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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)