TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Becky Craig, Acting County Executive Officer
REPORT BY: Jennifer Palmer, Director of Housing & Homeless Services
SUBJECT: Amendment No. 10 to Agreement with The Center for Common Concerns, Inc.
RECOMMENDATION
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Director of Housing & Homeless Services requests approval of and authorization for the Chair to sign Amendment No. 10 to Agreement No. 170374B with The Center for Common Concerns, Inc for a new maximum of $194,000 for the term of July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, for the provision of consulting services and technical assistance in the development of grant applications and homeless services system administration.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Today’s action approves Amendment 10 to Agreement No 170374B, revising and refining the Scope of Work and Compensation exhibits for the provision of consulting and technical assistance. Amendment 10 reflects a decease of $54,769 from the prior year contract due to reductions in scope of work and reassignment of certain previously contracted work to other contracts/contractors.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
Yes |
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Is it currently budgeted? |
Yes |
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Where is it budgeted? |
Housing & Homeless Services |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
Approval of the requested action is discretionary in that there is no mandate to contract with The Center For Common Concerns for consultation or technical assistance with regard to homeless policy or programmatic support. The ability to obtain this additional support will assist HHS with managing multiple grant applications, CoC administration and shelter and housing system management. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Future fiscal impact: |
This Amendment will auto-renew, and will be included in future budgets. |
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Consequences if not approved: |
If the amendment is not approved, Napa County will be unable to continue contracting with The Center for Common Concerns to adequately address homelessness. Napa County HHS will need to find the necessary resources and expertise to assist with: multiple grant submissions, Point-in-Time Counts, HEARTH Act Implementation, ESG program planning, and ESG grant writing assistance. |
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County Strategic Plan pillar addressed: |
Healthy, Safe, and Welcoming Place to Live, Work, and Visit |
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Additional Information |
This contract is partially funded by City of Napa reimbursement. This contract is available to be used as match for other Continuum of Care programs. |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Napa County contracts with The Center for Common Concerns, Inc. (HomeBase), a team of lawyers and public policy experts for homeless services consultation and technical assistance, including grant writing, since 2000. In September 2015, the County issued a formal request for proposals Request for Proposals (RFP) for these consulting services and the Center for Common Concerns was the firm selected to do that work. Their current scope of work includes:
1. Preparation of the Napa City-County Continuum of Care (CoC) application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for annual grants to help fund homeless services;
2. Technical assistance to the Continuum of Care (CoC) grantees to maintain the CoC’s competitiveness in the annual HUD grant award process; and
3. Consulting services for policies and procedures to improve homeless system performance and compliance with federal and state funding stream requirements.
Approval of today's action modifies the scope of work to outline consultation and technical assistance in the following areas:
1. Administration of the Continuum of Care (CoC) Annual HUD NOFA. The CoC Program competition is an annual opportunity for Napa CoC to evaluate its progress and identify strategic actions to achieve systems change goals. Through past successful competitions, Napa CoC has expanded its permanent housing. Napa County is the designated Administrative Entity for the CoC. Home Base provides technical assistance to County staff with the annual CoC Program competition response preparation and submission process.
2. Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program Local Process. HomeBase provides technical assistance to County staff who support the CoC in responding to the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Balance of State funding opportunity through the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) NOFA.
3. Monitoring CoC Funded Agencies. HomeBase provides a series of one-on-one, on-site programmatic and fiscal monitoring visits to all CoC funded agencies in Napa County and, when applicable, provides an analysis of sub-recipients and contracted programs.
4. System of Care Support. HomeBase provides technical assistance and support to County staff in creating a more effective homeless system of care. In 2022-2023 contract year, this work includes: analyzing system performance and community data to monitor strategic plan implementation progress and identify areas for improvement, engaging with CoC Program recipients, sub recipients, CoC members and other key stakeholders to implement best practices toward ensuring the homelessness is a rare, brief and non-recurring event for individuals in Napa County; on-call technical assistance for questions regarding HUD documentation requirements such as Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and System Program Monitoring (SPM), and evaluating and proposing changes to CoC and sub recipient policies and procedures as needed.
5. Coordinated Entry Evaluation. HomeBase conducts qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the CoC Coordinated Entry Systems (CSE) in compliance with HUD Notice CPD 17-01. The evaluation process includes: Facilitation of CES Workgoup, survey of providers and recently housed households, auditing and evaluating HMIS and CES data and providing analysis of its implications for the system of care, and supporting the Workgroup with preparation of a report for the CoC with actions steps and implementation plan.
Today’s action approves Amendment 10 to Agreement No 170374B, revising and refining the Scope of Work and Compensation exhibits for the provision of consulting and technical assistance. Amendment 10 reflects a decease of $54,769 from the prior year contract due to reductions in scope of work and reassignment of certain previously contracted work to other contracts/contractors.