Title
Homeless Response System Updates - Coordinated Access System Annual Report and Sacramento Community Standards
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FileID
File ID: 2024-00849
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Location
Location: Citywide
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Recommendation
Recommendation: Review and comment.
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Contact
Contact: Mario Lara, Assistant City Manager, (916) 808-8526, mlara@cityofsacramento.org, Office of the City Manager; Brian Pedro, Director, (916) 808-7816, bpedro1@cityofsacramento.org, Department of Community Response; Ya-yin Isle, City Housing Manager, (916) 808-1869, yisle@cityofsacramento.org, City Manager’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development
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Presenter
Presenter: Lisa Bates, Chief Executive Officer, (916) 200-6553, lbates@sacstepsforward.org, Sacramento Steps Forward; Ya-yin Isle, City Housing Manager, (916) 808-1869, yisle@cityofsacramento.org, City Manager’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development
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Attachments
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Coordinated Access System Annual Report
3-Coordinated Access System Annual Report Slides
4-Sacramento Community Standards
5-Community Standards Slides
6-Community Standards - Development and Engagement Overview
7-Community Standards - Focus Groups and Interview Agencies
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Description/Analysis
Issue Detail:
IssueDetail
Coordinated Access System
The Coordinated Access System (CAS) is a collaborative effort between Sacramento Steps Forward, 2-1-1, the City of Sacramento, and Sacramento County. It was launched in December 2022 to provide a centralized access point for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Program staff and clients alike can access these resources through this centralized system. This system includes a greater system-wide emphasis and coordination on diverting households away from homelessness through problem-solving and prevention options, whenever possible.
Beginning in February 2022, the City Council approved funding to support the development and implementation of CAS with a $1 million commitment for three years. In December 2022, CAS was soft-launched with seven City-funded shelters, including Wind Common Ground, Emergency Bridge Housing at the Grove, North 5th Street Shelter, Meadowview Shelter, LGBT STEP Shelter, Waking the Village, and the X Street Navigation Center. To date, the City has integrated 83% of shelter beds designated for access through CAS.
The recent completion of the 2023 Year One Annual Report (Attachment 2) provides an opportunity to understand the impact of CAS and areas for improvement in the year ahead.
Sacramento Community Standards
As part of the Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan, adopted in June 2022, the CoC, City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, and SHRA committed to developing standards to meet HUD requirements and provide a community-wide set of standards for homelessness prevention and assistance programs (Attachment 4).
The standards-development work was initiated in early 2023 with support from Tom Albanese Consulting, LLC, and SSF staff to research existing local standards and examples from other communities. After a series of focus groups and stakeholder meetings (see Attachment 6 for an overview of the engagement process and list of participants), a draft set of community-wide performance and practice standards was made available for public comment and was ultimately adopted by the Sacramento Continuum of Care (CoC) Board on December 13, 2023.
The purpose of the Sacramento Community Standards is to provide a general overview of expectations and standards for homelessness-prevention and homeless-assistance programs receiving public funding. The Standards are inclusive of minimum requirements for each program type, but they are also expansive in that they reflect best practices and local priorities for housing assistance that may be aspirational for some programs. They are measurable and reflect what providers should be doing.
These standards serve as a basis for ensuring all publicly funded programs for people who are at-risk of or experiencing homelessness are offered in a consistent manner; and are in line with federal, state, and local funding requirements, and with evidence-based approaches to providing equitable, effective, and efficient assistance.
Sacramento’s new Community Standards is intended to be incorporated into funding contracts for homelessness prevention and homeless assistance programs awarded by the City of Sacramento, County of Sacramento, SHRA, and SSF. The Standards will then be monitored periodically according to each local funder’s contract requirements and monitoring processes to assess provider adherence to standards, including examination of provider performance, services, operations, facilities, and housing units.
City staff have reviewed the Community Standards against current contract standards and a majority of the Community Standards are already incorporated in our agreements. While providers are expected to meet as many of the standards as possible, the Community Standards allow for flexibility, and it is understood that many providers do not currently have sufficient funding, training, or capacity to meet these standards. As the City begins to incorporate standards into contracts and monitoring policies and procedures are developed, it is expected that funding and other constraints will be accounted for, and providers will be able to demonstrate instances where non-conformance with a standard is driven by lack of funding or other barriers.
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PolicyConsiderations
Policy Considerations: The Coordinated Access System furthers Solution 1 - Coordinated Access and Navigation in the recently adopted All In Sacramento Plan - Sacramento’s Regionally Coordinated Framework and Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which continues to focus on CAS implementation and continuous improvement. The Community Standards furthers several actions of the 2022 Local Homeless Action Plan.
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EconomicImpacts
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
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EnvironmentalConsiderations
Environmental Considerations: This report is not a project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). No action is being taken in connection with this report. As there is no potential for this report to result in a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change, this report does not qualify as a “project” under CEQA. (See CEQA Guidelines 15378(a).)
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Sustainability
Sustainability: Not applicable.
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Commission/Committee Action
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
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RationaleforRecommendation
Rationale for Recommendation: Not applicable.
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FinancialConsiderations
Financial Considerations: Not applicable.
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LocalBusinessEnterprise
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.
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