Recommendation to adopt Specifications to RFP No. HE20-050 and award a contract to Volunteers of America of Los Angeles, of Los Angeles, CA, to provide operational services for the Year-Round Shelter, Atlantic Avenue Bridge Community (ABC), in an annual contract amount not to exceed $2,080,500, for a one-year period, with the option to extend the agreement for three additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments; Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and all necessary documents and any subsequent amendments, including amending the terms or changing the amount of the award, with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), to accept and expend grant funding, in an amount not to exceed $2,079,000, for the operation of the Year-Round Shelter, Atlantic Avenue Bridge Community (ABC), for a one-year period estimated to begin on July 1, 2020, with the option to extend the agreement for three additional
So let me let me go ahead and go through the next few. I'd have to go rather quickly and we'll get to oh 27 item 17. Report from Health and Human Services Recommendation to work contractor Volunteers of America to provide operational services for the year round shelter Atlantic Avenue Bridge Community in an annual contract amount not to exceed 2,080,500 for a one year period. District nine. Can I get. I got a motion. Can I get a second, please? We just wanted a quick, quick update on this. Okay. Quick update, please. Thank you. Kelly Collopy will give that update. Kerry. I don't think we can hear you. With coffee there. Okay. Why don't you go to public? Let's go to public comment. Can you hear me now, sir? Sorry. Can you hear me? Go ahead and call me. Yeah. So, uh, this item is to award a contract to Volunteers of America for. A period of one year with an option to extend for three years. We went through an RFP process and Volunteers of America. Was the winner of that process. The current facility, all major. Construction, will be completed by July one, and then we'll be. Working on utilities and furniture. So sometime during. June, July, the buildings will be the. Buildings will be fully ready. We then give the. Provider. About 60 to 90 days to really. Make sure that they have all the staffing. That everything is in place and that they're ready to open. Given that the contract is. Being. You know, there were this is going through council now. They should be. Able to begin planning and working. During this month and into early. Into early July. So we are we're looking forward to them moving in. They had a very. Impressive proposal and that's my report for them. Open for comment. Kate. There's emotion. And a second. Any public comment? Yes. There's one public comment. Tanya Manus, your time starts now. Putting in councilors. Punishment is, again, a little less emotional time. So per this year's homeless count, 2034 of Long Beach residents are experiencing homelessness. This is a 7% increase from last year. I find it appalling that a city as large as ours, where leaders consistently claim we are ahead of the curve and innovative, innovative, we have not considered a policy that would reduce homelessness significantly. The first policy, Seasonal Shelter, is an outreach conducted by the city's health department, as well as the Hart team are Band-Aids. Providing individuals experiencing homelessness with housing, as well as robust health care, including mental health support and drugs, alcohol rehabilitation and career and educational assistance. Will do more than a shelter or outreach ever could to reduce homelessness. There are also preventative measures you as a council could do to reduce homelessness. Like ensuring residents have access to affordable, accessible and quality housing. And implementing strong tenant protection policies. Now, Council Mayor, I know you might be thinking where would the money come to provide permanent supportive housing to individuals experiencing homelessness when we're facing a budget deficit? The answer is simple. Define LGBT and invest in your communities. There is no moral justification for such an overinflated police budget, for the high degree of militarization, or for their blatant disregard for the safety, health and lives of our residents. While there are over 2000 individuals in our inner city that do not have a place to call home, do right by your residents, defund CPD, invest in your communities. Thank you. Thank you, Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to say this. Is this a big moment for residents? I wondered who would be the operator for the year round municipal shelter. And now they know. Volunteers for America, a great organization. With a great proposal. We look forward to being open this summer and moving forward with getting to the next stage of planning the comprehensive campus. Thank you. Councilman Austin I'm sorry customers in Dallas you're you're the second give any comments. Thank you, Mayor. I'm just really happy again that that this is happening and sooner than we expected. So it's really great to hear this good news. Thank you, Katherine Austin. Yes, this is a long time coming. And I'm encouraged to hear that this program, Project Shelter, will be open very soon. And with Volunteers of America, certainly a very reputable organization to help run it. I did have a question for our health director, Kelly regards in regards to the current temporary shelter that is at the North Library . Will those will that shift into the Atlantic Farms shelter? Or is that what is the plan. Yeah. So that shelter right now is extended. The, the, the county runs that program and they. Have extended that shelter for three months until September. So they will continue to be housed there at that time. They will will. Those that are in that the gap between when the new winter shelter program. Opens, we would be able to shift into the shelter or other shelters within the city of Long Beach as many of the shelters are reopening. There will there every year there is a winter shelter program starting in. December. And it's up to the county to determine whether they'll. Extend that between the end of September. And. The beginning of December, again for next for next year's winter shelter program. Okay. Appreciate the heads up. We'll be talking more about that. And we certainly support to have this item. Great. Thank you. Catherine Ringa. Thank you, Mayor. This is one of those issues that, you know, I've brought up before in terms of the health department and all the great work it does and the work it does with grants and outside funding. I know this is a year round program. It's for 2 million for one year with possible. Extensions of up to three years. So what happens at the end of three years? The funding and the funding that we've worked with, with the county is when we. Agreed to move forward with the shelter the county committed to to fund the shelter. We committed to provide a shelter for ten years, and they're. Committed to working with. Us to fund that shelter. The issue. Around the provider. Is it allows for. The provider and then we. Can we can RFP. It could be the same provider. It could be a different one. After a total of four years in space. Okay. Well, the reason I say is because I'm still very much in favor of we need to institutionalize our health department. And a lot of these services should be institutionalized and funded without having to go out for. Grants every. X number of years. But I'm very supportive of the of the motion, and I will. Be voting for it. Thank you. You could count on the. Roll call vote, please. District one. I district to. My. District three i district for. I. District five. I. District six. I. District seven. I. I. District nine. All right. Motion carries.