19D - AFFORDABLE HOUSING RFP - Laserfiche WebLink

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Supportive Services means services provided to tenants for the purpose of addressing the tenants' condition of homelessness and enhancing the tenants' ability to maintain independent living. Supportive services must address the special needs of the tenants to be served. These services may include: (a) medical or mental healthcare; (b) medical and psychological case management; (c) benefits advocacy and income support assistance such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), General Assistance, CalFresh, Social Security Disability Income, tenant assistance or representation to address landlord/tenant issues; (d) money management/payee services; (e) nutritional counseling; and (f) assistance in obtaining other resources and support for tenants such as clothing, furniture and household items, transportation, job training and job placement. These services may be provided directly or by arrangement with other service providers. Through this RFP, the City expects the service provider and on-site property manager to work in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs - Long Beach Healthcare System. Housing First Housing First is an approach where homeless persons, usually chronically homeless or especially vulnerable homeless individuals and families, are provided immediate access to housing and then offered the supportive services that may be needed to foster long=term stability and prevent a return to homelessness. This approach removes unnecessary barriers and assumes that supportive services are more effective in addressing needs when the'individual or family is housed and the daily stress of being homeless is addressed. Key components of this•model include.a simple application process, a harm reduction approach, and no conditions of tenancy beyond those' included in the lease. Housing First specifically does not require sobriety ortesting for substance abuse to obtain or.sustain tenancy and thus must not be required in the lease. In serving these populations, projects cannot discriminate against families with children. ` � 4 Housing First programs share critical elements: 1) There is a focus on helping individuals and families'access and sustain rental housing as quickly as possible and the housing is not'time-limited; 2) A variety of services are delivered primarily following a housing placement to promote housing stability and individual well 'being; 3) Such supportive services are time-limited or'long-term depending upon individual need; and 4) Housing is not contingent on compliance with services. Instead, participants must comply with a standard lease agreement and are provided with the services and supports that are necessary to help them do so successfully. A Housing First approach rests on the belief that helping people access and sustain permanent, affordable housing should be the central goal of our work with people experiencing homelessness. By providing housing. assistance, case management and wrap-around supportive services responsive to individual or family needs (time -'limited or long-term) after an individual or family is housed, communities can significantly seduce the time people experience homelessness and prevent further episodes of homelessness. A central tenet of the Housing First approach is that social services to enhance individual and family well-being can be more effective when people are in their own home. More information on Housing First is available at: https://www. hudexchange. i nfo/resources/documents/Housing-First-Permanent-Supportive-Housing- Brief.pdf Eligible Uses and Activities Program funds can be used to enter into an Agreement with eligible borrowers who will provide affordable housing. Eligible uses of Project -Based Voucher funds include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) acquisition and/or rehabilitation of eligible rental properties; 2) acquisition and conversion of nonresidential property to multifamily rental housing units; and 3) new construction of rental housing units. City of Santa Ana Community Development Agency Request for Proposals for Affordable Housing Development Page 23 19D-27