City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

November 8, 2011 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Hubbard Collinsworth, Brad Cook, Wes Dalberg, Charlotte Knoche, Shannon Murphy, Samantha Snyder

Members absent: Karin Feltman, Mike Monroe, Cary Strong

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Margene Swarts

Public present: Steve Cowan, Saunny Scott, Hilda Enoch, Crystal Camis, Pat Benebe

The meeting was called to order at 8:35 am by Vice Chair Cook.

ITEM NO. 1 Introductions

The members of the CCH introduced themselves.

ITEM NO. 2 Approval of the Agenda and the October 11, 2011 Minutes.

ACTION TAKEN

Motion by Murphy to approve the Agenda and the October 11, 2011 meeting minutes of the CCH. Seconded by Collinsworth.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Housing Vision Reports.

a. Emergency Shelter – Loring Henderson

Loring Henderson was unable to attend. Swarts gave an update that Lawrence Community Shelter is more than halfway through their capital campaign. Swarts said Henderson indicated LCS staff and the Board of Directors are cautiously optimistic that the fundraising goal will be met by the end of November. Swarts said Henderson reported the shelter is getting donations from individuals all across the spectrum in the community, and that no amount is too low in terms of dollar amount. She said LCS is also taking pledges, so there is an opportunity to donate and pay at a later time. Swarts said Henderson told her it has been very gratifying to see the kinds of donations that have been made, and everyone in the community is really doing their part to make this relocation a reality. Swarts reminded the Committee that there is an LCS “Coffee and Tea at Three” benefit event on Sunday, November 13, 2011 as well.

Collinsworth asked how much money was left to be raised for the capital campaign.

Swarts said that they started out to raise $815,000 and they are down to needing about $300,000 to reach their goal.

b. Temporary Housing

Steve Cowen, director of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) said he had a correction to information provided for HPRP at the October meeting of the Committee. To date, the HPRP program has received applications from 439 households, and found 278 households to be eligible to receive assistance. Cowen said staff is winding the HPRP program down and of the original grant of $784,000 there is $117,000 remaining. He said Collinsworth had asked him prior to the meeting what will happen after the funding is expended. Cowen said he did not have an answer for that. He indicated LDCHA is exploring the idea of a program that is similar in nature, but will be geared more for transitional housing. He said that the new Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) may be a possibility as well, but the terms of the funding are not available yet. Cowen said LDCHA works closely with Heartland RADAC, who also received HPRP funding, and their funding timeline is in sync with the LDCHA program as well in terms of being expended.

Collinsworth said he wanted to hear ideas for raising money for funding this program going forward.

Cowen said the funds would be expended by mid-January and the grant will close in mid-February.

Snyder asked what the reapplication prospects were for this grant.

Dresslar said the HPRP was a program that utilized American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds, and the entire grant from Kansas Housing Resources Corporation has to be expended by April of 2012, so there are no reapplication prospects for this grant.

Snyder asked if there were other funding sources that were being looked at.

Cowen said no.

Collinsworth said as a community we cannot rely on federal or state funding for these programs. Social services have already taken cuts at the state level, and there are more cuts being discussed. Collinsworth said it was important to determine how the community can keep this program.

Cook said it was his understanding that due to the funding being stimulus funds that the program, as it is currently set up, will not be able to go on.

Murphy asked if there was a sustainability requirement for the HPRP grant.

Cowen said there was not.

Collinsworth said it was known three years ago that this was a one-time grant. He said it was a case of determining what programs need to be funded. Collinsworth asked if a retreat needed to be called to pull stakeholders in the community to the table to have a discussion about funding.

Snyder stated the Committee does not have any control over the funding aspect of these programs. She said everyone is being required to cut back because of reduced funding, and great programs like HPRP are ending because of a lack of funding. She said she did not think that it would be beneficial to pull people from the community together to talk to them about securing funding.

Cook agreed and said the HIAC can make recommendations, but they could not be the ones to raise the money and enforce what programs do or do not go on.

Murphy said the job of the Committee is to identify the need and what gap is created by losing a program such as HPRP. She said the Committee does not have the money, but they can identify these gaps to the City Commission.

Cowen said one prospect is focusing on the Emergency Services Council and looking at that program. Currently it is set at a maximum subsidy of $200 per person. He said in his experience and looking at the stabilization piece $200 does not do much of anything long term.

c. Transitional Housing

Cowen indicated that the wait lists for the LDCHA transitional housing programs are open, and the list is shorter than it has been in the past.

