TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
George Gabriel, Assistant to the City Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Quarterly Update on the City’s Homelessness Initiatives Including:
a) Consideration of a Resolution Approving Amendment No. 1 with Emotional Health Association (Doing Business as SHARE! Self Help Recovery Exchange) in the Amount of $18,900 to Provide Three Additional Interim Housing Placements; and
b) Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141 Amending Resolution No. 21-0119 to Make it Consistent with the Previously Approved Agreement with Harbor Interfaith Services for Grant Funded Measure H Homeless Case Management and Housing Navigation Services (City Manager Moe).
(Estimated Time: 30 Min.)
A) RECEIVE REPORT
B) ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 22-0140
C) ADOPT RESOLUTION NUNC PRO TUNC NO. 22-0141
D) APPROPRIATE FUNDS
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council
a) Receive the report detailing various efforts and initiatives staff is undertaking regarding homelessness;
b) Adopt Resolution No. 22-0140 approving Amendment No. 1 with Emotional Health Association (Doing Business as SHARE! Self Help Recovery Exchange) in the amount of $18,900 to provide three additional interim housing placements;
c) Adopt Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141 amending Resolution No. 21-0119 to make it consistent with the previously approved contract; and
d) Appropriate an additional $18,900 from the unreserved General Fund balance for three additional interim housing placements.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The approved Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Operating Budget included $19,200 to fund two beds within the SHARE! Collaborative Housing program for the entire fiscal year. Should City Council, approve the contract amendment, an additional appropriation of $18,900 is requested from the unreserved General Fund balance to supplement the current budgeted amount until June 2023.
On December 15, 2021, City Council appropriated $216,000 from the unreserved General Fund balance and approved a budget adjustment for grant reimbursement funds. Of these funds, $70,000 were authorized for use by Harbor Interfaith Services. Should City Council approve Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141, staff will be authorized to contract with Harbor Interfaith Services for the remaining $146,000.
BACKGROUND:
The City has taken an active role in addressing homelessness both strategically and regionally. In doing so, the City is doing everything possible to assist homeless individuals in obtaining the services needed while respecting their rights.
Over the last year, the City has dedicated additional resources to provide housing services and support unsheltered individuals. In November 2021, the City Council approved an agreement in the amount of $66,390 with Harbor Interfaith Services for a dedicated housing navigator/case manager. The manager has been instrumental in interacting with unhoused individuals and providing them with assistance, whether through treatment referrals, document production, or interim/stable housing placements. Additionally, the City has access to two additional regional housing navigator/case managers provided through Measure H grant funding dedicated to the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo.
Furthermore, the Council approved an agreement with SHARE! Collaborative Housing for two beds to shelter unhoused individuals. All agreements ensure that street outreach conducted by Harbor Interfaith Services could quickly result in the housing of individuals within 24 hours of first contact compared to 260 days elsewhere through the housing process.
DISCUSSION:
On a quarterly basis, the City provides an update to the City Council and community on homelessness initiatives staff that has undertaken as well as regional developments. For the purposes of this report, efforts will focus on those relevant since the last quarterly update on May 17, 2022. Below is a list of those updates.
Homeless Count
On February 23, 2022 approximately 30 volunteers gathered at the Joslyn Community Center to conduct the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count in Manhattan Beach. At the event, volunteers were introduced to City officials and briefed on the City’s response to homelessness including the City’s actions to utilize general fund and grant funded money. Most importantly, volunteers were introduced to the Police Department’s homeless outreach team as well as the City’s newly contracted outreach services worker, Maira Matias. While conducting the count, Maira was deployed to assist some homeless individuals that were tallied by homeless count volunteers.
In September, results of the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count revealed a 40% reduction in people experiencing homelessness in Manhattan Beach from 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a count was not conducted in 2021), according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).
The City’s actions dedicating resources to enhance the lives of people experiencing homelessness have been impactful, as Manhattan Beach has seen consecutive reductions in the number of unhoused individuals counted by LAHSA. In 2018 when the City began taking an active role in addressing homelessness, the point-in-time count revealed 41 unhoused individuals living in Manhattan Beach. The count in 2020 revealed 15 unhoused individuals. The most recent count conducted on February 23, 2022 identified nine unhoused individuals.
