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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPast Year RFP Funds 148 and 149Page 1 of 9 Funding for Affordable Housing & Homeless Housing and Assistance Funds In Accordance With House Bills RCW 36.22.178 RCW 36.33.179 and RCW 36.22.1791. Request for Proposals (“148/149 RFP”) Page 2 of 9 BACKGROUND A FFORDABLE HOUSING FUNDS OR FUNDS 148 In 2002, the State Legislature enacted SHB 2060 [RCW 36.22.178], an Act relating to funds for operating and maintenance of extremely or very low-income housing projects and for innovative housing demonstration projects. Permissible Uses of Funding Funding must be distributed for programs and services as written in the local homeless housing plan outlined in SHB 2060 (RCW 36.22.178) which are: Eligible activities: a. Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very-low income persons with incomes at or below fifty percent of the area median income; b. Supporting building operating and maintenance costs of housing projects or units within housing projects eligible to receive Washington State Housing Trust Funds, that are affordable to very low-income persons with incomes at or below fifty percent of the area median income, and that require a supplement to rental income to cover ongoing operating expenses. If the proposal is to cover operation and maintenance of an existing low-income housing units, explain how these costs have been funded in the past and why these funds are now needed; c. Rental assistance vouchers for housing projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very low-income persons with incomes at or below fifty percent of the median income, to be administered by a local public housing authority or other local organization that has an existing rental assistance voucher program, consistent with or similar to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 rental assistance voucher program standards; d. Operating costs for emergency shelters and licensed overnight youth shelters; e. Per RCW 36.22.178(2), a priority must be given to eligible housing activities that serve extremely low-income households with incomes at or below thirty percent of the area median income. H OMELESS HOUSING AND ASSISTANCE FUNDS OR FUNDS 149 In 2005, the State Legislature enacted ESSHB 2163, an Act relating to funds for addressing local homelessness by providing housing, supportive services and homeless prevention. In subsequent years, including 2018, other bills added additional funding. See RCWs 36.33.179 and RCW 36.22.1791. Page 3 of 9 PPermissible Uses of Funding Local governments are given wide latitude covering the use of funds for any activity that can be tied to reducing and/or preventing homelessness, if it is explicitly included in the most recent local homeless plan outlined in ESSHB 2163 and ESSHB 1570 (RCW 36.33.179 and RCW 36.33.1791). W ho is Eligible for Services under these Funds? Persons meeting the definition of homeless under the legislation and persons at-risk of homelessness such as: • Persons being evicted within a week from a private dwelling unit or leaving an institution, such as a mental health or substance abuse treatment facility or a jail/prison, with no subsequent residence identified and lacking the resources needed to obtain housing; • Persons fleeing domestic or family violence with no subsequent safe residence identified and lacking the resources needed to obtain such housing; • Persons living on the streets or in emergency shelter but are spending a short time (up to 30 consecutive days) in a hospital or other institution; • Persons who would otherwise be living on the streets or in an emergency shelter. EEligible activities: a. Rental and furnishing of dwelling units for the use of homeless persons. b. Costs of developing affordable housing for homeless persons, and services for formerly homeless individuals and families residing in transitional housing or permanent housing and still at risk of homelessness. c. Operating subsidies for transitional housing or permanent housing serving formerly homeless families or individuals. d. Services to prevent homelessness, such as emergency eviction prevention programs including temporary rental subsidies to prevent homelessness. e. Temporary services to assist persons leaving state institutions and other state programs to prevent them from becoming or remaining homeless. f. Outreach services for homeless individuals and families. Page 4 of 9 g. Development and management of local homeless plans including homeless census data collection; identification of goals, performance measures, strategies, and costs and evaluation of progress towards established goals. h. Rental vouchers payable to landlords for persons who are homeless or below thirty percent of the median income or in immediate danger of becoming homeless. i. Other activities to reduce and prevent homelessness as identified for funding in the local plan. This is a threshold requirement. Any project not meeting these requirements will not be evaluated. Selection Criteria We will rank responses according to the criteria described below. All responsive proposals received by the time and date specified in this 148/149 RFP shall be evaluated by the 148/149 RFP Evaluation Panel based on the following criteria and weights: