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Accept a grant award from the Community Action Partnership Solano Joint Powers Authority (CAP Solano) in the amount of $243,627 to provide temporary and permanent housing to 12 households who are under the supervision of the Solano County Probation Department and are at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness; Approve an Appropriations Transfer Request (ATR) to recognize the unanticipated revenue (4/5 vote required); and Authorize the Chief of Probation to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with CAP Solano and any other documents necessary to accept the award
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Probation Department recommends that the Board:
1) Accept a grant award from the Community Action Partnership of Solano Joint Powers Authority (CAP Solano) in the amount of $243,627 to provide temporary and permanent housing to 12 households who are under the supervision of the Solano County Probation Department and are at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness;
2) Approve an Appropriations Transfer Request (ATR) to recognize the unanticipated revenue (4/5 vote required); and
3) Authorize the Chief of Probation to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with CAP Solano and any other documents necessary to accept the award.
SUMMARY:
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) administers the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program (CESH). CESH funding comes from the Building Homes and Jobs Act Trust Fund, supporting a variety of activities to assist persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including: housing relocation and stabilization services (including rental assistance), operating subsidies for permanent housing, flexible housing subsidy funds, operating support for emergency housing interventions, and systems support for homelessness services and housing delivery systems. In March 2019, HCD launched a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for CESH in the amount of $29 million. HCD allocated its funding to Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) service areas based on the 2017 Point in Time Count, the number of extremely-low income households in rental housing that pay more than 50 percent of household income on rent, and the percentage of households below the federal poverty line. On behalf of local CoCs, eligible applicants for CESH are Administrative Entities (AEs) - local governments, non-profit organizations, or unified funding agencies - designated by the CoC to administer CESH funds in their service area. In the case of Housing First Solano, Solano’s Homeless CoC, the CAP Solano Joint Powers Authority (JPA) is the designated AE.
CAP Solano JPA applied for and received their available allocation of $370,006 from HCD, and on February 28, 2020 they announced a local Request for Proposals (RFP) to Solano County service providers. To be considered for the opportunity, local applicants were asked to submit proposals that aligned with one or more eligible activities identified in the CESH program that were also consistent with the CAP Solano JPA’s five-year Regional Strategic Plan to Respond to Homelessness. In response to the RFP, two organizations received awards, one of which was the Probation Department receiving an award of $243,627 to implement a Transitional Housing Rapid Rehousing (THRRH) program.
The first goal of the THRRH model is to prevent homelessness by diverting a justice involved individual who is reentering the community directly into temporary housing, as opposed to them reentering the community from an institutional setting directly to the street or a shelter. The second and primary goal of the program model is to support clients in their effort to secure and retain permanent housing through providing temporary rental assistance and supportive services. THRRH programs support clients to identify and leverage whatever they would need from a service and financial standpoint to successfully obtain and retain permanent housing. This program is designed to provide temporary and permanent housing to households who are under the supervision of the Probation Department and who are at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. It is anticipated that the program will launch in January 2021 and will operate for 12 months, resulting in permanently housing 12 homeless or at-risk households.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The CAP Solano grant award provides $243,627 for the Probation Department to implement a THRRH program, providing temporary and permanent housing to an estimated 12 households facing homelessness and under the supervision of Probation. There are no anticipated impacts to the General Fund.
The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2020/21 Preliminary Budget.
DISCUSSION:
The Probation Department has traditionally relied upon utilizing 2011 Public Safety Realignment (AB109) funding to provide temporary and transitional housing assistance to homeless individuals under their supervision. Housing destinations for these clients often varies based upon available programs; however, sober living houses are more regularly the primary housing provider as they work with destabilized clients with challenging barriers to self-sufficiency. As these programs are the more common housing destination for Probation clients in need of housing, and while they are only intended to be transitional in nature, permanent housing programs have been identified by Probation Management as a critical need for this population to ensure the greatest odds of housing stability and reductions in recidivism. The path to self-sufficiency can be a challenge when exiting institutional settings as Probation clients often face barriers to employment and permanent housing, two critical components to reducing recidivism and ensuring that a household does not fall into homelessness. Without permanent housing support and stability, the odds of recidivism and homelessness increase greatly. In an effort to expand more flexible and permanent housing options for their clients, Probation has played an active role in pursuing a variety of recent grants including the Transitional Housing Program (THP) and the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA). The pursuit of this Transitional Housing Rapid Rehousing (THRRH) program through CAP Solano furthers the intent of Probation to increase access to flexible and permanent housing options for those they serve.
Through the THRRH grant award, Probation will seek a qualified contractor that specializes in rehousing justice involved individuals to fully implement and manage the program. The contractor would provide housing services in two ways: a temporary housing component and a permanent housing component. The temporary housing component will expand available local emergency/temporary beds through utilizing a three-bedroom home that would be rented for a 12-month period. This resource would be dedicated to immediately housing Probation clients who are reentering the community from institutional settings, and who would otherwise be reentering into homelessness. Once in the temporary home, the contractor would case manage the client with a goal of ensuring access to permanent housing through assisting with housing location. Once a permanent unit is located, the contractor will assist the individual in filling out rental applications and tracking down all documentation and information needed to lease the unit. At this stage, the permanent housing component of the project will provide funding for at least the first month’s rent and deposit, allowing the household to save as much of their available income as possible for retaining the unit in the months to come. As needed, depending on the employment status and income of the individual, additional rental assistance for up to three months can be made available to ensure the greatest odds of permanent housing retention.
With the primary goal of the program being to obtain/retain permanent housing, Probation clients will be supported throughout the process with a wide variety of case management and supportive services including, but not limited to, progressive case management, job placement assistance, vocational training, housing location, document readiness services, GED resources, behavioral health assessments, cognitive behavioral therapy, substance abuse counseling, relapse prevention and recovery services, and eligibility for H&SS programs such as Medi-Cal, CalWORKs, and other programs. Much of these services are available through existing Probation contractors, with the THRRH grant adding the housing related framework and services for this project. There are currently no housing programs dedicated to those exiting institutional settings in the local Homeless Continuum of Care, and this not only would create such a program, it would establish a new opportunity and partnership with an experienced housing organization to lead this effort, and perhaps develop more in the future. In the coming months, once an experienced organization is located and a contract is developed, Probation will work with the entity to also consider ways to develop more types of housing programs over time to reduce the flow of those exiting institutional settings into unsheltered homelessness, reduce impacts on existing shelter programs, and allow this vulnerable population to have the greatest odds of obtaining and retaining employment, permanent housing, and long-term self-sufficiency.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to accept the Transitional Housing Rapid Rehousing Grant from CAP Solano JPA. However, this is not recommended as less funding would be available to support both the temporary and permanent housing needs of Probation clients who are facing homelessness.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The Probation Department collaborated with the County Administrator’s Office on this project.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION