City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 9, 2026
Agenda Item: 4.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Aileen Reynolds, Director, Housing and Human Services Department Subject: Award Contract with Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing Department for Predictive Prevention Pilot Utilizing a County Homelessness Prevention Unit Services Model in the City of Santa Monica Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with the Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing Department for implementation of a Predictive Prevention Pilot for the Housing and Human Services Department. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.250(i) and is for a total amount not to exceed $800,000 for one year, with future funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
The Los Angeles County Homeless Services & Housing Department (HSH) Homelessness Prevention Unit (HPU) (Attachment A) is a Los Angeles County program that delivers direct services to residents who are at risk of losing their housing. HPU is an innovative, data-driven program and nationally recognized model for predicting and preventing homelessness amongst the County’s highest risk populations. Using predictive modeling developed by UCLA’s California Policy Lab (CPL), HPU proactively identifies the households at highest risk of homelessness and provides housing stabilization services including financial assistance and case management before homelessness occurs. Unlike traditional prevention programs, HPU does not rely on 2 of 6
self-identification, referrals, or eviction notices, enabling the program to proactively reach residents who are historically underserved and disconnected from existing resources.
Beginning in late 2025, Homelessness Prevention and Intervention (HPI) Division staff engaged the LA County HPU regarding development of a Santa Monica-focused pilot partnership to administer HPU services to at-risk Santa Monica households. HPI staff subsequently presented the proposed pilot to the Measure GS Committee on February 2, 2026 (Attachment B) and incorporated committee feedback into the proposed program design.
Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with the Los Angeles County for implementation of a Predictive Prevention Pilot. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process under the City’s Homelessness Emergency Proclamation (Attachment C) and pursuant to Section 2.24.250(i) of the Santa Monica Municipal Code and is for a total amount not to exceed $800,000 for one year.
Discussion
Santa Monica has long prioritized homelessness prevention as a central strategy for reducing housing instability and homelessness among vulnerable residents. Measure GS, approved by Santa Monica voters in 2022, established the Homelessness Prevention and Affordable Housing Fund to support homelessness prevention services, emergency income assistance, and programs “designed to preserve tenancies for vulnerable Santa Monica households.” In March 2025, Council approved the 2025–2030 Homelessness Strategic Plan (Attachment D), which identified expansion of homelessness prevention and tenant stabilization strategies as key priorities under the Prevention pillar.
Additionally, Santa Monica continues to experience significant housing instability among renter households due to rising housing costs and income insecurity. According to the City’s 2024 Renters’ Protection Program analysis prepared by Fetterman Dunn Consulting (Attachment E), approximately 70 percent of Santa Monica residents are 3 of 6
renters, and more than 20 percent of renter households are severely housing costburdened with over 50 percent of their income being spent on rent. The analysis additionally identified substantial indicators of eviction risk within the community, including an estimated 1,412 Santa Monica households annually receiving a 3-day notice to pay or quit. Given all this, the City’s HPI Division has been seeking new programming to expand the City’s preventative supports for Santa Monica renters.
The HPU identifies households at high risk of homelessness through predictive modeling drawing from Los Angeles County data and then proactively outreaches those households to enroll them in targeted case management and financial assistance to stabilize their household and prevent homelessness. County-wide, more than 90 percent of households served through the HPU program retained housing following program participation, while enrollment has also been associated with a 71 percent reduction in use of crisis-response systems, such as street outreach and interim housing 18 months after discharge. In preparation for this pilot, HPU staff in partnership the CPL utilized predictive analytics to generate a Santa Monica-specific risk list of 513 City residents identified as highest risk of entering homelessness based on over 500+ risk factors to predict risk of homelessness including public benefits use, mental health holds, arrests and emergency room utilization. The proposed Predictive Prevention Pilot would then proactively engage 72 households to receive short-term housing stability case management, service linkages, and flexible financial assistance intended to prevent housing loss. The proposed Predictive Prevention Pilot will complement the City’s existing homelessness prevention continuum by implementing a proactive intervention strategy that identifies and engages households before housing crises escalate into eviction or homelessness. To engage at-risk households, HPU staff utilize assertive outreach strategies via phone call and physical mail to reach vulnerable households that may otherwise remain disconnected from existing homelessness prevention resources until a crisis has already occurred. Additionally, HPU staff for this Predictive Prevention Pilot will be equipped to coordinate and make referrals to existing City-funded homelessness prevention programs as needed, including the Right to Counsel Program and Flexible Financial Assistance Program, to support participating 4 of 6
households with legal services, additional financial assistance, or other housing stabilization resources.