(Knoche entered the meeting at 8:50am.)

Knoche said there are 60 families active in the transitional housing programs. There are 17 in the Bert Nash program and 43 in the City Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program. Of those 60 total families, 18 are new admissions and the remaining are carry over. There are two people still looking for housing. Knoche said the expectation is that the 2011 TBRA money will be completely obligated when those two people find housing and receive their voucher. There are over 40 people on the wait list, which is down from 90 that were on the list when the new grant money came in. LDCHA is still taking applications at this point, but those applying now will not receive vouchers until the 2012 grant, pending availability of funding.

Snyder added that there are nine openings at Family Promise. The program graduated a family of seven last week and the organization has received over 30 calls in the last four weeks from interested families. Three families were interviewed last week, and until the spots are filled Family Promise staff will continue to interview. Snyder explained that Family Promise was a program for homeless families with children. The program can work with four families at a time, and the program works with an interfaith network over the entire county. The families are hosted at one of 13 host congregations, and they are provided overnight shelter and dinner. They move from church to church on a weekly basis. Additionally, there is a day house downtown where the families can be during the daytime hours. The day house has conveniences such as computers, showers, and other items that help families get back on their feet.

Knoche asked what the length of stay was for a family participating in the Family Promise program.

Snyder said the average stay is around 60 days, but as long as the families are working on their goals the agency will continue to serve them no matter how long they have been staying with them.

Enoch asked how many families have participated in the Family Promise program.

Snyder said since the agency opened in Lawrence there have been over 50 families who have graduated the program.

Scott asked if all 50 of those families have remained housed.

Snyder said the Family Promise program has seen a 95% success rate in families finding, and remaining, housed.

d. Permanent Supportive Housing – Project Able – The Salvation Army

Dalberg said the funding for the Salvation Army Project Able Transitional Housing program has not been released yet, so they are waiting on that. He said until the funds have been released from the federal government they cannot hire a staff. They are in a holding pattern awaiting word that the funds are available.

e. Permanent Housing – Update on Vacancy/Unit Availability

Staff provided this report on the 2010 American Community Survey United States Census FactFinder demographics.

Swarts commented that she was surprised at the numbers under the “Housing Tenure” category. Over the last few years Lawrence has seen numbers of 48% homeowner and 52% renter. This report shows 52.8% homeowner.

Knoche said a larger percentage are being shown as renter occupied units, and this is inconsistent with the article that was published in the Lawrence Journal World recently that spoke to the rental housing in the community.

Murphy said she has looked for this article and has been unable thus far to locate it.

Swarts said staff would look for the article to provide to the HIAC in December.

Knoche asked if there was a unit count completed for the Continuum of Care’s Exhibit 1 for 2011. She indicated it would be helpful to know all the subsidized housing units in addition to the LDCHA, including the ARO properties, Community Living Opportunities properties, Vermont Towers, and Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects. Knoche said she had updated the LDCHA numbers last year for grant applications. She will provide this to staff for December’s meeting.

Collinsworth said over the last few years the community has seen an increase in massive apartment complexes being built. As these are strictly rentals, have these numbers been added into the figures provided by the American Community Survey?

Swarts said this report is from 2010, which means if an apartment complex was constructed after 2009 it is probably not calculated in the numbers provided in this survey. She said that staff just wrote a permit for a large complex on 6^th Street of approximately 285 units. It is hard to accurately answer what has been included in this survey. Swarts said in theory, some of the higher units that are being constructed should begin to make some existing units more affordable. However, without a qualified subsidy, some landlords would rather keep a unit vacant rather than rent it for next to nothing.

Knoche agreed and said occupancy has legal ramifications for landlords. No matter how much money the unit is rented for, the landlord is still bound under the Landlord-Tenant Act.

Enoch asked if the information being reported in the American Community Survey was subsidized units or total units.

Knoche said it was total unit vacancy.

Swarts said this number included “seasonal-recreational” units as well, such as condos and second homes in the community.

ITEM NO. 4 Discussion of Resolution No. 6951 and the CCH.

