10618.8. (a) Utilizing no more than ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000) of the one-time funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2021 for the purposes of the CalWORKs Housing Support Program (Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 11330.5) of Chapter 2 of Part 3), the Home Safe Program (Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 15770) of Part 3), the Bringing Families Home Program (Article 6 (commencing with Section 16523) of Chapter 5 of Part 4), and the Housing and Disability Advocacy Program (Chapter 17 (commencing with Section 18999) of Part 6), the department may contract with one or more vendors for the purpose of establishing a system to collect data and track outcomes, and may, in consultation with the Legislature, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, advocates for clients, and housing and homelessness stakeholders, contract with one or more independent evaluation and research agencies to evaluate the impacts of each of these programs, which may include, but are not limited to all of the following:
(1) Outcomes for recipients, including achievement of housing stability.
(2) Demographic information about recipients.
(3) The likelihood of future homelessness and housing instability among recipients.
(4) Program costs and benefits.
(b) Program evaluation efforts described in subdivision (a) shall compliment evaluation efforts specified in subdivision (g) of Section 15771.
(c) Utilizing no more than ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000) of the one-time funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2021 for the purposes of the CalWORKs Housing Support Program (Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 11330.5) of Chapter 2 of Part 3), the Home Safe Program (Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 15770) of Part 3), the Bringing Families Home Program (Article 6 (commencing with Section 16523) of Chapter 5 of Part 4), and the Housing and Disability Advocacy Program (Chapter 17 (commencing with Section 18999) of Part 6), the department may, in consultation with the Legislature, County Welfare Directors Association of California, advocates for clients, and housing and homelessness stakeholders, contract with one or more entities to provide technical assistance for each of these programs, which may include, but is not limited to all of the following:
(1) Implementing and administering programs that incorporate evidence-based and emerging promising practices in homeless assistance and homelessness prevention that support the advancement of racial equity.
(2) Scaling housing navigation and location services.
(3) Coordination and integration between the social services department, homelessness system of care, and health systems.
(4) Streamlining administrative efficiencies.
(5) Data collection and reporting, outcomes monitoring, and continuous quality improvement.
(d) The department shall report annually to the Legislature on contracts and expenditures made, data collected, and evaluations performed pursuant to this section, by February 1 of each year.
(e) For purposes of implementing this section, contracts entered into or amended shall be exempt from all of the following:
(1) Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) The personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(3) Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual.
(4) Notwithstanding Section 11546 of the Government Code, from review or approval of any division of the Department of Technology, upon approval from the Department of Finance.
(5) From the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services.
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 85, Sec. 22. (AB 135) Effective July 16, 2021.)