Housing for Health Vendor Pool

Request for Qualifications for Housing and Homelessness Supportive Services

On April 30, 2024^[1], The County of Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors allocated $1.5 million ($500,000 per year for three years) in Collective of Results and Evidence-based (CORE) funds from the FY 2025-28 funding cycle to support housing and homelessness prevention services. These funds will be managed by the Housing for Health (H4H) division within the County Human Services Department (HSD).

As a result, H4H is seeking proposals from Qualified H4H Vendor Pool organizations to help people keep stable, safe, healthy housing and living situations in the southern region of Santa Cruz County. As a result, H4H is seeking proposals from Qualified H4H Vendor Pool organizations to help people keep stable, safe, healthy housing and living situations in the southern region of Santa Cruz County. Find a copy of the full RFP here.

Applicants MUST be a pre-qualified H4H Vendor Pool supportive services vendor to qualify for this opportunity. Organizations interested in applying for this opportunity that are not already a qualified vendor must submit a Vendor Pool application along with their application for this specific opportunity. H4H is contracting for the following homelessness prevention services:

• Data-informed, targeted outreach and engagement
• Housing stabilization services
• Flexible financial assistance
• Housing-related legal services

A single, lead vendor will be selected based on their project proposal, organizational staffing capacity, experience, community connections and ability to provide the services as outlined in the Request for Proposals (RFP). The successful respondent will demonstrate special skills and experience by providing the following:

• Obtaining approval as a Housing for Health Vendor Pool supportive services provider
• Completing a narrative application questionnaire
• Providing a detailed program budget
• Committing to participate the Santa Cruz County Continuum of Care (CoC) as an “Organizational Member” and using the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for program data collection and reporting.

H4H intends to enter into a formal agreement by July 1, 2025, with a three-year term and an annual budget of $500,000.

RESPONSES DUE NO LATER THAN 5:00 P.M. on Friday, April 11, 2025, via email to HSDCCUProposals@santacruzcountyca.gov.

Questions and Answers Related to Submission Requirements

1. The RFP indicates $5000 of assistance to be provided to each household, with a target of supporting 30 families per year. Does all $5000 have to come from the RFP funds, or can we leverage other internal funds or CalAIM?
   Applicants for this funding source must propose a budget that includes at least $5,000 of financial assistance for up to 30 households per year as part of their response. Applicants can propose leveraging other funds to offer assistance beyond the $5,000 minimum. Reviewers will look at proposals to ensure there is at least $150,000 per year set-aside for direct financial assistance.
2. Does any legal assistance provided count towards the $5000 support per household? They appear separate but thought I would ask to be sure.
   No, the legal assistance budget is separate from the $5,000 minimum of direct client financial assistance.
3. Are you looking for one vendor for the entire RFP amount? Or might you fund different proposals at smaller amounts?
   We are looking to fund only one lead vendor. The lead vendor may propose subcontracts as part of their proposal. The lead vendor will be expected to coordinate services for each participating household and for ensuring the goals of the overall program are achieved.
4. Do all sub-contractors need to be vendors with the County?
   No. Only the project lead entity contracting with the County needs to be an approved County vendor in the Housing for Health Vendor Pool. Subcontractors must be able to meet the requirements outlined in the County contract. All work under the contract needs to be managed by the lead contracting entity.
5. Looking through the RFP and supporting docs it appears that there is interest in supporting households (families, individuals, seniors, etc.) that are not on a lease. Perhaps living with someone who has a lease, informally with others, etc. We are in support of assisting as many people as possible and removing another barrier is excellent. Our question is, what will happen when payments are made to non-lease holders? Typically, with leaseholders, we send the money to the landlord directly when rental assistance is needed. In the case described above, we would likely need to pay the requesting party or the leaseholder, not the landlord. This is needed for multiple reasons, one being a landlord may not know a leaseholder is having others live in a dwelling, and informing the landlord could jeopardize housing for the leaseholder as well as other tenants. Will paying an individual directly be acceptable to the county, with this RFP, as there will be fewer fiscal controls such as a W9 for a landlord?
   A significant portion of individuals that end up living in shelters and places not meant for human habitation, often live in “doubled-up”, “shared”, or “non-leaseholder” living situations prior to ending up in “literally homeless” circumstances. The County does expect the selected provider to assist households at-risk of homelessness in non-leaseholder situations. Under this Contract, the County will NOT allow direct payments to individual program participants, even in non-leaseholder situations. The selected provider will need to find creative ways to support these households other than providing them with direct cash assistance through this contract. For example, the provider could help facilitate adding an individual to a lease agreement, providing direct financial assistance for specific housing-related costs to help secure the housing, helping the individual find another housing option with greater stability using funds for a security deposit and first month’s rent, etc.

