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Health and Human Services to place five homelessness‑related contracts on Tuesday agenda, staff outlines monitoring and reimbursement rules
Summary
HHS said it will present five contracts for board action Tuesday covering coordinated entry services and shelter operations, including a contract for Phoenix House. Staff described contract amounts, reimbursement and monitoring procedures and said funds are reimbursed after expenditures.
Cowlitz County Health and Human Services told the Board of Commissioners it has five homelessness‑response contracts scheduled for Tuesday's agenda, and staff described how contracts are structured, monitored and reimbursed.
Gina James, director of Health and Human Services, said the five contracts include three coordinated entry contracts (Family Health Center, Emergency Support Shelter, and Community House), a shelter operations contract with Emergency Support Shelter (which includes a county match component), and a services contract with Housing Opportunities for Southwest Washington for Phoenix House, which houses people exiting substance use disorder treatment.
James summarized the coordinated entry contract amounts as two at about $25,000, one at about $27,090, and one at about $40,000 (numbers as transcribed from staff remarks); she said the allocations were adjusted from prior years based on utilization and previous award traffic. James told commissioners that the county issues reimbursement only after providers expend funds and submit invoices; monitoring and audits compare submitted reimbursements to vendor documentation and contract budget line items.
When a commissioner asked whether budgets are negotiable, James said budgets submitted with proposals are negotiated and staff did adjust line items in this round. She also confirmed the county separates coordinated entry and shelter operations into distinct contracts to keep programmatic requirements and reporting clear.
James said staff are coordinating with Housing Opportunities for Southwest Washington about a March presentation on Phoenix House and that one additional prospective contractor remains in conversation about a separate contract.
None of the five contracts were approved in this meeting; James said they will be on the Tuesday agenda for formal action and that monitoring protocols require line‑item supporting documentation for reimbursements.
