City of Lawrence, Kansas

COMMUNITY COMMISSION ON HOMELESSNESS

March 8, 2011 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Brad Cook, Karin Feltman, Charlotte Knoche, Mike Monroe, Shannon Murphy

Members absent: Hubbard Collinsworth, Wes Dalberg, Samantha Snyder, Cary Strong

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Margene Swarts

Public present: Steve Cowan, Loring Henderson, Saunny Scott

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 am by Chair Knoche.

ITEM NO. 1 Introductions

The members of the CCH introduced themselves.

ITEM NO. 2 Approval of the Agenda and the February 8, 2011 Minutes.

ACTION TAKEN

Motion by Feltman to approve the Agenda and the February 8, 2011 meeting minutes of the CCH. Seconded by Cook.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Housing Vision Reports.

a. Emergency Shelter – Loring Henderson

Knoche explained to Henderson the CCH is looking at each section of the Housing Vision as part of a standing agenda item monthly moving forward. She said the Lawrence Community Shelter was selected for an update at this meeting because they are the only emergency shelter in Lawrence. She asked Henderson if there were any additional agencies that should be included in this category.

Henderson said that it would be appropriate to include Family Promise and Willow Domestic Violence Center, as well as including meal providers such as The Salvation Army, Lawrence Interdenominational Kitchen (LINK) and Jubilee Café.

Knoche agreed that it would be beneficial to open the category of emergency shelter to emergency shelter and/or services.

Feltman asked Henderson how many LCS is housing at this time.

Henderson said that there are 76 housed in the main shelter location and there is additional overflow space at several of the churches in the community. They can have up to 15 in a church, and The Salvation Army can house up to 15 as well. There are four churches that rotate as overflow shelters. There have been some nights this winter where more than one church has had to be utilized for overflow.

Feltman asked if the shelter has had to turn anyone away this winter.

Henderson said that they have not as they have always had the capacity with the additional space offered by churches.

Feltman asked how the operation of a wet shelter worked.

Henderson said that there is no drinking allowed at the shelter, and there is no one admitted prior to 8 pm that is intoxicated. The guests cannot be drunk during the day at the shelter. There is the ability at the shelter to separate those who have been drinking from those who have not. Those who have been drinking are cutoff from the rest of the guests.

Feltman asked if the shelter provides housing for all populations including single, couples, and families.

Henderson said yes, and that the families have a location on the lower level of the current building which separates them from everyone else. Families have access to the front porch and the front area. Single adults have access to the back patio.

Henderson noted that the shelter is still searching for a new site. The building that they had been looking at in was in a development of warehouses. The properties are owned by individuals, but are covered by restrictive covenants. LCS knew about the covenants when they began looking at property, but they were under the impression that the covenants applied to building aesthetics. Henderson said that LCS proceeded with the plan to purchase the building thinking the covenants had to do with the outside appearances and not usage of the building. The group of developers of the complex of warehouses interpreted the document to imply the building’s use instead of the appearance. They used the covenants as a way of saying that they did not support the shelter locating their programs at that site. Henderson said that the jail, which is also located in this area, is similar in that people live there for a certain amount of time only. LCS went to court to obtain a clarification judgment. LCS wanted the court to say if the covenant applied in this case or not. During the court process, the judge determined that LCS did not have standing to request a declaratory judgment because LCS did not own the building. LCS wanted the clarification so they could move forward in acquiring the building. The judge also noted that the money raised to date was not sufficient to buy the building.

Henderson stated that fundraising efforts had gone well and LCS was on the way to having the money to buy the building. LCS did not get the judgment. Henderson said that the case is not a 100% fail in that they can go to appeal, but the appeal would likely take a minimum of two years so it is not feasible. LCS is currently proceeding on other fronts and looking at other buildings. They are looking at both vacant land and buildings.

