Launch Resource and Reentry Hub and implement evaluation

Lead agency: Public Safety Executive Office

Population of focus (if applicable): All justice involved populations

SIM intercept: 0-1, 2, 4-5

Summary of planned action:

County staff requested and received Board of Supervisors authority in March of 2024 to establish a Resource and Reentry Hub through contracting actions. A local Hub design has been informed by examples from other counties, justice and health partners, and extensive community input conducted throughout 2025.  In May 2025, the Board approved County staff’s request for a lease in principle for the site. The Hub would consolidate and co-locate whole-person services in a welcoming location and engage disconnected justice-involved populations to improve reentry outcomes and reduce incarceration. San Diego County would pilot the services in the Central Region and regionalize the services in a future phase.

Actions taken:

  • Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Self-Sufficiency Services, Medical Services, and Behavioral Health Services, Assessor Recorder, Child Support Services, Public Defender, San Diego Police Department, San Diego City Attorney’s Office, San Diego Sheriff’s Office, the Office of Homeless Solutions, and the Probation Department have closely collaborated with the Public Safety Group Executive Office throughout 2024 to conduct planning for operations and inform the procurement. Additionally, extensive community outreach has continuously informed this planning process. 

  • County staff had prepared a Request for Proposals to establish the site and planned to conduct a search for a lease for a Hub location, based on feedback that smaller community-based organizations would have difficulty leasing and providing a facility. However, in mid-2025 an opportunity to establish the Resource Hub through an existing facility and location arose, and the County changed its approach to establish the service, opting to execute contract amendments for the location and initial co-located services. Additional co-located services will be sought through partnerships and a competitive solicitation in mid-2026, after the Hub model and partners develop initial pathways and referrals for clients to reach the service.  

  • Public Safety Executive Office amended and assumed contract oversight for the Recovery and Bridge Center, operated by the McAlister Institute, with an agreement by the provider to co-locate services there and explore developing the Hub onsite. 

  • The RBC provides 24/7 sobering services at 25th and Market streets in San Diego. Law enforcement drops off people under the influence of drugs or alcohol instead of taking them to jail, with about 2,900 drop offs a year.  

  • Key considerations in developing the Hub pilot at the RBC, instead of issuing a planned RFP with the goal of establishing a new location, included an unexpected priority of preserving Central sobering services as a jail alternative while continuing the vision of establishing the Resource and Reentry Hub, careful re-evaluation of addressing gaps in existing services, and a consensus by justice system leadership including the District Attorney, Probation Chief and Public Defender to be considerate of new criminal justice costs due to Proposition 36 and other developments that were driving competing budget priorities.  Also, once identified as an option, it was clear the RBC already had key elements of the planned Resource and Reentry Hub in place: law enforcement partners diverted justice-involved clients from jail to the site, about half of them homeless and high need. The RBC’s central location had desirable elements the community had highlighted in 2024 input sessions, such as onsite parking and easy transit access, and a convenient location removed from concentrated problem areas downtown.

Next steps: 

  • Public Safety Executive Office is planning to establish the Resource and Reentry Hub pilot over Fiscal Year 2025-26 and beyond. Planned steps include: 

  • Expand eligibility and referral pathways at the RBC to include non-intoxicated justice-involved clients; work with justice and health partners to create referral pathways and identify priority populations for outreach and engagement (In progress) 

  • Amend a separate case management, peer support, transportation and short-term housing contract to provide co-located services at the RBC (In progress, by April 2025) 

  • Community forum to update on the Resource and Reentry Hub (April, 2025) 

  • Renovate the RBC (In progress, by April 2026) 

  • Work with the Sheriff’s Office to establish transportation options to link people released from jail to the RBC/Resource and Reentry Hub any time of day (In progress, by April 2026) 

  • Connect County services such as benefits, vital documents, Probation and Child Support to Hub (In progress, by April 2026) 

  • McAlister/and or co-located program develops additional MOUs for onsite and community-based service connects (mid-2026) 

  • Public Safety Executive Office and partners, including Office of Evaluation, Performance, and Analytics, monitor pilot implementation and determine additional priority co-locations (by mid-2026) 

  • Public Safety Executive Office prepares competitive procurement for additional service partners, including smaller grassroots partners who may provide workforce and education, peer support or other identified services (by summer 2026)