The existing Los Angeles County-operated HPU program does not currently provide dedicated services to Santa Monica households due to the program’s countywide service model and limited capacity. HPU’s countywide risk-list includes over 140,000 households, and current HPU operations serve approximately 700 households per year which are primarily provided in other areas of the County with concentrated need such as South Los Angeles. Therefore, City residents are not currently being systematically served through existing HPU operations, and this proposed pilot will create entirely new, dedicated resources for the City’s most vulnerable and renters who are not being served by other programs.
The proposed pilot aligns with the intent of Measure GS by utilizing Homelessness Prevention and Affordable Housing funds for ongoing or emergency income assistance and programs designed to preserve tenancies for the most vulnerable Santa Monica households. This pilot would enhance the Los Angeles County’s HPU model by embedding the program within Santa Monica’s localized and coordinated existing homelessness prevention continuum and utilizing County program data to inform the City’s future homelessness prevention strategy.
The proposed pilot will utilize the County’s existing operational HPU infrastructure, staffing model, and service delivery systems, allowing for rapid implementation with minimal start-up time and administrative costs. The County will provide quarterly reporting to the City regarding outreach efforts, enrollment, housing stability outcomes at program completion, service linkages, and financial assistance utilization.
The proposed one-year agreement amount is not to exceed $800,000 – a relatively modest investment against the total Measure GS budget dedicated to homelessness prevention programs. Approximately $460,000 of the proposed budget would support “income assistance” and the remaining $340,000 would support “services preserving tenancies” which includes staffing and operational costs.
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The pilot model is intended to allow the City to evaluate the effectiveness, operational feasibility, and local applicability of proactive predictive homelessness prevention strategies prior to consideration of any future expansion.
Vendor Selection
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends the Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing Department to provide Predictive Prevention Pilot services Inc. as an exception to competitive bidding per the Procurement Division approved ECB#440 pursuant to Muni Code 2.24.240 (i). i. A solicitation is made under the emergency procedures set forth in Section 2.24.240 Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
03/11/2025 (Attachment D) City of Santa Monica Homelessness Strategic Plan 2025-2030.
Environmental Review
The proposed agreement is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. The agreement is covered by the common-sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The agreement would provide homelessness prevention case management and financial assistance services and would not result in adverse physical environmental impacts. Therefore, the activity is exempt from CEQA and no further environmental review is required.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Measure GS Fund to support implementation of the Predictive Prevention Pilot Program through an agreement with the Los Angeles County HSH HPU. A request to appropriate Measure GS funds for FY 2026-27 is included in proposed adjustments to the FY 6 of 6
2026-27 exception-based budget.
Agreement Request
FY 2026-27
Request Amount
FY 2026-27
Department Account #
Total Agreement
Amount
$460,000 29800001.556220 (Income Assistance)
$800,000
$340,000 29800001.556230 (Tenancy Preservation)
Prepared By: Alana Riemermann, Senior Human Services Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - Los Angeles County Homeless Services & Housing Department (HSH) Homelessness Prevention Unit (HPU) website -
https://homeless.lacounty.gov/homelessness-prevention-unit/ B. Attachment B - Predictive Prevention Pilot Measure GS Staff Proposal C. Attachment C - Resolution Declaring Local Emergency on Homelessness D. Attachment D - City of Santa Monica Homelessness Strategic Plan 2025-2030 E. Attachment E - Renter Protections Program analysis by Fetterman Dunn Consulting
F. Written Comments