Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to submit a grant application, through the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the 2014 Continuum of Care for Homeless Assistance Program, and execute all necessary documents, subgrants and any amendments changing the amount of the award or extending the grant term upon receipt of HUD funding.  The grant award amount will be between $5.5 million and $8 million for a period of July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016.  (Citywide)
Automate as a report from the Health and Human Services Department with the recommendation to authorize the submittal of a grant application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the 2014 Continuum of Care for Homeless Assistance. Second, there's been a motion in the second, and I'm going to first begin with Councilmember Richardson. So can. I have a few questions, but I want the Department of Health and Human Services just to walk us through this quickly and then I have a few questions about how we move forward. Excellent. Mr. West, we have Susan Price here to answer any questions and the director, Kelly Colby. Honorable mayor and city council members. Basically, since 1995, the city has applied and received annual funds through the HUD Continuum of Care Program to support the Multi-Service Center, the Villages at Cabrillo, a 26 acre site where we have over 1100 formerly homeless folks in shelter and permanent housing. These model programs were created in the early nineties closure of the the Long Beach Naval Base. The 2013 funding award was 6.9 million provided for ongoing renewal funding, with one new project for permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless. There are 28 total projects funded in the 2013 Continuum of Care Application. As I mentioned, 2727 of those are existing projects and one of them was a new project. And this is basically the health department leading a grant application with 12 sub recipient agencies that are nonprofits providing services to address homelessness in Long Beach. In the 2013 application, Long Beach, along with Columbus, Ohio, became one of two S.O.S. jurisdictions across the country to be designated as a unified funding agency. What that means for us is basically that the city of Long Beach, in its efforts over the course of the last, I'd say, 2 to 5 years, has positioned itself well to be able to make local decisions based on that $7 million competitive funding that we receive annually. The overall system and just kind of a little brief note about what the system entails. The overall system of care consists of approximately 1950 beds for emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing. The high occupancy levels are tracked through the homeless management information system on a daily basis through our Multi-Service Center, which is located over on the west side of the city. Currently, the mercy is in a modernization project. It's been closed for construction since March and will be reopening anticipated in October of this year. The impacts of that have been somewhat noticeable in that we were seeing about 2000 people in any given month over the course of a year. The Multi-Service Center serves about 2600 visits, a fairly significant volume of service that has been decentralized since March. The kiosk system, collectively with all the different agencies, as I mentioned, serves about 5400 people and duplicated in a given year. Bellamy. Continuum of care, as I said, is an annual competitive application submitted to HUD on behalf of this system of care on an annual basis. The overall process takes about three months between the RFP that HUD does and the RFP that the city does to select its sub recipient agencies. The continuum of care is both funded and unfunded partners, and so therefore it is a very broad system of care. But what we're talking about tonight is basically the application that we submit to HUD, which has yielded us approximately 6.9 million in prior year. And with that, I'll close and respond to any questions that you may have. Thank you. Councilman Richardson? Well, I just wanted to say that, you know, coming out of the budget and acknowledging that the health department is less than 1% funded through the general fund, this is a great program and I'm proud that you are applying for this grant. I want to particularly note that the 12 or so agencies are spread across the city. We've got even in the ninth District, you've got the children's clinic here. I want to I want to I want to express that I do pay attention to these things, and we are going to pay attention to how successful these programs are in touching all corners of the city. It's really important to me and congratulations, and we hope that you receive this funding once again. Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce. Thank you. I, too, want to thank you for your service to this community and for tackling what is objectively a huge issue that requires a lot of long term solutions in our city. I consider the Homeless Services Division and your outreach team a leader in regional initiatives, the Gateway Cities Council of Governments Homeless Strategy, the Service Planning Area eight coordinated entry systems for chronic homeless and Family Solutions Centers, both operating from San Pedro Harbor Interfaith Program. The Long Beach Continuum of Care is a model for other jurisdictions with a multi-service center, a police department, quality of life unit, interdepartmental collaborations, and a broad base of service providers and engaged stakeholders addressing this very complex issue . I know that in the third District recently we've had a lot of issues near certain areas of our community surrounding the Belmont Pier, and the work that you have done has been outstanding. It's clear to me that we have much work to do in the area of homeless services and that it's important to strike a balance between quality of life for our residents and the rights of those without homes and the gaps in resource capability and capacity to effectively address these issues. I thank you for being innovative with your resources and for the outreach that you do to bring additional resources and attention to this issue. I think you're doing excellent work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Andrews. Yes. I also certainly want to thank you, because the fact that you've been like a beacon in our sixth district, whenever there's a call for the homeless or individuals who need that assistance, I mean, you've been there on time, and I truly want to appreciate everything you guys do for us. And thank you again. Thank you, Councilman Braxton. And I would be remiss if I didn't also thank you and congratulate you in advance, because I know we'll continue to do a great job here with the health department. Anytime we get constituent calls either from our business districts or our residents regarding homeless, we can count on the health department to be there with their team to address those issues. So thank you very much and look forward to your continued great work in the city of Long Beach. Thank you. Councilmember Ranga. I want to echo the support that our council members have given to the Health Department in regard to the services they provide. It's already been mentioned that 1% of the total funding to get is from the general fund. So a lot of what they bring in is from outside sources. This is an opportunity to continue that funding that comes from the outside. And it's having been there, worked there, done that, been there with them side by side. Yeah. I don't know what I said either. I know that that's a great staff down there. And Director Jalopy has that has gotten a gloppy sorry has gotten a wonderful staff and having a wonderful staff. And I know that Susan will continue to provide the excellent services that they that they have done for all these years and looking forward to the ribbon cutting for the embassy when that opens up about hope. I'm invited and you'll be invited, sir. We want to ride in your jalopy. Okay? Okay. Thank you. See no other council comment. Any public comment on the item? Seeing none. I believe there's a motion on the floor. Please cast your votes. Motion carries nine votes.