City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

January 10, 2012 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Hubbard Collinsworth, Brad Cook, Karin Feltman, Brent Hoffman, Mike Monroe, Shannon Murphy, Cary Strong, Elyse Towey

Members absent: Wes Dalberg

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Margene Swarts

Public present: Steve Cowan – LDCHA HPRP Program, Saunny Scott, Hilda Enoch, Crystal Camis – Willow Domestic Violence Center

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 am by Vice-Chair Cook.

ITEM NO. 1 Introductions

The members of the HIAC introduced themselves.

ITEM NO. 2 Approval of the Agenda and the December 13, 2011 Minutes.

ACTION TAKEN

Motion by Murphy to approve the Agenda and the December 13, 2011 meeting minutes of the HIAC. Seconded by Monroe.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Election of Chair and Vice-Chair.

Murphy asked if there was a potential conflict with the same person chairing this body as well as the Coalition on Homelessness Concerns (CHC).

Swarts said she did not believe so because the HIAC was an appointed body and the CHC is a volunteer body.

Motion by Collinsworth to nominate Murphy for Chair. Seconded by Strong.

Motion by Feltman to nominate Cook for Chair. Seconded by Strong.

There being no further nominations, nominations were closed and the Committee prepared to vote.

Swarts passed out ballots and it was agreed that the person with the most votes will become Chair and the person with the second most votes will become Vice Chair.

Cook was named Chair, and Murphy was named Vice-Chair.

ITEM NO. 4 Housing Vision Reports.

a. Emergency Shelter – Crystal Camis

Crystal Camis, Director of Survivor Services, provided a handout to the HIAC members about the services the Willow Domestic Violence Center provides. Camis said she has been with the Willow for eight years. There was a name change of the agency a few years ago from Women’s Transitional Services Center to the Willow. Camis said the largest part of the services they offer is in the form of the crisis line. The phone calls can be anonymous, and all services are free and confidential. Willow serves Douglas, Franklin, and Jefferson counties. They have the ability to serve males and females, but only offer emergency shelter for females. The males are referred to a partner agency for shelter services. The Willow also has a court advocacy program which allows an individual to assist a woman in crisis with the court process and with law enforcement. In addition, the Willow offers outreach and community education as the topic of domestic violence is often behind closed doors and is an unknown issue for many. The education and outreach piece of the Willow offers presentations, trainings, and basic agency partnerships. The Willow has many volunteers and interns that assist with all aspects of the agency.

Camis said in terms of their emergency shelter, the Willow does operate a safe house in Douglas County and the maximum number that can be housed in this facility is a maximum of 30 women or children. The Willow typically likes to have around 25 individuals at the facility as it helps with grocery budgeting and other comparable costs. Camis said that although there is a cap based on fire code in terms of the amount of guests the facility can accommodate, the Willow believes that “the inn is never full”. Anyone in danger and having the need of basic shelter will be given a bed. In order to make room for a newcomer, a person that has been there for a while may have to be exited. Each guest is guaranteed a 30-day stay as the Willow is an operating emergency shelter. Camis said in the last fiscal year the agency sheltered 148 women and 118 children, accounting for 7600 overnight stays.

Collinsworth asked if the maximum amount of beds in the facility was 30.

Camis said yes, and this number is based on the fire codes in Lawrence.

Collinsworth asked if that number included women and children combined.

Camis said yes, that each woman and child counts as one bed.

Collinsworth asked how much funding is needed at the Willow to operate for one year. He asked Camis how the community can best help to serve the programs at the Willow.

Camis said that there is never enough funding, as is the same with other agencies. The Willow is a traditional non-profit and their operating budget is just under $1 million. As far as their funding goes, most of the operating funds are from federal and state grants, and for the most part they are all tied to staff costs and program delivery. Very little of their funding is unlimited which they can use for any purpose. They are always seeking donations, but to give an exact number of what the Willow needs to operate in terms of funding is a complex number to deliver.

Collinsworth said his main concern is to ensure that there are alternate funding sources for the local programs because roughly half the grant money coming into Lawrence has been cut. Every agency is under new restraints.

Camis said the Willow has staff that is consistently searching for alternate funding sources. The Willow has been exploring partnerships with agencies such as the GaDuCi Center. In addition, the Board at the Willow is constantly looking at more fundraisers and grant opportunities.

Cook asked if there was a limit on how many times a person can return to the Willow shelter for a 30 day visit.

Camis said that the terms run in cycles of 30 days, and all the agency asks is that if a woman has stayed in the shelter for 90 days, or three cycles, that there be a 30 day break before they return. Camis said they are seeing women staying at the shelter currently who were once children in the shelter.

Murphy asked if there is case management that is assisting these women to find permanent housing.

Camis said the Willow is an empowerment based agency so there are peer advisors that assist the women with things such as housing. They are assisted with wait lists, meeting with SRS for benefits, and other basic assistance to help them get back on their feet. They also offer children’s programs such as art therapy.

Feltman asked Camis how many women return to the shelter after initial stays.

