That the City Council:
A. Ratify a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County of Orange Health Care Agency and the City of La Habra and the City of Fullerton for the Provision of Alternative Housing for COVID-19 Response Services for Homeless Individuals; and,

B. Ratify an Agreement between the cities of La Habra and Fullerton and Kingdom Causes Inc., (dba City Net) for the Quarantine Motel Shelter Project; and

C.  APPROVE AND ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. ____ ENTITLED:  A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA HABRA, CALIFORNIA, RATIFYING THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE COUNTY OF ORANGE  HEALTH CARE AGENCY AND THE CITY OF LA HABRA AND THE CITY OF FULLERTON FOR THE PROVISIONS OF ALTERNATIVE HOUSING FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE SERVICES FOR HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS AND RATIFYING THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITIES OF LA HABRA AND FULLERTON AND KINGDOM CAUSES, INC. (DBA CITY NET) FOR QUARANTINE MOTEL SHELTER PROJECT. 

On January 31, 2020, the United States federal government declared a public health emergency in response to growing concerns for public health related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  On February 26, 2020, the County of Orange declared a local health emergency and on March 4, 2020, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in California.

On March 16, 2020, in response to these actions, and pursuant to Government Code Section 8550 et seq., including Section 8558(c), City Manager Sadro, acting in his lawful capacity as Director of Emergency Services for the City of La Habra, proclaimed the existence of a local emergency in La Habra.  On the same day, the City Council ratified the proclamation through its approval of Resolution No. 5934.

On April 2, 2020, the City Council ratified certain municipal actions related to COVID-19 local emergency declaration and the City Council reaffirmed the 60-day emergency declaration by approving Resolution No. 5943 on May 4, 2020.  On June 15, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 5955 and reaffirmed the local emergency declaration for an additional 60 days.
  On July 7, 2020, the City Manager executed an agreement with the County of Orange Health Care Agency and the City of Fullerton to provide alternative housing for homeless individuals in response to the pandemic.  The project will provide homeless individuals who reside in the cities of La Habra and Fullerton and who meet specific eligibility criteria with four months of supportive motel sheltering.  Eligibility criteria include the following: 

• Homeless individuals who have contracted COVID-19;
• Homeless individuals who have symptoms indicative of COVID-19; or
• Homeless individuals who are at risk and vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 (vulnerable means any individual 65 or older and/or of any age who have underlying medical conditions)

The County of Orange Heath Care Agency has agreed to fully fund the cost of this program, to include all services, food and shelter during the four-month term of the program. 

As part of the program, the cities of Fullerton and La Habra have entered into an agreement with Kingdom Cause, Inc., dba City Net (City Net) to provided services at the Willow Tree Lodge in the City of Fullerton during the four-month term.  Because the temporary housing is located in Fullerton, the joint agreement between the cities of Fullerton and La Habra stipulates that City Net will report to the City of Fullerton regarding questions and concerns about day-to-day operations.  As a partner in this program, the City of La Habra will assume responsibility to receive and process invoices related to the program, and request reimbursements for expenses from the County of Orange Health Care Agency.

The agreement between City Net and the cities of La Habra and Fullerton took effect on July 15, 2020 and authorizes City Net to begin operations within five days of the effective date of the agreement; with the goal of having City Net begin moving residents into the supportive care motel lodging by July 20, 2020.

There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund.  The total cost of the four-month agreement with City Net is $628,332.  The Orange County Health Care Agency MOU will reimburse the cities of La Habra and Fullerton up to $629,000 for this temporary homeless housing program.

H 3.4 Special Needs Housing
H 3.5 Special Needs of the Homeless