CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
City continues to research housing and homeless prevention funding
The Community Development Division of Planning and Development Services has been researching the possibility of applying for the competitive NSP-2 (Neighborhood Stabilization Program) round of funding. Staff discovered that the minimum request had to be at least $5M with a minimum threshold of 100 housing units, which was going to be a challenge. However, staff looked into partnering with LDCHA and Tenants to Homeowners as well as a possible for-profit entity. Staff has since discovered that there is a minimum “score” the community must meet based on vacancy and foreclosure rates. There is a mapping tool that we have accessed to determine the score for the City. The threshold for the program is 18 on a scale of 1 to 20. The highest area in Lawrence is only 14, therefore, the city will not qualify for this particular round of funding. Staff will continue to research grant opportunities and will be pursuing the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program through the state.
Staff analyzing point-in-time statewide homeless count
On January 28, 2009, United Way of the Plains, in partnership with the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation and the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), conducted a Point-in-Time count of homeless individuals in Kansas. The statewide and Douglas County results are attached. The count of homeless individuals in Douglas County was 112, significantly lower than the count of 318 found a year ago by the local count conducted by City staff, local volunteers, and the Bert Nash Homeless Outreach case managers. While staff believes that the number of homeless individuals may have fallen due to local housing efforts, it is highly unlikely that the count fell by over 200. Staff is analyzing the count methodology and believes that the statewide count did not include individuals in certain facilities that the local homeless services professionals typically would have considered homeless. The Community Commission on Homelessness is meeting on June 30 and one of the discussion items will be the discrepancy between the counts. Staff will report back to the City Commission at a future date on this issue. None of the current funding sources for homelessness services are affected by this count.
Recreation center map
The Information Systems Department has created the attached map showing the location of the existing recreation centers in Lawrence, as well as the proposed location of a future recreation center near Overland and Congressional. The map also shows one and two mile radii from the recreation centers, which show that the proposed future center would fill a significant gap in recreation space in the northwest quadrant of Lawrence.