RFP #2014_HUD Homeless - Questions and Answers

RFP #2014_HUD Homeless - Questions and Answers QUESTION 1. Page 3 of the Request for Proposal states a Closing Date of 1:30 p.m., but page 6 states a Deadline for Proposals of 4:00 p.m. on Monday, September 24, 2014. Which applies? 2. Can we submit a thumb drive with the application in lieu of a CD? 3. I don t see any limitation to the number of words or size of narrative answers. Is there a limit? 4. Question 3B, Performance Reports required of bidder s described project, what types of reports can be included? 5. Question 6D, Company size; is this in reference to the corporate organization or the local organization? 6. Question 10, Persons with whom the Bidder has been associated in business as partners or business associates, is this in reference to the corporate organization partnerships or the local organization s partnership? ANSWER Proposal will be accepted until 4pm on Monday, September 24, 2014; this discrepancy is addressed on Addendum 1 RFP No. 2014_HUD HOMELESS item no. 4.2. Yes. There is no limit on the number of words. However, if more space is needed to answer a question, simply make the notation, See attachment # (with number stated) and complete your narrative on a separate attachment. Any performance reports completed which includes, but is not limited to: Annual Performance Reports (APRs), monthly or quarterly accomplishment reports, monitoring reports, etc. Specify only the local organization that will be responsible for providing the services under this proposal. This refers to local organization partnerships. RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 1

7. Question 12, are DOJ background checks required? a) Is the applicant required to use DOJ live scan, or can an outside company that does complete background checks, including public records, national data base search and sexual offender registration be used? 8. Question 13, should we include proposed Housing Navigators staff in this section? 9. What is the difference between a case manager and a housing navigator? Yes, DOJ background checks will be required for all bidders that are awarded funding under the CoC. For the purposes of the proposal, bidders will describe their policy and procedures for conducting background checks and the company the organization utilizes for this service. a) A bidder can utilize a different company for the DOJ Background check, but the bidder should utilize a company that submits background requests for criminal record information to the Department of Justice. Yes, add the job descriptions for Housing Navigator as an attachment in this section. For reference purposes only, see SAMPLE Housing Navigator job description Housing Navigators and case managers both focus on helping homeless persons obtain and maintain housing. However, Housing Navigators often engage homeless persons on the streets by implementing a Housing First approach which is in contrast to traditional street outreach that has focused on helping homeless persons move through a traditional continuum of care system of emergency shelter placement, followed by transitional housing placement, and finally permanent housing. Case Managers often do not engage homeless persons on the streets and may use a housing-ready approach in contrast to a Housing First approach. For more information, go to: http://usich.gov/usich_resources/solutions/explore/housing_and_employment_na vigators/ a) Where should the Housing Navigator go on the budget? Housing Navigators should be included in the line item for Case Management: within the supportive services section of the budget. 10. Are we required to register for SAM? No. To obtain proof of the Federal Exclusion List Bidders must go to https://www.sam.gov (SAM-System for Award Management) and submit with their proposal proof that the bidding contractor has no active exclusions from federally funded contracts. To complete this proof, do the following: 1. Go to the System for Award Management (SAM) webpage at RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 2

11. What is the definition for chronically homeless? https://www.sam.gov ; 2. Click on the Search Records tab; 3. In the Quick Search box, enter any of the following: a. Bidder s legal business/organization name, b. Bidder s DUNS number, or c. Bidder s CAGE Code; 4. Click the Search button; 5. Click the Print button and print a hard copy of bidder s non-exclusion proof (i.e., result shows bidder has no active exclusions); 6. Submit this printout with bidder s proposal and as response to Attachment A, Tab B, Item No. 14. Chronically Homeless Individuals and Families - An individual who is homeless and lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter; and has been homeless and living or residing in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter continuously for at least one year or on at least four separate occasions in the last 3 years; and can be diagnosed with developmental disability (as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 15002)), post-traumatic stress disorder, cognitive impairments resulting from brain injury, or chronic physical illness or disability; An individual who has been residing in an institutional care facility, including a jail, substance abuse or mental health treatment facility, hospital, or other similar facility, for fewer than 90 days and met all of the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition, before entering that facility; or A family with an adult head of household (or if there is no adult in the family, a minor head of household) who meets all of the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition, including a family whose composition has fluctuated while the head of household has been homeless. The definition for chronically homeless shall be equal to that of HUD s current definition for chronically homeless. Any deviations contained herein from HUD s definition shall be superseded by HUD s definition. See Terms and Conditions; section 4.0 Definitions, item 4.5 Chronically RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 3

