Title:
Title
Funding Agreement with the Sacramento LGBT Community Center for the Short-term Transitional Emergency Housing Program (STEP)
End
FileID
File ID: 2019-01451
Location
Location: District 4
Recommendation:
Recommendation
Pass a Motion authorizing the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, to execute an agreement with the Sacramento LGBT Community Center for the Short-term Transitional Emergency Housing Program (STEP) for an amount not to exceed $261,991 for services through December 31, 2020.
Contact: Andrew Geurkink, Program Manager, (916) 808-7816, Homeless Services Division, Office of the City Manager
Body
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Agreement with the Sacramento LGBT Community Center for the Short-term Transitional Emergency Housing Program (STEP)
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: The crisis of unsheltered homelessness is one that impacts an entire community, both those experiencing homelessness and the broader community of housed residents, businesses, and neighborhoods. The Sacramento 2019 point-in-time homeless count, conducted by the Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) lead agency, Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF), identified 415 unaccompanied youth under the ages of 25 experiencing homelessness with 245 of those living unsheltered.
In June of 2018, the Governor signed SB 850, which allocated over $553 million in one-time State funding for two new programs: the Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) and the California Emergency Solutions Program (CESH). The HEAP program awarded $5.6 million to the City of Sacramento and $12.7 million to Sacramento Steps Forward for the Sacramento Continuum of Care Program, the CESH program awarded $1.62 million to the CoC.
On April 23, 2019, the City Council (Council) adopted a resolution to receive and administer $1,760,048 in grant funding from Sacramento Steps Forward, the lead agency for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. This funding supported an expansion of emergency shelter services as well as fulfilled in part the CoC’s HEAP grant youth requirements.
On August 27, 2019, Council approved a homeless services funding plan. This plan included investments through HEAP and Measure U funds to support the Short-term Transitional Emergency Housing Program (STEP), administered by the Sacramento LGBT Center (Center).
The Center has applied for a grant from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for $300,000 for calendar year 2020 to sustain operations of their 12-bed STEP facility and provide temporary sheltering for Transition Age Youth (TAY) experiencing homelessness who have been a victim of crime. The current proposal for the City to support this program is $261,991 and is inclusive of the required match funding for the Cal OES grant as well as additional funding to support 24-hour, low barrier shelter operations for TAY experiencing unsheltered literal homelessness.
Policy Considerations: The City contracts to support the Center’s STEP program will require active coordination with the homeless CoC and state requirements through HEAP/CESH. Specific to sheltering and transitional housing, the Center’s practices will align with the federal directive that funding for addressing homelessness follow a “housing first” approach. Applying housing first principles seeks to ensure that services offered to individuals and families experiencing homelessness are provided with few to no barriers to access and focus on linkages to permanent housing as quickly as possible. In housing first programs, supportive services are voluntary and employ client-centered approaches such as harm reduction, motivational interviewing, and trauma informed care to help people secure and keep their housing and avoid returning to homelessness. This evidence-based approach is consistent with the strategies and funding priorities of the other public agencies working to end homelessness in Sacramento.
Economic Impacts: None
Environmental Considerations: None
Sustainability: None
Commission/Committee Action: None
Rationale for Recommendation: Homelessness continues to be a compelling and pivotal issue for the City, and the Council has made significant investments over the years to increase services, shelter capacity and housing supports for people experiencing homelessness. Despite these efforts, homelessness is on the rise across the state, and is affecting communities throughout the City and the County of Sacramento. The HEAP and CESH programs offer a unique opportunity to make investments to creatively address local needs related to homelessness and to collaborate with Sacramento County, SSF, and other cities in the county to develop a true county-wide response to homelessness.
The Center is located in midtown Sacramento and is uniquely accessible to many of the City’s unsheltered homeless populations. While the Center’s mission is to create a region where LGBT individuals feel safe and welcome to thrive, services are available to all members of the community and the Center itself fosters an affirming environment where all are welcome. The Center’s welcoming environment and location to many individuals experiencing homelessness has highlighted the continued need for more emergency shelter and housing programs in our community, particularly for TAY where the gap in services remains significant.
From its midtown location, the Center provides a number of community-based services to Sacramento’s vulnerable population. For many years, the Center has operated a daytime drop-in center, called the Q-Spot, for youth ages 13-24 connecting vulnerable youth to resources and crisis intervention services seven days a week. Each year the Q-Spot sees 200 visits a week and nearly 50% of these visits are by youth experiencing homelessness. While the Center works daily to offer resources for each youth in need, there exists a pronounced lack of adequate inventory of affirming emergency shelter and housing options for TAY experiencing homelessness.
Increasing youth respite and/or shelter capacity through the continued support of this 12-bed emergency shelter for vulnerable youth to expand emergency shelter services satisfies the City’s requirement to the State for the allocation of HEAP funds to programs specifically serving youth.
Financial Considerations: Sufficient funding exists in the Homeless Housing Initiative Program (I02000200) multi-year operating project and in the Homeless Emergency Aid Program (G02000820) operating grant project, to support the contract with the Sacramento LGBT Community Center and the detail funding chart is shown below.
|
Project No. |
Fund Name (Fund No.) |
Total |
|
I02000200 |
Measure U (2401) |
$74,594 |
|
G02000820 |
Operating Grants (2702) |
$187,397 |
|
|
|
$261,991 |
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable