To: Sonoma County Board of Commissioners
Department or Agency Name(s): Sonoma County Community Development Commission
Staff Name and Phone Number: Jenny Abramson, 565-7548
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): All
Title:
Title
2018 Federal Targeted Homeless Assistance (Continuum of Care) Awards for Permanent Supportive Housing and Homeless Infrastructure Needs
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Recommended Actions:
Recommended action
A) Approve the Commission’s acceptance of $1,911,648 in seven U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care 2018 awards, to maintain a combined $1,277,067 in Continuum of Care Rental Assistance to homeless persons with disabilities; $187,907 in funds to continue operations of the Homeless Management Information System; $349,991 to sustain Sonoma County’s Coordinated Entry System for homeless persons; and $96,683 to support management of the Continuum of Care planning effort.
B) Authorize the Executive Director of the Community Development Commission (Commission) to execute initial and renewal contracts with HUD for the above services, each for a one-year period beginning in calendar 2019 and ending in calendar 2020.
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Executive Summary:
Approval of this item will authorize the Executive Director of the Community Development Commission to execute contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to provide direct rental assistance to 93 homeless persons with disabilities, provide needs assessments and housing referrals for persons experiencing homelessness, administer the HUD-mandated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and provide staffing to the Commission as lead agency for Home Sonoma County, the new governance structure for homeless services planning in Sonoma County under the federal Continuum of Care regulations.
Discussion:
In 2018, in partnership with the HUD entitlement cities of Santa Rosa and Petaluma, the County of Sonoma established Home Sonoma County, a regional planning body responsible for setting a unified regional vision and leading the effort to end homelessness in Sonoma County. As such, Home Sonoma County is designed to function as the federally designated “Continuum of Care”-the local lead in implementing the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Opening Doors Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. The Sonoma County Community Development Commission has been designated to act as Home Sonoma County’s interim lead agency until its Leadership Council establishes a permanent lead agency. The Commission has acted in this role since the inception of Continuum of Care planning activities in 1997, and has submitted annual consolidated funding applications to HUD in partnership with up to a dozen local non-profits.
Continuum of Care funding awards are made through a national competition in which up to twenty local homeless services projects, providing permanent supportive housing to 267 homeless persons, are submitted together. Locally in 2018, initial applications were selected through a Request for Proposal process and scored by an impartial Evaluation Committee made up of the Cities of Santa Rosa and Petaluma, County, private funder staff, and other impartial but knowledgeable community members. The Evaluation Committee had evaluated Continuum of Care renewal projects annually for more than a decade, and approved them for renewal submission only if their performance is consistent with federal requirements. The 2018 Continuum of Care Consolidated Application was submitted September 14, 2018 through HUD’s e-snaps grants management system. HUD announced renewal awards on January 26, 2019; this announcement was followed by the attached letter (Attachment 1) specifying the renewal awards approved for the Community Development Commission. On February 6, 2019, additional new awards were announced, including the $96,683 “Planning” award to act as interim lead agency for Home Sonoma County. The total award for the Sonoma County Continuum of Care was $3,721,504 for the 17 projects listed in Attachment 2. Of this, $1,911,648 representing seven awards, is designated directly to the Community Development Commission for the following projects:
• Four renewal awards for Continuum of Care Rental Assistance (formerly known as Shelter Plus Care projects). These four contracts enable the Sonoma County Housing Authority to support 93 formerly homeless, disabled persons in scattered site housing throughout Sonoma County, matching rental assistance with supportive services provided by partners including Face to Face, Social Advocates for Youth, Sonoma County Department of Health Services Behavioral Health Division, and several federally qualified health centers. The total amount of the four awards is $1,277,067.
• One consolidated renewal award supporting the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a HUD-mandated web-based client database which reports quality statistical information regarding the extent and nature of homelessness to HUD officials and to the US Congress, and provides invaluable information for local systems planning, in the amount of $187,907.
