a. Up to $4,838,700 to County's (H3) Division of the Health Services Department to support the County's Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program.
b. Up to $161,300 to the County’s Department and Conservation and Development for general program administration.
No General Fund impact. All funds are provided to the County on a formula basis through the State of California. The State ESG-CV funds are allocated to the State by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and then distributed to eligible local Administrative Entities. Contra Costa County is an eligible Administrative Entity. The State ESG-CV1 formula allocation to the County is confirmed as $1,065,100; however, the amount of $5 million of the State ESG-CV2 funds is currently an estimated amount that was provided by the State to the County.
The State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) allocates State Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds to Continuum of Care (CoC) geographic areas. The CoC is a program through which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development strives to end homelessness. The County’s Health, Housing and Homeless Services manages the CoC for Contra Costa. The County Department of Conservation and Development (DCD) is the approved Administrative Entity for the State ESG funds and is required to collaborate with the CoC. The ESG Program provides funds to activities that (1) engage homeless individuals and families who are living on the street, (2) improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families, (3) help operate shelters, (4) provide essential services to shelter residents, (5) rapidly re-house homeless individuals and families, (6) prevent families/individuals from becoming homeless, and (7) reporting and management of client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and persons at-risk of homelessness.
As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) that was passed by Congress and signed by the President on March 27, 2020, HCD received an additional amount of ESG-Coronavirus (ESG-CV) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to allocate to the various Administrative Entities to distribute in their respective CoC geographic areas. In addition to the range of regular ESG eligible activities, the ESG-CV funds must also prevent, prepare for, and/or respond to the coronavirus and its impacts.
On July 14, 2020, the Board of Supervisors approved Resolution 2020/193 to apply and receive State ESG-CV1 funds and on November 17, 2020, the Board of Supervisors approved Resolution 2020/297 to apply and receive State ESG-CV2 funds. At those respective times it was indicated that service providers were not yet selected and that the allocations to service providers would be recommended at a later date for the Board's consideration. Below are the recommendations that have been discussed and presented to the County's Council on Homelessness, the Board appointed advisory committee on matters of homelessness in the County.
State ESG-CV1 Recommendations:
-Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program: Congregate shelters for the homeless, where many people shelter together in one space, present a risk for quick spread of the coronavirus. The Health, Housing, and Homelessness Division (H3) of Contra Costa County’s Health Services Department is the lead agency in coordinating and managing the effort of operating non-congregate emergency shelters through the County's Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program. Staff is recommending State ESG-CV1 funds to H3 to support the County’s Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program. The State ESG-CV1 funds would be used by H3 to support operations in one or multiple hotel/motel sites to ensure as many persons experiencing homelessness are placed in emergency shelter and are not further displaced into literal homelessness, and that the County can continue to manage the spread of the coronavirus by placing those individuals into safe temporary shelter at hotels/motels. (Recommended Amount: $804,500)
-Homeless Management Information System (HMIS): Every ESG-CV program is required by HUD to input client information/data in the County’s Continuum of Care’s HMIS reporting system. The County’s H3 Division within the County Health Services Department is the HMIS Lead Agency for the Contra Costa County Continuum of Care. The ESG-CV regulations allow for the HMIS Lead Agency to utilize ESG-CV funds to upgrade or improve the current HMIS capabilities and to pay for staff operating the HMIS system to collect and report better data about the impact of coronavirus across the County. This will allow H3 staff to collect data that is necessary to coordinate and report on activities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus among individuals and families experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, and receiving homeless assistance. (Recommend Amount: $204,500)
-Administration: County staff will take on additional responsibility in managing these new programs to ensure that federal requirements are met and funds are being utilized in the manner necessary to address impacts of COVID-19. (Recommended Amount: $56,100)
State ESG-CV2 Recommendations:
-Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program: Congregate shelters for the homeless, where many people shelter together in one space, present a risk for quick spread of the coronavirus. The Health, Housing, and Homelessness Division (H3) of Contra Costa County’s Health Services Department is the lead agency in coordinating and managing the effort of operating non-congregate emergency shelters through the County's Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program. Staff is recommending State ESG-CV1 funds to H3 to support the County’s Hotel/Motel Emergency Shelter Program. The State ESG-CV2 funds would be used by H3 to support operations in one or multiple hotel/motel sites to ensure as many persons experiencing homelessness are placed in emergency shelter and are not further displaced into literal homelessness, and that the County can continue to manage the spread of the coronavirus by placing those individuals into safe temporary shelter at hotels/motels. (Recommended Amount: $4,838,700)
-Administration: County staff will take on additional responsibility in managing these new programs to ensure that federal requirements are met and funds are being utilized in the manner necessary to address impacts of COVID-19. (Recommended Amount: $161,300)
Both the State ESG-CV1 funds and State ESG-CV2 funds have an expenditure deadline of September 30, 2022; however, it is anticipated that the funds will be fully expended by June 30, 2022 or much earlier.
If the recommendations are not approved, it would delay getting the funds to the necessary services to specifically address some of the negative impacts from COVID-19 experienced by many residents and households throughout the County that are experiencing homelessness.
Programs and activities funded with State ESG-CV support one or more of the following children's outcomes:
(1) Children Ready for and Succeeding in School;
(2) Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood;
(3) Families that are Economically Self Sufficient;
(4) Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing; and
(5) Communities that are Safe and Provide a High Quality of Life for Children and Families