To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Grant Agreement #29-536-12 with United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Health Services Director, or designee, to execute on behalf of the County Grant Agreement #29-536-12 (CA2197H9T052200) with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to pay County an amount not to exceed $450,000 for the County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) project, for the period from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this grant agreement will result in an amount not to exceed $450,000 in funding, payable to the County from HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Funds, including a 25% County match of $112,500 budgeted by the department for FY 2024-25.
BACKGROUND:
The Contra Costa County Homeless Program administers the HMIS project in Contra Costa Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) which is a mandated project for jurisdictions that receive homeless assistance funds from HUD. The County began its HMIS implementation in 2004 and the project is steadily growing. The HMIS Policy Committee of the Inter-jurisdictional Council on Homelessness (CoH), which is the central planning body for design and implementation of our HMIS, has determined that with the growing needs of our HMIS community, additional funding would help provide better analysis of aggregate data and utilize the HMIS to its fullest potential. These funds will allow an upgrade to our software system, purchase licenses to accommodate additional service providers, and pay for staff time needed to analyze the data and implement data-driven decision making and progress-tracking.
As the CoC agency for the County, the Health, Housing and Homeless Services Division (H3) collaborates with local homeless assistance providers to develop programs and access resources with a goal of ending homelessness through various funding streams. H3 was awarded funds on December 13, 2023, through a Special Notice of Funding Opportunity (SNOFO). As directed by Congress, HUD must provide an annual estimate of all individuals and families experiencing homelessness nationwide and within the territories. Therefore, all CoCs must have an HMIS that has the capacity to collect unduplicated counts of individuals and families experiencing homelessness and provide information to project subrecipients and applicants for needs analysis and funding priorities.
Approval of Grant Agreement #29-536-12 will allow the County to receive additional funding through this SNOFO to support the HMIS project through December 31, 2026. This agreement was delayed due to HUD not providing the documents to the County until December 2023.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this grant agreement is not accepted, the County will not receive additional funding to continue to support the HMIS project.