Major agreements before supervisors
The Kern County Board of Supervisors’ August 25 agenda places several major behavioral-health and homelessness agreements before local officials.
The largest proposal would provide Central Star with up to $8.09 million for inpatient therapeutic and rehabilitative psychiatric services for minors at the Kern Youth Psychiatric Health Facility.
A separate agreement would provide Crestwood Behavioral Health with as much as $5.74 million for inpatient services for adults. Both agreements would cover July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, using budgeted state and federal funds.
Read the source: Kern County Board of Supervisors August 25 agenda ↗
Crisis response and safe camping
Supervisors were also scheduled to consider accepting up to $413,000 from the Bakersfield Police Department for crisis-response programs, including homeless co-response, mobile crisis response, crisis intervention and mobile evaluation services.
Another proposed agreement would provide Community Action Partnership of Kern with up to $480,000 in state-grant funding to operate the Safe Camping and Parking Program.
Because these items appeared on the meeting agenda, they should not be described as final until the county confirms the votes.
Accountability after the vote
The proposals show how closely homelessness, mental health and emergency response are connected.
Residents deserve follow-up reporting on how many people receive care, whether response times improve and whether people move from temporary programs into stable housing and treatment.