Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Third Amendment to the Agreement with The Village Of Love Foundation for the Provision of Emergency Shelter Services for Alameda Households Experiencing Homelessness in Emergency Supportive Housing Homes by Increasing Total Compensation by $553,171.36 for a Total Not-To-Exceed $2,644,493.36, and Extend the Term of the Agreement through December 31, 2025; and
Adoption of Resolution Amending the Fiscal Year 2024-25 America Rescue Plan Act Fund (Fund 223) Operating Budget Appropriating $232,000 from Available Earned Interest to Project C99300 (American Rescue Plan 2021) Emergency Housing Alameda Point.
This project is statutorily exempt from further environmental review pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080.10 (services for people experiencing homelessness), and categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) and 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense). (City Manager 10021833)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends authorizing the City Manager to execute a Third Amendment to the Agreement with The Village of Love Foundation (VOL) to continue providing essential shelter services to vulnerable homeless Alameda residents using America Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funds. Services include non-congregate shelter in a safe and secure home with case management, mental health, and life skills support. The Third Amendment will increase the contract by $553,171.36 for a total amount not-to-exceed $2,644,493.36 and extend the term through December 31, 2025.
BACKGROUND
On October 5, 2021, City Council approved The Road Home: A Five-Year Plan to Prevent and Respond to Homelessness in Alameda (The Road Home). The Road Home was a culmination of City Council’s recognition of the need to address homelessness in Alameda and set it as a priority for the City of Alameda (City). In November 2022, City Council approved support of the Emergency Supportive Housing (ESH) program through the appropriation of $2,836,047 of available one-time ARPA funds to prepare and maintain the homes and contract with a social service provider to operate the homes. The creation of ESH in Alameda meets Goal 2 of The Road Home by increasing access to a homeless emergency response system through the provision of low-barrier temporary housing with a focus on transition to permanent housing. At inception, the program began with three city-owned houses located at Alameda Point. City Council directed staff to return once the program opened successfully to request the addition of a fourth City-owned house to the program. Due to the success of the program and the ongoing need to provide year-round, emergency shelter for the City’s unhoused population, City Council approved adding a fourth home to the program in February 2023. The four ESH homes provide twenty-four beds for family and single adults. Families are sheltered in a single-family home while single adults are provided a private or double room in a home designated for single adults. The Village of Love has successfully operated the four homes since the inception of the program. The current contract is set to expire December 31, 2024.
The Housing and Human Services Division (HHS) conducted an extensive Request for Proposal (RFP) process that invited proposals for both this EHS program operation and for the Dignity Village, Interim Supportive Housing, operation. In August 2024, HHS released the RFP and received 10 responses. A review of the written responses was completed by City staff and an Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 3 staff member. The top five rated organizations that submitted to operate both programs were: Alameda Point Collaborative, Operation Dignity Inc. (Operation Dignity), Ruby’s Place, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), and VOL.
In September 2024, a panel comprised of staff from Alameda Family Services, the Building Futures Mid-County Housing Resource Center, a Dignity Village resident, and City staff interviewed the top five respondent organizations. The HHS Manager conducted site visits and individual interviews with each agency and reviewed service data.
Staff is recommending a different service provider for Dignity Village (in a separate staff report) and to operate the four ESH homes, staff recommends City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a Third Amendment to the agreement with VOL. This Amendment will extend the agreement term to December 31, 2025 to operate and manage the ESH program with available one-time ARPA funds.
DISCUSSION
The ESH program is a unique program in the City that provides dignified shelter for homeless households within a neighborhood at Alameda Point. This program design provides emergency housing in a space where participants experience being a good neighbor to other residential households, a skill critical to maintaining permanent housing. It also provides space for participants, with the support of onsite staff, to engage in critical life skills that can be difficult to participate in at traditional congregate shelters. This includes grocery shopping and cooking, maintaining a clean personal living space and restroom, and developing personal savings. Close to the Alameda Food Bank, program participants also have direct access to fresh, healthy produce.
The ESH program includes 24-hour staff oversight and full-time case management to assist with immediate and long-term social service needs. With this agreement service extension, mental health services are being added with Alameda Family Services as the provider. In addition, VOL case managers work with program participants to develop an individualized plan that includes components such as document readiness, housing and workforce readiness. VOL staff also work with residents to establish a savings plan with up to 30% of their monthly income saved and returned to them upon their exit from ESH. While this savings program component is not a condition of shelter, VOL builds a rapport with participants which includes providing financial education which supports participants understanding of the need for income savings. Additional successfully implemented services include employment acquisition, enrollment in educational programs, including trade schools, referral to an Alameda Housing Authority senior housing development, housing placements and ongoing immigration status work with the assistance of attorneys and an immigration nonprofit organization.
