COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • LEADERSHIP	View full PDF report View Selected Abbreviations
Homelessness in California State Government and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Need to Strengthen Their Efforts to Address Homelessness Report Number: 2017-112

Response to the Survey From —
Davis, Woodland, Yolo County CoC

 

HUD provides two lists of California Continuum of Care (CoC) key contacts: one for Northern California and one for Southern California.
You can find these lists at https://www.hud.gov/states/california/homeless/continuumcare.

1. Enter the CoC number for which you are completing the survey.
   
   CA-521
2. Enter the CoC name for which you are completing the survey.

   Davis, Woodland, Yolo County CoC

   
   

3. Enter the organization within the CoC that you represent.

   Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency

4. What type of organization do you represent?.
Joint Powers Authority
County government agency
City government agency
Non-profit
Other (please specify)





5. How many staff (full-time equivalents) does your organization employ?

   500

6. Does your organization provide homeless services directly for clients?
   No Yes (If so, what types of homeless service programs does your organization provide?)
   
   

   CalWORKs Housing Support Program (Emergency Motel Stays and Rapid Re-Housing); Restorative Justice Court Diversion program for people experiencing homelessness; Intensive wraparound care and treatment for individuals with a serious mental illness who are homeless; Mainstream benefits access and linkage (CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, General Assistance, etc.)

7. Are you a direct recipient on your CoC's HUD application?
   No 
   Yes
8. Approximately what percentage of the funding your organization administers is from HUD for the CoC program?
   

   0

9. If not your organization, is there another organization in your CoC that administers the majority of homeless services funding?
   Not applicable. My organization administers the majority of homeless services funding.
   No. There is not one organization in my CoC that administers the majority of homeless services funding.
   If yes, what is that organization?
   
   

10. Does your CoC conduct an unsheltered Point-in-Time (PIT) count annually? (Including those years not required by HUD)
    No (Skip to questions 17-19, and resume the survey on question 20.) 
    Yes (Continue on questions 11-16, and resume the survey on question 20.)
11. In which year did your CoC begin conducting an annual unsheltered PIT count?
    

12. Why did your CoC decide to conduct an annual unsheltered PIT count?
    
    

13. What funding sources do you use to conduct the annual unsheltered PIT count? (Check all that apply.)
    City funding
    County funding
    HUD planning funding
    Private funding
    Other (please specify)
    
    

14. How did your CoC facilitate the annual unsheltered PIT count?
    (For example, did you increase the number of volunteers, or find additional funding?)
    
    

15. Did your organization have any challenges in implementing an annual unsheltered PIT count?
    No.
    Yes. If so, what were they and how did you overcome them?
    
    

16. How has conducting an annual unsheltered PIT count affected your CoC's operations and/or outcomes? If you have any data or analyses, please share specific metrics.
    
    

17. Why does your CoC not conduct an annual unsheltered PIT count? (Check * all that apply)
    
    Lack of funding
    Lack of volunteers
    Lack of internal capacity
    HUD does not require an annual count
    Annual variations in numbers are not enough to justify the expense of a count every year.
    Other (please specify)
     
    

18. Please elaborate on the reasons why your CoC does not conduct an annual unsheltered PIT count.
    
    

    Internal capacity for planning and coordination is the greatest barrier to an annual unsheltered count in Yolo. Organizing the counts requires an extraordinary amount of staff time on the front end to plan, during to oversee activities, and afterwards to analyze the data. We have no dedicated staff for the PIT, which means that existing staff members are required to re-direct their attention from other important tasks to oversee the count activities.

    
    
19. What would cause your CoC to conduct an unsheltered PIT count in the years not required by HUD?
    
    

    Additional funding and resources to hire a dedicated count coordinator.

    
    
    
20. What sources does your organization use to fund the HUD-required PIT count of unsheltered homeless? (Check all that apply)
    
    City funding
    County funding
    HUD planning funds
    Private funding
    Other (please specify)
     
    

21. How much did your CoC's 2017 PIT count cost?
    
    We do not have a estimated cost. All the costs associated with the 2017 count were in-kind, such as staff resources re-directed from other tasks and goods (socks, food, etc.) donated to use as incentives.
22. How many people did your CoC require to conduct its 2017 PIT count? (Staff, volunteers, and others)
    
    

    50-60 volunteers on the day of the count. 20-30 individuals particiapted on the planning committee. 1 coordinator approximarly half time in the 3 months leading up to the count. 1 analyst approximately one-quarter time in the 4 months following the count to analyze and prepare data.

