Title
a. Approve Amendment No. 1 to the Declaration of Affordability Covenants governing the Shelter Cove Project to reduce the number of County-Assisted bedrooms from 36 to 32; and
b. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to make minor revisions, as needed, and sign the Amendment.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve Amendment Number 1 to the Declaration of Affordability Covenants governing the Shelter Cove project to reduce the number of County-Assisted bedrooms from 36 to 32; and
b. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to make minor revisions, as needed, and sign the Amendment.
SUMMARY:
Interim, Inc. (Interim), a non-profit organization, developed the Shelter Cove Transitional Housing Facility in Marina (Shelter Cove) in 1997. The facility consists of 36 transitional housing units located on the former Fort Ord; these units are designated to serve very low-income homeless or at risk of homelessness adults with psychiatric disabilities. Interim also provides supportive services to residents of the facility.
The County supported these efforts by making a June 6, 2005 loan of $100,000 to Interim to fund a portion of renovation costs. As a condition of the loan, Interim executed a Declaration of Affordability Covenants requiring 36 bedrooms to be made available to very low-income, homeless or at risk of homelessness individuals with mental disabilities.
Interim is proposing additional construction at Shelter Cove to re-locate beds from a residential treatment facility (Bridge House) located in Monterey. Similar to Shelter Cove, the Bridge House facility serves low income, homeless or at risk of homelessness adults with substance abuse and psychiatric disabilities. This plan will result in a net loss of 4 designated units at Shelter Cove but will enable expansion by one more bed of the newly relocated Bridge House residential treatment facility at Shelter Cove. Additionally, it will allow the new Bridge House site in Shelter Cove in Marina to expand its Day Rehabilitation Program from 13 to 25 slots.
To implement this plan, and thereby increase the number of individuals of the target population that are served and otherwise improve delivery of services and outcomes, it is recommended that the Shelter Cove Declaration of Affordability Covenants be amended to permit reduction in the number of affordable units at Shelter Cove by four units.
DISCUSSION:
On June 20, 1996, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services granted surplus property in Marina, on the former Fort Ord, to Interim pursuant to the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The property, Shelter Cove, is specified for use as transitional housing, including provision of meals and supportive services, for very low-income, homeless or at-risk of homelessness mentally ill adults within Monterey County. Interim has continuously provided transitional housing at Shelter Cove since 1997.
Interim is proposing to demolish two housing units at Shelter Cove containing eight beds and to repurpose an office/meeting room to house four beds, thus resulting in a net loss of four units.
Interim is also proposing to build a new facility on the Shelter Cove property in order to move its Monterey Bridge House residential treatment facility to Shelter Cove. Benefits to this proposal are the expansion of Bridge House to increase available beds for homeless or at-risk of homelessness, low income individuals with substance abuse and psychiatric disabilities from 13 to 14. Services would be more accessible as the Fort Ord/Shelter Cove location is more centrally located. An additional benefit is Interim’s ability to expand the Bridge House Day Rehabilitation Program in Monterey to serve more clients from the targeted population. Currently, the only clients Interim can serve at Bridge House are those in the residential treatment program. Moving the residential treatment facility to Shelter Cove will increase the capacity of the Bridge House Day Rehabilitation Program from 13 to 25 clients.
Other benefits are expected as well. With this plan, Interim clients will be able to attend the Bridge House Day Rehabilitation Program while they are in Shelter Cove transitional housing. Best practices are to provide longer out-patient treatment where possible. This plan will allow up to 24 months of treatment in the Bridge House Day Rehabilitation program. Also, Shelter Cove residents will be able to attend the Day Rehabilitation program part-time, which improves options for transitioning clients into work or school. It is expected that moving Bridge House services to the new facility at Shelter Cove will improve outcomes by providing Bridge House graduates with better access to Shelter Cove clean-and-sober transitional housing.
The proposal to relocate Bridge House services to Shelter Cove arises from a Monterey County Health Department request. The Behavioral Health Division asked Interim to develop a new residential crisis facility for adults with mental illness to accommodate a substantial increase in the demand for mental health crisis treatment in Monterey County over the last 5 years. After moving existing Bridge House services from Monterey to Shelter Cove, Interim intends to develop the requested residential treatment crisis facility on the existing Bridge House property in Monterey. This will facilitate an important Monterey County Behavioral Health goal objective of creating an additional Crisis Residential treatment program in Monterey County. By moving the existing Bridge program to a new facility at Shelter Cove, Interim will be able to convert the Bridge House in Monterey to a second Crisis residential program (Manzanita Monterey) that will help to meet the need for more acute mental health services in Monterey County. The program will have 13 beds and is estimated to serve about 180 admissions/year.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel has reviewed the Amendment as to form. Behavioral Health Division is in support of the request.
FINANCING:
There is no impact on the General Fund.
Prepared by: _____________________________________________________________
Jane Royer Barr, Housing Program Manager, Ext. 5389
Approved by: _____________________________________________________________
David L. Spaur, CEcD, EDFP, Economic Development Director, Ext. 5387
Attachments:
Amendment #1 to the Declaration of Affordability Covenants
(Attachments are on file with the Clerk of the Board)