REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 13, 2022
FROM
MARTHA ZEPEDA, Deputy Executive Officer, Community Revitalization
SUBJECT
Title
Contracts for Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Round 2 Program Services on behalf of the San Bernardino County Continuum of Care
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contracts with the following agencies for the provision of Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program Round 2 services on behalf of the San Bernardino County Continuum of Care, in a combined amount not to exceed $1,453,114, for the contract period of September 13, 2022, through June 30, 2026:
1. City of Montclair in the amount not to exceed $41,085.
2. Family Assistance Program in the amount not to exceed $116,249.
3. Mercy House Living Centers in the amount not to exceed $123,256.
4. Morongo Basin ARCH in the amount not to exceed $131,094.
5. Mountain Homeless Coalition in the amount not to exceed $89,535.
6. Step Up on Second Street, Inc. in the amount not to exceed $208,438.
7. The Blessing Center, Inc. in the amount not to exceed $96,559.
8. Victor Valley Family Resource Center in the amount not to exceed $222,524.
9. Water of Life Community Church in the amount not to exceed $250,000.
(Presenter: Martha Zepeda, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-4438)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). As this State of California Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program Round 2 (HHAP-2) block grant funding was awarded to the San Bernardino County Continuum of Care (SBC CoC), the SBC CoC determines how these funds are expended, and the County acts as the SBC CoC Administrative Entity.
The total cost for services will not exceed $1,453,114 and will be funded by the HHAP-2 block grant. Of the total HHAP-2 funding, $1,278,740 is allocated toward the aforementioned contracts, $72,656 is set-aside for the Coordinated Entry System (CES), and $101,718 is allocated to the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) to perform administration of the state grant as the Administrative Entity. According to the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) terms, HHAP-2 funds are required to be 50% expended by May 31, 2023. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Office of Homeless Services’ (OHS) 2022-23 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On November 13, 2020, the State of California Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (State) released the NOFA for HHAP-2. HHAP-2 is a $300 million block grant program authorized by Assembly Bill 83 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 15, Statutes of 2020), which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on June 29, 2020. HHAP-2 is designed to build on the regional coordination developed through previous rounds of State grant funding and is intended to support local jurisdictions in their unified regional response to reduce and end homelessness.
Jurisdictions eligible to apply for HHAP-2 funding are Continuums of Care (CoC), as identified by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), counties, and large cities (population of 300,000 or more) as of January 1, 2020. Funding determination for the CoCs is based on the total number of homeless counted during the CoC’s 2019 Homeless Point-In-Time Count. The Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), SBC CoC’s governing Board, designated OHS as the Administrative Entity to apply for the SBC CoC HHAP allocation amount. On June 8, 2021 (Item No. 44), the Board of Supervisors (Board) accepted the HHAP-2 grant award from the State in the amount of $1,453,114 on behalf of the SBC CoC. Of these funds, $1,278,740 was allocated toward HHAP-2 contractors for provision of services, $72,656 was allocated toward the CES, and $101,718 was allocated to OHS to administer the state grant.
OHS is recommending contracts with the agencies listed in the Recommendation to provide homeless services under the HHAP-2 program. Eligible homeless services under HHAP-2 include rapid rehousing, operating subsidies in affordable and supportive housing units, emergency and non-congregate shelters, street outreach, services coordination, systems support to create regional partnerships, delivery of permanent housing, prevention and diversion, new housing navigation and/or emergency shelters.
The SBC CoC uses the CES as the referral process for services in alignment with Health and Safety Code Section 50219(a)(9). The CES is used to identify, assess, and prioritize homeless individuals and families for housing services based on vulnerability and severity of need. This is designed to ensure that people experiencing homelessness receive the right housing intervention and prioritize people who need supportive housing the most to be able to access it as quickly as possible.
HHAP-2 funds will benefit individuals and families of San Bernardino County who are experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness according to the SBC CoC Multijurisdictional Homeless Action Plan. HHAP-2 funding will enable the SBC CoC to continue to expand efforts to solve the regional homelessness problem by building on regional coordination developed through previous grants and seeks to maintain services including rental assistance and rapid rehousing, homeless outreach and coordination, job programs, promoting housing stability, innovating housing solutions such as hotel and motel conversions, and emergency shelters.
To ensure coordination with existing services, the five ICH Regional Steering Committees (RSC) that provided evaluation and recommendation for the procurement selected agency services based on regional needs. As clients are entered into the CES, and their needs and region identified, they are then referred to the needed services within the appropriate region. The contracted HHAP 2 providers will coordinate with other area providers by reviewing and referencing client information that providers enter into the homeless management information system and through the referrals obtained via the CES. OHS will review contractor performance, referrals to other agencies and services provided.
The RSCs represent the five regions: East Valley, West Valley, Central Valley, Mountains, and the Desert. The five RSCs are comprised of CoC members, Homeless Provider Network members, representatives from each regional city, schools, county agencies, and public and private entities. The RSCs roles and responsibilities include setting regional priorities, goals and action steps based on recommendations set forth in the Multijurisdictional Homeless Action Plan; facilitating regional alignment of resources and service coordination; engaging public and private stakeholders in regional planning and coordinated service delivery; and providing project funding priorities and recommendations for regional funding resources, based on a project prioritization process.