Swarts told the Committee that Resolution No. 6951 was adopted unanimously at the City Commission meeting, and that as a result the name change of the group is now in effect. The Resolution fine-tuned the duties and responsibilities of the body. The resolution did not include any major changes to the group, and it does still allow for the group to be “up to 11 members”. Swarts said there are no immediate plans to increase the current level from nine members to 11, but if there is a potential community representative that the HIAC thinks is missing from the table a suggestion can be made to the Mayor to appoint that person. Swarts said there has not been anyone as of late that has expressed interest to her in joining the body, but the possibility is out there if there is any interest. Swarts said she did not anticipate the change in the Resolution changing how the body does their business. The Resolution reinforces to the City Commission that there is an advisory board to look at issues regarding homelessness. As the body has been in existence for awhile, it has become usual practice to filter things through this board.

Knoche asked about the status of appointments for the group.

Swarts said Knoche and Snyder are both eligible for reappointment as of December 31^st, and if they would like to be reappointed to just let staff know and they will take care of it.

ITEM NO. 5 Discussion of Douglas County Continuum of Care Issues Group.

Swarts said at one point within the last few years there had been some criticism passed along to the former Balance of State Coordinator for the Statewide Continuum of Care (CoC) that the CCH was not an appropriate point of contact for the Douglas County CoC because the body was not adequately representing the Continuum. Because of this, staff convened a group of stakeholders in the community who work both directly and indirectly with homelessness. The idea behind this meeting was to discuss the different groups that are meeting in the community already, and if it was appropriate to have another meeting to tie the other groups together, or if the HIAC could be the group that does that. Swarts said that the group had discussions over two meetings and it was communicated that the HIAC could be the point group for the CoC because there are enough people on the board that attend the other meetings in the community that it could operate as an information clearinghouse. At this time, it has been determined that the group of community stakeholders will not meet again. Swarts said for the HIAC, this means that a discussion needs to take place about how they will receive information from these other groups meeting in the community and how they want to schedule the reports.

Snyder asked if the HIAC could receive notes and minutes from the other meetings on a regular basis.

Swarts said staff currently receives the notes from the LDCHA Transitional Housing Providers meeting as well as the Bert Nash Case Management meetings and that they will be able to provide these documents to the HIAC on a quarterly basis.

Knoche said the gap she sees in this spectrum is the non-housing services such as food and transportation. The Housing Vision just covers housing.

Swarts asked the HIAC if they thought it was a good idea to have a section of each month’s meeting that deals with non-housing needs.

Murphy asked if non-housing needs were covered in the other meetings in the community.

Knoche said it was not really covered at the Transitional Housing Provider meeting, but she thought the Case Management meeting did cover some non-housing needs.

Murphy said at the Bert Nash meeting they receive this type of information, but her thought is that the HIAC should maintain a focus on the housing aspect.

Knoche suggested a CoC item on the agenda quarterly.

Swarts asked if the HIAC members would self report from the other groups, or if they wanted to receive reports.

Murphy asked if doing this would satisfy the collaboration piece of the CoC application process.

Knoche said it would if the groups were providing the HIAC with information about who is attending and what agencies they represent so it can be determined either that no one is being left out of the process or it will identify gaps where provider input is needed.

Murphy said she believed it would be appropriate to receive minutes from the Bert Nash Case Management meeting as well as the LDCHA Transitional Housing meeting on a quarterly basis.

Collinsworth asked if it would be appropriate to include utility providers at the table. Some of the utility companies have special programs that include level pay plans and some subsidy.

Swarts said staff could invite utility providers once a year to explain their programs and what they are offering in terms of homelessness prevention.

Knoche agreed it would be helpful for the HIAC to familiarize themselves with the programs so that they have the information to steer people to assistance if needed.

Swarts agreed and further added that information on how to fix a bad history with the utility company could be useful as well. An unpaid utility or a write-off on someone’s credit history is sometimes a barrier to getting them housed. She said staff could call the three utilities and schedule a representative to come speak to the HIAC.

Knoche said the Housing Authority sees that type of situation quite a bit, where someone is not able to be rented to because of a past debt such as a utility charge.

Swarts said food and transportation had been mentioned as well as possible discussion points. She asked the HIAC what type of information they would like to see in regard to these items.

Knoche said she was interested in hearing about the bus pass program and how many agencies were utilizing it.

Cook said the bus pass program is run through LCS. He said that Henderson should have a record of who is utilizing these passes.

Murphy added that the Sheriff’s Office utilized the bus passes as well.

Swarts said she could ask Bob Nugent, the City’s Public Transit Administrator, to provide the HIAC with rider demographics, and Cook could find the information on the bus pass program and who is utilizing them on a regular basis.

