Oakland-based nonprofit chosen over local organization to operate the new Salinas shelter and navigation center.

A track record for moving homeless individuals into permanent housing beat out focus on operating shelters in the selection of Oakland-based Bay Area Community Services over Community Homeless Solutions of Marina to run the new transitional homeless shelter and housing navigation center set to open in Salinas at the end of April.

The decision was made by majority votes of both the Salinas City Council and the Monterey County Board of Supervisors in a joint meeting on Feb. 9. There were concerns over not contracting with a local organization, but in the end the Salinas council voted 5-2 with councilmembers Steve McShane and Tony Barrera voting "no," and the supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of awarding the contract to BACS, with Supervisor Luis Alejo voting no.

The Salinas Housing Advancement, Resource & Education, or SHARE, Center came out of a 2018 memorandum of understanding between the city of Salinas and Monterey County to build it, replacing Salinas' warming shelter. In 2019, the city and county were awarded $6 million out of state Homeless Emergency Aid Program funds for construction. The agreement was that the county would build the shelter and the city would oversee its operation.

Last fall, Salinas assembled a selection committee to seek and choose an operator, which included two city staff, two county staff, a representative from the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership and one from the Coalition of Homeless Service Providers. They also contracted with a consultant to help with the process. Two candidates stepped forward, BACS and CHS.

There was an effort to give local organizations a chance to score higher in the selection process, Megan Hunter, the city's Community Development Department director, told the council and the board on Tuesday. The committee asked how providers would incorporate the local community and working with local organizations, as well as hiring local employees.

The committee relied on both written answers to questions and interviews, and they thought the interview would give a local organization a possible edge over out-of-town providers, Hunter said.

While CHS was well-known to the committee as the operator of the Chinatown Navigation Center and the Salinas Warming Shelter, it was BACS' focus on housing first—in other words helping homeless individuals get quickly into permanent homes rather than remaining long term in shelters—that lead to it scoring nearly 10 points higher than CHS.

BACS has a track record of success, staff reports for both the city and the county stated. In 2017, BACS reported that 82 percent of its guests moved into permanent housing. Hunter said BACS' answers to questions about working with communities and hiring local workers satisfied the committee that BACS would be a good choice.

“Given our regions' challenging housing crisis and BACS’ extensive experience mitigating housing issues in regions with severe homelessness challenges, panelists' rankings determined they are best equipped to operate the new SHARE Center,” the Salinas City Council report states. “Panelists agree that a key attribute of our SHARE Center operator is the ability to quickly move residents to permanent housing.”

The report also notes BACS operates with a team of more than 360 people, serving 12,500 people each year. The BACS Form 990, an annual report required by the IRS of nonprofit organizations, shows that in June 2019, the organization had revenue of $59 million. CHS, reported $2.9 million in revenue, and posted a deficit of $184,770 for that same fiscal year of 2018-19.

CHS Executive Director Eric Johnson argued that the process was not fair to his organization and had the scores been weighted to allow for local preference, CHS would have scored higher than BACS. He also argued CHS had the staff and experience to manage the new shelter.

"The 'navigation center' is a good, nice term to use. It's the most frivolous buzz word out there. But in essence the SHARE Center is going to be a shelter," Johnson said, noting that the city would be shutting down the warming shelter, driving its guests to SHARE.

"So it's a shelter with great navigation services tied to it but it's a shelter," Johnson said. 

Alejo agreed with Johnson that the process was not fair and should have awarded more points to a local provider. He was also concerned that BACS' administration is in the Bay Area, away from Monterey County, and carries multiple contracts with cities in that region. It could mean less focus on Monterey County's needs, he said. In addition, he worried about disruption in the lives of CHS employees at the warming shelter who would be laid off with only the potential of being hired into the SHARE Center.

Other councilmembers and supervisors commented they thought the process was fair and transparent, like Mayor Kimbley Craig. Her focus, she said, was getting as many homeless individuals into housing as possible. "It takes courage to pivot from whatever we're used to. We've had nine years of a 'temporary' warming shelter," she said. She assured CHS the city remained committed to contracts they have with the nonprofit and hoped to help them expand services in the future. 

Board Chair Wendy Root Askew said all the homeless providers as well as cities, county and funding from a variety sources are needed to tackle the issue of homelessness.

"There's a need for everyone. The outcome of this process I'm hopeful will bring us additional capacity to the community and continue to build additional capacity," she said. "The more parters that we have to meet those needs the better the outcome will be."