June 20, 2017

TO: Continuum of Care Evaluation Committee, Continuum of Care Board

FROM: Michael Gause, Continuum of Care Coordinator

RE: Final Evaluation Report – FY 2017 CoC Competition

On March 8, 2017, the Sonoma County Continuum of Care began its local rating and ranking process for renewal projects in the CoC consolidated application. In 2017, 18 projects are eligible for renewal. Prior to the 2016 competition, Catholic Charities’ Santa Rosa Permanent Supportive Housing #1, was consolidated with another Catholic Charities project, resulting in one fewer project than the previous year, but the same total amount of funding.

The Coordinated Intake Project, Coordinated Intake Expansion Project, Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and HMIS Expansion Project are all mandated projects for which the Sonoma County Community Development Commission (SCCDC) is the grantee. Because these are mandated activities, these projects were not scored as part of the evaluation process. The remaining 14 projects were scored by the CoC Coordinator and HMIS Coordinator using 2017 Scoring Criteria and following the 2017 Renewal Process, both of which were approved at the February 2017 CoC Board Meeting. SCCDC accounting staff assisted the CoC Coordinator with reviewing agency audits and monitoring questions.

HUD has yet to release guidance on when the 2017 Notice of Funding Availability will be released, but based on past experience, this could happen as early the summer of 2017. HUD has released its annual Grants Inventory Worksheet, which shows our Annual Renewal Demand (ARD) for the 2017 competition to be $2,986,734.

Renewal Project Scoring

Attached to this final report is the scoring sheet and methodology used in the annual project evaluations.

The Evaluation Committee held its first meeting on April 17, 2017 from 1:30-4pm. Members of the 2017 Evaluation Committee include:

·  Gale Brownell, Advocacy Representative of CoC Board

·  Sue Castellucci, City of Petaluma & CoC Board Chair

·  Eleanor Grogan, Community Foundation Sonoma County & CoC Board Member

·  Jed Heibel, West County Health Centers & CoC Board Member

·  Kelli Kuykendall, City of Santa Rosa & CoC Board Member

·  Mark Krug, Burbank Housing

·  Joni Thacher, Sonoma County Department of Human Services

The Committee was staffed by the CoC Coordinator, Michael Gause, and HMIS Coordinator Chris Alexander.

Corrective Action Plans and Scoring Revisions

Due to the increased emphasis on project performance by HUD, the CoC Board approved raising the threshold for unconditional renewal from 75% (our practice for a decade) to 80% in 2017. In 2017, the top score was 87.28, setting the 80% threshold at 69.82. Eleven (11) projects scored above the threshold and are approved for renewal without conditions. These are listed on the next page.

Three projects scored below the threshold criteria:

·  Mill Street Supportive Housing (West County Community Services): 68.39

·  Renewal Rental Assistance – Persons with Disabilities (SCCDC): 62.12

·  Cherry Creek Village (West County Community Services): 62.00

Projects scoring below the 80% threshold were required to discuss their situation with the Evaluation Committee. The CoC Evaluation Committee typically works on corrective action with lower-performing projects for a year; if problems continue, projects may be reallocated in the following cycle.

The Evaluation Committee met with both WCCS and SCCDC staff in May 2017 to address concerns with their respective projects. Corrective action plans were created, and all three projects submitted responses by the deadline of June 20, 2017 at 5pm. (See attached Corrective Action Plan Responses.)

The Evaluation Committee recommends lifting conditions on all three projects; however, scores will not be revised and it remains likely that all three projects will fall into the at-risk category when the Continuum of Care Competition opens. It is important to note that the CoC Board will make final determinations on at-risk/Tier 2 funding upon release of the FY 2017 NOFA.

Finally, one scoring error was found after the preliminary report was issued to the CoC Board. Both projects with COTS, Community Based PSH 1 and 2, should have received one additional point for HMIS quality/standards. The impact of this means that COTS PSH 1 rises to #3 from #5 on the overall ranking list.

Site Visits

In years past, the CoC Evaluation Committee has visited sites on a three year rotation. However, given HUD’s increasing focus on monitoring, we scheduled meetings with all agencies in FY 2017.

Particular attention was placed on reviewing project and client files for environmental review, homelessness verification (including documentation for chronic homelessness), disability verification, and adherence with Housing First practice.

No additional concerns that could amount to a finding from HUD were discovered during the site visits. However, feedback was given to many agencies on improving documentation of homelessness and chronic homelessness.

CoC Final Scoring FY 2017

Priority / Score / Agency / Project
1 / 87.28 / Community Support Network / Stony Point Commons
2* / 82.68 / COTS / Community Based PSH 2
3* / 80..50 / COTS / Community Based PSH 1
4 / 80.00 / Catholic Charities / Santa Rosa PSH 3
5 / 79.77 / SCCDC / Chronically Homeless Persons with Mental Illness
6 / 78.37 / Catholic Charities / Santa Rosa PSH 2
7 / 74.48 / Buckelew Programs / Samaritan Project
8 / 74.05 / SCCDC / Youth with Disabilities
9 / 73.21 / SCCDC / Persons with HIV/AIDS
10 / 72.17 / Social Advocates for Youth / Sponsor Based Rental Assistance
11 / 69.92 / Buckelew Programs / Sonoma SHP
12 / 68.39 / West County Community Services / Mill Street Supportive Housing
13 / 62.12 / SCCDC / Persons with Disabilities
14 / 62..00 / West County Community Services / Cherry Creek Village
N/A / N/A / SCCDC / Coordinated Intake Project
N/A / N/A / SCCDC / Coordinated Intake Expansion Project
N/A / N/A / SCCDC / HMIS Project
N/A / N/A / SCCDC / HMIS Expansion Project

*Scheduled to be consolidated into one grant but not yet finalized by HUD.

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2017 Continuum of Care Preliminary Evaluation Report, June 27, 2017