Oakland County approves $500,000 homelessness grant, health department staffing additions

Oakland County commissioners on June 3 approved multiple public-health and safety items that county officials said are intended to expand shelter capacity, strengthen Medicaid outreach and bolster public-health workforce capacity.

Leanne, a county presenter, told the board the $500,000 one-time allocation comes from legislatively directed funds and will support emergency shelter spaces, a peer support specialist and seven special revenue positions tied to services for people experiencing homelessness. "This position or this funding also supports seven special revenue positions," she said during the meeting.

The board also accepted Amendment No. 4 to the county's FY2026 Local Health Department Agreement with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Kate Guzman of the health division said the amendment brings an additional $800,500: about $200,565 for public-health infrastructure and roughly $597,000 as reimbursement for Medicaid outreach activities. "We'll be receiving an additional almost 600,000 for this work," Guzman said, describing the Medicaid outreach reimbursement as funding that pays back the county for documented outreach to Medicaid-eligible residents.

Guzman and public-health staff asked to create several positions using the additional funds, including a full-time contract compliance supervisor, a part-time medical director to allow an incoming full-time medical director (Dr. Kita Fox) to transition responsibilities, public-health nurse positions, community health workers and support staff for Children's Village and regional advisory councils. She said some vacant positions would be deleted to offset the new hires.

Commissioners asked about tuberculosis caseloads and clinical staffing. The clinical representative said active tuberculosis case counts "hover in the mid20s," and described the intensive case management and directly observed therapy used to ensure medication adherence.

Other public-health items approved that same day included returning unspent emergency-response funds tied to a splash-pad shooting training grant and continuing a Jail Alliance mental-health staff position funded through Oakland Community Health Network for $147,449. A request to create a General Fund-backed office support clerk senior position for the Personal Protection Order (PPO) office was also approved; staff said the FY27 cost would be roughly $79,000 once fully annualized.

All discussed health-and-safety items were approved by the board during the meeting; staff recorded unanimous or near-unanimous votes on these items.

What happens next: departments will proceed to recruit and onboard the new positions and administer the awarded grants, and county staff said they will report back through routine committee oversight and the FY27 budget process if additional approvals are required.