Henderson noted that it was also time to renew the Special Use Permit (SUP) for the current shelter site. This matter had already been before the Planning Commission, and the renewal was approved there. The renewal request now goes to the City Commission on March 15, 2011. Henderson said that some neighbors oppose LCS staying at the current location for the time being. There is talk of a petition and if a sufficient number submit a protest petition then a super majority vote by the City Commission will be needed to be able to stay in the current location under an SUP renewal. LCS requested a one year renewal when the application was filled out because it was done before the ruling on the covenants. LCS submitted this request based on a positive ruling in that case. A year is not sufficient now, but the application is already submitted. Henderson said that he is hopeful that the City Commission will approve the one year extension. LCS knows that they need to find another place and need to be far along in the process next time this comes up for an extension. Henderson said he has been contacted by several retailers including a First Management property, and has been looking at everything.

Murphy asked if there were any time restrictions on any grants they had received for the acquisition.

Henderson said that there may be one grant that has a restriction, but that grantor indicated they would extend the grant agreement as long as LCS can find something similar or better. Henderson said that he had been in touch with all stakeholders, letting them know that their money is going where it was intended.

Knoche asked if LCS has planned for a scenario if the SUP is not renewed.

Henderson said that the guests will end up on the street.

Knoche asked if there was a contingency plan.

Henderson said no and that LCS has been looking for years for a new site. He said that if he had a month or two he could look at working out plans with churches, but there really were no real contingency options.

Feltman asked if LCS had considered the Tanger Mall location in North Lawrence.

Henderson said yes, but that building is owned by a group that wants to develop it. At this time that is not an option for the shelter site. Henderson said that they had looked at other properties in North Lawrence. The Franklin Circle building had 25,000 total square feet. They would be able to divide it into 15,000 square feet for the shelter area and 10,000 square feet for the jobs program and office space. LCS operates the Good Dog! Biscuit job program currently and they have been looking into other options with Berry Plastics, the Department Of Labor for training programs, and the Just Food food pantry. There were lots of options for the 10,000 square foot space. Franklin Park Circle was an ideal building in many regards for the community.

Knoche asked if LCS had to go to vacant land and build what would the time frame look like.

Henderson said longer than what it would take to move into another building. He said that he was not sure on the time frame.

Murphy commented that it was interesting that the jail and the shelter are defined so differently.

Cook asked if there was a significant price different in the First Management property and the Franklin Park Circle location.

Henderson said that location was too big for LCS but it was a good price for the space. LCS would have had to do a lot of renovation on it and all in all, that it ended up making it more expensive. If LCS could just buy the building as is, then it would not really be that much more expensive. There was just too much in added costs. The building was in excellent shape and was a beautiful building.

Knoche asked what the ongoing program at shelter was.

Henderson said that when guests come in they go through intake, and then are moved through case management, which involves four pathways. The pathways are jobs, housing, benefits and intervention. Housing is the ultimate goal. The jobs program has two parts: a back-to-work one-on-one job counseling program and the Good Dog! job training program. A case manager helps the guest obtain a state ID, disability, attorneys, and anything in between. Intervention assists with mental illness and/or addiction problems. Henderson said that there is also a family program in that there is a family case manager. He said that there are between three to seven families served at a time. They assisted 85 children and 50 families last year.

Knoche asked how many case managers are at LCS.

Henderson said that the staff includes Sally who is the supervisor, Brian Blevins who is currently part time but will be full time after May. Brad Cook with the Homeless Outreach team is located there, as well as two other monitors and case management for a few individuals. There are also other outreach workers who work in and out of the shelter. Henderson said that when LCS relocates they will have collaborating agencies on site as well. He said that LCS will have a medical program onsite, and currently they already have contract with the Baker School of Nursing. They will have a clinic at the shelter when LCS relocates. Right now the nurses come once a week and offer some services at the current location.

Henderson added that the new Chief of Police, Tarik Khatib, has joined the LCS Board of Directors.

Knoche said that in looking under Emergency Shelter in the Housing Vision there are other agencies serving special populations such as Willow Domestic Violence Shelter and First Step House. Knoche asked the CCH if they want to hear from other agencies that do other service pieces at the next meeting, and also if there was anything else the CCH needed to address.

There was CCH discussion regarding this and it was determined that it would be beneficial to hear from other agencies service special populations as well.

Knoche asked if there was an updated resource list online.

Cook said that SRS had a comprehensive list available.

Feltman said she would like to make sure that there was an updated list at hospital.

Murphy suggested linking to the LDCHA guide as it is the latest up-to-date information source.

