Council hears CHHS recommendations: $3.46M in homelessness‑prevention awards, RFPs for inclement‑weather and scattered sites, and an eviction‑prevention program

CHHS staff presented several human services funding and program recommendations to the City Council, including homelessness‑prevention subgrants, inclement‑weather bed RFP results, scattered‑site operator recommendations and the city’s final HOME‑ARP allocation round.

On homelessness prevention, CHHS said the total award is $3,462,099 and that 15% of the award will be retained by the city for administration and system coordination; the remaining 85% is recommended for subgranting to local providers. Staff told council the competitive RFP ran August–September and that the CHHS Human Services Committee reviewed and recommended the applications for funding.

CHHS also briefed council on inclement‑weather bed planning and an RFP released in July for 2026 services; staff received three proposals and recommended two for funding while planning to reissue the RFP to secure additional capacity. Current inclement‑weather beds through the end of this year total roughly 89 across four sites, and staff showed proposed bed locations for 2026.

A separate scattered‑site operator RFP recommended contracts for services beginning January 2026: staff proposed operators to provide roughly 160 beds across about eight sites in 18‑month contracts, at a total value of about $5,460,000. CHHS said those contracts will be funded primarily with state dollars and document‑recording fee (DRF) local revenues; staff said they will coordinate allocations to avoid excessive mixing of fund sources in a single contract.

Councilors asked about past de‑obligations of grant funds (staff confirmed that some funds were de‑obligated from a prior provider and redistributed) and about whether the city had hired a rental‑eviction navigator (staff said the state pass‑through funds described here are separate from local navigator positions). Council members praised the leveraging requirement built into the HOME‑ARP and 15/90 funding rounds that limits the city’s contribution to less than 50% of total project cost.

Council discussion also covered an ordinance to establish an eviction‑prevention/navigation program that would centralize information and access to prevention dollars and mediation services. Council member Kat Carr said the ordinance aims to create a one‑stop shop so tenants and landlords do not face a maze of resources; staff said CHHS would staff the program and that the ordinance has been crafted to minimize new city staffing costs. Council members asked for edits to ensure program continuity even if specific eviction‑prevention fund sources fluctuate.