12. Are couch surfers considered homeless? Homeless. The definition for chronically homeless is also found in Section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Act as amended by the HEARTH Act, item 401(2)(A) Chronically Homeless. Consistent with the definition of homeless in Section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Act and 578.3 of the HEARTH Act interim rule, couch surfers do not meet the criteria for an individual identified as homeless according to federal statute. Rather, couch surfers are considered an at-risk of homelessness population according to 578.3(1)(iii)(A) of the HEARTH Act interim rule and, therefore, they are an ineligible population under the Scope of Services for this application. To ensure that your application remains competitive in this funding competition, your application should serve only eligible populations. 13. Are the clients required to come from the streets? As part of the General Program Requirements, proposed projects will serve an eligible population which is chronically homeless individuals and/or families for Permanent Supportive Housing, and families for Rapid Re-housing proposal. a) Can families assisted with rapid rehousing assistance come from the shelter? b) Can Emergency Food and Shelter (EFSP) rapid re-housing funds be used to place someone into permanent housing and, once in housing, can CoC Funds be used for monthly rental assistance up to 12 months? a) Yes. Families assisted with rapid re-housing can come from streets or shelter. b) A client that enters transitional or permanent housing no longer retains their homeless and/or chronically homeless status. Housed clients may meet the criteria for at-risk of homelessness depending on their individual circumstances ( 578.3(1)(iii)(A) of the HEARTH Act interim rule). As part of the General Program Requirements, proposed projects will only serve eligible populations; at-risk of homelessness populations are an ineligible population. 14. What is permanent housing? Consistent with the definition of permanent housing in Section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Act and 578.3 of the HEARTH Act interim rule, the Permanent Housing component- is community based housing without a designated length of stay that permits formerly homeless individuals and families to live as independently as possible. See Terms and Conditions, section 4.0 Definitions, item 4.14 Permanent Supportive Housing. RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 4

15. Can you clarify the term reduce program barriers? Please refer to the Terms and Conditions, Section 5.4 HUD Policy Priorities, item 4 - Removing Barriers to CoC Resources. Proposals should describe the systems utilized to increase access and participation of eligible populations according to HUD s policy priorities. Systems utilized may include health care, mental health care, employment, and substance abuse treatment. Also see #25 below concerning the system barriers that often create program barriers. 16. Please provide an example of how a bidder can help chronically homeless individuals and families access healthcare options through the Affordable Care Act? 17. Please clarify the word daily in Question 5. 18. Can leasing be used to create permanent supportive housing beds? 19. Can chronically homeless children be assisted? 20. Can a bidder submit an application without utilizing Housing Navigators? In 2014, DPSS received state Medi-Cal Outreach and Enrollment funding to enroll 150,000 people in Medi-Cal in 2 years as part of the Affordable Care Act. CoC homeless clients and those at-risk will be targeted through this effort. DPSS will partner with the CoC to increase access to CalFresh, Medi-Cal and CALWORKS by providing on-going workshops and technical assistance and linking CoC projects with Covered California enrollment counselors and CalFresh outreach workers. Please contact DPSS s Community Outreach Branch, Kevin Stephens, Supv. Program Specialist, at kstephen@riversidedpss.org, for more details. For the purposes of the application, daily can also mean on-going or when necessary. Although Leasing is an allowable expense under Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), the RFP 2014_HUD Homeless, is strongly encouraging the creation of new PSH for chronically homeless individuals and families based on a Housing First Model with rental assistance. The chronically homeless definition does not focus on children; rather, the focus is on an eligible adult that meets eligibility under Section 401 of the McKinney- Vento Act as amended by the HEARTH Act, item 401(2)(A)(iii) Chronically Homeless and CoC Program Interim Rule 578.3(2) and 578.3(3). For an application to remain competitive, the inclusion of Housing Navigators is strongly encouraged as part of HUD s model to engage clients beyond the traditional street outreach approach. RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 5

