Salt Lake County unveils ‘game-changing’ criminal justice, homelessness reform plan

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson announced a “game-changing” initiative plan aimed at curbing homelessness and reforming the criminal justice system in the county Friday afternoon.

She made the announcement outside the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, across the street from where construction crews were working on what will soon be a new mental health receiving center for individuals in crisis; “an alternative to jail for those experiencing crisis,” as Wilson described it.

“This facility is truly game-changing,” she said. “The construction right behind us represents significant progress in our human services, homelessness and criminal justice system, yet we know that many gaps remain.”

District Attorney Sim Gill said county jails often serve as the de facto largest mental health facilities around the country and praised the facility as an investment that would result in better outcomes for people while reducing the burden on taxpayers.

Along with the expected mental health center, Wilson announced a five-year human services plan designed to ensure “homelessness in Salt Lake County becomes brief, rare and nonrecurring.”

Several of the key proposals in the plan focus on reducing homelessness and drug use, including:

• Adding 1,000 units of housing with space for people suffering from mental illness and homelessness.
• Improving law enforcement training to respond to mental health crises.
• Using the new mental health receiving center as an alternative to jail.
• Adding 10 additional Drug Enforcement Agency officers.
• Increasing facilities for transitional housing and step-down facilities to help inmates reenter the community after incarceration.

Read the full story and more from Bridger Beal-Cvetko on KSL.com 

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