Solano County homeless services contract awarded to Abode Services after fraught process

FAIRFIELD – A Solano County homeless services agency awarded a $1.8 million contract to run the county’s coordinated entry system last week to Abode Services, a nonprofit which provides substance abuse treatment, mental health and homeless services in several Bay Area counties. 

The board of the Community Action Partnership of Solano Joint Powers Authority, or CAP Solano JPA, voted 4-3 to approve the contract with Abode during its meeting Thursday. Abode also has a contract with the Solano County Behavioral Health department. 

The selection comes after conflict of interest concerns derailed the selection process leading to formal protests from the top two applicants.

In September, the CAP Solano JPA issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a coordinated entry system operator and received proposals from four applicants. The agency selected a community panel to review the proposals and present their recommendation to the board for final approval at the November meeting. 

In November, the community panel recommended Abode Services based on a half-point lead in the scoring process with the current operator Caminar as the runner-up. But one member of the community panel wrote a letter to the board alleging that then-CAP Solano JPA Executive Director DeShawn Waters had influenced the panel’s scoring decisions in favor of Abode, where he had worked a year prior. 

The agency’s legal counsel advised the board that Waters’ prior employment relationship with Abode did not constitute a conflict of interest because it did not involve a financial benefit, but the board directed agency staff to conduct a second panel. 

Waters resigned days before the agency’s February meeting. The second panel also recommended Abode Services for the contract over Caminar, this time by a slightly higher margin. 

Several community members who had faced homelessness or housing insecurity in Solano County spoke during February’s meeting about the help they had received from Caminar employees including those who had recently worked to place a number of Solano county residents in the newly opened 47-unit permanent supportive housing project on Broadway Street in Vallejo. 

Representatives of partner agencies also spoke positively about Caminar’s work and the importance of maintaining continuity of service so agencies and organizations can build on existing work. And some community members relayed unfavorable experiences that they had had working with Abode Services.

The board, which has a voting member from each of the seven Solano County cities and one from the county Board of Supervisors, was split 4-4 on a motion to approve the second panel’s recommendation and voted to postpone the decision.

During Thursday’s meeting, Solano County principal management analyst and JPA staff member Megan Richards presented the board with four options along with the potential for legal challenges or audits and possible consequences associated with each action. Richards indicated that adopting the review panel’s recommendation was the most defensible path while the options to change the process or redo the process entirely involved delays or required careful reasoning.  

Richards identified the fourth option, awarding the contract to a non-recommended agency, as the highest risk due to the potential for bid protests or audit findings that could require the agency to return funds for not following federal procurement guidelines.  

A number of Abode Services employees spoke Thursday about the organization’s current work in the county and the benefits that the organization can offer in taking on the coordinated entry system operator role. 

Tina Susan, a woman who had received services from Abode, also spoke favorably about the organization.

“I experienced professionalism, integrity and genuine care,” Susan said. “These aren't just employees following the script. When you find people who listen, who are honest and generally want to know, that's gold.” 

The impact of the public comments along with the board members’ individual experiences interacting with both service providers was apparent in the board’s discussion on Thursday. 

Vacaville City Councilmember and JPA board member Ted Fremouw said that he listened carefully to the comments in a previous meeting from community members impacted by homelessness about how Abode had failed. He said that although those comments were only one side of the story, he is concerned that Abode may underperform. However, he said as a contractor who has worked on city, county and state projects, it is also important for the agency to maintain a consistent and fair process so providers are not deterred from working with the county.

Solano County Supervisor and JPA board member Cassandra James said that despite the risks she would support awarding the contract to Caminar.

“I am concerned that shifting providers at this time will widen existing gaps.” James said, adding that she had witnessed Abode staff members laughing when an unhoused individual was speaking during public comment.  

“That moment was not only inappropriate,” she said. “It raised serious concerns for me about how individuals who are experiencing homelessness may be treated within our system.”  

James said that she was impressed with the work of Caminar employees and the relationships they have built with partner organizations and with unhoused community members. She said that the conflict of interest of the first panel had led to problems in the second panel because a panelist with lived experience of homelessness in Solano County had not been included.

Vallejo City Councilmember Tonia Lediju said that she was also concerned about the lack of local lived experience on the panel. “You're talking about humanistic needs being met without having individuals on your panel who live in the community,” she said. “Every community has its own marker. Every community is different.” 

Richards pointed out that while a consultant, View Community Advisors, arranged the second panel the panelists were selected with direction from the board’s executive committee. 

Benicia City Councilmember and CAP Solano JPA board member Lionel Largaspada was the panel’s only local representative. 

“I think the scores reflect the quality of the responses,” Largaespada said. “While I understand the points you're making about lived experience – and local lived experience is super important – but this is about a system, the operations and so forth. In the end, everyone had a chance, they all put their submissions in.” 

Lediju also asked what accountability measures would be in place to monitor the performance of the selected contractor.

Richards acknowledged that the board has been asking about the agency’s accountability processes. She said that the staff does include certain accountability mechanisms when drawing up contracts. She said that staff is currently going through the agency’s contracts to design an improved set of monitoring systems that go beyond metrics and instead look at the changes that actually take place as a result of the service provided.

However, she said, applicants need to be notified of any new reporting requirements early on in the selection process, so when those monitoring systems are complete, they will be incorporated as new contracts are awarded. 

Abode’s current contract with the Solano County Department of Behavioral Health began Dec. 1, 2023, and runs through June 30, 2026 at a cost of $26.1 million. The contract covers permanent supportive housing services, rapid rehousing, homelessness outreach, housing services for those recently released from incarceration and housing navigation, among other services. 

Dixon Mayor Steve Bird urged board members to follow the established procedures. 

“The credibility of our process is on the line right now, folks, if we can't conduct the proper RFP and a process to select somebody, we're not doing our job,” Bird said. “You know, it's nice to have more than one bite at the apple, but multiple bites at the apple is not the way to do it.”

Caminar CEO Mark Cloutier, who attended the meeting, said, “It was an elaborate process of reflection and reconsideration, and there was a real thoroughness that I really respected. And I think the board was asking all the right questions, and I accept the conclusion they came to.”

Kara Carnahan, Abode's vice president of programs for Alameda, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties, also attended the meeting. “I think there were a lot of really valid points tonight,” she said after the meeting. “The point that really resonated with me was that if there is not an equitable and fair process that is transparent, then in future RFPs providers won’t feel safe or they won't want to apply.” 

“We deeply appreciate the great effort that the JPA put forth to ensure the selection process was measured and fair,” Karnahan said in a statement on Friday. “Abode currently serves more than 700 people in Solano County and, more than anything, we’re eager to continue our work to help those in need in this community and pursue our mission to solve homelessness.”