PROCUREMENT
On March 17, 2022, following the approval from the SBC CoC to solicit the Request for Applications (RFA), OHS as the SBC CoC Administrative Entity, released RFA No. OHS 22-01 to interested and qualified applicants to provide HHAP-2 services. Notice of the RFA was sent to an email distribution list of over 680 entities that included ICH active members, the Homeless Provider Network active members, city managers for every city within San Bernardino County, and subscribed partnership providers.
Approximately 13 agency representatives attended the virtual non-mandatory application workshop held on March 24, 2022. A total of 12 agencies submitted applications in response to the RFA with one agency applying in four separate regions. OHS staff performed an initial review of the applications for completeness. 15 applications met the minimum requirements set forth in the RFA and were evaluated by evaluation panels comprised of non-conflicted voting members representing each region of ICHs.
The evaluation panels evaluated the applications based on the criteria referenced in the RFA, including, but not limited to, addressing regional needs, project focus, experience, budget, and collaboration. In addition to the regionally based contracts, HHAP-2 allocated funds specifically for homeless youth. To score the homeless youth applications, an evaluation panel consisting of at least one person from each region was created to review the applications.
Each evaluation panel met to discuss the applications and scoring for each region to decide their recommendations to present to the RSCs. Each RSC then held public meetings to discuss and approve the recommended agencies and budget allocations for the regions and voted to send the recommendations to ICH.
Based on the RSCs’ and the youth panel’s recommendations, ICH held a public meeting on June 22, 2022, to further discuss the applications, vote on each region’s and the youth recommendations, and determine the final award amounts. All agencies that submitted applications were notified of the public meeting. The three agencies that were not recommended for an award by the RSCs and the youth panel, shown in the table below, had an opportunity to appeal the recommendations and decisions at the ICH meeting. There were no appeals.
|
Agency |
Proposed Regions |
Proposed Budget |
|
Brilliant Corners |
West |
$160,000 |
|
Brilliant Corners |
Central |
$550,000 |
|
Brilliant Corners |
Desert |
$220,000 |
|
Brilliant Corners |
Youth - Countywide |
$80,000 |
|
Lutheran Social Services of Southern California |
Central |
$80,000 |
|
The Salvation Army |
Central |
$146,400 |
HHAP-2 guidelines allowed 5% of the grant to be allocated toward the CoC’s mandated CES. The CES is used to identify, assess, and prioritize homeless individuals and families for housing and services based on vulnerability and severity of need and is used as the SBC CoC’s referral process. Inland Empire United Way currently operates the SBC CoC’s CES but did not apply for the CES funds under RFA No. OHS 22-01. The discussion as to how the 5% set-aside funding amount, totaling $72,656, will be allocated will be determined by the RSC’s at a later time.
Based on the evaluations, public discussion, and completed contract negotiations, OHS is recommending the following agencies for contract award:
|
Agency |
Service Regions |
Services |
Award Amount |
|
City of Montclair |
West |
Prevention Services, including Case Management; Rental Assistance |
$41,085 |
|
Family Assistance Program |
Youth - Countywide |
Transitional Housing-Beds |
$116,249 |
|
Mercy House Living Centers |
West |
Rapid Rehousing Program; Homeless Prevention Program |
$123,256 |
|
Morongo Basin ARCH |
East |
Services and Coordination; Navigation Center and Emergency Shelters; Homelessness Prevention Activities; Shared-Housing Support and Activities; Rapid- Rehousing |
$131,094 |
|
Mountain Homeless Coalition |
Mountain |
Rental Assistance and Rapid Rehousing; New Navigation Centers and Emergency Shelters |
$89,535 |
|
Step Up on Second Street, Inc. |
Central |
Street Outreach |
$208,438 |
|
The Blessing Center, Inc. |
Central |
Rental Assistance; Utilities; Insurance; Transportation for Residents |
$96,559 |
|
Victor Valley Family Resource Center |
Desert |
Rental Subsidies; Transportation |
$222,524 |
|
Water of Life Community Church |
Central |
Street Outreach and Engagement; Emergency Shelter Rapid Rehousing/ Homeless Prevention; Permanent Housing with Supportive Services |
$250,000 |
Contractors’ performance will be monitored by review of monthly reports and an annual site visit to ensure compliance with the administrative, program, and fiscal terms and conditions of the contract. Contractors will cooperate with the County in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the contracts and comply with all reporting requirements established by the contracts. Contractor’s charges must be for services provided to eligible beneficiaries under this funded program. OHS will review the invoices and attachments remitted by the Contractors. The County reserves the right to request additional program and/or fiscal reports to facilitate this review. The contracts may be terminated without cause by the County with 30 days written notice.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Suzanne Bryant, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on August 2, 2022; Finance (Christopher Lange, Administrative Analyst, 386-8393) on August 2, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on August 9, 2022.