TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
George Gabriel, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Update on Homelessness Initiatives and Consider Adoption of a Resolution Approving an Agreement in the Amount of $330,665 with Los Angeles County to Provide Homelessness Coordination, Training and Case Management Services to the Beach Cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach (City Manager Moe).
a) RECEIVE REPORT
b) ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 19-0085
c) DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council: 1) receive an update on homelessness initiatives; 2) adopt Resolution No. 19-0085 approving an agreement in amount of $330,666 with Los Angeles County to provide homelessness coordination, training and case management services to the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach, substantially in the form attached hereto; and 3) provide direction, if any, on the City’s “Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness in our Community.”
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There is no net fiscal impact associated with the recommended action. The $330,666 grant is funded by the County of Los Angeles’s Homelessness Initiative. As part of the grant agreement, the grant recipients are required to match a portion of hard and soft costs over an 18 month period, to ensure the deliverables outlined in the contract are implemented. In total, the cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach will commit $281,208 in soft costs (personnel hours) and $5,000 in hard costs provided by the City of Hermosa Beach.
BACKGROUND:
On March 7, 2017, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors obtained voter approval for a 10-year, ¼ cent sales tax increase to help fund housing and support services for the homeless population throughout the County. Since the passage of Measure H, various cities have taken an active role in addressing homelessness. In October 2017, 47 cities were awarded homelessness planning grants. Manhattan Beach was one of the cities to apply for, receive this funding, and subsequently develop a homelessness plan.
On August 21, 2018, the City Council adopted the City’s “Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness in Our Community.” The plan contains seven goals aligned with Manhattan Beach’s and Los Angeles County’s objectives to address homelessness. Each goal contains supplemental information and includes: 1) Supported actions to achieve those goals; 2) Associated policy changes and requirements to move forward; 3) How progress will be measured; 4) Who is responsible for each goal and its progress; 5) What City resources will be leveraged; and 6) Timeline to complete each goal.
Following approval of the plan, the City Council appointed a Homelessness Task Force to assist with recommended uses of County homelessness funds, community outreach and education, and the future development of grant proposals.
On October 16, 2018, staff provided an update on the City’s Homelessness Plan. Going forward, staff will provide quarterly updates on progress associated with the City’s Homelessness Plan as well as any initiatives addressing homelessness.
On March 19, 2019, staff provided another update on the City’s homelessness initiatives, and City Council approved updates to the City’s Homelessness Plan.
DISCUSSION:
The City has taken an active role in addressing homelessness, strategically, locally and regionally. In doing so, the City is doing everything possible to assisting homeless in obtaining the services needed, and treating them with dignity. The following details indicate what steps the City has taken thus far.
2019 LAHSA Homeless Count
On January 23, 2019, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) in coordination with the City, conducted the annual homeless count for the cities of Manhattan Beach and El Segundo. This annual count allows stakeholders to receive official statistics on homelessness at a point in time in our community. The public was encouraged to sign up and 49 volunteers came to conduct the counts in Manhattan Beach and El Segundo. Volunteers gathered at the Joslyn Community Center and were given training before beginning the count with their designated teams. Community members, staff, and the respective Police Departments assisted with conducting the count.
On July 25, 2019, LAHSA, released the, “2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count City and Community Level Results.” The City of Manhattan Beach’s homeless count totaled approximately 22 “unsheltered” persons or individuals living in vehicles, makeshift shelters, tents or the street, a decrease from 41 in 2018. The decreased count showcases that the City’s efforts have proven to be successful. 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.
Following LAHSA’s statistical analysis, the breakdown of the homelessness count is summarized below and within the attachments.