23. How many of those identified in Question 22 were volunteers?
    
    

    All volunteers. No dedicated funding exists for the count.

24. Does your CoC recruit volunteers for its unsheltered PIT count from organizations outside the homeless services community?
    No.
    If yes, from which organizations/communities (outside of homeless service providers) did you recruit volunteers for the 2017 PIT count?
    
    

    Police department volunteers. People with lived experience who previously received services at participating organizations.

25. Please share your perspective on the reasons your CoC's unsheltered homeless population in 2017 did or did not change from that in its previous unsheltered PIT count.
    
    

    Yolo's unsheltered count increased from 39% in 2015 to 46% in 2017. This is largely due to a temporary emergency shelter program that operating during the winter months of 2015 that provided expanded shelter capacity, which was not operated again in the following years.

26. Has your CoC reallocated funding in the past?
    No.
    Yes. If yes, please provide additional details or comments regarding reallocation you would like to share.
    
    

    The Yolo CoC has intentionally reallocated the majority of its transitional housing funding to provide dedicated PSH for chronically homeless individuals and families.

27. How often does your CoC reevaluate final priority rankings for the HUD CoC Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), based on HUD priorities?
    Never
    Every year
    Other (please specify)
    
    

28. How often does your CoC perform the following gap analyses?
    
    Housing gap analysis—At least annually
    
    Funding gap analysis—At least annually
    
    Service gap analysis—At least annually
    
    Other (please specify)—
    
    
29. In what year did your CoC perform each of the following for the first time, or leave the row blank if it is not applicable.
    
    Housing gap analysis
    2017
    
    Funding gap analysis
    2017
    
    Service gap analysis
    2017
    
    Other (as you identified in question 27)
    
    
30. Does your CoC employ specific strategies for identifying alternative funding for programs that are reallocated or do not receive HUD funding?
    No.
    Yes. (If yes, please share some strategies your CoC employs to identify replacement funding.)
    
    
    
    
31. Does your CoC have a strategic plan that integrates other publicly-funded programs that provide services, housing, and income supports to poor persons whether they are homeless or not (mainstream benefits and services)?
    No. (Skip to question 36.)
    Yes. (Continue to questions 32-35 and skip question 36.)
    
    
32. Please provide a web address to your CoC's most recent strategic plan or email it as an attachment to CoCSurvey@auditor.ca.gov.

    Will email.

33. When did your CoC complete its first strategic plan?
    
    

    Yolo's original 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness was adopted in 2010.

34. How often does your CoC update its strategic plan?
    
    

    The plan was updated in 2017. Moving forward the Executive Commission overseeing the Strategic Plan intends to develop new work plans every 2 years.

35. How has your strategic plan benefited your CoC?
    
    

    The original version was not as helpful as people hoped, because it was not closely monitored for many years, and did not accurately reflect best practices such as Housing First. We hope that the newly adopted Strategic Plan will be a much more useful tool for our community.

    
    
36. Why has your CoC not developed a strategic plan?
    
    

37. What grant-seeking or fundraising activities does your CoC engage in?
    
    

    Many of the member agencies within the CoC regularly pursue federal, state, local and private funding sources. County staff frequently submit grant applications for homeless services after seeking input and feedback from the CoC's member agencies.

38. Are there any strategies or unique actions your agency takes that have strengthened your CoC?
    
    

    Consistent goals and performance measures across all projects and funding sources. Integration of HMIS and coordinated entry in all homeless services and projects.

39. Please provide any information about these strategies or actions.
    Feel free to provide web addresses to any reports or email them as attachments to CoCSurvey@auditor.ca.gov.
    
    

    NA

40. If you have any additional perspective or concerns, please provide this information in the space below.
    For example, if you would like to share additional information regarding homelessness, services, or funding.
    
    

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