City of Victorville Uses Job Order Contracting to Rebuild Lives of Unhoused Individuals

Challenge: City Has Limited Window to Expend Funds to Aid the Unhoused

Local government is at its best when leaders band together to investigate, identify and address the root causes of a community issue. When thoughtful, caring people discard their perceptions and collaborate to confront the realities of a difficult situation, amazing things happen.   

Such was the case in Victorville, California, where city officials sought a way to give the unhoused population the support they need to stabilize their lives and get back on their feet. The city had offered services for years, largely in the form of shelters offering warm meals to eat and a safe place to sleep. Yet homelessness persisted, and over time, Victorville had the second-highest concentration of unhoused people in San Bernardino County.

In response, the city established a Homelessness Solutions Task Force to “identify strategic solutions, leverage funding and resources, and measure the effectiveness of new and existing policies and programs designed to prevent homelessness,” per the City of Victorville website. The task force found that one reason the unhoused do not accept shelter is because it’s often in a congregate setting, meaning many people occupy one room at the same time. They prefer housing that offers privacy and personal space.   

Members of the Homelessness Solutions Task Force, city planners and other local government officials endeavored to build a first-of-its-kind non-congregate care facility that would provide interim housing in a designated living unit, medical care and holistic wraparound services. Even before they secured $28 million in funding via a Homekey grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the project team collaborated to first imagine and then design an innovative campus built to aid its most vulnerable residents.

Part of a statewide initiative to combat homelessness in California, Homekey grants provide funding for public entities to develop permanent or interim housing for the unhoused population. The grant stipulates that capital funds must be expended within eight months of award. Victorville officials were eager to take full advantage of an incredible opportunity to address a pressing issue affecting the entire city. Yet they needed a means of accelerating speed to construction to bring their vision to life ahead of their deadline.

Solution: Gordian Job Order Contracting Provides Speed and Flexibility

Angeles Contractor, Inc., a California construction business, introduced city leaders to a project delivery method as innovative as their plan to combat homelessness in Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC). An Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) construction procurement solution, JOC empowers organizations to complete many projects through one competitively awarded contract. Job Order Contracting not only satisfies local procurement laws, but it also establishes prices for construction tasks upfront. These verified, preset costs enabled the City of Victorville to maximize its grant funding and avoid prolonged price negotiations. Plus, the unique, single-solicitation process allowed the city to begin work faster than if they had opted for a traditional bid method. This speed is a hallmark of Job Order Contracting, according to a study by NIGP and Gordian, which found that JOC can shrink the construction procurement cycle by as much as 25%.

Victorville city officials further expedited procurement time by accessing an existing JOC contract held by Sourcewell, a major purchasing cooperative. The details of these Cooperative JOC contracts (also known as ezIQC®) have been ironed out between Gordian and the contract holder. Prices are preset. Local contractors are vetted and approved. Everything is good to go. It is an ideal solution for construction projects with a fixed budget and a fixed schedule.

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Result: Victorville Wellness Center Campus Helps Rebuild Lives

Using Gordian’s Job Order Contracting allowed the city to take a phased approach to the project, beginning with leveling and other groundwork before getting the buildings up and running. Agreeing to take on the job before they had finalized designs in hand speaks to how eager Angeles Contractor, Inc. was to help improve the city and to their trust in the JOC process. 

Find out more about becoming a Gordian JOC contractor, including how bidding works and how JOC can help you get more jobs in the pipeline.

Proposals were developed using Gordian’s Construction Task Catalog® (CTC), a Unit Price Book of local construction costs, for one part of the project while plans were completed for the next part. Once designs were ready for the subsequent phase, city officials ordered the necessary tasks, ensuring the project maintained its momentum without compromising their vision. The CTC came in handy when contractors discovered an enormous amount of underground water due to the proximity to the Mojave River during utility construction that did not appear on any site surveys. To make matters worse, the water line climbed upward due to atmospheric rivers that made landfall in 2022 and 2023. The team developed a solution quickly, Angeles Contractor, Inc. priced this unexpected work out of the CTC and issued a supplemental Job Order (JOC’s version of a change order). The project stayed on track.

This was just one example of collaboration that Erika Cline, Gordian Account Manager, found inspiring. “Everyone involved went the extra mile to use the Homekey funds well and bring the city’s grand vision to life. We held weekly meetings with the contractor, the architect and city leaders. The contractor took on the job before the plans were finished. City council members were present and interested. Everyone was on board and committed to his project’s success from the get-go.”

Jay Kwon, Senior Project Manager of the Angeles Construction concurred. “This project is only possible with the timely and strategic collaboration of the city, the contractor, the design team and the delivery system (Gordian JOC) to seek the grant, concept the design, execute the urgent infrastructure even with long lead items and finish strong with modular delivery and build-out, including the clinic, kitchen and café.”

Alex Cho, Vice President of Angeles Contractor had this to add. “Contributing to a project that addresses a critical social issue instills a sense of pride. It’s an opportunity to create a positive, lasting impact on the community by reducing homelessness and improving overall community well-being as an enterprise.”

While Victorville officials were careful to expend Homekey funds within the allotted timeframe, construction of the Victorville Wellness Center began in April of 2022 and finished in October of 2023. Today, the city has an innovative and comprehensive way to serve the unhoused. The project was such a success that it won the 2023 Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting. This prestigious honor celebrates the exceptional use of JOC best practices, including collaboration, transparency and community impact. The project also received a Project Achievement Award from CMAA Southern California in the Residential/Mixed Use sector in 2024 and was named the 2024 Best Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association (APWA).

The campus sits on 4.5 acres of city-owned land and includes 170 housing units for single people, couples and families. But the Victorville Wellness Center offers more than housing alone. There is a cafeteria and dining hall, a medical clinic and a recuperative care facility where hospitals can discharge clients directly. There are classrooms for job and skills training and a computer lab where residents can apply for jobs. The city learned that around half of all unhoused people have pets, so they built a dog park. There is a bus stop for school-aged children and a Goodwill store on campus where people can shop for clothes and home goods. It is a place the entire community can be proud of.

Tamiko Gutierrez, Gordian Regional Director, echoes this sentiment. “Having grown up in Southern California and working in Southern California, it’s important for me to be able to drive by and say, ‘I worked with a contractor to help build that.’ I’m proud of it, and I’m proud to work at a company that helps enhance communities through construction.”

Erika Cline agrees. “It’s amazing. I’m part of this community. I know people in this community who’ve experienced homelessness. To be present at the groundbreaking to see how this campus is helping people get on their feet was incredibly touching. Being part of something so important and so life-changing reinforces what all this work is for.”

Young Kang, President of Angeles Contractor, added: “Contributing to a project like the Victorville Wellness Center means leaving a lasting legacy that will benefit the community for years. It’s an opportunity to be remembered for making a significant and positive difference for the most vulnerable.”

Victorville City officials took an informed, innovative approach to tackling homelessness, leveraged grant funding to its greatest effect and accessed a construction project delivery vehicle that would help them reach their goals on time. Described as a “haven of wellness and self-discovery” by Mayor Debra Jones, the Victorville Wellness Center has continued to help the city’s unhoused population reclaim their lives. In December of 2023, close to 90 people moved into the campus. Since opening, they’ve seen an 80% increase in residents re-entering the city on solid footing, building a better community for all.

Learn more about Gordian’s Job Order Contracting Awards, including project criteria and past winners.