• One consolidated Coordinated Entry Project award that address HUD’s mandate that communities accessing Federal Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grant dollars would create a single front door into their homeless services system, in the amount of $349,991. Sonoma County’s Coordinated Entry System is a streamlined system designed to efficiently match people experiencing homelessness to available housing, shelter, and services. It prioritizes those who are most in need of assistance and provides crucial information that helps communities strategically allocate resources and identify gaps in service. Sonoma County’s Coordinated Entry system employs a Housing First model that prioritizes individuals and families facing the highest vulnerability and needs for permanent, supportive housing. More information on the Coordinated Entry System can be found at <http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CDC/Coordinated-Entry-System/>.
• The annual Planning award of $96,683 is calculated at 3% of the total $3.7 million award to Sonoma County agencies, to partially defray the cost of staffing the Home Sonoma County effort.
HUD will contract directly with the other ten projects, representing a total of $1,809,856 in support of the community as follows:
• Two permanent supportive housing projects operated by Catholic Charities, totaling $699,938, which support housing for 38 chronically homeless persons, both at the Palms Inn and in scattered site apartments;
• $90,953 for Mill Street Supportive Housing, a permanent supportive housing project operated by West County Community Services, which supports housing for 8 chronically homeless persons;
• $271,381 for a permanent supportive housing project operated by Committee on the Shelterless, which supports housing for 18 chronically homeless persons in scattered site apartments;
• Two permanent supportive housing projects operated by Buckelew Programs, totaling $649,838, which support housing for 18 homeless persons with mental illness, at least 6 of them chronically homeless persons, in scattered site apartments;
• A rental assistance program operated by Social Advocates for youth, totaling $236,552, which supports housing for 16 chronically homeless transition aged youth in scattered site apartments; and
• $55,981 for Stony Point Commons, a permanent supportive housing project operated by Community Support Network, which supports housing for 16 chronically homeless persons with mental illness in a single-room occupancy facility.
• Two new bonus projects: $61,557 for services and housing operations at Sanctuary Villas, a new permanent supportive housing project for 5 chronically homeless transition-aged youth living with mental illness; and $143,656 to enable the YWCA of Sonoma County to open the first Rapid Re-Housing project for 30 vulnerable survivors of domestic violence.
Approval of this item will authorize the Commission’s acceptance of $1,911,648 in the seven U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care 2018 awards described above, and will authorize the Executive Director of the Community Development Commission (Commission) to execute initial and renewal contracts with HUD for the above services, each for a one-year period beginning in calendar 2019 and ending in calendar 2020.
Prior Board Actions:
10/9/2018, Item 27 - Authorize formation of the new Leadership Council and Technical Advisory Committee of the new Sonoma County Homeless System of Care, the HUD-mandated Continuum of Care Program for Sonoma County.
7/10/2018, Item 48 - Board authorized execution of $1,887,983 in renewal and new contracts with HUD.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 18-19 Adopted |
FY19-20 Projected |
FY 20-21 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$265,685 |
$1,587,414 |
$58,549 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
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Total Expenditures |
$265,685 |
$1,587,414 |
$58,549 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
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State/Federal |
$265,685 |
$1,587,414 |
$58,549 |
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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 |
$265,685 |
$1,587,414 |
$58,549 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The Fiscal Summary above shows how the Continuum of Care award grant funding spans the three fiscal years. Two of the seven HUD Continuum of Care awards are for periods greater than 12 months (13 months and 17 months respectively.) Four of the seven awards begin during FY18-19 (between February and June 2019) and two of the seven awards continue into FY20-21 (August and September 2020). No additional appropriations are required for FY1819 as estimates of these grant awards were already included in the approved FY1819 budget. The CDC has included these amounts in its Requested Budget for FY1920.
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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):
None
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - HUD award letter for $1,814,965 in renewal projects.
Attachment 2 - Listing of all 2018 Continuum of Care awards, including new $96,683 “CoC Planning” grant to the Commission.
Attachment 3 - HUD HMIS Contract for 17 months, February 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.
Attachment 4 - HUD Coordinated Entry Contract for 13 months, April 1, 2019 through April 30, 2020.
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None