SR-06-24-2014-3LCity of City Council
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: June 24, 2014
Agenda Item:
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Jacqueline Seabrooks, Chief of Police
Subject: Joint Homeless Outreach Service Provider
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with The West Coast Care Foundation, Inc., a California -based
company, in an amount not to exceed $239,786 for outreach services to homeless
persons, with three additional one -year renewal options in the amount of $719,358, for a
total amount not to exceed $959,144 over a 4 -year period, with future year funding
contingent on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
The Santa Monica Police Department has established a joint outreach program in which
the Police Department works in conjunction with The West Coast Care Foundation to
administer direct intervention and outreach services to homeless persons in order to
help them into housing, shelter facilities, medical facilities, return them to their families
or other caregivers, and to help them rebuild their lives. Immediate intervention efforts
focus on new arrivals and those people who have been homeless in Santa Monica for
relatively shorter periods of time to provide alternatives before permanent residency is
taken up on the streets of Santa Monica. This intervention includes, but is not limited to,
working with the person's previous service provider(s) and other resources both inside
and outside the City of Santa Monica. These long term homeless outreach efforts focus
on linking these individuals to other established service providers within the City's
continuum of care. Funds for this contract are available in the current adopted budget.
Background
The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) participates in cooperative efforts with
other City departments, government agencies, private service providers, and
community -based groups to address homelessness and community concerns regarding
homelessness in Santa Monica. Through its Homeless Liaison Program (HLP), SMPD
contributes to this collaborative process by conducting appropriate law enforcement
actions, while at the same time connecting homeless individuals with local service
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providers that offer homeless clients a variety of housing, rehabilitation, medical,
psychiatric, substance abuse and employment resources. While this collaborative
model produced many successes through the years, overall effectiveness was limited
by the fact that the HLP Team has been the City's primary source of contact with
homeless people on the street, requiring the team to perform both enforcement and
outreach functions.
The West Coast Care Foundation began providing services in Santa Monica in 2006
and demonstrated that social service providers could successfully break through the
resistance to change behaviors associated with chronic homelessness by bringing
consistent and continual outreach directly to the streets where homeless people were
living. West Coast Care's philosophy is that intervention, which delivers objective,
honest, and compassionate feedback to help homeless persons better understand their
situation to bring about a mindset which encourages creating strategies for success.
Using its own private funding sources, West Coast Care concentrated its services on
homeless persons living on Santa Monica's South Beach and later expanded its area of
operation to Main Street, Palisades Park, Reed Park, and the Third Street Promenade.
West Coast Care's outreach workers conducted hundreds of face -to -face interventions
with Santa Monica's homeless, ultimately attracting the attention of the Homeless
Liaison Program (HLP) Team.
The HLP Team began working with West Coast Care to assist with outreach efforts
which then enabled the HLP Team to concentrate on necessary enforcement activities.
Increased enforcement led to an associated increase in outreach.
From October 2006 until the first quarter of 2008, West Coast Care made thousands of
contacts with people living on the streets of Santa Monica. During the year and a half
that West Coast Care operated under its own funding, roughly 250 chronic and newly
arrived homeless people were permanently reunited with their families in different parts
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of the country using their own funds and the City's Project Homecoming program. This
is consistent with the City's current action plan which encourages that other
communities more equitably address their challenges with homelessness even as
individuals are discouraged from becoming permanent fixtures within Santa Monica's
homeless population.
When West Coast Care ran out of funding in early 2008, the efficacy of consistent
outreach on the street had already been well established with the Santa Monica Police
Department. In order to continue providing this service, SMPD sent out a Request for
Quote to local homeless service providers. West Coast Care was the only service
provider that responded. West Coast Care entered into a professional services
agreement with the City and began providing service on March 18, 2008.
On June 24, 2008, Council awarded a contract to West Coast Care. On June 22, 2010,
Council modified the contract to extend the term to June 30, 2011. On July 26, 2011,
Council awarded West Coast Care a new contract for one year with two options to
renew until June 30, 2014.
Discussion
West Coast Care provides "outreach" services and utilizes the City's "Project
Homecoming Program" to assist homeless people in returning to their home of origin.
This differs from other providers in that West Coast Care does not provide long term
counseling, shelter beds, or assist with financial aid and other services.
Since March 2011, West Coast Care made approximately 42,875 (274 per week,
14,291 per year) documented contacts with homeless people on the streets of Santa
Monica, in the Santa Monica Jail, and at the request of other city - funded homeless
service providers in the Santa Monica Continuum of Care. During this same period of
time, West Coast Care helped 952 homeless people find alternatives to living on Santa
Monica streets with 280 persons going home through Project Homecoming. The
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remainder went home, paid for by family and friends, or were referred to various social
service providers including the Veterans Administration Hospital for services.
Contractor /Consultant Selection
In March 2014, the City published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Joint Homeless
Outreach Service Provider to provide collaborative outreach, in conjunction with the
Police Department, to the homeless population. The RFP was posted on the City's on-
line bidding site, and notices were advertised in the Santa Monica Daily Press in
accordance with the City Charter and Municipal Code provisions. One proposal was
received and publicly opened on May 16, 2014. The proposal was evaluated based on
the criteria listed in the RFP. It included experience, qualifications, work schedule,
references and cost. Based on these criteria, West Coast Care Foundation is
recommended as the best qualified contractor to provide homeless outreach services.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The contract to be awarded to The West Coast Care Foundation is for an amount not to
exceed $239,786. Funds are available in the FY 2014 -15 proposed budget in division
01306. The contract will be charged to account 01306.555010. Future year funding is
contingent upon Council approval and budget adoption.
Prepared by: Wendell Shirley, Captain
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Jacqu2 ne Seabrooks Rod Gould
Chief A olice City Manager
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Reference:
Contract No. 9923
(CCS)