No General Fund impact. All funds are provided to the County on a formula basis through the State of California. The State ESG funds are allocated to the State by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and also from California Budget Bill, SB 837 (Section 72) and then distributed to eligible local Administrative Entities. A portion of the funds are reserved for program administration in the County's Department of Conservation and Development.
The State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) administers the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program with funding received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HCD also receives non-federal ESG funds through California Budget Bill, SB 837 (Section 72). The ESG program provides funding to: (1) engage homeless individuals and families living on the street; (2) improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families; (3) help operate these shelters; (4) provide essential services to shelter residents;(5) rapidly re-house homeless individuals and families; and (6) prevent families/individuals from becoming homeless.
In 2016, HCD redesigned the State’s ESG program. The redesign intended to accomplish the following:
• Align State ESG with local entities' ESG programs and HUD goals;
• Increase coordination of State ESG investments with local homelessness systems and investments;
• Invest in the most impactful activities based on key performance goals and outcomes;
• Shift from an intensive provider competition, in which local providers competed for State ESG funds with other local providers and providers throughout the State, to a much more local competition where the administration of the program is streamlined;
• Improve geographic distribution of funding.
Under this program design, HCD established a dedicated Continuum of Care allocation and simplified process available to California communities that are able to administer ESG locally. Eligible local government entities can act as Administrative Entities (AE) of State ESG funds in furtherance of these goals. Beginning in 2016, HCD distributed funding for Continuum of Care Service Areas (“or Service Areas”) through two allocations:
• Continuum of Care Allocation for Service Areas that contain a city or county that receives ESG directly from HUD; and the
• Balance of State Allocation for Service Areas that do not contain a city or county that receives ESG directly from HUD.
Contra Costa County's Department of Conservation and Development (DCD) receives ESG funds directly from HUD to administer the County's own ESG Program, so it is an eligible local government entity that can act as an AE of State ESG funds under the State's program redesign. On March 30, 2016, HCD approved DCD as an AE to administer State ESG funds on behalf of the State for the County's Continuum of Care Service Area, which includes all of Contra Costa County, with emphasis on households/residents of the cities of Antioch, Concord, Pittsburg, and Walnut Creek, as required by the State ESG regulations. The other cities in the County, including Richmond, and the unincorporated communities are part of the Urban County and are therefore served by the County's direct ESG grant.
As an approved AE, Contra Costa County is eligible to receive up to $492,850 of State ESG funds. A total of $474,758 will be available to eligible agencies/programs that serve and benefit homeless households/residents (including those that are victims of domestic violence and victims of human trafficking) or households/residents that are at risk of becoming homeless. An amount of $15,621 will be available to be used by DCD for program administration as allowed by the State's regulations.
State ESG Timeline
In order for the County to receive the State ESG allocation, an authorizing resolution approved by the Board of Supervisors along with a list of the agencies/programs recommended to be awarded with these funds must be submitted to HCD by July 17, 2017. In order to meet this deadline, a Notice of Funding Availability/Request For Proposals (RFP) was e-mailed to a county-wide interested parties list and posted to the County's website on October 6, 2016. The RFP deadline was December 12, 2016. A total of seven eligible applications were submitted by the deadline on December 12, 2016. County staff, along with a review sub-committee who are members of the County's Continuum of Care, reviewed the submitted applications and provided their recommendations to the County's Council on Homelessness to consider at its meeting held on July 6, 2017. The finalized list of recommendations must be submitted to HCD by July 17, 2017, for its approval. Once HCD approves the list of agencies to carry out activities using State ESG funds, the State will enter into a Standard Agreement with the County. The Standard Agreement is expected to be executed in November or December 2017 with the agreement having a term ending on October 31, 2019. DCD expects to receive State ESG funds an an annual basis, but enter into bi-annual contracts with the State given that ESG funds have a two-year period to be expended.
If the County does not submit the authorizing resolution to the State by the deadline on July 17, 2017, the County will not receive an allocation of State ESG funds.
Most of the programs and activities that will be funded with State ESG funds will address at least one of the five community outcomes established in the Children's Report Card.