Report 2017-112 Recommendations

To better serve the needs of homeless Californians, and to provide statewide leadership to agencies at all levels for better coordination of efforts to address homelessness, the Legislature should enact legislation and include funding within the Budget Act of 2018 that will allow the state homeless council to hire permanent staff, including the appointment of an executive director.

To better serve the needs of homeless Californians, and to provide statewide leadership to agencies at all levels for better coordination of efforts to address homelessness, the Legislature should enact legislation and include funding within the Budget Act of 2018 that will allow California's CoCs to obtain the state funding necessary to better implement HUD-recommended activities, including annually counting the unsheltered homeless population, improving efforts to raise nonfederal funding, and improving their coordination with other agencies; and to more fully meet HUD requirements, including implementation and administration of the HMIS and entry systems.

The Legislature should require the state homeless council to develop and implement by April 1, 2019, a statewide strategic plan for addressing homelessness in California, including goals and objectives and timelines for achieving them, and metrics for measuring their achievements. Included among the goals and objectives should be the identification of additional funding sources that state and local agencies can use to better address California's homelessness issues.

The Legislature should require the state homeless council to implement steps by January 1, 2019, to assist CoC lead agencies in better implementing HUD-recommended activities including conducting annual counts of the unsheltered homeless population, raising nonfederal funding, and coordinating with other agencies.

The Legislature should require the state homeless council to implement steps by January 1, 2019, to assist CoC lead agencies in better meeting HUD requirements, including implementation of the HMIS and entry systems. The state homeless council should include among its considerations the establishment of a balance-of-state CoC area to help alleviate the administrative burdens imposed on CoC lead agencies, especially in rural areas.

To ensure the consistency and transparency of its processes, the Authority should implement updated written policies and procedures by July 2018.

To ensure the consistency and transparency of its processes, the Authority should update its written policies and procedures regularly to reflect changes in its processes.

To ensure that its funding recommendations are effective, consistent, and transparent, the Authority should develop and implement a process by July 2018 to ensure that staff complete evaluation tools as intended.

To ensure that its funding recommendations are effective, consistent, and transparent, the Authority should develop and implement a process by July 2018 to document supervisory review of its application evaluation process and of meetings in which it discusses funding decisions.

To ensure that its funding recommendations are effective, consistent, and transparent, the Authority should include the previously mentioned changes to its processes in its updated written policies and procedures by July 2018.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should evaluate the use of a document management system to support the application evaluation process and implement the appropriate system by December 2018.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should evaluate the effectiveness of the selected system within 12 months after implementation.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should develop and implement a process by December 2018 to track aggregate application evaluation data, including the common reasons applicants fail to qualify for funding, among other information.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should track service areas in its database management system or by another mechanism to identify accurately the results of its application evaluation process, amounts awarded, amounts funded, and amounts disbursed by service area by July 2018.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should track HUD awards, including renewal projects, by service area by July 2018.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should track the reasons that service providers who attend the mandatory bidders conference do not apply for funding, and address any barriers by July 2018.

To expand the number of service providers through targeted technical assistance, the Authority should continue its efforts to develop and implement technical assistance programs for service providers, and track and analyze the results of that assistance by April 2019.