Nevertheless, the City continues to take an active role in proactively addressing homelessness. Increases across the County make this a priority for the City to continue to take a proactive role. The breakdown of the homelessness count in Manhattan Beach is summarized below.
Unsheltered Persons
Persons on the Street - 8
Persons in Cars - 0
Persons in Vans - 0
Persons in RV’s or Campers - 0
Persons in Tents - 0
Persons in Makeshift Shelters - 1.3
Total - 9.3
Vehicles and Dwellings Counted
Cars - 0
Vans - 0
Campers/RV’s - 0
Makeshift Shelter - 1
Tents - 0
Regionally, within the South Bay area (i.e. Service Planning Area 8) homelessness declined by 1.8%, while it went up by 4.1% in Los Angeles County. SPA 8 persons living on the street, in a tent or makeshift shelter increased by 8%, while those living in vehicles decreased by 10%.
Outreach Statistics
Following Council’s action to approve an agreement with Harbor Interfaith Services for dedicated housing navigation/case management services in November, an employee named Maira Matias was assigned to Manhattan Beach in January and began working at the Police Department in February.
Maira has completed nine months of service as the City’s dedicated resource. On a daily basis, Maira typically has 2-3 interactions with homeless individuals and actively manages approximately 7 clients who are interested in services. On a monthly basis, Harbor Interfaith Services began to provide an individualized reports to Manhattan Beach (Attachment #4) that summarizes key metrics and progress toward goals outlined in the contract.
In summarizing her reportable metric work, the following information reflects data from March - August and is summarized below:
• 248 interactions with homeless individuals (including repeat interactions with the same individuals);
• 60 unique clients assisted;
• 7 clients case managed (regular engagement centered around a housing plan);
• 9 clients assist with document production or enrolled with benefits;
• 10 clients placed into interim housing;
• 5 treatment program referral attained; and
• 2 stable housing placements.
As indicated previously, the City also has a new grant funded contract with Harbor Interfaith Services with the beach cities of Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. The SBCCOG administers the grant on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. Beginning in January, Harbor Interfaith Services began to provide reports to the beach cities (Attachment #5) and the SBCCOG that summarizes key metrics and progress toward reaching goals outlined in the contract.
In summarizing HIS’s reportable metric work, the following information reflects data from January - August and is summarized below:
• 321 interactions with homeless individuals (including repeat interactions with the same individuals);
• 64 unique clients assisted;
• 19 clients case managed (regular engagement centered around a housing plan);
• 10 clients assist with document production or enrolled with benefits;
• 5 clients placed into interim housing;
• 4 treatment program referral attained; and
• 11 stable housing placements.
Outreach Requests on GoReach App
In 2018, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) launched a website - the Los Angeles Homeless Outreach Portal (LA-HOP) to help make it easier to request coordinated county services for homeless individuals who need specific kinds of assistance. While the City had promoted the tool to allow the community make outreach referrals, the website interface had limitations and data would transfer to LAHSA instead of the City. To address this issue, staff has launched a category on the City’s GoReach Mobile application titled, “Homeless Outreach.” The category will allow the community to utilize a familiar mobile application and have the data/information sent directly to the City’s homeless response team comprised of MBPD, the homeless liaison and the dedicated outreach/case manager going forward.
Business Outreach
In response to recent concerns from the business community regarding homelessness, the City has renewed efforts to engage with business districts. On Thursday, September 8, 2022, Police Chief Rachel Johnson introduced herself to the Downtown Business Association at their monthly meeting and highlighted the importance of reporting all crimes, communicating crimes directly to the Police Department, and encouraged businesses to be a part of the solution by providing MBPD with what’s needed to successfully arrest or prosecute crimes when necessary. If crimes are committed, Chief Johnson explained the role the community plays in processing a private persons report or arrest. Additionally, the Chief noted how the business community could assist with addressing homelessness by not feeding individuals and instead referring them to City services/outreach to place them into housing or provide them with the care they need.
