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Appendix 3: Committee Guiding Principles PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE THE CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A HOUSING AND TRANSITIONAL HOUSING SYSTEM IN ALAMEDA COUNTY 1997-2002 • The continuum of housing and service systems must meet the needs of all. • While serving all, the continuum of housing should place a priority on serving the hardest to serve and preventing homelessness among very low income people who could be helped with limited assistance. • The continuum of care must provide housing for those with substance abuse problems, the disabled, mentally ill, those coming out of prisons and other institutions, and those most critically in need. • The continuum should provide housing where it is needed, where the people who need it want to live, where jobs are available, and in healthy neighborhoods. • Providing housing requires overcoming barriers of affordability, and linking to needed services. • The continuum of housing must be linked, so no clients fall through the gaps and so that transitions from one part of the continuum to another happen smoothly. Continuity must be assured to prevent repeat homelessness. • Housing provided under the continuum should be appropriate to the needs of the person served and fully integrated into the community. • Affordable housing in Alameda County must be provided at the changing income levels of poor people. • The continuum of housing and services needs to exist in all areas of the community where there is need, proportional to that need. • We should know what is available in the next five years at any point in time for all forms of housing: where, what level, $ needed, for whom. Keep that information current and not just in a book somewhere. • The housing and service system needs to be changing to meet needs as they change. • The Continuum of Care should focus on prevention and long term strategies. Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 155