DATE: December 9, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Resolution for Continuum of Care Program Funding Grant Application for Regional Street Outreach Program
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Make a finding that it is in the best interest of the County to waive the provision of Administrative Policy No. 27 that requires grant applications to be reviewed and approved by the Board before submitting to the funding agency, or submitted contingent on Board approval, due to the funding agency requiring Board approval before submitting the final application, making a retroactive approval unattainable;
2. Adopt Resolution authorizing the Chairman to execute and submit an application in response to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for Fiscal Year 2025 Continuum of Care Program Competition for a Regional Street Outreach Program totaling up to $1,000,000; and
3. Approve and authorize the County Administrative Officer, or designee, to execute required grant-related documents, subject to approval as to legal form by County Counsel and as to accounting form by the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector.
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the first recommended action would waive Administrative Policy 27, forgoing Board review and approval of the completed application before it is submitted. This would allow the County of Fresno (County) sufficient time to submit the official application prior to the deadline. Approval of the second recommended action would authorize the execution and submittal of the grant application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition. Approval of the third recommended action would authorize the County Administrative Officer (CAO), or designee, to be the signatory on behalf of the Board of Supervisors on any required associated grant documents. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may direct the CAO to forgo applying for the 2025 HUD CoC Program Competition; however, the Regional Street Outreach Program (Outreach Program) project would not move forward until a funding source could be identified, and the County’s ability to respond and address homelessness throughout Fresno County would be limited.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with these recommended actions. The County will submit an application requesting grant funding for 2025 HUD CoC Program Competition for the Outreach Program for a total amount not to exceed $1,000,000. HUD CoC funding requires a 25% match which will be met with other funding sources allocated to the County for outreach services and/or provided by any subrecipient contracted by the County to provide outreach services with HUD CoC funds. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 2540 FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budget requests for the duration of the grant funding period.
DISCUSSION:
On November 13, 2025, HUD released its FY 2025 CoC Program Competition NOFO. This year's NOFO was significantly delayed and features a more competitive process and significant changes in how funding is allocated. Street outreach projects are included in this NOFO and are expected to be designed to meet immediate needs of unsheltered people by providing engagement, case management, and connections to emergency shelter and services.
Eligible street outreach projects under the FY 2025 CoC NOFO are expected to demonstrate strong, established partnerships and cooperation with first responders and local law enforcement agencies. Street outreach projects are also expected to prioritize and clearly describe how they will provide access to on-site or easily accessible treatment and recovery-oriented services, with an emphasis on required participation in services. The proposals must also clearly articulate how they will identify, engage, and transition individuals from unsheltered situations to emergency shelter, permanent housing, or critical services. Street outreach projects are expected to show how services will help participants increase their earned income, optimize long-term economic independence, and achieve stability.
Starting in September of 2025, the CAO began hosting a regional street outreach planning and design workgroup (Workgroup). The Workgroup is made up of representatives of the now established Office of Housing and Homelessness, County of Madera, cities in Fresno County, managed care plans, the Departments of Social Services and Behavioral Health, local education districts, Fresno Housing Authority, and the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care. The Workgroup has met regularly and has collaboratively developed critical aspects of a regional street outreach model and program. This work has helped the CAO finalize the Outreach Program that will be submitted as a grant application to the FY 2025 CoC Program Competition NOFO.
The proposed Outreach Program project would expand and reimagine current street outreach efforts both in metro and rural areas of Fresno County. The proposed program includes motel vouchers to be used to help focus engagement and offer services to individuals experiencing homelessness in rural cities and unincorporated areas of Fresno County. The program would continue and encourage further strengthening of coordination and partnership with local law enforcement agencies, especially in rural areas where local law enforcement is typically the only or main local homelessness response agency. This project will braid and leverage other funding sources and County services to enhance regional street outreach service delivery. New components of the proposed Outreach Program would leverage CalAIM Community Supports benefits including housing navigation, housing deposits and transitional rent to ensure transitioning a higher rate of individuals out of unsheltered homelessness than in current local street outreach models.
In addition to coordinating with local law enforcement agencies, the proposed Outreach Program model would be set up to coordinate and collaborate regularly with both Behavioral Health and Social Services County departments. This would be done through a planned and strategized interdisciplinary workgroup focused solely on prioritized and high-risk encampment areas throughout Fresno County. Other County departments that will be expected to participate in this interdisciplinary workgroup will include Probation, Public Health, and Code Enforcement. This approach will help address immediate and long-term needs by combining expertise from various fields more efficiently and effectively with the goal of producing better and more visible outcomes.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Resolution
CAO ANALYST:
Dylan McCully