RECAP: SBCO East Desert Regional Committee on Homelessness, October 16, 2025
Code of conduct deferred, alternate members approved, HHAP 5 funding and ambulance services for the homeless discussed
Given the deep involvement of Twentynine Palms City officials and nonprofits on the San Bernardino County East Desert Regional Committee on Homelessness (EDRC), Desert Trumpet has decided to cover their monthly meetings on a “staff available” basis.
East Desert Regional Committee is one of five regional committees that are a part of the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership, which itself is a part of a Continuum of Care network. Per the governing documents for the network:
The Continuum of Care (commonly referred to as “CoC” or “Continuum”) oversees a community’s plan to organize and deliver supportive social services, including housing options, which meet the specific needs of homeless individuals and families. Ultimately, the goal of the CoC is to move homeless people toward stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires the establishment of a CoC in order to receive federal CoC Program funding.
The other committees are Mountain Regional, Desert Regional, Central Valley Regional and West Valley Regional. The committee members of the East Desert Regional Committee are:
Curtis Yakimow (Town Manager, Yucca Valley)
Glen Harris (Supervisor Dawn Rowe’s office representative),
Co-Chair Stone James (City Manager, Twentynine Palms )
April Ramirez (City Councilmember, Twentynine Palms)
Lakita Johnson (President, Molding Hearts)
Janet Johnston (Director, Morongo Basin Conservation Association)
Co-Chair Robin Schlosser (Executive Director, Reach Out Morongo Basin)
Daniel Belew (Executive Director, Rescue + Residence).
City of Twentynine Palms Executive Assistant Christina Benton is not a committee member but assists with the meetings
April Ramirez and Lakita Johnson were absent, although Ramirez was present for the last ten minutes of the meeting.
The agenda for the meeting is located here and video recorded by Eric Menendez of the Joshua Tree Gateway Communities Alliance is online here.
There were at least 15 attendees in addition to the Board members, most involved in health or homeless services.
Individual Committee Member Comments
Among items mentioned were two events on Saturday, October 18: a fundraiser for Unity Home and a community clean-up event at Sportman’s Park, 6171 Sunburst, in Joshua Tree from 8 am to noon
Committee member James announced that the Marine Base had pulled out of Twentynine Palms’ Pioneer Days celebration due to the government shutdown. Committee member Johnston provided an update on the Morongo Basin Housing Solutions Team, which is working on “a private Discord communication server so that providers can all be connected in real time to one central stream of information” as well as a resource website.
Committee member Schlosser promoted the October 17 Reach Out Morongo Basin fundraiser, and announced that by the end of September Reach Out “had over 11,000 trips for this year so far, and have driven close to 90,000 miles by providing transportation services.” Committee member Belew promoted the Rescue + Residence Desert jAMBOree fundraiser on Veteran’s Day weekend.
General Public Comment
Diana Anderson of the Morongo Basin Healthcare District announced a community listening session at 11 am on Thursday, November 13 at their offices located at 6540 La Contenta Road, Suite 5OO, Yucca Valley, CA 92284. See flyer below. RSVP required.
Eric Menendez of the Joshua Tree Gateway Community Alliance added to Committee member Johnston’s comments about the Housing Solutions Team and described the October 8 Housing and Homelessness Roundtable hosted by Twentynine Palms City Councilmember Octavious Scott.
Presentation on Medical Emergencies in the Homeless Population
The meetings often feature a presentation from a provider offering homeless services. The presentation at this meeting was by Craig Bell, Operations Chief, Morongo Basin Ambulance Association, on medical emergencies within the homeless population. Per Bell, the Morongo Basin Ambulance Association (MBAA) is one of two nonprofit ambulance services in California and has been operating since 1948. Their area of service includes Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, Morongo Valley, Pioneertown, Rimrock, Flamingo Heights, Landers, Johnson Valley, Wonder Valley and Amboy as well as the Joshua Tree National Park.
Bell distributed a chart indicating a sharp rise in emergencies resulting in an ambulance call in the last year, most of which appeared to be medical in nature. While overall calls number around 5,500 per year, the homeless make up about 100 of those calls, most of which are unique and not repeat calls from the same individuals. Doing some quick math, Committee Co-Chair Stone James calculated the rise represented a 92% increase in those emergencies. Bell attributed the increase to the homeless not being able to make primary care appointments to receive routine care. He also noted a slight uptick in behavioral crises, due in part to an inability to make appointments.
Other observations from the discussion:
70% of overall call volume is from low-income residents and 70% of the Ambulance Association’s income comes from Medi-Cal and Medicaid reimbursements
The reimbursement rate is low; Bell gave the example of a $3,000 transport being paid at $300 by Medi-Cal
The calls are evenly distributed along the Highway 62 corridor
It’s usually bystanders making the call for an ambulance, not the homeless individual
It’s possible the use of Narcan in the community has helped reduce overdose figures
Discussion Items
Code of Conduct
First up for discussion was internal business—should the code of conduct for Board members be reviewed? And is it possible for Committee members to appoint alternates should they not be able to attend a meeting?
The code of conduct first appeared on the September 18 agenda, after a request was made between the August 21 and September 18 meetings that the code be reviewed to ensure new members on the committee were familiar with its details.
