Board approves HAP 5 awards, pauses HAP 6 pending HSOC ad hoc review

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 4 approved staff recommendations to distribute HAP 5 funds immediately while holding HAP 6 allocations for further review by an ad hoc committee of the Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC).

Supervisor Gibson said performance-based scoring produced geographic disparities and proposed approving HAP 5 now while pausing HAP 6 to let the ad hoc committee revisit methodology. "My original thought was to see if we couldn't suspend the allocations of HAP 5 and 6 pending the outcome of ad hoc committee discussions," Gibson said, but proposed instead approving HAP 5 and holding HAP 6 for review.

City and provider testimony framed the debate: David Amini, housing coordinator for the City of San Luis Obispo, said CAPSLO received $73,166 under the recommendations while other providers received substantially larger amounts and asked the board to shift at least $14,145 to balance Mid-County allocations. Providers including Ken Tragero (People Self Help Housing) and Devin McQuade (5 Cities Homeless Coalition) described rising demand and capacity constraints; Linda Balch and George Solis from the county homeless services division explained staff methods that rely on HMIS data and one-year performance outcomes.

After deliberation the board voted to approve staff recommendations for HAP 5 and continue consideration of HAP 6 allocations for up to 90 days pending HSOC ad hoc committee review. The board directed staff and HSOC to revisit the weighting and data used in performance-based scoring and to report back through HSOC and to the board.