Become Part of the Housing for Health Vendor Pool

The Housing for Health (H4H) Division of the Santa Cruz County Human Services Department maintains a list of prequalified vendors eligible to apply for specific funding opportunities managed by H4H. These funding opportunities align with the H4H mission to ensure all county residents have stable, safe, and healthy places to live.

The Vendor Pool was created to streamline the process of contracting with vendors qualified to operate time-limited and permanent housing programs, provide housing-related services, manage leasing or rental assistance funding, and/or provide consulting and project management services for H4H.

If your organization works in any of these areas, we encourage you to apply to become part of the Vendor Pool. Some funding opportunities are only made available to pre-qualified H4H vendors.

Why Should You Apply Now?
In the first three months of 2025, H4H will be seeking a lead vendor to operate a three-year, $500,000 per year, targeted homelessness prevention program in the southern part of the County. Only pre-qualified vendors will have an opportunity to apply for this funding. The funding for this project comes from a set-aside of County Collective of Results and Evidenced-based (CORE) general funds for this specific purpose.

How to Apply
To be considered for the H4H Vendor Pool, please submit your Request for Qualifications (RFQ) no later than Monday, March 31, 2025. All applicants will be reviewed by a team of County staff and consultants with extensive experience in health and housing-related services. Notifications regarding your qualification status will be sent by the Vendor Pool Contract Analyst.

Take this important step today to ensure your place in our H4H Vendor Pool and be part of the ongoing effort to provide essential health and housing services to our communities. We look forward to reviewing your application!

About the Vendor Pool

In 2023, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved the creation of a Housing for Health (H4H) Vendor Pool to efficiently and rapidly respond to emerging opportunities to expand the number of qualified vendors willing to partner with us, utilizing time-limited funding, to achieve shared goals of reducing homelessness. The H4H Vendor Pool allows us to build the capacity of existing vendors, bring in new qualified vendors and decrease the timeline for contract execution. It is significant in accelerating efforts to prevent and end homelessness through supportive services, program operations, leasing/rental assistance, consulting and project management services.

Here on our H4H Vendor Pool website, potential H4H vendors can learn how to become a qualified vendor. Interested parties will also find information on the initial process for developing our H4H Vendor Pool, which vendors have been approved and what contracts have been executed. Learn more:

ANNUAL VENDOR POOL QUALIFICATIONS

• 2025 Annual Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Housing for Health Vendor Pool
  
  New or existing vendors wishing to qualify under one or more service categories may submit qualifications by completing the above-linked RFQ packet. Once minimum qualifications have been determined as specified in the RFQ, applicants may be added to the Housing for Health Vendor Pool list. Applicants who have received a "Fail" response in a prior RFQ submission, may re-submit their qualifications in a following review cycle by resubmitting a new packet. Vendors wishing to qualify in additional categories may submit additional proposals at any time, for review during the published cycles.
• Housing for Health Vendor Pool Q&A - COMING SOON!

QUALIFIED HOUSING FOR HEALTH VENDOR POOL VENDORS

CLICK HERE to review the list of currently qualified Housing for Health Vendor Pool vendors, as approved by the Board of Supervisors on June 27, 2023.

VENDOR POOL CYCLES

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APPROVED VENDOR POOL CONTRACTS