Title
Health and Human Services Agency recommending the Board:
1) Adopt and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 221-2018, which delegates authority to the Director of the Health and Human Services Agency to execute any agreement, amendment or other document resulting from the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program Notice of Funding Availability application;
2) Designate the Health and Human Services Agency as the Administrative Entity for purposes of this grant opportunity; and
3) Delegate authority to the HHSA Chief Fiscal Officer and Assistant Director of Administration and Finance to execute any financial or programmatic documents, as needed.
FUNDING: State and Federal Funding, specifically the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
On August 15, 2018, California Department of Housing and Community Development (CDHCD) issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the California Emergency Solutions and Housing (CESH) Program. Based on the CESH formula allocation, the County could receive $474,717 in funding including a 5% administrative cost of $23,736. Funding is to be used for eligible activities, including: (1) rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization; (2) operating subsidies for new and existing affordable permanent housing units for homeless individuals and/or families; (3) flexible housing subsidy funds for local programs that establish or support the provision of rental subsidies in permanent housing; (4) operating support for emergency housing interventions; and (5) systems support for activities necessary to maintain a comprehensive homeless services and housing delivery system, including Coordinated Entry System (CES) data, and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) reporting, and planning activities. For Continuums of Care that do not submit a developed homeless strategic plan with the CESH application, the state is requiring that funds are to be utilized to support this activity. For Continuums of Care that do not have robust administrative depth, the State is strongly encouraging that funds be utilized to support long term administrative capacity building.
The resolution amount is higher than the CESH formula allocation as recommended by the State. When Counties do not pursue their full allocated amounts or when they don't spend all of their allocation, the State reallocates money to other Counties that are successfully spending their allocations in an effort to provide additional funding to those Counties in order to increase or enhance services. The State has recommended that HHSA include a not-to-exceed amount in the resolution of roughly double our allocation in case the State awards us more than our allocation in this round of funding or perhaps reallocates more funding to our County during the year.
The CESH grant requires applicants to be an Administrative Entity, which must be one of the following: (1) a unit of general purpose local government; (2) a nonprofit organization that has previously administered U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) funds; or (3) a unified funding agency as defined in 24 Code of Federal Regulations part 578.3, Section 50490. Since the El Dorado CoC does not strongly meet any of these three criteria, HHSA is recommending to act as the Administrative Entity on behalf of the El Dorado CoC to increase the likelihood of successfully receiving this grant funding that will benefit the community.
On behalf of the El Dorado CoC, and based upon the described requirements from the State, HHSA is proposing three uses for the funding: (1) subcontracting for a “Point in Time Count” specialist; (2) subcontracting for the development of a five-year strategic plan for the El Dorado CoC; and (3) funding to increase staffing in the CoC to support the establishment and implementation of a Coordinated Entry System (CES) in accordance with HUD requirements.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could decline to adopt the attached Resolution, thereby eliminating the County from applying for this CESH grant opportunity.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Approved by County Counsel on September 18, 2018.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board approve this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with this item. In the event the County is approved for this CESH grant, sufficient appropriations will be included in the fiscal year 2018-19 budget, with an offset of $23,736 in administrative cost from the grant.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Clerk of the Board to obtain signature of Chair on the attached Resolution.
2) Clerk of the Board to return one (1) certified copy of said Resolution to HHSA Contracts Unit at 3057 Briw Road, Suite B.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
County Strategic Plan “Healthy Communities” objective: “Protect against adverse outcomes among children, adults, and seniors.”
CONTACT
Patricia Charles-Heathers, Ph.D., M.P.A., Director