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Health and Human Services Agency recommending the Board:
1) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign the First Amendment to Agreement for Services 4106 with the Center for Common Concerns, dba HomeBase, for the provision of consulting services regarding strategic and practical technical assistance to the El Dorado Opportunity Knocks Continuum of Care, effective upon execution, with an increase of $75,000, for a maximum compensation of $127,000 and extending the term by three months, through December 31, 2020; and
2) Authorize the Purchasing Agent, or designee, to execute further documents relating to Agreement for Services 4106, including amendments which do not increase the maximum dollar amount or term of the Agreement, and contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management.
FUNDING: The increase consists entirely (100%) of State funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, No Place Like Home Program, Technical Assistance Grant.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
On August 28, 2019, the Purchasing Agent executed agreement 4106 with The Center for Common Concerns, Inc., dba HomeBase, for the provision of strategic and practical technical assistance to Continuum of Care (CoC), El Dorado Opportunity Knocks. This Agreement is currently funded by Sponsor donations and County General Fund.
On July 1, 2016, Governor Brown signed legislation enacting the No Place Like Home (NPLH) Program for the development of permanent supportive housing, and authorized the State of California Housing and Community Development (HCD) to administer the NPLH Program for California counties. HCD issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) on April 10, 2017 for its NPLH Technical Assistance Grant of $75,000 which the Board authorized and delegated authority to the Director of HHSA to submit the application and, if awarded by the State, execute the resulting agreement. (File ID #17-0888, and #18-0759). The Grant 17-NPLH-11757 was executed in November 2018, and was intended to assist in the development of planned NPLH Program activities including technical assistance, such as that assistance HomeBase is providing to the CoC.
In order to successfully implement what will become the No Place Like Home Permanent Supportive Housing units in El Dorado County, the State requires that all eligible tenants can be verified as chronically homeless and that they come through a referral system from the local Continuum of Care, El Dorado Opportunity Knocks (EDOK). EDOK will conduct outreach and intakes for services through its Coordinated Entry System, which is El Dorado’s county-wide intake into all state and federally funded housing programs. As the CoC now has a lead agency conducting Coordinated Entry intakes as of October 2019, and as the County will soon have a staff person hired to operate Coordinated Entry on the western slope of the County, increased technical assistance will be required to ensure that both the lead agency and the County staff person have proper training to comply with all federal requirements related to homeless outreach, collecting data, sharing data amongst multiple systems, evaluating program activities, and delivering supportive services to chronically homeless households. These are all requirements of successfully implementing No Place Like Home, and as such NPLH Technical Assistance funding is being made available to support these required activities.
As HomeBase is a national expert on HUD Continuums of Care, and they are already contracted to provide technical assistance to EDOK, this additional NPLH technical assistance grant funding will bolster their efforts to ensure the Coordinated Entry System is able to maintain compliance while preparing for the No Place Like Home project and its requirements. HomeBase is uniquely qualified to consult on homeless services and programs in El Dorado County.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline this recommendation, the program would need to identify an alternate qualified use of the TA Grant, and due to the limited amount of time remaining to utilize those funds, may be required to return funds to HCD.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
1) File ID #17-0888, 8/29/19 HHSA Grant Resolution and Application
2) File ID# 18-0759, 6/05/18 HHSA No Place Like Home TA Grant - Corrected Resolution
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel and Risk Management.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board approve this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with this Agenda item. The NPLH TA program Grant will provide $75,000 in additional funding. Sufficient appropriations were included in the fiscal year 2019-20 budget, and will be included in future budgets for the term of the Agreement.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Clerk of the Board to obtain signature of Chair on two (2) originals of Amendment 1 to Agreement 4106.
2) Clerk of the Board to return one (1) fully executed Amendment 1 to Agreement 4106 to the HHSA Contracts Unit at 3057 Briw Road.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
Health and Human Services Agency Strategic Plan Project 2.4 “Efficiency in Funding”; County Strategic Plan Goal #5 - Healthy Communities.
CONTACT
Donald Semon, Director