TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
ATTENTION: Jeffrey L. Stewart, City Manager
FROM: Joel Hockman, Director of Public Safety
SUBJECT: Consideration and possible action to authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 1 to Agreement File No. 822, in a form approved by the City Attorney, with City Net, to decrease the compensation for homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services.
DATE: January 13, 2022
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The much smaller population of homeless individuals that currently remain in Bellflower tend to require more focused and intensive outreach efforts by City Net than those who were routinely in the City when the New Hope Shelter first opened in May 2020. Their unwillingness to accept housing, along with drug and mental health challenges are common reasons why this is so. To right-size the current outreach efforts of City Net and avoid paying for excessive outreach services that no longer produce the same quantity of positive results of the past, the City is proposing to reduce the City Net contract by approximately 50%. This Amendment will go into effect immediately, superseding the current Agreement that is set to expire on June 30, 2022.
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL
1) Authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 1 to Agreement File No. 822, in a form approved by the City Attorney; or
2) Alternatively, discuss and take other action related to this item.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed reduction would decrease the annual contract from $120,000 to $67,609, for a savings of $52,391. A potential use of this savings could be to bolster public safety enforcement of illegal homeless camping at night, to accompany the extensive efforts already being made -- mostly in the daytime hours. As before, homeless outreach and enforcement would be paid for by using a combination of funding sources, including: Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund (Successor Housing Agency), Drug Rehabilitation Funds (Cannabis Business Permittee Fees), and General Fund.
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Staff Report – Amendment No. 1 to Agreement File No. 822 with City Net January 13, 2022
DISCUSSION
Having worked with the City and Sheriff’s Department to reduce homelessness in Bellflower for nearly three years, the favorable results of City Net’s efforts are apparent.
Field censuses of homeless individuals revealed a reduction in Bellflower’s homeless population from 172 in May of 2019, to 60 in October of 2020. Another census to be scheduled in 2022 is anticipated to again reveal favorable results. However, those homeless individuals who remain, are typically more difficult to place for social service agencies like City Net. This population routinely have no interest in assistance, and/or have chronic drug or mental health challenges that are not a good fit for most housing options. In these cases, often the Sheriff’s Department is best suited to deal with them at the request of concerned community members. With an approximate 50% reduction in City Net services, the City would still draw upon their assistance when a positive result is expected, but not pay for excessive outreach services to a population that is not responsive.
As before, City Net will continue to work with their counterparts at Kingdom Causes Bellflower, to ensure that there will be a continuing role for each organization to play in the effort to reduce homelessness, and that there will be a degree of cooperation between the two agencies. The missions will be essentially the same, but the methods and resources used will often be distinct from one another. This ensures that the City is not merely paying twice for the same service, but instead gaining a more comprehensive approach in dealing with the complex problem of homelessness.
ATTACHMENT
Amendment No. 1 to Agreement File No. 822 ................................................................. 3 -2-
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO
AGREEMENT FILE NO. 822 BETWEEN
THE CITY OF BELLFLOWER AND
CITY NET
FOR BELLFLOWER HOMELESS SERVICES
THIS AMENDMENT No. 1 (“Amendment”) is made and entered into this 13th day of January 2022, by and between the CITY OF BELLFLOWER, a general law city and municipal corporation (“CITY”), and CITY NET, a non-profit organization (“CONSULTANT”).
SECTION 1. Pursuant to Section 12 of Agreement File No. 822 (“Agreement”), Exhibit A (Scope of Services and Fee Schedule) is amended in its entirety with the attached Exhibit A.
SECTION 2. This Amendment shall be for a term beginning immediately upon execution and expire on December 31, 2022, unless otherwise extended pursuant to Section 8 of the Agreement. This Amendment supersedes any prior extension of the Agreement including, without limitation, an extension dated May 11, 2021, which extended the Agreement to June 30, 2022.
SECTION 3. This Amendment may be executed in any number or counterparts, each of which will be an original, but all of which together constitutes one instrument executed on the same date.
SECTION 4. ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES. This Amendment may be executed by the Parties on any number of separate counterparts, and all such counterparts so executed constitute one agreement binding on all the Parties notwithstanding that all the Parties are not signatories to the same counterpart. In accordance with Government Code §16.5, the Parties agree that this Amendment, agreements ancillary to this Agreement, and related documents to be entered into in connection with this Amendment will be considered signed when the signature of a party is delivered by electronic transmission. Such electronic signature will be treated in all respects as having the same effect as an original signature.
SECTION 5. Except as modified by this Amendment, all other terms and conditions of Agreement File No. 822 remain the same.
[SIGNATURES ON NEXT PAGE]
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City of Bellflower
Agreement File No. 822 - Amendment No. 1
City Net
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this contract the day and year first hereinabove written.
CITY OF BELLFLOWER CITY NET
_____________________________ ________________________________ Jeffrey L. Stewart, City Manager Brad Fieldhouse, President/Executive Director
ATTEST:
_____________________________
Mayra Ochiqui, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
______________________________
Karl H. Berger, City Attorney
Taxpayer ID No. 57-1162424
Attachment:
Exhibit A – Scope of Services and Fee Schedule
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Exhibit A – Scope of Services and Fee Schedule-5-
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