Since the program opened, across the four homes, 50 individuals were moved from street homelessness, places not meant for habitation, hotel rooms, or overcrowded dwellings into a safe and secure indoor dwelling. These houses provide participants with the space and stability to work on their personal goals, spend meaningful time developing those goals and accessing the resources that will lead to permanent housing and increased health outcomes. A critical component of success is the ESH atmosphere that provides safe, clean, mainly private spaces, with plumbed restrooms, showers, laundry, and access to a kitchen where healthy meals are prepared and is dependent on the individual needs and barriers that prevent households from securing permanent housing.
Careful consideration is given to placements in the ESH program due to the limited space available and its location in the surrounding neighborhood. Since this program is directly funded by the City rather than other state or federal funds, the City has the flexibility to determine and place individuals into the program with a focus on those who identify as Alameda residents. Prior to move-in, participants are provided case management support to assess individual needs. As participants are actively engaged in their personal plan, they are added to the waitlist for an open bed. Referrals for consideration and placement come through the Coordinated Outreach Team (COT). COT is comprised of interdepartmental City staff and social service providers including local nonprofit agencies working directly with the City’s homeless, partner government agencies such as Alameda County’s Health Care for the Homeless, Alameda Police Department, Alameda Unified School District McKinney-Vento program, Housing and Human Services staff, and the City contracted VOL Homeless Outreach Team and Day Center Services staff. These four homes ensure individuals and families that would otherwise live on the streets of Alameda have the shelter and support they need to transition to permanent housing while receiving additional much needed resources including financial education, mental and physical health support, substance abuse disorder support, workforce training, and other supports identified through individualized needs planning sessions.
Since opening, 47 individuals living at ESH moved to permanent housing. Only three of the 50 people served exited to homelessness. County-wide data shows an average of 47% of individuals exiting to homelessness from similar programs while ESH data shows a rate of 6%. Data shows that positive exits were completed after as little as three months and as many as 12 months of program participation. This success is based on a strong staffing model in which staff really get to know each resident and develop clear, individualized plans.
ESH is an important component in the City’s local continuum of care, moving individuals from the streets to housing.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the City Manager to execute a Third Amendment agreement with The Village of Love Foundation to increase the grant amount by $553,171.36 for a total not to exceed $2,644,493.36, and extend the term of the agreement through December 31, 2025, for the provision of emergency shelter services for Alameda households experiencing homelessness in ESH homes.
• Not authorize the Third Amendment to the Agreement with VOL which will result in the exit of individuals from the shelter of these homes to the streets of Alameda since the existing agreement expires December 31, 2024. There are currently no other shelter beds in Alameda that can accommodate those currently residing in the fully occupied Emergency Supportive Housing program.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funding for the ESH program comes from the ARPA allocation (one-time funds) approved by City Council in November 2021 (see File 2021-1450). The federal government requires that all ARPA funds be encumbered by December 31, 2024 and fully expended by December 31, 2026. Agencies that fail to encumber ARPA funds will be required to return these unencumbered to the federal government. The ESH program does not have an ongoing funding source.
There is a current balance of $303,171.36 in ARPA funds allocated to Project C9000 in the HHS budget and there is an additional $232,000 available for appropriation in the ARPA Fund (Fund 223) from interest earned on ARPA funds to fund this project through December 31, 2025.
As part of the Fiscal Years 2025-27 Biennial Budget process an alternative funding source will need to be identified if City Council wishes to continue providing these services.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Social Services Human Relations Board Charter and Ordinance authority “to improve social services in the community” (Alameda Municipal Code § 2-11.5) and the Report on Homelessness Policies and Programs.
This action is consistent with Goal 2 of “The Road Home: A Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Respond to Homelessness in Alameda.”
This program supports the City Strategic Plan Priority to House all Alamedans and End Homelessness, specifically Project HH2b to Implement the Homelessness Strategic Plan including providing the Emergency Supportive Housing.
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
Additionally, this project is statutorily exempt from further environmental review pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080.10 (services for people experiencing homelessness), and categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) and 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense).
CLIMATE IMPACT
The Social Vulnerability Assessment section of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan states:
“adaptation strategies should consider how [the homeless] will receive emergency communications and how they will be sheltered. Proper, safe housing for all is an adaptation and resilience strategy. Planning strategies should always consider these vulnerable populations in adaptation efforts.”
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a third amendment to the agreement with VOL by increasing total compensation $553,171.36 for a total not-to-exceed $2,644,493.36, and extend the term of the agreement through December 31, 2025 for the provision of emergency shelter services for Alameda households experiencing homelessness in ESH homes; and
Adopt a Resolution amending the Fiscal Year 2024-25 ARPA Fund (Fund 223) Operating Budget appropriating $232,000 from available earned interest to Project C99300 (American Rescue Plan 2021) Emergency Housing Alameda Point.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager
By,
C’Mone Falls, Housing and Human Services Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Third Amendment to the Agreement
2. Original Agreement, First Amendment and Second Amendment