Cowen added that the CoC is a county-wide group, and that the LDCHA has helped people get housing throughout Douglas County. This might be good information for the HIAC to have as well.

Swarts agreed and said that the CoC is for Douglas County, so this would be helpful information to have.

Knoche said LDCHA has some units in Baldwin and Eudora they could report on.

Swarts asked if there was a point person to talk to about the food piece.

Dalberg said in terms of the topic of food, Jeremy Farmer is the contact at Just Food and he will provide his contact information to staff.

Cook added that he recently received an updated list of food pantries and that he could provide that as well.

Swarts asked what type of information the HIAC wanted to hear from Just Food.

Dalberg said an overview of Just Food would be helpful as they have recently had some changes implemented at the agency.

Swarts asked the HIAC if the topic of medical care would be another item they would like to know more about.

Cook said statistics from the Emergency Room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital would be helpful, as well as a dollar figure of how much it costs the community when the homeless utilize the ER.

Swarts said Feltman could likely provide this information.

Knoche suggested a non-housing item on the agenda each month on a rotating basis, including food, transportation, medical, and utilities.

Pat Benebe asked if substance abuse is a topic that should be covered.

Swarts said this information would be included with the case management reports.

Cook agreed and said this is a category that is identified in the Bert Nash report.

Knoche said Heartland RADAC would be able to offer some information on substance abuse and the homeless as well.

Swarts said staff will contact Heartland RADAC and see if they can provide some statistics on substance abuse and the homeless.

Dalberg said he would like to have an agenda item after the NOFA is released so that the HIAC could hear from agencies that are applying for funding.

Swarts said she hoped that the discussion would take place with potential applicants prior to the NOFA being released so things can be in place when the funding notice is received. After the NOFA is released there is typically not much time to put together a brand new project without prior discussions having taken place. Often agencies will see the NOFA and find that they do not have enough time to put together the full proposal. Swarts said she would like to see this discussion start in the late spring or early summer.

Knoche suggested the Point in Time count be a January agenda item and in February a call out to agencies that may be interested in applying for CoC funding should be made. With this, a discussion of possible projects could start in March or April.

Swarts said the NOFA for 2012 funding was released at the end of September and was due in October. The NOFA is released at different times and it is unknown how much time year to year agencies will have to complete their application.

Dalberg suggested the HIAC look for gaps in the Housing Vision and related homeless activities and make suggestions for projects in the community.

Swarts said this type of information will typically be brought up in discussions as the year progresses, but she questions if it is the job of the HIAC to ask someone to apply to administer the programs. Staff will look at the items that have been discussed today and try to come up with a road map for the agendas moving forward. In doing this planning and receiving regular information from these groups it may give the HIAC and the community ideas of gaps and talking points, and it may in turn generate conversation in the community of how to move forward with these suggestions.

Knoche asked if the HIAC could look over a calendar and prepare for a projected year-long agenda at their meeting in December. In doing this, agencies will know what the HIAC will be discussing and if they are interested in any CoC projects they can use this as a tool for additional information.

Swarts agreed and said the more the community is talking and hearing things, the less opportunity there will be to have projects that are duplication of services. The communication in the community will already be happening. Ideally, during the course of conversation a gap will be identified and someone will step up and offer to provide the service. The reduced funding is an issue, but the community has proven to have an amazing capacity to make things happen.

Collinsworth asked about the upcoming Point in Time count in January and if HMIS information will be made available prior to that time.

Swarts said the required Point in Time count will not occur until January of 2013. She said the entire state is struggling with HMIS. Although the providers are entering the data, the program is not working as it should be.

Cook added the system does not provide any meaningful reports.

Swarts said the Bert Nash Outreach Report for the third quarter of 2011 was generated from HMIS and it was in a format that staff had a hard time following, and the community would not have been able to pull any relevant information from it. The report-generating mechanism does not work effectively on the current system.

Murphy said in the Sherriff’s Office, the reports that are generated do not have any performance data or outcome data. Additionally, they found the support at MAACLink to be poor. The Sherriff’s Office tried for over a year to get the department on HMIS. They could not get a trainer to come out to show them the system, and ultimately the product does not provide reports like they need for it to.

