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 (Continued from the May 3, 2022, City Council Meeting) (City Manager Moe).
RECEIVE AND FILE
Line
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file the updates on the City’s homelessness initiatives.Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
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 past three years the City of Manhattan Beach has taken the following actions thus far:
• Approved the “Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness in our Community” that created goals that align with the County of Los Angeles’s objectives;
• Appointed a Homelessness Liaison responsible for homelessness initiatives and concerns;
• Participated in the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Counts to assist with understanding the size and scope of homelessness. Fifteen individuals were counted in Manhattan Beach in 2020 (down from 41 individuals in 2018 and 21 in 2019);
• Created a Homelessness Task Force of 11 residents and stakeholders to assist in: 1) developing a proposal to obtain County Measure H funds, and 2) conducting community outreach/education on homelessness;
• Increased the number of mental health clinicians provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health available to the Manhattan Beach Police Department to address mentally ill homeless individuals;
• Created a “Homeless Outreach” unit in the Police Department, across daytime and graveyard shifts, to specifically address homeless calls for service;
• Created and distributed a Homeless Resource Guide and card that summarizes a variety of resources and phone numbers to refer to for residents and those experiencing homelessness;
• Received a $330,666 grant from the County of Los Angeles to offer case management and coordination services to homeless individuals in the cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach.
• Executed a City Homelessness Plan Implementation Grant (i.e. South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project) contract with the County of Los Angeles that provides homeless coordination, case management and trainings in the beach cities of Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo.
• In conjunction with the above grant, developed specifications in order to obtain proposals from qualified service providers to assist in moving people off the streets into interim and permanent housing. As a result, awarded a subcontract to a qualified homeless services firm, Harbor Interfaith Services (HIS), to provide:
• A full-time Homeless Coordinator/City Liaison 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.
• The development of internal city-level homelessness response protocols and beach city regional response;
• Tailored training material and instructors to lead training sessions with staff;
• An annual homelessness stakeholder roundtable/community meeting;
• Two full-time Homeless Outreach Housing Navigator to assist homeless individuals and families by getting individual “document ready;” and make successful referrals to interim housing, treatment centers, and permanent housing.
• Approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Manhattan Beach, the City of Redondo Beach and the City of Hermosa Beach to implement the South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project for homeless coordination, housing navigation and training services;
• Developed a regional response document that focuses on the South Bay Beach Cities outreach response by creating a singular outreach process, identifying the role of key city departments/leads, establishing outreach protocol for persons experiencing homelessness, and providing a contact list of homeless services providers;
• Promoted the Los Angeles Homeless Outreach Portal (LA-HOP) web-based portal to make it easier to request coordinated county services for homeless individuals and ensure constituents can easily submit requests for homeless outreach;
• Conducted community and staff trainings to learn about the local response and partnerships forming to support people experiencing homelessness;
• Explored the use of homeless court services with the City of Redondo Beach and the Los Angeles County District Attorney;
• Approved an agreement with Harbor Interfaith Services for dedicated homeless case management and housing navigation services to Manhattan Beach in the amount of $66,390;
• Approved an agreement with Emotional Health Association (doing business as SHARE! Self Help and Recovery Exchange) for housing placement services in the amount of $19,320;
• Applied for a second round of County Measure H grant funding with the South Bay Cities Council of Government (SBCCOG) and was awarded $216,000 in grant funding for two outreach workers to service the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo;
• Sent a letter to Governor Newsom in support of the proposed framework for the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program which would use the judicial system to compel people suffering from severe mental illness and/or addiction into treatment and, for those who are unhoused, into housing; and
• Received approval from all respective City Councils and the SBCCOG to execute a Memorandum of Understanding to provide the following outcomes as a result of the $216,000 grant award:
o 50 unduplicated clients serviced in outreach;
o 30 unduplicated clients added to Coordinated Entry System;
o 30 unduplicated clients receive case management services;
o 20 unduplicated clients housed in interim housing; and
o 8 unduplicated clients permanently.
DISCUSSION:
On a quarterly basis, the City provides an update to the City Council and community on homelessness initiatives staff has undertaken and regional developments. Below is a list of those updates.
Dedicated Homeless Outreach Navigator
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.
Since that time, Maira has familiarized herself with the Police Department’s homeless outreach team, the Mental Health Evaluation Team, the Manhattan Beach Library, and community non-profit MB SAFE. Maira provides daily email reports summarizing activities and has weekly meetingswith the City’s Homlessness Liaison to discuss homeless clients and trends.
