February 13, 2007 Minutes (City Commission Room, City Hall)
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
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Hubbard Collinsworth, Katherine Dinsdale, Jane Faubion, Phil Hemphill, Loring Henderson, Rick Marquez, Shirley Martin-Smith, Mike Monroe |
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MEMBERS ABSENT: |
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Kim Gouge, Helen Hartnett, Robert Mosely |
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STAFF PRESENT: |
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Lesley Rigney and Margene Swarts |
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PUBLIC PRESENT: |
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Jeannette Collier, Norm Scraper, Charlotte Knoche, Wes Dalberg, Teresa Staskal |
Martin-Smith called the meeting to order at 8:35 am.
Introductions
Members introduced themselves.
Martin-Smith announced the meeting date change in March – it will be moved to March 6. She also suggested adding an extra March meeting on the 27th.
Marquez moved to set the March meeting dates for March 6 and 27 at 8:30 am in the City Commission Room. Hemphill seconded the motion, which passed.
Approval of the January 9, 2007 minutes
Dinsdale moved to approve the January 9, 2006 minutes. Faubion seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Appoint Teresa Staskal to the CCC
Martin-Smith stated that she had received a request to join the CCC from Staskal.
Staskal introduced herself and stated she is the Executive Director of Pelathe Community Resource Center and serves on numerous other related committees.
Henderson moved to appoint Staskal to the CCC. Collinsworth seconded the motion, which passed.
Martin-Smith thanked Staskal for her commitment.
Receive Point-in-Time Count
Staff handed out the preliminary count numbers and the updated list of terms.
There was some discussion of the count and the best way to present the numbers. It was agreed to present a percentage-based fact sheet based on the National Coalition’s format.
Martin-Smith said that what she wanted from the count was a sense of who the community is trying to serve and now that the CCH can see the scope of families and children, it must be taken into account during shelter discussions.
Swarts said a lot of the conversation in the Task Force had to do with chronic homelessness because those people were most visible, but people such as Collier have been talking a lot about families. This count validates that.
Martin-Smith said that is why they asked Dalberg, Collier, and Knoche to join this conversation.
Knoche said she sent data from people who are on the Transitional Housing waiting list – that might include people who are doubled up. She will double check that and get back with staff.
Henderson said it seems that there are two sets of numbers, but it would be helpful for us as a community to know the doubled up number because that still has to be addressed locally.
Knoche said that the impact of LDCHA changing requirements to include doubled up families is that they are housing larger households with more people and can now house far fewer households than before.
Faubion clarified that doubled up families are being housed with TBRA.
Knoche said yes, the majority of those are not coming from shelters. What appears to be happening is that they are using the available funding for fewer households. She said until two years ago LDCHA did not include doubled up families as eligible.
Martin-Smith asked if the program was now better serving the family population.
Knoche said they are serving more families now.
Martin-Smith said let’s start today and say here are the numbers and here is what the community needs to do today. If the CCH can just document well what the thinking is today with numbers then in the future we’ll be able to consistently look at it – we can say to the community that we really are closing the gaps.
Henderson said the number that will be reported in the paper, even if incorrect, is 413.
Swarts said this is a public meeting. The numbers can be reported at any time. Staff will put out a report that is more explanatory and clear and forward to the CCH and the media.
Martin-Smith asked for public comment.
Don Huggins, President of LCS board, wonders if the there is a trend toward larger families or if larger households indicate the necessity of doubling up, which typically means sharing the bills.
Collier said her experience with local families (10 years) is that many are doubled up because they do not have income. The waiting list is so long for transitional housing, and utilities are paid 99% of time by renter.
Huggins clarified that it is resource limitation that is forcing people together.
Collier said that families who have utilized all of the Temporary Assistance to Families (TAF) are left without income and they are doubling up. The average family size is three children but there are several ECKAN clients with five-six kids, almost always with a single head of household.
Martin-Smith asked about the TAF limitation of 60 months for a lifetime. It speaks to program components that may need to be sharpened. If we learn that someone has exhausted their assistance, we will need to look at what programs are out there that will help people be employed and what is working or not. That is not an issue for today.
Collier said although the group is not going to look at people who didn’t participate in the count, they were people who were likely chronically homeless with mental illness.
Martin-Smith asked if the group is satisfied with the numbers or if they need more clarification.
The group was satisfied.
Collier said this is the best count the city has collected – we should applaud the homeless outreach team.
Collinsworth said regarding TAF, do we have any idea of how many people will be approaching the 60 month cut-off.
