December 5, 2023
Community Development
DATE: December 5, 2023
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Lina Velasco, Director of Community Development
Jesus M. Morales, Housing Manager
Subject:
Contract with Housing Consortium of the East Bay
(HCEB) for Case Management and Client Care Liaison
Services for the Castro Encampment Resolution Project
FINACIAL IMPACT: The costs associated with the Case Management and Client Care Liaison services will be funded by the City’s $4.8 million Encampment Resolution Funding Round 1
award received from the California Interagency Council
on Homelessness (Cal ICH) (account string 15061219-
400201-16G07). Therefore, this contract will not have an impact on the City’s General Fund.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
N/A
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
On April 5, 2022, the City accepted a $4.8 million
Encampment Resolution Funding award (ERF-R-1) from
the Cal ICH to resolve the Castro encampment using a
Housing First approach to restore the site to its original use. The City’s ERF-R-1 project proposal includes
housing navigation services, outreach, and case
management services to support encampment residents
in finding and securing housing, outreaching to landlords, and housing providers to place encampment residents
and case management services. After a competitive
bidding process, Housing Consortium of the East Bay
was selected as the most qualified firm to provide Case Management and Client Care Services for the Castro
Encampment Resolution Project.
AGENDA
REPORT
December 5, 2023
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE a contract with Housing Consortium of the
East Bay (HCEB) to provide Case Management and
Client Care Liaison services for former Castro
Encampment residents, including administration of up to $25,000 of Flex Funds, for a total contract amount of
$279,890, for a term beginning December 5, 2023,
through June 30, 2024, to be funded using the City’s
Encampment Resolution Funds – Community
Development Department (Lina Velasco/Jesus Morales
510-620-6706).
DISCUSSION:
In December 2021, the City applied for Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) seeking resources from the State of California to fund a local demonstration project, which would provide services to address the immediate crisis of experiencing unsheltered homelessness in encampments; support people living in encampments onto paths to safe and stable housing; and result in sustainable restoration of public spaces to their intended uses while safeguarding the needs of unhoused people seeking shelter.
Applications were required to focus on one encampment site. City staff selected the Castro Encampment for this funding application.
On February 24, 2022, the City was provided a notice of intent to award the ERF. The City Council accepted the grant at its April 5, 2022, meeting.
Summary of Castro Encampment Resolution Project (CERP)
The Castro Encampment Resolution Project (CERP) includes funding to hire an ERF Project Manager, Way 2Love, Inc., to lead the Castro Site Care Team which includes, the Housing Navigator (Housing Consortium of the East Bay), a dedicated CORE team comprised of an outreach specialist and social worker, and a site security team to provide 24-hour security, resident, and site services such as food, water, showers, trash pickup, and other service providers working directly with encampment residents to triage and ensure services are timely, responsive, coordinated, trauma-informed, and achieving goals and objectives.
The CERP encompasses a two-year plan to deliver an array of supportive services to individuals currently living in the 2.66-acre vehicle encampment near Castro and Hensley Streets. The first phase was to transition all residents from the Castro encampment by June 30, 2023, into emergency, transitional, or permanent housing. All residents were transitioned out of the encampment by June 30, 2023, into temporary, transitional, and or temporary housing based on their individual needs and willingness to accept housing options offered. The project team continues to work with encampment residents to place them into stable housing by June 30, 2024, and to restore the site to its original condition.
Housing Consortium of the East Bay’s (HCEB) role as the Housing Navigator has been to facilitate the transitioning of residents from the encampment to stable housing options
December 5, 2023
and coordinate with other service providers to provide them services that include assessing their behavioral and health needs, providing job-related training and support, and other individualized services. Coordinated Outreach, Referral, Engagement (CORE) has assisted to provide outreach and register all program Castro program participants in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Safe Organized Spaces Richmond (SOS) has provided water, showers, laundry, trash pickup, employment opportunities, and other services to Castro residents.
Grounded in Housing First principles, the CERP is an innovative model whose successes—and challenges—will be continuously evaluated, so that the approach can be refined and replicated throughout the State.
Summary of Case Management and Client Care Liaison Services The proposed contract includes the following personnel from HCEB: A Program Manager who will provide supervision of the two full-time employee (“FTE”) Case Managers. Each Case Manager’s duties include working one on one with residents to provide assessment and case management services that are tailored to the needs of each client, maintaining a caseload of up to 20-30 people, meeting with clients on a regular schedule to ensure continuity of services, coordinating services across multiple providers and ensuring that clients receive the right care at the right time and in the right place, providing education and support to clients to help them navigate the healthcare system and access resources that can support their health and wellbeing, and monitoring client progress and adjusting the care plan as needed to ensure that clients are achieving their goals.
The contract also provides for one FTE Client Care Liaison that will work with the Housing Navigator, Case Managers, and the Castro Care Team to provide support to residents transitioning into housing. Their duties will include coordinating with clients to assess furnishing needs for their homes, including everyday cleaning and personal items, establishing connections with local organizations, businesses, and community members to procure and arrange delivery of essential furniture and household items, coordinating the smooth delivery and installation of furniture and goods within client homes, providing assistance in obtaining storage solutions for a limited duration, assisting in evaluating stored belongings, if any, to work toward eliminating storage, assisting in accessing transportation to vital resources, employment, medical appointments, and client engagement activities, and supporting clients in addressing and accessing food sources.
As part of the proposed contract, HCEB will have access to $25,000 of Flex Funds to help Castro residents access home furnishings, day-to-day home living items, personal hygiene needs, storage, transportation, and other living necessities to assist with housing the Castro encampment residents. HCEB will also have the obligation to verify and account for expenses provided to Castro residents.
December 5, 2023
Summary of Competitive Bidding Process
The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) via BidsOnline on September 12, 2023, with responses due October 3, 2023. The RFP was sent to 503 potential vendors and was downloaded by 21 prospective bidders. Prior to the deadline, the City extended the due date to October 10, 2023. Four vendors submitted proposals.
City staff engaged staff from the cities of Antioch, Concord, Fairfield, non-profit organization All Home, a representative from the Contra Costa County CORE Team, and a City staff member for the Evaluation Panel to review and score the submitted proposals. Based on the scoring of the proposals, three of the respondents were invited to be interviewed. One respondent of the four received was removed from further consideration due to the very low scoring by all reviewers and, therefore, considered non-responsive. The interview panel consisted of four members of the initial evaluation panel.
After the interviews were concluded, the Evaluation Panel agreed that HCEB was the most qualified respondent to perform the services for the Case Management and Client Care Liaison services for the Castro Encampment Resolution Project. Based on evaluation of the respondents’ proposals and the interviews held, the recommendation of the reviewing panel is to award the contract to HCEB.
CONCLUSION:
The service provider, HCEB, for the Case Management and Client Care Liaison services for the Castro Encampment Resolution Project is needed to ensure these needed services are readily available for Castro Encampment residents experiencing homelessness to retain housing and to connect to services to ensure wellness, wellbeing, and becoming self-sustainable.
City staff recommends approving the contract with HCEB for the Case Management and Client Care Liaison Services for a total not-to-exceed contract amount of $279,890, for a term through June 30, 2024, to be funded using the City’s Castro Encampment Resolution Funds, ERF-R-1.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Housing Consortium of the East Bay Contract Attachment 2 – Request for Proposals
Attachment 3 – BidsOnline Report
Attachment 4 – Evaluation Matrix