Dresslar will email the link.

Murphy said that it is preferable to link to that guide instead of linking to out-of-date information. She said that it is a very good map and a good link. It does not have the capability to be printed, but it can be provided as a link.

Steve Cowan, LDCHA, said that there is a text link that is printable, but the overlay map is not printable. He said that he can bring copies to the next meeting.

Knoche said that the CCH can look at lists such as these and see what is out there. It should give them a good idea of where all that is at. She asked that anyone on the CCH that has a resource list to bring it to the next meeting.

b. Temporary Housing – Samantha Snyder

Samantha Snyder was unable to attend the meeting due to illness, so this item will be moved to the April agenda.

c. Transitional Housing/ d. Permanent Supportive Housing / e. Permanent Housing – Charlotte Knoche

Knoche said that the LDCHA Transitional Housing program is funded by the City’s HOME grant, as well as the HOME grant Bert Nash receives from the State of Kansas. The City program, Lawrence Homeless Transition Housing Program, provides up to 24 months of rent subsidy and one time grants for security and utility deposits. The Bert Nash Community Support Services Program for Persons with Mental Illness (CSS Transitional Housing Program) provides the same subsidy. For the City program, there is a requirement that the families must be homeless. For the Bert Nash program, the renter must be diagnosed SPMI (Severely and Persistent Mental Illness). As of Monday, March 7, LDCHA had 55 families under lease in these programs. In those 55 families, there were 109 family members. The average family size is 1.98 people. Knoche said that they currently had 32 female head of household and 46 total children. The average age of the children is seven years old. Transitional Housing is tenant-based, so the assistance goes with family and not the unit. These particular vouchers can be used anywhere in the City of Lawrence, as well as anywhere in Douglas County. LDCHA has been operating these programs since the early 1990’s. They began targeting city funds at 100% toward homeless families in 1998. This year, they have seen increased agencies participating with LDCHA. Last year, Cottonwood was a new agency. This year, Douglas County AIDS Project is a new agency. Knoche said that the number of families under contract can vary day-to-day.

Knoche said that the reason the program is called Transitional Housing is because they are targeting it towards homeless and it can only be used for 24 months maximum. Most families do not meet the housing criteria for the subsidized housing, which is three years and good residential history. All the programs that LDCHA operates require the families to enter into a lease. Landlords look for information that the person can rent a unit and can be successful. It is during this 24 month period that they can develop that kind of residential history. While they are in transitional housing, they stay on the wait list for permanent housing. At 18 months, LDCHA looks at their history again. If they are still meeting the eligibility they can be transferred to permanent housing.

Knoche said that in terms of Permanent Housing, they have 367 public housing units and eight affordable elderly units. She said that by permanent housing she means that the family who lives in that unit can keep the housing forever unless they do something to get assistance taken away from them. She said that there are some situations that the renter can make too much money and no subsidy can be paid for them. If they have zero subsidy for more than six months in a row, they can lose their voucher. Knoche said that other than that, the client can keep the assistance permanently. This assistance is all income based, and every year LDCHA looks at everyone’s income. At that time LDCHA recalculates their rent and looks at whether a change in their income will change their subsidy.

Knoche said that there are other subsidized permanent housing units in town such as Vermont Towers, Prairie Ridge Apartments, Affordable Rental Options units, Community Living Opportunities, and Cottonwood. She said that some of these were developed with tax credit financing. This provides a financing stream for the developer, and in return they have to commit to making the units available to renters at a certain percentage of Area Median Income. By doing this, there are a certain number of units that have to be committed to a particular income level. This is the case at Laurel Glenn, Westgate, and Prairie Commons. There is also a group looking to develop the old SRS building on East Eighth Street, and they are looking at tax credits.

Swarts added that Tenants To Homeowners, Inc. was granted tax credits by the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation to rehabilitate 20 Affordable Rental Options units. She said that the difference in those units is that at the end of the 15 year period requirement period, Tenants to Homeowners will own the units and they will be placed into the permanently affordable housing portfolio in the Housing Trust. Locally, Clinton Place and Prairie Ridge were also tax credit financed based and when the end of the requirement period was reached, there was some question about the community losing affordable units. This is dependent on the developer. There have been communities where a for-profit developer comes in and follows the mandates and after the period the units become market rate. She said fortunately for Lawrence, that instance did not happen in the projects she mentioned.

