50491.2.
(a) The department shall make grants available to applicants through a competitive process that includes scoring based upon, but not limited to, all of the following:(1) The extent to which the applicant shows progress in developing housing or shelters, including, if a city, county, or city and county is an applicant, permitting supportive housing or constructing shelters or navigation centers.
(2) The need of the applicant, which includes consideration of the number of individuals experiencing homelessness and the impact of housing costs in the jurisdiction.
(3) The extent of coordination and collaboration between the applicant, other jurisdictions in the region, and the continuum of care covering the geographic area.
(4) The ability of the applicant or proposed subrecipient or subrecipient to administer or partner to administer the type of funding the applicant is seeking, based on the applicant’s proposed use of program funds.
(5) The applicant’s documented partnerships with affordable and supportive housing providers in the jurisdiction.
(6) Demonstrated commitment to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness through existing programs or programs planned to be implemented within 12 months.
(7) The proposed use of funds, the extent to which those uses are evidence-based, and the extent to which the proposed use will lead to overall reductions in homelessness.
(b) Applicants shall compete with other applicants of similar population sizes and characteristics, such as urban centers, rural communities, and small counties.
(c) An application shall meet the following requirements:
(1) The application shall demonstrate regional coordination between cities, counties, and continuums of care, and report all funds currently being used to provide housing and services to the homeless population in the applicant’s region, including, but not limited to, Mental Health Services Act (Part 4 (commencing with Section 5850) of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) funds, mental health realignment funds, and dedicated city and county funds.
(2) The applicant shall identify and commit to match 25 percent of the grant amount, and shall ensure the sustainability of funding for at least 15 years.
(A) A continuum of care applicant may use in-kind services as a match.
(B) A city, county, or city and county applicant may use up to one-half of the city’s, county’s, or city and county’s allocations from the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund established by Section 50470. To meet the requirements of this subparagraph, a city, county, or city and county applicant shall do either of the following:
(i) Commit to use nonhousing system resources to satisfy this subparagraph.
(ii) Create a local flexible housing subsidy pool that, to the extent funds may be used for these purposes, combines funding from health, criminal justice, child welfare, or emergency response systems to fund the same eligible uses as identified in this section.
(C) A city, county, or city and county applicant shall not use funds to supplant existing funds dedicated for the same purpose.
(D) Should a city, county, or city and county recipient fail to comply with this section, the department may require any funds provided to the city, county, or city and county to be returned to the department.
(3) The application shall include a commitment to ensuring all grants follow the core components of Housing First, as set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, including referrals to coordinated entry systems.
(4) The application shall describe or provide documentation of the local program or project selection process anticipated to be used to allocate available funds to subrecipients qualified to carry out the eligible activities. To satisfy the requirements of this paragraph, the applicant’s proposed program or project selection process shall avoid conflicts of interest in program or project selection and shall be easily accessible to the public.
(5) The application shall identify anticipated estimated amounts to be used for the specific eligible activities described in the application and numerical goals and performance measures established by the applicant, in collaboration with the relevant continuum of care, to be used to evaluate success in implementing eligible activities described in the application for the anticipated term of the agreement with the department entered into pursuant to the program. At a minimum, applicants shall evaluate the following project or system performance measures on an annual basis, based on HMIS data from the continuum of care service area or other data, as set forth in the department’s notice of funding availability:
(A) The number of persons served.
(B) The number of unsheltered persons served, and the average length of time spent homeless before entry into the program.
(C) The number of persons served currently living in permanent housing.
(D) The number of exits from the program, and the reasons for those exits, including returns to homelessness.
(E) The process for referrals to housing.