REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
June 18, 2025
FROM
GEORGINA YOSHIOKA, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT
Title
Contracts for Fee-For-Service Hotel/Motel Bridge Housing Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contracts with the following agencies, for the provision of Fee-For-Service Hotel/Motel Bridge Housing services, in a total aggregate amount not to exceed $1,808,190 for the period of June 18, 2025, through June 30, 2027.
1. Avector Community Group, Inc.
2. Dreamz Hotel 786 DBA Travel Inn & Suites
3. KC Hotels Group DBA Hilltop Inn & Suites
4. SB Express One, LLC
(Presenter: Georgina Yoshioka, Director, 252-5142)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Promote the Countywide Vision.
Create, Maintain and Grow Jobs and Economic Value in the County.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The aggregate amount not to exceed $1,808,190 will be funded by the California Department of Health Care Services Behavioral Health Bridge Housing grant funds. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Department of Behavioral Health’s (DBH) 2024-25 and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
DBH is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services to county residents experiencing severe mental illness and/or an SUD. An integral part of the service delivery system consists of County-operated and contracted service providers delivering a variety of behavioral health treatment services, including Hotel/Motel Bridge Housing services (HMBH).
In 1985, DBH instituted a program for homeless clients living with any behavioral health condition or co-occurring disorder such as SUD. This program is currently managed by Homeless and Supportive Services (HaSS). Historically, HaSS has grown to meet the increasing need of shelter for clients with behavioral health conditions who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless. HMBH is a new service which will provide short-term lodging to clients in the process of being housed in permanent supportive housing, clients with mental health and/or substance abuse disorders waiting for an available treatment bed, and clients with a mental health or medical condition requiring short-term shelter for treatment. The goal of HMBH is to prevent significant homelessness among the clients with behavioral health conditions by securing space at contracted hotels and motels throughout the County.
The DBH program responsible for HMBH services, HaSS, began in March 2013 and was designed to service the difficult to access areas of the county. HaSS provides outreach, education, and support to those individuals with severe mental illness who are chronically homeless or at risk of being homeless and most in need of HaSS in an effort to engage them and place them into permanent supportive housing. Supportive services are provided to ensure their recovery and resilience in the community with the ultimate goal of gaining self-sufficiency. HaSS staff work to engage individuals in riverbeds, abandoned buildings, fields, and homeless encampments. The teams travel throughout the County in an effort to assist homeless residents in gaining permanent supportive housing and move beyond homelessness.
PROCUREMENT
On November 22, 2024, the County Administrative Office approved and authorized the release of Request for Applications (RFA) No. DBHE25-ADMN-5680 through the County’s Electronic Procurement Network (ePro), to solicit interested and qualified organizations and agencies to provide HMBH. The RFA was publicly advertised in local newspapers and sent through direct mailings to more than 600 community-based organizations, service providers, and other interested parties.
A bidder’s conference was held on December 17, 2024. A total of six applications were received in response to the RFA by the established deadline. Of those, the four noted in the table below met the procurement conditions and were moved forward for further evaluation:
|
Agency |
Service Area |
Accepts Pets |
Proposed Daily Room Rate |
|
Avector Community Group, Inc. |
Desert/Mountain Region |
No |
$90.00 |
|
Dreamz Hotel 786 DBA Travel Inn & Suites |
Desert/Mountain Region |
Yes |
$75.00 (single bed) $85.00 (double bed) |
|
KC Hotels Group DBA Hilltop Inn & Suites |
Desert/Mountain Region |
No |
$75.00 (single bed) $85.00 (double bed) |
|
SB Express One, LLC |
Central Valley Region |
Yes |
$119 |
The evaluation committee, comprised of two individuals from DBH, evaluated the applications based on the criteria referenced in the RFA. The evaluation criteria included but were not limited to the cost, location, availability of rooms, availability of beds, ability to accept pets, ADA accessibility, and hotel/motel amenities.
Based on the program and fiscal evaluation and resulting contract negotiations, all four agencies noted in the table above are recommended for contract award. The applicants will be awarded an aggregate contract as a result of the procurement for the provision of HMBH. Each FFS contract will establish an all-inclusive daily room rate as proposed by each awardee.
HMBH is an ongoing procurement, which allows DBH to continuously accept applications from new providers. This is necessary to ensure DBH can continue to expand these services as the need for short-term lodging continues to grow countywide.
Purchasing supports this competitive procurement based on the formal solicitation described above.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Behavioral Health (Michael Shin, Administrative Manager, 388-0899 on June 3, 2025; County Counsel (Dawn Martin, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on June 10, 2025; Purchasing (Jessica Barajas, Supervising Buyer, 387-2065) on June 10, 2025; Finance (Paul Garcia, Administrative Analyst, 386-8392) on June 11, 2025; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0332) on June 11, 2025.