Also after the August 21 meeting, three separate attendees1 reached out to Desert Trumpet expressing concerns that Committee member Ramirez appeared to conduct an aggressive verbal audit of Morongo Basin ARCH’s use of HHAP 2 funding.2 Ramirez has the right to discuss and review the finances of funded organizations; however, the attendees characterized the exchange with ARCH representatives as inappropriate.
The discussion of a code of conduct for committee members was deferred from the September 18 meeting to this meeting and then deferred again to the November 20 meeting due to absences and the desire to have a full committee present for the review. When the item is taken up in November it will be combined with a Brown Act tutorial that has been listed as a future agenda item.
Committee Member Alternates
Co-Chair Robin Schlosser kicked off the discussion on Committee Member alternates:
In checking with OHS, we what we determined was that yes, we can have alternate individuals assigned from these various agencies, though there are a couple of rules. One, they cannot attend more than two meetings consecutively at a time, because the voted member needs to be able to attend as often as possible. And two, they will have voting rights when they are in attendance, so they have full voting authority.
Committee members requested that alternates represent the same organization as the regular member, and that there be a cap on the number of meetings per year that an alternate can attend (in addition to the previously mentioned cap on consecutive meetings). Committee member Yakimow made the motion to approve alternates “with the informal guidance that OHS has already provided.”
HHAP 5 Grant Eligible Use Categories
One of the roles of the Committee is to administer the disbursement of HHAP funding. HHAP stands for Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention, a California State program that “makes available grant allocations to cities, counties, and continuums of care with flexible funding to prevent and end homelessness in their regions.” $346,258 has been made available to to the EDRC to distribute according to seven predefined categories:
Delivery of Permanent housing and Innovative Housing
Solutions
Rapid Rehousing *
Prevention and Shelter Diversion *
Operating Subsidies - Permanent Housing
Street Outreach *
Services Coordination *
Systems Support *
Direction had been given by the County Office of Homeless Services (OHS) to reduce the number of categories from seven in issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). The Committee opted to prioritize the five categories marked with an asterisk above with Prevention, Rapid Rehousing and Street Outreach being the focus should EDRC be limited to three categories.
The timeline for issuing the RFP and for the grant funding was not discussed.
Future Agenda Items
Committee member Ramirez, having just arrived, requested that a discussion of “laws and provisions that are being implemented at a state and federal level as a requirement for funding” be added to the Future Agenda Items list.
Committee member Yakimow suggested that the Point in Time count be discussed. That’s the annual count of the homeless, currently scheduled for January 22, 2026.
The next East Desert Regional Committee on Homelessness takes place on Thursday, November 20 at 10 am, Old Joshua Tree Elementary School Room #19, 6051 Sunburst Street, Joshua Tree, CA 92252.
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The attendees have requested that we not use their names.
From the August 21 meeting minutes:
• Board Member April Ramirez had the following questions in regard to HHAP 2:
- Does an individual by the name of Jesse Ortiz work for Morongo Basin Arch?
- April 1, 2023, a check was written to Jesse Ortiz for $1,044, labeled “caseworker.”
- April 10, 2023, a check was written to Jesse Ortiz for $500 - tires.
- April 14, 2023, a check was written to Jesse Ortiz for $400 – repair.
- April 16, 2023, a check was written to Jessee Ortiz for $350 – tires.
- August 31, 2023, a check from the County of San Bernardino in the amount of $66,000 was deposited and withdrawn in full the same day.
- August 15, 2024, purchase for Jane Gertzberg $215 for an operation with Dr. Jen Kim DDS
- Measure Y Funding received from the Town of Yucca Valley—this money had its own separate bank account. $10,000 or $15,000 was deposited and then records show four cash withdraws and written in pencil is “gift cards from Stater Bros.” If $10,000 in gift cards were purchased, Stater Bros. should have a record of it.
Board Member April Ramirez stated that this is not to suggest that there is a sense of impropriety, this is to make sure that the vulnerable population that these monies are intended to help are getting the resources that they need.
- She mentioned that when you accept federal and state money you are subject to the Public Records Act, disclosure of criminal and civil proceedings, must have insurance, licenses, permits, and certifications if the recipient no longer has such, they must notify the county immediately. Board Member April Ramirez asked that the Articles of Incorporation be updated, as there was conflicting information.
I just came across this great article explaining this topic, very well....
https://nwri.org/what-are-community-land-trusts-and-land-banks/ This I believe is the plan for the basin and there is a very long running agenda, which is not "conspiracy"
As a taxpayer, I often hesitate to endorse or even contribute to homeless activities. There are SO many lofty titled charities receiving funds, grants, tax dollars and so little improvement is seen.
These charities seem to have such little record keeping of just where all these tax dollars go. as an example : TIRES, REPAIR seem to have little to do with homeless support.
When April Ramirez was running for office, i had little expectations that she would offer worthwhile representation, but she has become a resounding advocate of asking the tough questions that need answers and transparency for residents.
I wish as much money that is given away for homelessness, art endeavors, etc was spent on tax payers needs.
I wish someone would vette these charities to make sure they are actually registered and in good standing with government regulations as some appear not to be.