County approves HAP4 awards with board direction; staff to report on countywide prevention and HUD 2026 action plan wins funding for recuperative care
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Summary
After providers pressed for more central‑county prevention funding, the Board approved staff recommendations for HAP4 and the HUD 2026 action plan while directing staff to explain how awards create a countywide prevention network and to return with options to augment funding at budget time.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted April 7 to approve staff recommendations for HAP4 homelessness‑prevention grants and a separate HUD 2026 action plan that together fund prevention, rapid rehousing, outreach and several affordable‑housing and rehabilitation projects.
The vote followed extensive public comment from local providers and a sustained exchange among supervisors about geographic gaps in the HAP4 awards. Supervisor Gibson pressed staff and colleagues to address an apparent omission: no HAP4 funds in the central part of the county (San Luis Obispo city, Los Osos and surrounding areas). Gibson proposed augmenting prevention funding roughly $150,000 from county reserves to fill the gap and urged a clearer countywide strategy.
County staff said the HAP4 recommendations were made after a second RFP and a performance‑based review conducted by the Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC). George Solis, principal administrative manager for the Homeless Services Division, told the board the RFP initially received no applications in December, a second RFP produced five applications, and other funding streams (Emergency Solutions Grant, CalAIM, Community Development Block Grant, and county general fund) are available to address coverage gaps.
To reconcile competing concerns, the board approved the staff recommendations while adding explicit direction: staff must report back explaining how the approved awards, together with other actions, provide a countywide approach to homelessness prevention; staff should pursue process refinements with HSOC to increase transparency and consider a funding matrix to guide which funds support which service types; and the board may consider augmentation during the upcoming budget process.
At the same meeting the board also approved the county’s HUD 2026 action plan, which allocates Community Development Block Grant, HOME and ESG funds across projects including two rehabilitation projects, minor home repair, 15 non‑congregate recuperative‑care cabins and supportive services. Staff said HUD’s final allocations were higher than the earlier estimates and that awards would be adjusted proportionally when final figures arrive.
Supporters including 5 Cities Homeless Coalition, CAPSLO and Community Action Partnership urged the board to fund recuperative care capacity and supportive services. A 5 Cities representative said a local recuperative‑care program will reduce emergency‑room and incarceration costs by helping medically fragile clients exit hospitals to a recovery setting and then into housing. CAPSLO and other service providers also thanked the board for funding minor home repair and prevention programs that help people remain housed.
The board directed staff to notify subrecipients of allocations, authorize staff to amend the action plan if HUD’s final amounts differ, and to return with more detailed implementation and outreach plans. The board’s approval preserves the County’s path to execute HUD grant agreements when HUD issues them in the fall.
What’s next: Staff will notify subrecipients of allocations, adjust project awards when HUD’s final numbers are released, provide the requested analysis showing how the awards produce countywide prevention coverage, and the board may revisit augmentation during the fiscal‑year budget process.