Swarts said there had been several conversations within the BoS regarding MAACLink. She said she is unaware of the direction the conversation will take, but it is apparent there are issues with the product on a statewide level. It does make sense to have the same product across the BoS, but if everyone is struggling with the program, it causes problems. This has been an issue that has arisen in the last 12 months or so, and it is something that has happened at the MAACLink level.

Knoche said LDCHA is entering data still.

Cook said Bert Nash is still entering data into the system as well. He added that the system crashes frequently.

Swarts said the BoS will be discussing this at an upcoming meeting and she will take the concerns of the providers to the meeting with her.

Collinsworth said he has been asking about HMIS for the last three years, and he feels it is up to the HIAC as a body to get a point person to look at the MAACLink system if the community wants to recover the data that has been entered. He said he has been pushing for this and feels very strongly about the use of HMIS, and in three years nothing has seemed to happen with it.

Swarts said she is unaware of what can be done on our level when it is a problem with the provider. She said the best thing that the community can do locally is to continue to enter data, and the BoS will discuss the long-term plan. She said that Lawrence is not the only community unhappy with the MAACLink product, but at this point no one knows where to go with the solution. Providers just cannot stop entering data, and for the time being everyone has to continue on with this product.

Knoche asked if HUD had been able to pull any data from HMIS.

Swarts said HUD depends on the agency’s Annual Performance Reports that agencies submit that is based on information from the HMIS system. The data is not pulled directly from HMIS by HUD, but the information is pulled from the system by the individual agencies to complete the report. Swarts said there are approximately a dozen HMIS programs throughout the country. Some are local providers, and some are like MAACLink and are nationwide. Wichita’s CoC operates with their own HMIS. This is something that might be able to be looked at to see if it works well for Wichita and if it could translate to a statewide level.

Knoche asked Dalberg if the Salvation Army uses their own agency HMIS or if they are on with MAACLink.

Dalberg said Kansas and Missouri are on MAACLink, and in Kansas City it works fine.

Swarts said MAACLink has tried to make a lot of changes to the system, and it has created a lot of errors and problems.

Collinsworth asked if Swarts could report back on an update regarding the BoS HMIS issues.

Swarts said she could report back to the group.

Knoche said each agency is required to report if they receive NOFA funding.

Murphy said the vendor in Wichita is Simplicity Computer Solutions, LLC, and they look to be a nationwide provider.

Collinsworth asked how many case managers are in Lawrence.

Murphy asked if he wanted the number of general case managers or case managers specific to homelessness.

Collinsworth said he was curious about the number of generalized case managers. He said he was trying to wrap his mind around how many the community has and how many the community needs. In addition he wants to know how the gap will be funded. He said at some point the City Commission will ask the HIAC for these numbers, and how the case managers needed will be paid for.

Knoche asked when the Bert Nash contract was up for renewal.

Cook said the Social Service Funding Advisory Board meets in May, and he is certain there will be no additional funding for consideration.

Swarts agreed and said that was true at least until the economy turns around. She said 2013 is shaping up to be even more difficult regarding the budget. Valuations are speculated to decrease, and a major portion of the general fund balance is realized there. With agency funding it is just as important to identify the work that the existing providers are doing and how important it is so they are not further reduced.

Murphy said that several years ago in the Transitional Housing Providers meeting there was a survey of case managers in the community, and that it would be possible to update those numbers to come up with an answer to Collinsworth’s question.

Knoche said she would look though the meeting notes and find where that survey was completed.

Swarts said that this could be put on the agenda for a meeting in the near future as well to discuss.

ITEM NO. 6 Miscellaneous/Calendar

Swarts said the next meeting will be December 13, 2011. Staff will prepare an outline for the upcoming agenda items.

ITEM NO. 7 Public Comment

Scott asked if Dalberg could look into HMIS in Kansas City and see what is working for them. She added that when the HIAC looks at the utility programs that they should additionally be reporting on support programs such as Warm Hearts or Project Deserve.

Enoch said she felt like a person missing from the table on the HIAC is someone that directly represents the homeless population. The body needs a voice of a person who is there. There has been quite a bit of talk relating to what the CoC is missing. At least if there was a homeless person serving on this body that is a way to get the homeless to speak and the community to hear their voices. These people know the experience. This would be more direct and helpful.

ITEM NO. 8 Adjourn

Motion by Cook to adjourn the November 8, 2011 meeting of the CCH. Seconded by Collinsworth.

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

E - Excused Absence

U - Unexcused Absence