Collier said SRS tracks that and we can get that number.
Martin-Smith asked staff to get those numbers.
Collinsworth said when discussing programmatic components, it might be helpful to know.
Dinsdale has little knowledge of HUD rules regarding doubling up. Is that something we have any authority to address? Is doubling up ever a positive?
Knoche said that question is covering a lot of territory. There are a lot of families who are multi-generational and there are a couple of special housing types they use for people with disabilities – group residents and shared housing. The definition of families allows for extended families so, for instance, two sisters with kids can already share a unit.
Martin-Smith asked about the transitional housing waiting list.
Knoche said it is around 85; she can provide the exact number with a demographic breakdown at the next meeting.
Dalberg asked if someone is number 85 on the list, how long it will take them to get housed.
Knoche said around nine months.
Collier said the wait has gone from 60 days to nine months in the recent past.
Henderson asked how that includes Pelathe.
Staskal said only one of the current families is not affiliated with LDCHA so they are already included on the transitional housing list that Knoche is talking about.
Knoche said it is purely a matter of funding.
Swarts asked for an estimate of what it would cost to house that waiting list.
Knoche said $510,000 would house everyone on the list for a year. That is using an average of $6,000/household, but the actual subsidy is based on family income, so it is just a rough estimate.
Dinsdale asked if someone on the list is offered housing, it jeopardizes their spot on the list. If she housed someone on the list, would they be removed?
Knoche said no, if it is temporary housing, they remain on the list. If they establish permanent replacement housing, they will no longer be homeless and will not need transitional housing.
Collier said LDCHA locally has done all it can do to accommodate us at a local level based on the money.
Faubion asked what types of supports these households will need.
Knoche said they will need multiple supports. During their time in transitional housing they will need services.
Dinsdale asked if it is helpful to consider how many chronically homeless are ineligible for LDCHA. How do we know who is ineligible?
Knoche said anyone can always apply but not everyone is eligible for housing. They track the number of denied applications and she can provide those numbers as well. In terms of not being eligible – methamphetamine sale or manufacture, drug convictions in the last five years, etc. are activities that make applicants ineligible.
Martin-Smith said we need to be aware of these factors.
Knoche said she would put together an info packet of LDCHA guidelines.
Faubion asked if ECKAN works through LDCHA for housing.
Collier said anyone who offers case management performs an initial assessment where a decision is made whether to pursue LDCHA or private landlords.
Dinsdale said it would be good to get a list of supportive housing providers.
Collier and Henderson agreed that there is not supportive housing. There are only private landlords as an alternative.
Programmatic Components/ Alternative Solutions
Martin-Smith assumes that the significant portion of the count could be served by LDCHA if funds were available because units are available.
Knoche said there is ample availability of 2-3 bedroom sizes; larger units are difficult to find as are affordable 1 bedroom units.
Martin-Smith said that points out the gap that we need to inform the landlords about. There is a market for small and large units.
Hemphill said the main problem is that a landlord signing up for these programs, damages are not paid. In public housing, tax payers pay for it. When he signs up for a tenant-based program, there is a guarantee for paid damages but that was not his experience.
Martin-Smith said if we were to say we’re going to find that $500,000 and create opportunities to get people into housing. Then we have to meet the soft needs; we have to provide case managers.
Collier said the community would absolutely need additional case managers – these are people with multiple barriers. 10:1 is the ideal ratio of cases to manager.
Knoche said the reason people fail is because they might be dumped from case management at the time housing is obtained.
Martin-Smith said to bring it back to where we are headed for the next few months – what we believe this community needs. We cannot say we need 30 more case managers, but maybe we can say that we know how many units are needed to get people into housing and we believe that in order to provide adequate support services, we anticipate needing more case managers.
Collier said there is more collaboration going on around this issue than any other issue in the community – agencies are not duplicating services.
Henderson said in the programmatic discussion, the group has to talk about subpopulations. DCCCA and Bert Nash need to be present.
Collier said for the group not to get caught up on case management. Agencies can manage the case management. What is needed desperately is more permanent housing with supportive services.
Henderson agreed – that is the gap.
Collier said the group needs to identify needs and services for subpopulations. They have to talk about shelter first but this is the next step.
Knoche said HOPE contracts services for mental health and substance abuse.
It was decided that Knoche, Collier and Dinsdale would work with Rigney to organize a visual planning aide for upcoming shelter planning sessions.
Adjourn
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:00 am.