SR 05-22-2018 3M
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: May 22, 2018
Agenda Item: 3.M
1 of 4
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Cynthia Renaud, Chief of Police, Police Department
Subject: Joint Homeless Outreach Service Provider
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award RFP#158 to West Coast Care Foundation, Inc., a California-based
company, for outreach services to individuals experiencing homelessness;
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with West
Coast Care Foundation, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $250,000, for one year, with
three additional one-year renewal option(s) for a total amount not to exceed $1,000,000
over a 4-year period, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
The City, through the Santa Monica Police Department, has maintained a close working
partnership for a decade with an outreach program to administer direct intervention and
outreach services to homeless persons to help them into housing, shelter facilities,
medical facilities, return them to their families or other caregivers, and to help them to
rebuild their lives. The West Coast Care Foundation has successfully pursued focused
intervention efforts with new arrivals and those people who have been homeless in
Santa Monica for relatively shorter periods of time, which is a critical period of time to
prevent chronic homelessness. After seeking competitive proposals through a Request
for Proposals, staff recommends entering into a new agreement with the West Coast
Care Foundation for the continuation of intervention and outreach services. Given the
regional crisis in homelessness, pursuing the Council’s Strategic Goal of reducing
homelessness requires a sophisticated and multi-faceted approach across all
departments and West Coast Care is a crucial element in augmenting the resources of
our Police Department to pair enforcement with pro-active homelessness prevention.
Background
2 of 4
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
the impact of homelessness on public safety 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 providers that offer homeless clients a variety of housing,
rehabilitation, medical, psychiatric, substance abuse and employment resources.
While this collaborative model has 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 individuals on the street, requiring the team
to perform both enforcement and outreach functions.
The West Coast Care Foundation initially 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. Their philosophy is that intervention delivers objective, honest, and
compassionate feedback to help homeless persons better understand their situation to
bring about a mindset that encourages creating strategies for success.
Using its own private funding sources, the West Coast Care Foundation 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. Their outreach workers conducted hundreds of face-to-face
interventions with Santa Monica's homeless, ultimately attracting the attention of the
HLP Team.
The HLP Team began working with the West Coast Care Foundation to assist with
outreach efforts, which enabled the HLP Team to concentrate on necessary
enforcement activities. Increased enforcement led to an associated increase in
outreac h. From October 2006 until the first quarter of 2008, the West Coast Care
3 of 4
Foundation made thousands of contacts with people living on the streets of Santa
Monica. During the year and a half that West Coast Care Foundation operated under
its own funding, roughly 250 chronic and newly arrived homeless people were
permanently reunited with their families in different parts of the country using their own
funds and the City's Project Homecoming program.
In 2008, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to local homeless service
providers for outreach programs, and the West Coast Care Foundation was the only
service provider that responded. The West Coast Care Foundation 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 the West Coast Care Foundation. On
June 22, 2010, Council modified the contract to extend the term to June 30, 2011. On
July 26, 2011, Council awarded the West Coast Care Foundation a new contract for
one year with two options to renew until June 30, 2014. Council awarded the West
Coast Care Foundation a new contract June 24, 2014. Council modified the contract to
extend the term to May 31, 2018.
Discussion
The West Coast Care Foundation provides direct intervention and outreach services
and utilizes the City's "Project Homecoming Program" to assist homeless individuals
return to their home of origin. The 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. The West Coast Care Foundation has been successful in its
administration of intervention and outreach services to homeless individuals.
In fiscal year 2016-2017, West Coast Care assisted more than 674 homeless with
transitional resources to get off the streets, parks and beaches of Santa Monica. 298
4 of 4
homeless were reconnected with family and/or went into permanent housing programs.
376 homeless were connected to treatment programs, services, and/or find
employment.
Contractor/Consultant Selection
In February 2018, 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
online 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 March 2, 2018. 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, the West Coast Care Foundation is
recommended as the best qualified contractor to continue 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 $1,000,000. Funds of $250,000 are available in the FY 2018-19 Proposed
Budget in the Police Department . The contract will be charged to account
01306.555010. Future year funding is contingent upon Council approval and budget
adoption.
Prepared By: Darrick Jacob, Lieutenant
Approved
Forwarded to Council
REFERENCE:
Contract No. 10684
(CCS)