Evaluation Criteria Max. Points A. Capacity - Experience Providing Similar Program Services or Developing Similar Projects 15 B. Alignment - Meets Priorities and Aligns with 5 Year Plan 15 C. Approach – Completeness of Proposal and Readiness 20 D. Impact – Leverage of Funding 25 E. Budget – Feasible Financial Plan 25 TOTAL 100 Submission Requirements All proposals must include the following elements. We reserve the right to disqualify any incomplete proposals. (a) Capacity - Experience Providing Similar Services (15 Points) – If a Responder has previously received funding through RFPs for Fund 148 or Fund 149 they should provide a brief update on their experience in providing similar program services or development initiatives. Please identify staff that will be assigned to this program or project and their qualifications to undertake the proposed scope of work. If a Responder has not previously received funding it should provide a more detailed description of capacity Financial Capacity – Please include the prior year’s tax returns or audited financial statements and the Annual report for the previous year Page 5 of 9 (b) Alignment - Aligns with 5 Year Housing Plan and includes community outreach (15 Points) The proposal should describe how the project aligns with Jefferson County’s Homeless Crisis and Housing Response and 5 Year Plan, available here: https://test.co.jefferson.wa.us/WeblinkExternal/ElectronicFile.aspx?dbid=0&docid=2274 173&. The proposal should describe outreach efforts and the level of community support. (c) Approach – Completeness of Proposal and Readiness (20 Points) Please provide a well-developed and thoughtful plan describing how you will approach this assignment and complete the purpose of the proposal. The proposal will be evaluated based on the clarity of proposal, completeness of the submission including required certifications and documentation and readiness to begin the Program or Project if funding is awarded. The proposal should describe • the timeline for the project and immediacy of the need for the 148/149 funds • the components remaining to be secured before the project is shovel ready. • the plan for any unfunded components • If 148/149 funds are awarded, the construction start date • Whether the Project could be scaled (include the per unit cost of the Project) (d) Impact – Leverage of Funding (30 Points) 1. What other funds, donors, or community support are involved with the project? Will these funds leverage other funds? Identify other sources of funds that would be leveraged with the requested funds and/or how these funds will be used to leverage other funds. 2. How many new units will be brought online. What services will be funded and how is sustainability achieved? (e) Budget – A Feasible Financial Plan (25 Points) Identify whether you are a 501(c) (3), for-profit, PHA or government agency. Please provide the following if applicable: Page 6 of 9 • Program or Project Budget which includes a complete breakdown of all funding sources already received or committed for this Program or Project • Current operating budget for the organization requesting the funding • Operating Pro Forma for ten years. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS General The following procedure will be used to evaluate the proposals and select finalists. All complete eligible proposals received within the established deadline will be evaluated by the 148/149 RFP Screening Panel. 148/149 RFP Screening Panel The Housing Fund Board will be the 148/149 RFP Screening Panel. Proposal Evaluation Applicants whose proposal is being considered for an award may be invited to make an oral presentation of their proposal to the HFB. The HFB reserves the right to recommend funding for multiple contracts under this 148/149 RFP or recommend funding for a portion of the requested amount at their discretion. FUNDING PERIOD Jefferson County Homelessness Program Funding Instructions The HFB is requesting proposals for Affordable Housing and Homeless Housing and Assistance Funds for the period 1/1/23 through 12/31/23. Funding must be requested and used within each funding cycle. Each proposal requires the annual budget for the Project. Grantees will be required to submit Project progress and evaluation reports on a quarterly basis (every 3 months). Proposal Deadline: 9/30/22 by 4pm Sealed proposals must be clearly marked on the outside of the envelope, “PROPOSAL – Affordable and Supportive Housing 148/149 Funds.” Mailing address for proposal is, Board of Jefferson County Commissioners: PO BOX 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368. Page 7 of 9 Hand-delivered packets can be delivered to the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners at the Jefferson County Courthouse office located at 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, WA 98368. Proposals MUST be received by 4pm on 9/30/22 if hand delivered. Mailed proposals must be postmarked no later than 9/29/22. Late proposals will not be accepted. Submittals made in an incorrect format will not be considered. All responses to this Request for Proposal should be submitted on the provided application form. One (1) completed hard copy application is required to be submitted and an electronic PDF version of the proposal should be e-mailed to Carolyn Gallaway at carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us The following should be in the subject line: “Proposal –Affordable and Supportive Housing 148/149 Funds.” It is very important that your application is complete, signed, is for an eligible activity, and conforms to all program requirements. Applications not meeting all the requirements will not receive consideration for funding. