San Diego County has temporarily extended its contract with the organization overseeing vouchers that help homeless residents rent hotel and motel rooms as leaders explore changing who oversees the program.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 on Tuesday for Equus Workforce Solutions to continue managing the Regional Homeless Assistance Program through at least June of next year.
Equus’ management of a similar effort to aid people displaced by January’s historic flooding drew so many complaints that county officials recently launched an audit of the company.
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, who proposed that review, said she was nonetheless OK with extending the contract for homelessness services because of how dangerous living outside can be during the winter.
“I am looking forward to seeing that audit and making changes based on what it tells us,” Montgomery Steppe added.
Local officials had hoped to reduce their reliance on hotel vouchers by building 150 small cabins for homeless people in Spring Valley, but leaders changed course after blowback from neighbors. The reversal caused the county to lose out on millions of dollars in state support and a revised plan to instead put 70 cabins in Lemon Grove is still more than a year from completion — provided it’s not derailed by opposition from some Lemon Grove residents.
That leaves the county leaning on vouchers that are significantly more expensive. Paying for 150 hotel rooms annually costs about $9 million while the same number of tiny homes would likely have required no more than $6 million, staffers previously said.
Tuesday’s vote approved spending $7.5 million on vouchers over the next six months. The money will largely come from leftover federal funds through the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act.
Equus has long overseen county vouchers. Critics argue that some program participants don’t receive enough oversight or supportive services, and leaders in El Cajon briefly tried to forcibly reduce how many vouchers were issued in the area.
In March, the county asked if other organizations were interested in overseeing the program. That application process is ongoing.
Equus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another quarter-million dollars were set aside Tuesday to extend a contract with the McAlister Institute for Treatment and Education, a prominent addiction recovery organization that’s part of the county’s inclement weather shelter system.
The supervisors further voted to formally accept tens of millions of dollars in state aid for homelessness services.