Cowen asked if there was a requirement for these tax credit-developed properties to house homeless families.

Knoche said she thought it was mandated that there needed to be one homeless family at each property.

Swarts asked if this meant once one time or one has to be there at all time?

No one knew this answer, so staff will check on this question.

Knoche said that she thought it was until it was vacant. She said that she thought it was one unit and not one family.

Knoche said that there can be a report in April on Permanent Supportive Housing from the Hope Building, which has six units of supportive housing. She said that she is aware of only one other and it is a grant under the Continuum of Care.

ITEM NO. 4 HPRP Update – Steve Cowen

Cowen said the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) is projected to run out of funds in September of 2011. He indicated that since the last CCH meeting, LDCHA staff has met with City staff to discuss the next steps. They will continue to do that and explore other funding options. Cowen said that there was a possibility to apply for additional funds through the current program. Cowen said that he is under the impression that there are additional funds that can be accessed through Kim Wilson Housing. He said that the State of Kansas has their program rules and LDCHA has their rules as well. With that, sometimes an applicant’s history of charges related to possession of drugs render them ineligible for the LDCHA HPRP program, but they might be able to get funding through Kim Wilson housing. Cowen said that they are keeping it in mind when they cannot help someone through their program as it is another funding stream.

Cook agreed and said that when a client is rejected by LDCHA here, Kim Wilson was less likely to deny them.

Cowen agreed and said that Bert Nash and RADAC might be able to help the people that the Lawrence program is not able to help.

ITEM NO. 5 Miscellaneous

Cook said that he and Knoche would not be able to attend the April meeting because of the Homeless Summit.

There was discussion regarding an acceptable date and time to move the meeting to.

Motion by Cook to move the April 12, 2011 meeting of the CCH to April 19, 2011 from 8:30 to 10am. Seconded by Murphy.

Motion passed unanimously.

Murphy said that the Jail Re-entry program was still waiting to be on HMIS. She said that they have been working with Joe Coburn to get this up and running.

Knoche asked Swarts about the updated CCH Resolution.

Swarts said that the staff attorney who will be working with Planning and Development Services just got hired, and staff will be working with them on the Resolution update when they come aboard. The Resolution update is one of priorities. Swarts said that staff hopes to have this information by April or May.

Knoche suggested it be placed on the May agenda and HMIS for the April meeting. Staff will contact Joe Coburn about attending. Knoche said she would also like to hear from Tenants to Homeowners on permanent housing and receive a tax credit update, as well as rescheduling Family Promise.

ITEM NO. 6 Public Comment

Diane Etzel-Wise, Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, thanked the CCH for their work, and reminded them that the Homeless Summit was scheduled for April 12 and 13, 2011 in Hutchinson. There will be a representative in attendance from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, as well as a representative from HUD. She said that the Kansas Point-In-Time count data will be released at the Summit.

Knoche asked to add the Point-In-Time data to the April agenda.

Henderson said that eight people are being case managed by the payee program at the LCS. He said that LCS had been on HMIS and has always been supporter of HMIS, but there are huge problems with the system. Henderson said they tried to print reports and had to reenter data several times over the same time period. He said that they never really receive a good report from HMIS. He indicated that Coburn is coming to look at the system at LCS.

Swarts said this needed to be reviewed. If there is an error on the part of the agency then that needs to be corrected, but if it is a problem with the program, that needs to be determined as well. She said that an agency can be penalized by a granting agency if the correct data is not being entered in the system.

ITEM NO. 7 Adjourn

Motion by Cook to adjourn the March 8, 2011 meeting of the CCH. Seconded by Feltman.

Motion passed unanimously.

Attendance Record

Members

01/11

02/11

03/11

04/11

05/11

06/11

07/11

08/11

09/11

10/11

11/11

12/ 11

Hubbard Collinsworth

Brad Cook

Wes

Dalberg

Karin Feltman

Charlotte Knoche

Mike

Monroe

Shannon Murphy

Samantha Snyder

Cary Strong

X Meeting Cancelled Due to Inclement Weather