TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and any subsequent amendments, between the City of Long Beach and Mental Health America of Los Angeles for up to $80,000 annually, for a period of three years, from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) works closely with Mental Health America (MHA) to coordinate street outreach and other homeless services within Long Beach. Collaboration on the Homeless Connections Initiative (HCI) began in 2009 to specifically focus on chronic homelessness and its impacts on the downtown Long Beach Business Improvement District. Since 2009, the HCI project has been leveraged by Long Beach Continuum of Care resources, with funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and support from the office of 4th District Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. MHA is the primary recipient of the Hilton Foundation funding award for three years, January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016, and will establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that identifies the partnership agreement with the Health Department to provide street outreach and coordinated homeless assistance services through the Multi-Service Center.
MHA, as lead agency for the Homeless Connections Initiative, will partner with the City to provide: the centralized assessment at the Multi-Service Center for those individuals identified as the most vulnerable; coordinate and provide training for street outreach workers and case managers; coordinate service linkages and housing placements; and train, support and monitor the use of enhanced street outreach tools to further increase the number of chronic homeless individuals linked to appropriate resources and housing. The City of Long Beach will receive a flat $80,000 annually for each of the three...
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