I told you last night that the unveiling of a new permanent homeless facility is taking longer than expected. Maria Velasquez said she couldn’t share any specific information, just that the committee was “doing their due diligence.”
But this morning, I received a much more detailed memo explaining why the decision is delayed, and offering more specifics about the selection timeline.
Originally hoping to announce a winning proposal by September, the committee now expects the selection process to last through the end of this year, and expects not to recommend a winning proposal until first quarter 2010, according to the memo.
The committee said the land and development costs involved in the proposals “far exceeded” the budgeted amount of local funding for this project, according to the memo. So the committee asked the respondents to submit some more information on their proposal by Nov. 13, taking into account the following objectives from the memo:
- Likely completion and occupancy of the project within two years
- Use of funding sources that are reasonably available, and
- Flexibility in the location of permanent supportive housing (onsite or available in nearby affordable housing developments)
Based on these objectives, bidders were encouraged to focus on site acquisition and building rehabilitation rather than new construction in the development of a one-stop service center for the homeless. Bidders were also offered the opportunity to respond to the viability and reliability of their originally proposed funding sources.