21. Question 8 (i) and (j), are Housing Navigators required to fulfill the job duties in these sections? Our agency has other staff that specifically works on these tasks, how do we address deviations from this list? 22. Question 9 (i), how do I answer this question when the CoC has not adopted a prioritization policy yet? 23. Can you provide an example of mainstream resources? 24. How I can determine which areas are underserved? Should you have any deviation from the requirements of the RFP, please clearly address them Tab D, Acknowledgements, item 1 Clarifications, Exceptions, or Deviations. See Addendum 1 RFP No. 2014_HUD HOMELESS item no. 4.6 Mainstream resources include, but are not limited to: Medicaid, Medi-Cal, CalFresh (Food Stamps), CalWORKS, General Relief, SSI/SSDI, WIC, Affordable Care through Covered California, etc. Please see attached Number of Unsheltered Adults from the County of Riverside 2013 Point-in Time Homeless Count and the PSH Service Area Per District. 25. Clarify the term collective cases. Collective case is more than an individual (e.g., all members of a household). 26. Clarify the term system barriers and homelessness recidivism. For the purposes of this RFP, system barriers refers to policies or practices that prevent homeless individuals and families from receiving effective housing placement. Example: sobriety requirement, income, treatment adherence, criminal history, etc. Under the HEARTH Act interim rule in 578.65 (c)(1)(ii), homeless recidivism refers to reducing recidivism of homeless individuals and families who leave homelessness and reducing the percentage of families that become homeless again within the next 2 years. 27. How will the CoC evaluate the bidder s project in this competition? Will there be a review panel? How will the CoC be involved? Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria identified under Terms and Conditions section 5.0 Evaluation Process. There are several levels of review: 1. DPSS will review for eligibility threshold (i.e. complies with the requirements of the RFP) 2. Grant Review Committee will evaluate and score the proposals 3. The CoC Board of Governance will approve the recommendation of the RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 6

Review Committee 4. The result will be presented to the CoC All County Meeting 28. Question 21, what is an example of a quantitative tool that a bidder can use to evaluate its program/project? 29. Does subcontractor mean subrecipient? 30. Can a bidder use an EFSP Board Chair as a reference? 31. I saw in the proposal that the County is requesting references, but does the County also want to receive letters of support and MOUs? 32. Are there examples of how to document in-kind match, in particular, documentation of in-kind donations? Please clarify if match letters are required with the application. Quantitative tool and/or methodology refers to a bidder s internal process to evaluate its program/project performance. In order to remain competitive, the application should describe the bidders own performance monitoring and evaluation tool or system. Yes. See Addendum 1 RFP No. 2014_HUD HOMELESS item no. 4.3 Yes. Letters of reference or other letters of support are not necessary as part of the application and should not be used in lieu of the requested information on the application. In-kind match must conform also to 24 CFR Parts 84 and 85. Written documentation of donation of IN-KIND GOODS should be provided on the source agency's letterhead, signed and dated by an authorized representative, and should include the following: Value of donated goods to be provided to the recipient for the project Specific date the goods will be made available The actual grant and fiscal year to which the match will be contributed Time period during which the donation will be available Allowable activities to be provided by the donation The value of commitments of land, buildings, and equipment are one-time only and cannot be claimed by more than one project or by the same project in another year. Costs incurred by a partnering organization to provide IN KIND SERVICES to the program participants must be documented by a MOU Match letters are not required as part of the application, but will be required if the RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 7