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (148/149 RFP) TIMELINE FOR 148/149 FUNDS Date Activity 8/31/2022 148/149 RFP to be posted on the County website 9/14/2022 3pm Call-in for questions (360-385-9102) 9/30/2022 Proposals must be submitted by 4:00 pm 10/3/2022 Proposals opened and distributed to HFB 10/19/22 Technical questions for applicants will be sent once with a return date of 2 weekdays. 10/26/2022 Presentation of 148/149 RFP to HFB 10/26/2022 HFB Recommendation to BOCC 10/31/2022 BOCC regular meeting/ BOCC acts on recommendations 11/15/2022 Contracts to County Prosecutor and Risk Manager for approval 12/5/2022 Contracts to Providers and returned to BOCC for signatures Note – All dates are subject to change Page 8 of 9 Definitions Definition of Area Median Income for Jefferson County Affordable housing program eligibility is always determined by one's income. Each household's income is compared to the income of all other households in the area. This is accomplished through a statistic established by the government called the Area Median Income, most often referred to as AMI. The AMI is calculated and published each year by HUD. In Jefferson County, HUD calculates the Fifty Percent (50%) Area Median Income (“AMI”) for a family of four as $39,800. Fifty Percent (50%) AMI for an individual is $27,900. Any other definitions? Period of Performance: Funding under this grant program is allocated for a 12-month period. The period of performance for services solicited under this 148/149 RFP begins 1/1/23 and ends 12/31/23. Carryover of unspent funds into the next program year upon request is permissible with HFB approval. In addition, initial funding is not an assurance or guarantee of ongoing operational funding after the contract period. Proposers are cautioned not to assume a commitment of future funding based on the receipt of funds in prior years. Guiding Principles for all Applicants: • Be as specific as possible in stating goals, objectives, expected results, deliverables, etc. It is expected that there will be considerably more requests for funds than there are funds available. Therefore, conciseness and clarity of description are essential. • The program must provide services only within Jefferson County boundaries. • Applicants that have received prior Affordable Housing and/or Homeless Housing and Assistance Funds must be current on all required reporting to be eligible to receive funds. • Grantees will be required to submit quantitative progress data reports on a quarterly basis (every 3 months) and a closeout report at the end of the funding period will be required no later than 2/1/24. Failure to submit timely reports/progress data will result in holding or non-payment of funds. These reports should include a comparison of outcomes to date with those initially proposed, and the total number of individuals served in the contract period. A fiscal and programmatic monitoring visit may be conducted by the County during any project year. Provider will make all documents and required files available for review. • Funding in previous years does not assure additional awards in this funding cycle. Page 9 of 9 Insurance Requirement: Awardees will be required to meet all the County’s insurance requirements, which are included as Attachment A to this 148/149 RFP. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS Complete all parts of the application form and answer all questions on the application. Incomplete applications will not be accepted and will not receive funding consideration. Application submittals are limited to the number of pages allowed. Applicants shall use Times New Roman 12-point font. Smaller font applications will not receive consideration for funding. All responses to this Request for Proposal should be submitted on the provided application form. One (1) completed hard copy applications are required to be submitted and an electronic PDF version of the proposal should be e-mailed to Carolyn Gallaway at carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us. Sealed proposals must be clearly marked on the outside of the envelope, “PROPOSAL – Affordable Housing & Homeless Housing and Assistance Funds 148/149 Funds.” Mailing address for proposal is: Board of Jefferson County Commissioners PO BOX 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 It is very important that your application is complete, signed, is for an eligible activity, and conforms to all program requirements. Applications not meeting all the requirements will not receive consideration for funding. Proposal Deadline: 9/30/2022 by 4pm Hand-delivered packets can be delivered to the Commissioners’ Office at the Jefferson County Courthouse; 1820 Jefferson St. Port Townsend, WA 98368. Proposals MUST be received by 4pm on 9/30/22 if hand-delivered and post marked 9/29/22 if mailed. Late proposals will not be accepted. Submittals made in an incorrect format will not be considered.