Unsheltered Persons
Persons on the Street - 9
Persons in Cars - 5.9
Persons in Vans - 3.4
Persons in RV’s or Campers - 2
Persons in Tents - 0
Persons in Makeshift Shelters - 1.4
Total - 21.7
Vehicles and Dwellings Counted
Cars - 3
Vans - 2
Campers/RV’s - 1
Makeshift Shelter - 1
Tents - 0
Total - 7
It should be noted that privacy rights of individuals within vehicles prevent homeless count participants to search vehicles for the exact amount of individuals within a vehicle. LAHSA has been diligent to identify the “hidden homeless” within communities that are not easily identifiable or seen. Therefore, LAHSA has created a “conversion factor” formula to account for and tally potential homeless individuals who are not seen and may be within vehicles. The conversion factor, created by LAHSA, allows LAHSA statisticians to estimate the number of homeless individuals within a vehicle. For example, if three cars are identified as having homeless individuals within the cars by the volunteers, LAHSA applies a conversion factor formula comprised of: 1) the proportion of cars counted occupied by family households, 2) the average number of people sleeping inside the cars with family households, 3) the proportion occupied by individuals, and 4) the average number of people sleeping inside the cars by one or more individuals. Under LAHSA’s estimations, the three cars identified at the count, amounted to approximately 5.9 homeless individuals accounted for within all cars combined. To view a full analysis on LAHSA’s conversion factors and proportions for vehicle, tents, and makeshift shelters go to this webpage: <https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=3477-2019-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-car-van-camper-rv-tent-and-makeshift-shelter-population-conversion-factors.pdf>
Updates and Homelessness Plan Initiatives
By adopting the Homelessness Plan, the City Council sought to create an initial strategic approach to homelessness.
Consistent with the City's Homelessness Plan and efforts to educate the community on various resources in the South Bay, the City has produced a Homeless Resource Guide (PDF). The guide summarizes a variety of resources and phone numbers to refer to for residents and those experiencing homelessness. To view the guide, the public can visit the City's homelessness page at www.citymb.info/homelessness.
In an effort to notify the community of the resource guide and card, public outreach efforts have been made to publicize on the website, and distribute to community stakeholders and publications. These include: Manhappenings, City Website, OASIS, Police Department, MBSafe, Manhattan Beach Homelessness Task Force, South Bay Cares, Manhattan Beach Downtown Business Professional Association, Chamber of Commerce, and the Beach Cities Health District
Outreach and Assistance
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) has partnered with law enforcement agencies in Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo since 2017 to provide mental evaluation services through compassionate field intervention. Referred to as the Beach Cities Mental Evaluation Team (MET), MET is a co-response model to respond to 911 calls or requests from field patrol officers to assist with calls for service regarding mentally-ill persons. In many instances, homeless individuals in the beach cities are serviced with a licensed mental health clinician. Every Tuesday, a MBPD officer has been assigned to a clinician to assist them with responses related to mentally ill subjects.
After continuous lobbying efforts with the County following the approval of the homelessness plan, the DMH agreed to hire a second mental health clinician to serve the beach cities of Hermosa, Redondo, El Segundo and Manhattan Beach. Beginning in July 2019, the City’s Police Department has access to two mental health clinicians the entire week, with an MBPD officer assigned to a clinician two days of the week, instead of one.
Through a South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) contract, Manhattan Beach is able to obtain outreach response from People Assisting the Homeless (PATH). To this extent, the City has increased the current presence of outreach workers utilizing PATH, by conducting “ride-alongs” with the City’s Police Department on a bi-monthly basis.
As part of the County’s efforts to connect homeless subject with outreach, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) launched a new, outreach portal to help make it easier to request coordinated county services for homeless individuals who need specific kinds of assistance. This portal serves as a way for citizens to request services for homeless individuals in need of resources. It is not meant to be a tool to report criminal activity or emergency services.
The City has promoted the Los Angeles Homeless Outreach Portal (LA-HOP.org) on the City’s website, to make it easier to request coordinated county services for homeless individuals and ensure constituents can easily submit requests for homeless outreach.
As part of the outreach, the Police Department has, on occasion, encountered homeless individuals who appear to be suffering mental health ailments. In most cases, the Police Department will notify the mental health clinician to assess the individual. However, in some instances, the Police Officer may utilize California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5150, which allows a person with a mental illness to be detained for a 72 hour psychiatric hospitalization, where: 1) The person is a danger to others, 2) If the person is a danger to self, 3) If the person is gravely disabled.