bidder is selected as part of the Consolidated Application to HUD. 33. Regarding the match for this proposal: a) Are we matching Supportive Services, Operating Costs, HMIS and Admin? b) Can Staff time such as HMIS Staff and supervisory staff be used as match (e.g., can I use myself and the time I spend supervising and managing the program as match)? c) Clarify if ONLY cash match can be used for the costs of activities that are eligible under 24 CFR 578, Subpart D. 34. Under Rapid re-housing, does rental assistance (the funds paid on behalf of a participant for rent) need to be matched? 35. Cost proposal Budget narrative. Is a narrative required for every line item? 36. Proposed Budget Questions: a. Should utility deposits and security deposits be included in the TRA line item? b. Should I use the full 7% for administration, or can I use less? c. Can the match requirement be 100% derived from in-kind goods and/or services? d. Where does leveraging go? e. Is match reflected as a line item, by category or by grant? Where does it go? a) Yes, per 578.73(a) of the CoC Program Interim Rule. b) Match in the CoC Program is restricted to the costs identified in Subpart D of the CoC Program interim rule. c) Per 578.73(a), cash match must be used for the costs of activities that are eligible under subpart D of this part. Yes, per 578.73(a) of the CoC Program Interim Rule. A narrative is not required for every line item, but rather for key points you wish to emphasize on the budget. a. Yes b. Yes, use the full 7% for administration c. Yes d. Leveraging is not required as part of the application, but will be required if the bidder is selected as part of the Consolidated Application to HUD. e. Match is provided to the CoC Program grant and not to a line item and can only be used on eligible CoC Program costs (see line items in the Proposed Budget template). RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 8

f. Can transportation costs be included? g. How do I determine the rental assistance amount? h. Does the budget work the same as with the TH budget where personnel are charged across items? i. Will there be an allocation for Administration? 37. a) Is it possible to charge the client up to 30% of his/her income for permanent supportive housing along rental assistance for the first three months and put that 30% into a special savings account so that at the end of month 3 the individual or family has a source of money at month 4 when there will be a reduction in rental assistance? b) It is possible that someone enters permanent supportive housing without income and by month 4 they have income and 30% of the income would be put into savings so when the rental assistance is reduced in the 7 th month of housing they would have a source of income to help with reduction? Can this be done? f. Yes, transportation costs can be included; however, it is strongly recommended that bidders remain competitive in this competition by delegating the majority of supportive services like transportation to leveraged funds. g. Rental assistance is used to pay part (or 100% if no income) of the rent for a unit in which a homeless person will reside. HUD will only provide rental assistance, if the amount is reasonable. Please use the HUD 2014 Fair Market Rent (FMR) Documentation System. h. Yes. i. There is a budget category for Administration. It was not showing on the original RFP Proposed Budget, but there is now a revised Proposed Budget Template posted to the website for you to use with your application. a) Per 578.97(c), Program income, rents and occupancy charges collected from program participants are program income and subject to the terms of 578.77, Calculating occupancy charges and rent. b) PSH (rental assistance program) participant are required to pay a contribution towards rent, per 578.77(c)(1)(i), Resident Rent. However, if a client s income is zero, the participant s share of rent is zero. Should the rental assistance participant increase his or her income while enrolled in the program, then a review of income would be appropriate to determine the participant s shared cost of rent, per 578.77(c)(2), Rent Review. RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 9

38. What is leveraging? a) What can be included as leverage in the application? b) Is it true that 150% leverage is required? 39. What is the difference between match & leveraging? Leveraging is the practice encouraged by HUD to use supplemental resources, including state and local appropriated funds, to address homeless needs. a) Leveraging includes all funds, resources, and/or services that the applicant can secure on behalf of the client being served by the proposed project. Leveraging includes any other services, supplies, equipment, space, etc. that is provided by sources other than the CoC. b) Yes. At a minimum, all projects must demonstrate 150% leveraging for the 2013-2014 CoC application. Match funds can only be used on eligible CoC Program costs and must be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. Match requirement is 25% cash or in-kind for all line items except leasing. Leveraging See no. 38 All projects are required to have, at a minimum, 150% leveraging for the 2013-2014 CoC Application. RFP Q&A 9-11-14 Page 10