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Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board approve and ratify the Chief Administrative Officer signature on the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Program Round 4 Guidance Memo due on November 29, 2022, committing to further the CoC’s HHAP Round 3 Outcome Goals and committing to pursue Best Practices for the HHAP Round 4 County and CoC joint application.
FUNDING: State funding authorized pursuant to California Assembly Bill 140, signed into law by Governor Newsom on July 19, 2021.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
On June 21, 2022, the Board authorized the County of El Dorado (County) Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) to submit the local homelessness action plan application template to the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH), as required for the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Round 3 (HHAP-3) joint application from HHSA and the El Dorado Opportunity Knocks Continuum of Care (CoC) (File ID: 22-0914). The action plan template was developed in collaboration with the CoC in alignment with the Countywide five (5) year Homeless Strategic Plan (File ID: 22 0294) which includes: a local landscape analysis of needs; demographics; funding; and the homeless prevention goals, strategies, and outcomes proposed through the five (5) year Homeless Strategic Plan.
On November 1, 2022, HHSA received a request from the Cal ICH to submit a supplemental narrative to the HHAP-3 application submitted to Cal ICH on July 22, 2022. On November 3, 2022, Governor Newsom notified local jurisdictions that the HHAP Program will be requiring applicants to strengthen their outcome goals in the spirit of further reducing unsheltered homelessness throughout the State.
Subsequently, on November 11, 2022, HHSA received a “HHAP-4 Guidance” memo from Cal ICH, requiring applicants to sign and return the memo by November 29, 2022. The memo required applicants to make the commitment to establish more ambitious outcomes for “Reducing the number of persons experiencing homelessness on a daily basis” and to implement as many of the following best practices as possible:
1) Enter into regional Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with detailed commitments that focus on coordinating and integrating interim and permanent housing resources (both capital and rental subsidies), supportive services, and outreach and engagement strategies.
2) Streamline Coordinated Entry System processes to ensure that housing resources are being effectively matched to people based on need so that the right housing interventions are being targeted to the right people at the right time.
3) Utilize available land slated for supportive housing development for interim housing solutions during the entitlement process, where feasible.
4) Streamline multifamily affordable housing development, specifically housing Extremely Low and Very Low-Income housing, and further efforts to remove local barriers to development and accelerate the implementation of state laws that provide for streamlined approval of affordable housing.
5) Develop and strengthen relationships with local Public Housing Authorities (PHA) to increase voucher utilization and success rates, implement strategies to maximize emergency vouchers for households experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness; explore prioritization for special populations; work with landlords to increase participation; and pair PHA resources, including vouchers, with services and housing units to create permanent supportive housing opportunities.
6) Leverage funding sources, including, but not limited to, CalAIM, Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program, Behavioral Health Bridge Housing, Homekey, Mental Health Services Act, Emergency Solutions Grants or other locally funded rental assistance opportunities.
7) Establish cross-system partnerships to enhance person-centered and effective homelessness response system outcomes. Examples include partnerships with local jails and/or sheriff departments, child welfare agencies, and/or institutions of higher education.
The Governor also invited HHAP applicants to a meeting with him on November 18, 2022 to discuss what is working well, the challenges the jurisdictions faced, and how the applicants and the State of California can collectively do better to prevent and end homelessness. Representatives from the HHSA Housing and Homelessness Services Program (HHSP) and the El Dorado Opportunity Knocks Continuum of Care (CoC) attended the meeting with the Governor.
In response to the State’s updated requirements and requests from Cal ICH, HHSA, acting as the Administrative Entity (AE) for the CoC, provided Cal ICH with the required supplemental narrative that further strengthened the outcome goals submitted with the HHAP 3 application on November 22, 2022. HHSA also reviewed the Best Practices and determined that the CoC’s plan for the HHAP-4 joint application, approved by the Board on November 15, 2002 (File ID: 22-1921), included all of the Best Practice items with the exception of Best Practice item 3, which recommends that the HHAP-4 local plan should “Utilize available land slated for supportive housing development for interim housing solutions during the entitlement process, where feasible”. This Best Practice falls outside of the authority of HHSA.
As the memo did not require all of the Best Practices to be included in the HHAP-4 plan, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) signed the memo as the Authorized Signatory for the jurisdiction. The HHAP-4 Guidance memo was submitted to Cal ICH by the November 29, 2022, deadline and the item was scheduled for the next available Board agenda.
HHSA is requesting that the County of El Dorado Board of Supervisors (Board) approve and ratify the CAO’s signature on the HHAP-4 Guidance memo on behalf of HHSA and the CoC, committing to further the CoC’s HHAP Round 3 Outcome Goals and to pursue the identified Best Practices for HHAP Round 4.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to approve and ratify the CAO’s signature on the HHAP-4 Guidance memo, both the County and CoC would fail to complete all requirements necessary to participate in the HHAP Program for Rounds 3 and 4, and as a result, El Dorado County may not receive an estimated $4,573,779 for homelessness services and programming that will be essential for implementing the Navigation Center as directed by the Board.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
1) 11/15/22, File ID 22-1921, HHSA HHAP Round 4 Funding
2) 06/21/22, File ID 22-0914, HHSA Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Round 3 (HHAP-3), Local Homeless Action Plan with Outcome Goals Application
3) 11/16/21, File ID 21-1720, HHAP Round 3 Resolution, Funding Acceptance and Budget Transfer Request
4) 07/12/21, File ID 21-1000, HHSA Grant Round 2 Funding Agreement
5) 02/11/21, File ID 20-0161, HHSA HHAP Application, and Resolution 023-2020
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel and the Chief Administrative Office.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no General Fund cost associated with this Agenda item. Sufficient appropriations were included in the FY 2022-23 Budget for the HHAP-3 funding and will be included in future budgets for the term of the funding agreement. If awarded HHAP-4 funding, HHSA will return to the Board with a Budget Transfer Request, to increase revenue and appropriations in the Community Services.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Clerk of the Board to provide one certified Minute Order and to email hhsa-eldoradoco-grants@edcgov.us when it is ready for pick up.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
Healthy Communities
CONTACT
Evelyn Schaeffer, Director, Health and Human Services Agency