The City continues to stress to residents that incidents of non-emergency concern related to homeless individuals, should be reported to the Police Department's non-emergency number at (310) 545-4566. If an emergency exists, they should call 911 immediately.
Homelessness Task Force
Since the Task Force was formed in October 2018, the body has met 9 times. The task force has primarily advised on grant opportunities, community education, and the homelessness plan.
Shelter Options
Staff has been diligently working with the homelessness task force to find suitable shelters, exploring available resources throughout our regional community. We have contacted a number of shelters within a 25 mile radius, but have been unable to secure a contract. Consistent with goal #3B of the City’s Homelessness Plan, staff and the homelessness task force will continue to explore contracting with a regional homeless shelter to assist homeless with immediate shelter options.
County Contract
Pursuant to City Council authorization in November 2018, and at the recommendation of the homelessness task force, the City submitted a multi-jurisdictional proposal with the cities of Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach (referred to as: South Bay Beach Cities), to the County for outreach and education, coordination of regional efforts to address homelessness and housing navigation services. On January 24, 2019, the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative announced the award of Measure H grant funding to the Beach Cities for $150,000.
Since that time, the Homelessness Initiative and the South Bay Beach Cities provided supplemental information in the hopes of reevaluating the proposal and increasing the grant award to provide more services to each City, given our combined homeless populations. After extensive back and forth with the County, the Homelessness Initiative revised the grant award to a total amount of $330,665 towards homeless coordination and housing navigation services.
For City Council consideration and approval (attached), is a contract with the County of Los Angeles formalizing a grant award in the amount of $330,666 to provide homeless coordination, training, and case management services.
Through the City Homelessness Plan Implementation Grant, the South Bay Beach Cities homelessness program will consist of a Homeless Coordinator/City Liaison who will be sub-contracted to leverage the cities’ fiscal and administrative resources to systematize, coordinate and help oversee multi-sectoral homeless efforts to enhance and expand regional access to services. Working in strong coordination with the Beach Cities, the Homeless Coordinator/City Liaison will help develop and implement internal city-level homelessness response protocols and Beach City Regional response; tailor training material and lead training sessions with staff; and plan and hold the Annual Homelessness Stakeholder Roundtables. Additionally, two Homeless Case Managers will be sub-contracted to assist homeless individuals and families by completing the CES Assessment; maintain case notes in Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS); get participants “document ready”; and make successful referrals to interim housing, treatment centers, and permanent housing.
Over the 18-month contract, at least 200 Beach Cities’ homeless residents will receive case management and will be documented per LAHSA’s standards. Out of that number, at least 24 will be referred to Interim Housing, 32 clients will be referred to CES and other permanent housing components (e.g. Rapid Re-Housing, Permanent Supportive Housing), and at least 50 will be referred to treatment programs. These targets are consistent with LAHSA’s performance outcomes.
Upon City Council approval of the contract with the County of Los Angeles, staff will return to the City Council with a recommendation of awarding Request for Proposal #1216-20, South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project (attached) to a homeless services agency/consultant to provide the deliverables outlined in the County’s contract. Amongst the various deliverables requested, the South Bay Beach Cities requested monthly status reporting on homelessness, regional response support, city staff training, stakeholder coordination, outreach and assessment, successful housing referral navigation, and document assistance preparation.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council: 1) receive the update on homelessness initiatives, 2) Adopt Resolution No. 19-0085 approving an agreement in amount of $330,666 with Los Angeles County to provide homelessness coordination, training and case management services to the beach cities of Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach substantially in the form attached hereto, 3) Provide direction, if any, on the City’s “Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness in our Community.”
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 19-0085
2. Agreement - County of Los Angeles
3. Grant Award Letter
4. Five Year Plan to Address Homelessness in our Community
5. Homeless Plan Deadlines Summary
6. Homeless Count Data (LAHSA)
7. Homeless Statistics Profile (LAHSA)
8. Request for Proposal #1216-20, South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project
9. Homeless Resource Guide and Card