The Concord City Council has approved sending $5 million to six local organizations working on strategies outlined in the city’s Homeless Strategic Plan the Council adopted in February.
The organizations will offer temporary housing and comprehensive support services to help people transition out of homelessness.
The council in November will send $1.58 million to Caminar housing services for rapid rehousing; $1.705 million to GROW Concord for mobile resources; $760,000 to Hope Solutions for permanent motel supportive housing; $200,000 to NAMI Contra Costa for mobile resources; $25,000 to Northern California Family Center for interim housing: work; and $730,000 to Veterans Accession House for interim housing.
The city said in a statement the organizations will deliver field-based services to people in their current sheltering locations, addressing essential needs such as medical care, substance abuse treatment, food and hygiene, and workforce development.
The ultimate goal is to help people successfully exit homelessness with permanent housing.
The city decided to allocate the money t those six organizations after asking for proposals in September from organizations specializing in homeless response services.
Seventeen organizations submitted proposals and were interviewed by an ad hoc committee consisting of councilmembers Dominic Aliano and Laura Nakamura.
The committee made recommendations based on attributes like community benefits, goals and objectives, partnership and funding sources, and organizational capacity.
Concord’s Homeless Strategic Plan consists of seven core strategies: Creating a mobile resurce unit, investing in rapid rehousing, developing scattered site housing, Developing scattered site tiny homes, developing centralized tiny homes, securing interim motel housing, and securing permanent supportive motel housing.
The strategies prioritize addressing the immediate needs of those living unsheltered by focusing on connection to services and expanding housing options with support services.
The council also approved a $126,500 agreement with Homebase for grant monitoring and reporting services, enabling able the city to closely track the progress of each program and gather data to measure and report specific outcomes and goals.
The city said the latest funding is in addition to approximately $1 million annually it distributes to 10 local organizations serving unsheltered residents.
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