Efforts to educate and inform the business community on how to address homeless individuals are ongoing. In fact, as part of the Work Plan contract with the Chamber of Commerce that City Council approved in July, staff is preparing for a business seminar/meeting that will take place in the future.
Additionally, the City is exploring the use of a trespassing authorization form or letter. As utilized at the City of Laguna Beach, the letter allows business/property owners to authorize the arrest of trespassers especially in instances where it is difficult to contact a responsible party for trespassing authorization. Examples of these forms and letters are included in the attachments section.
Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc
At the December 15, 2021, meeting, City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding in the amount of $216,000 with the South Bay Cities Council of Governments for Measure H grant funding to provide homelessness case management services to the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo and Redondo Beach. To provide these services, City Council adopted Resolution No. 21-0119 approving Amendment No. 2 to the Professional Services Agreement extending the term from December 31, 2021 to June 30, 2022 and adding the scope of services contained in the SBCCOG’s MOU.
Council will recall that the $216,000 in grant funds was divided into two Tranches. Tranche 1 was $70,000 for the first 6 months of the MOU. Tranche 2 was $146,000 for the remaining 12 months the MOU. Tranche 2 of the grant was contingent upon the SBCCOG and County of Los Angeles extending their agreement. Therefore, the original resolution authorized approval of Tranche 1 only. Now that the SBCCOG and County have appropriated Tranche 2, staff has prepared Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141 amending Resolution No. 21-0119 to specify the remaining $146,000 grant to be expended in the City’s agreement with Harbor Interfaith Services.
SHARE! Housing
At the November 16, 2021, meeting, the City Council approved an agreement toward a collaborative housing program in the amount of $19,320 to maintain and provide two housed beds for one year in and around Service Planning Area 8 for individuals experiencing homelessness in the City of Manhattan Beach.
Since this agreement has been in place, the City has placed 7 different individuals into the program. Each individual stayed in the housing program for different lengths of time ranging from 2-4 months on average. While the City’s dedicated homeless outreach navigator makes every efforts to make the individual self-sufficient in 1-2 months’ time, every homeless client may have circumstances that delay the process. This has resulted in the program being highly impacted and limiting the City’s dedicated homeless outreach navigator’s ability to place street outreach clients into the City’s program. In these instances where a bed within the City’s program is unavailable, the local non-profit, Manhattan Beach Safe Alternatives for Everyone (MBSAFE) has provided donations toward individuals who are looking for assistance from the City’s dedicated homeless outreach navigator. In fact, in the period of December 2021 - August 2022, MBSAFE has provided SHARE! collaborative housing funding for approximately 7 individuals.
To mitigate program impacts caused by the original agreement’s limitation of two beds worth of funding and reduce reliance on the City’s local non-profit, staff is proposing to increase the number of beds from two beds provided to five. Therefore, staff has attached an amendment to the agreement with Emotional Health Association (Doing Business as SHARE! Self Help Recovery Exchange) in the amount of $18,900 for three additional interim housing placements until the end of the fiscal year.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
a) Receive the report detailing various efforts and initiatives staff is undertaking regarding homelessness;
b) Adopt Resolution No. 22-0140 approving Amendment No. 1 with Emotional Health Association (Doing Business as SHARE! Self Help Recovery Exchange) in the amount of $18,900 to provide three additional interim housing placements;
c) Adopt Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141 amending Resolution No. 21-0119 to make it consistent with the previously approved contract; and
e) Appropriate an additional $18,900 from the unreserved General Fund balance for three additional interim housing placements.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has approved the agreements and resolutions as to form.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 22-0140
2. Amendment No. 1 - Emotional Health Association Inc.
3. Resolution Nunc Pro Tunc No. 22-0141
4. Manhattan Beach Outreach Program Outcomes
5. Beach Cities Outreach Program Outcomes
6. Trespassing and Authorization Form/Letter Samples
7. PowerPoint Presentation