Maira is nearing three months of service as the City’s dedicated resource and the service is beginning to reap benefits for the City’s efforts to address homelessness. On a daily basis, Maira typically has 2-3 interactions with homeless individuals and actively manages approximately 7 clients who are interested in services. Beginning in March, Harbor Interfaith Services began to provide an individualized report to Manhattan Beach (Attachment #1) that summarizes key metrics and progress toward reaching goals (note: metrics from January and February are in included in the beach cities regional grant report).
In summarizing her reportable metric work, the following data (not including April yet) is summarized below:
• 45 interactions with homeless individuals (including repeat interactions with the same individuals);
• 15 unique clients assisted;
• 5 clients case managed (regular engagement centered around a housing plan);
• 3 clients assist with document production or enrolled with benefits;
• 1 treatment program referral attained; and
• 2 stable housing placements.
SHARE! Collaborative Housing
Following Council’s action to approve an agreement with Emotional Health Association (doing business as SHARE! Self Help and Recovery Exchange) for housing placement services in November, two individuals have been housed utilizing the City’s funding. One individual remains housed since December but the SHARE! outreach worker continues to attempt to identify a stable housing solution thus far. If the homeless individual does not become self-sufficient they risk returning to homelessness. The other individual was housed but exited to a higher level of care requiring medical attention. Of the two beds available, one bed is currently available for another person experiencing homelessness in Manhattan Beach. The City’s outreach worker, Maira Matias has identified two homeless individuals that may be a fit for SHARE! housing pending document finalization and client acceptance.
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.
Unofficially, volunteers tallied seven (7) homeless individuals in Manhattan Beach. However, it should be noted that due to the cold weather that night, homeless individuals were likely to seek shelter and may not have been tallied. Additionally, while this number is encouraging it does not reflect the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority’s (LAHSA) official count and is not subject to the conversion factor that accounts for sheltered accommodations such as vehicles, tents, or makeshift shelters. For comparison, fifteen individuals were counted in Manhattan Beach in 2020, down from 21 individuals in 2019 and 41 individuals in 2018.
Homeless Court
Since March 2021, the City of Manhattan Beach City Council has been exploring the possibility of adding homeless court services by engaging with the County District Attorney, or contract with the City of Redondo Beach for homeless court and prosecution services. Thus far, the City has been unsuccessful in providing these services with the County District Attorney or the City of Redondo Beach.
As a City with demonstrated interest in adding homeless court services, the City of Manhattan Beach indicated support for Governor Newsom’s CARE Court proposal at the April 5, 2022 City Council meeting. In accordance with this framework the County of Los Angeles may be required to enact homeless court services for the City of Manhattan Beach. Should the Governor’s proposal pass the state legislature, staff will inform the City Council of how the proposed framework can be utilized to address homelessness in Manhattan Beach.
Additionally, Mayor Stern and Councilmember Montgomery continue to engage with the District Attorney’s Office to explore how homeless court services can potentially be offered in the near future.
Regional Grant
As indicated in the background section of the report, the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach regionally partnered to provide outreach resources in 2019 to assist the regional homeless population utilizing County grant funds. This partnership was referred to as the “South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project.”
Consistent with the project, the City contracted with Harbor Interfaith Services (HIS) in November 2019 and tasked HIS with a variety of metrics. Metrics included street outreach conducted, Coordinated Entry System (CES) assessments made, interim housing placements and stable housing placements. The South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project report (Attachment #2) summarizes progress made from November 2019 - December 2021 with data metrics specified and closing the first round of grant funding.
Building upon the success of this project, staff sought to continue these services by applying for Measure H grant funding distributed by the SBCCOG. As indicated in the background section of the report, $216,000 was awarded in grant funding for two outreach workers to service the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo. Similar to the prior contract, HIS provides the outreach services and metrics similar to prior reports (Attachment #3).
Regional Mental Health Crisis Response
One of the key issues identified for regional coordination and collaboration has been alternative crisis response for people experiencing homelessness and mental health crises. Recently, the SBCCOG homeless response team met with staff representatives of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo and discussed the possibility of creating a regional mobile crisis outreach team aimed at addressing homeless individuals with mental health needs.
This model is utilized by some municipal agencies in the County of Orange to provide: assessment and stabilization of individuals experiencing mental health or substance use challenges, information and referrals to mental health or homeless services, transportation to services, and additional follow-up support and case management. The goal of the mental health crisis response program is intended to support law enforcement and emergency medical response with an immediate clinically-effective and cost-effective response to mental illness, substance use and homelessness.
Details have not been solidified but should staff receive a viable proposal where Manhattan Beach can contribute and benefit from a crisis response program, staff will advise City Council.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file the update on the City’s homelessness initiatives.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Manhattan Beach Outreach Outcomes
2. South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project (November 2019 - December 2021)
3. Round 2 of South Bay Beach Cities Homelessness Project (January 2022 - Present)