services facilities shall be appropriately sited adjacent to existing or planned transportation corridors to enhance mobility options.

HS-6.

Adequate infrastructure (i.e., complete streets including bicycle lanes and sidewalks) and appropriate design elements are incorporated during the planning and review of new human services facilities to improve connectivity and access.

Implementation Measures:

1. During the design of a project, emphasis will be placed on the connectivity to the immediate surrounding community. (PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW)

Objective:

Human services are co-located or integrated.

Policies:

HS-7.

Allow for and support the integration of multi-use human service functions within existing and future facilities, both county and non-county, such as churches, housing complexes, retail and community centers.

HS-8.

Analyze use of existing facilities, co-location options, and alternative facility configurations as a cooperative effort among human service agencies as a component of the overall facilities planning process

Implementation Measures:

1. Review and update the County Zoning Code, if necessary, to allow for human service delivery at aforementioned facilities. (PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW)
2. Coordinate with appropriate County and non-County entities to identify opportunities for co-location of services. (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND HUMAN ASSISTANCE)

Establishing Human Service Infrastructure as a Component of Land Use Policy and Planning

Objective:

Sacramento County has a planning system that recognizes and reacts to the identified need for a human services infrastructure associated with growth, population shift and/or redevelopment.

Intent:

Successful implementation of the Human Services Element will require understanding of human services assets and gaps as they currently exist in the County, as well as how the assets and needs of Sacramento County’s residents will change with time. As the County embarks on implementing policies and programs of the Human Services Element, periodic data review and analysis of demographics, as well as human service needs, usage, and access will be necessary. Collaboration and information sharing with Community Planning Advisory Councils, human service providers, and others is also necessary to proficiently project needs and promote placement of human services facilities as part of the planning process.

With the aforementioned information, the Human Services Element will enable human services needs to be addressed early during any master planning efforts including the preparation of plans for new growth areas, corridor plans, and community plan updates. Examples of facilities that constitute human service facilities include, but are not limited to, community centers, day care facilities, employment and training service centers, food and nutrition outlets, health care providers, housing and shelter facilities, mental health facilities, substance abuse treatment providers, etc. The Human Services Element will also be able to indicate what types of services are most needed in particular infill, commercial corridor, and new growth areas.

The human services review will not add an additional stage to the overall review process. All aspects of human services review will occur within timeframes and structures in place in the existing review process.

Policies:

HS-9.

Forward appropriate projects to the Human Service Coordinating Council (HSCC) as part of Planning and Environmental Review’s initial distribution process for applications. Appropriate projects include large master plans, Specific Plans, Community Plans, and Corridor Plans but may also include other appropriate infill or corridor projects. Representatives of the HSCC may then forward comments or attend meetings and hearings such as the Project Review Committee (PRC) to comment on the needs for future human services and facilities.

HS-10.

The County shall actively enforce the Good Neighbor Policy for all County facilities and contractors of the County.

Implementation Measures:

1. Consult and coordinate with human services expertise early in the planning process to ensure that human service issues are addressed and incorporated in the new growth and commercial corridors areas. (PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, HUMAN ASSISTANCE)

Footnotes

1. “Just the Facts: California’s Future Population”. Public Policy Institute of California. September 2006. ↩

2. Issue Brief on Affordable, Suitable Housing. Human Services Coordinating Council. February 2005. ↩

3. Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. http://www.ssvms.org/cserf/spirit.asp. October 18, 2006. ↩