Item 36 - Fiscal Year 21-22 Request for Proposals for Affordable Housing

Home Browse Search

City of Santa Ana Community Development Agency Request for Proposals for Affordable Housing Development Page 27 Wrap-Around Supportive Services One of the most important elements of permanent supportive housing is ongoing supportive services that are wrapped around homeless individuals and families placed in housing. Under this RFP, the scope of services required for service providers in the course of operating the Project-Based Voucher Program (“Program”) will include, but not be limited to: 1) Performing outreach and intake of targeted individuals (i.e. homeless and chronically homeless individuals) for participation in the Program; 2) Making and accepting referrals of people experiencing homelessness from the Orange County Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry System with a preference for chronically homeless individuals with strong ties to the City of Santa Ana; 3) Assessing homeless individuals and families to prescribe treatment/services; 4) Placing homeless individuals and families into project-based housing units; 5) Performing case management services for homeless individuals and families that will remove barriers to successful achievement of independent living skills, attainment of employment skills, and greater self-determination; 6) Tracking and reporting program activities and outcomes using the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) operated by the Orange County Continuum of Care. Data entry into HMIS is required in order to perform tracking and reporting program activities and outcomes. 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. 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 or testing 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. 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. EXHIBIT 1