To: County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors and Board of Commissioners of the Community Development Commission
Department or Agency Name(s): Community Development Commission as Lead Agency to the Continuum of Care Board
Staff Name and Phone Number: Dave Kiff, (707) 565-7504 and Karissa White, (707) 565-1884
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Professional Services Agreement with Homebase for Region-wide Homelessness Strategic Planning and Preparation of a Homeless Action Plan (HAP)
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize the Interim Executive Director of the Community Development Commission to execute an agreement with Homebase to develop a regional Homeless Action Plan and regional Strategic Plan to address homelessness in Sonoma County (in partnership with the Continuum of Care, cities, and the County of Sonoma) for the period March 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 in an amount not-to-exceed $86,004.
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Executive Summary:
In October 2021, following a Request for Proposals (RFP) process that evaluated and scored submissions, Homebase was selected by the Sonoma County Continuum of Care (CoC) Board to provide consultant services for facilitation and preparation of a Homeless Action Plan (HAP) leading to the development of a County-wide Strategic Plan on Homelessness. Initial activities of developing the Homeless Action Plan were covered in Phase 1. This work included data collection, analysis, and facilitation necessary to develop the HAP in accordance with State Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention - Round 3 (HHAP-3) requirements that will enable access to HHAP-3 and subsequent rounds of funds.
This contract will support Homebase in Phase 2 of the County-wide Homelessness Strategic Plan. The second phase will build upon efforts undertaken to develop the HAP with robust engagement of stakeholders to identify strategic priorities and goals for the County’s response to homelessness.
Homebase will ensure that the Plan(s) are completed in a timely manner in order to meet set deadlines for State approval of the HAP (June 30, 2022) and adoption of the Homelessness Strategic Plan (December 31, 2022).
The previously adopted 10-year Homeless Action Plan was approved by the Board in 2007 and updated in 2014. It can be found here <https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Ektron%20Documents/assets/Sonoma/Sample%20Dept/Divisions/Housing%20Authority/Services/Services/_Documents/10-Year-Homeless-Action-Plan-2014.pdf>.
Discussion:
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires local communities to organize into “Continuum of Care” systems. In some cases, these entities must prepare expenditure/action plans as a condition of receiving federal (and some State) homelessness assistance funding.
The Homeless Action Plan is a specific requirement of Round #3 of the State Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP-3) allocations. HHAP-3 allocates over $4 million each to the County and to the CoC subject to the adoption of an effective and approved HAP. The HAP outlines strategies to expand homeless and housing services to address the issues affecting homeless individuals in the County. The previously adopted 10-year Homeless Action Plan was approved by the Board in 2007 and updated in 2014.
The Community Development Commission (CDC) as the CoC’s Lead Agency staff issued a two-phased Homeless Action Plan/Strategic Plan RFP in September 2021, with responses due back October 11, 2021. We received 4 responses from qualified consultants. CDC staff convened an ad hoc group consisting of members from the CoC’s Strategic Planning Committee to review RFP proposals. After using a set of select criteria with assigned value to rank each consultant, Homebase emerged as the top proposal. Based on the recommendation from the Strategic Planning Committee ad hoc, the CoC Board approved Homebase as the Strategic Planning consultant.
Homebase is a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to building community capacity to end homelessness. Based in San Francisco, Homebase supports stakeholders at the local, state, and national levels to develop and implement effective housing and service systems and programs. They have extensive experience facilitating strategic planning processes that identify gaps, opportunities, and resources and build consensus around priorities and strategies to address homelessness at the city, county, and regional levels. They support implementation that increases cross-jurisdictional collaboration, expands community awareness, and builds momentum for a unified approach to ending homelessness.
Phase 2 focuses on a region-wide, coordinated Strategic Plan to reach functional zero in homelessness in Sonoma County. Having a detailed Plan is both good practice and a recommendation of the April 2021 KPMG report on “Improving Integration and Outcomes to Benefit County Residents: An Assessment of Housing and Homelessness Services and Programs.” Recommendation 2.2 was “Combine and develop through a lead agency who has capacity a County-wide strategic plan to address homelessness and a separate strategic plan to address affordable housing.”
March through June of 2022, Homebase will work on community engagement and developing a needs assessment. They also have facilitated a broad-based discussion about the various entry points (aka the “Front End Assessment”) into the Continuum of Care for persons who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.
In addition to the Front End Assessment, this portion of the work will focus on key stakeholder interviews, meetings, surveys, and information and data gathering. It will conclude with a preliminary identification of issues and strategies to be considered, which may include sub-population-specific needs; strategies related to specific service components, such as prevention, crisis response, housing, outreach and coordinated entry, and supportive services; and overarching issues such as collaboration and public policy.
July through October 2022, Homebase will be conducting an analysis and drafting of the County-wide Strategic Plan. Homebase will carry out relevant data analysis and research on evidence-based and best practices in similar communities and high performing Continuums of Care. This information will support the work of the subcommittees in identifying key elements and recommendations for the Strategic Plan to implement best practices locally. The draft Strategic Plan will include:
• The overall vision statement;
• Information from analysis of strengths, needs/weaknesses, opportunities, and gaps;
• Priority areas for action as defined by the CoC’s Strategic Planning Committee (membership shown as Attachment 2), with information clarifying issues/needs;
• Strategies and recommendations for each priority area, creating strategies for homeless subpopulations or racial or ethnic groups that are overly impacted in order to meet universal goals;
• Plan-wide numeric goals and metrics to communicate plan progress to community stakeholders;
• Plan funding analysis; and
• Concrete implementation plan, identifying responsible parties, timelines, funding sources, and metrics to be used in evaluating progress in specific areas of plan implementation and improvement in performance of homeless prevention and crisis response system.
In Fall 2022, Homebase will work on finalizing the region-wide Strategic Plan.
Upon receiving feedback from the Steering Committee and other stakeholders, such as cities, the Board of Supervisors, and the CoC Board, Homebase will create a final draft of the Strategic Plan that is user-friendly, easy to read, and accessible for a broad audience, making use of graphics to illustrate key concepts.
The final draft will be presented for approval to the CoC’s Strategic Planning Committee, CoC Board, interested cities, and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan by collaborating and coordinating with the Continuum of Care Board and cities on a regional approach to solving homelessness. It is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal: Goal 4: Reduce the County’s overall homeless population by 10% each year by enhancing services through improved coordination and collaboration.
Objective: Objective 2: Partner with cities to build a strategic plan for homeless prevention and housing strategies by 2023.
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
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Expenditures |
FY 21-22 Adopted |
FY 22-23 Projected |
FY 23-24 Projected |
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Budgeted Expenses |
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$86,004 |
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Additional Appropriation Requested |
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Total Expenditures |
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$86,004 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
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State/Federal (Phase 1- CoC’s HHAP-1 and CESH & Phase 2- CoC and County HHAP-3) |
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$86,004 |
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Fees/Other |
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Use of Fund Balance |
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Contingencies |
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Total Sources |
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$86,004 |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
These professional services for Phase 1 of the Strategic Plan were paid for from the Continuum of Care’s State of California Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) funds, Round 1 and California Emergency Solutions and Housing (CESH) funds.
Phase 2 will be paid for from the State of California Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) funds, Round 3 ($86,004). The County’s HHAP-3 funds will contribute $43,002 and the CoC’s HHAP-3 funds will contribute $43,002. HHAP is an acceptable source for expenditures such as strategic planning. Appropriations for this request are already included in the FY 2022/23 Recommended Budget.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
No staffing impacts
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Professional Services Agreement with Homebase
Attachment 2 - Strategic Planning Committee Members
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None