Camis said the state stats show that a white female goes back to an abusive relationship an average of seven times before she leaves for good. The Willow does not always know where a woman is going when she leaves the shelter. In the Native American culture, the average is to return to that relationship 22 times. What is the most difficult thing for the community to understand is why the woman goes back to the relationship and why is the batterer not being held accountable.

Scott asked if the women at the shelter are counted in the Point-In-Time count.

Dresslar said they were counted as it is an emergency shelter.

b. Transitional Housing

Towey provided statistics on the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority (LDCHA) Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) programs. Towey said Charlotte Knoche indicated that all the funding is committed, and two individuals are looking for housing currently.

Swarts said the CDBG/HOME grant year started August 1, and LDCHA has already leased up and accounted for the grant for the entire 2011 program year. That is a positive thing for the ones that are housed as there is no more money until August. With the cuts in the HOME program this upcoming year, there is a good possibility that there will be people that will need assistance and they will not be able to be helped because of a lack of funding. Swarts said people start through the LDCHA programs through the HOME TBRA program. The LDCHA does their best to move these people into permanent Section 8 housing by way of the TBRA program. They are attempting to create a cycle to get the participants into permanent housing.

Cook said that the TBRA funding is good for one to two years per household, and each tenant has a contract with a service provider so they are under case management when they are in the TBRA program.

Swarts said the element of case management being a critical part of the process has been a hard lesson to learn in the Lawrence community. She said that people down on their luck and experiencing hard times can have the promise of basic needs such as housing, food, and clothing, but they are not necessarily able to be successful without the help of case management. It was also a hard lesson for the Federal Government to figure out because for a long time money was allocated to programs for housing and there was no case management component. The data shows that when case management is not part of the equation the success rate of such programs decreases.

Towey said even through there are multiple services available in the community, sometimes clients do not know what agencies handle what funding when they are trying to navigate the system without assistance. At the beginning of the month, people have called agencies in the community and asked for funding, but they are asking different agencies for the same funding sources. Case managers in the community know where the funding is and what programs each agency works with. Clients need assistance to guide them through the process.

Cook said most people are clients of the TBRA program for at least a year. They need to use that time to make sure they are on the proper lists.

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

Dalberg was not present to report on Project Able.

d. Permanent Housing – Update on Vacancy/Unit Availability

Towey provided statistics on the LDCHA Section 8 program.

e. Non-Housing - Rent/Subsidy – HPRP Program Wrap-up

Steve Cowen, LDCHA, reported that the HPRP grant is ready to be closed out and February 1 will be the last payment to the category of Rapid Re-housing. The entire program will be closed out on February 13. To date, the HPRP program has assisted 244 households with rent and/or utility assistance to help avoid eviction. The program has also assisted 37 families that were literally homeless, to become housed. In talks with other area HPRP agencies, all the area HPRP programs are on the same schedule to close out the program.

Hilda Enoch asked if the program was ending because it has run out of money.

Cowen said yes. The HPRP funding was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus package. This was a one-time grant. There is also the upcoming Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) which is in the process of being implemented, and it will have some characteristics of the HPRP program.

Swarts added that for the ESG, the City competes with other communities through the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC). KHRC is still determining how that program will look for Kansas.

Enoch said it was a shame that this program had to end because of a lack of funding.

Feltman asked if the program ending will result in people being helped previously that are now in danger of losing their housing because of no funding.

Cowen said no, that nobody will lose their housing because the program is ending. The issue is that some that may need assistance will not be able to be helped.

Cook asked if the entire grant will be spent by the end of February.

Cowen said it was and that the program is no longer taking any applications for assistance. There is a client list and a wait list. The staff is still talking to walk-ins and phone calls and working to refer them to other agencies.

Enoch asked Cowen if the end of the program meant he was out of a job as well.

Cowen said yes, that he had been with LDCHA for eight years and he will be leaving when the program ends.

Enoch asked if the HIAC would write a letter to the Federal housing office and inform them of what the effects the funding cuts have locally. There should be pressure put on the Federal government from the local communities.

Cook said that the HIAC could do that, but it would have a hard time being effective because this money has always been categorized as stimulus funding. It has been one-time funding for the duration of the grant.

Enoch said the government needs to know what the effects are of pulling this funding. There needs to be a protest letter sent to the federal housing department.

Swarts said writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is not nearly as effective as writing a letter to a local representative. The City Commission recently sent a letter to the state delegation regarding concerns about the federal budget. The City does this to help with decisions such as CDBG cuts and similar programs that are on the chopping block. Programs were still cut, but not as severe as they could have been. HUD only administers the programs. The effort starts with the Legislature.

Enoch said the HIAC should do this as it would be helpful. Not only should the group write a letter, but individuals should be writing letters as well.

Cook said that it is important to have final data from the program to make the letters effective.

ITEM NO. 5 HEARTH Act Definition of Homelessness.

Dresslar provided a sheet defining homelessness in the new HEARTH Act.

Swarts said that staff will additionally email the link to the rule to the committee. She said the HEARTH Act is the new overarching funding source for homelessness and related programs. The ESG is under this act as well. The federal government is still writing regulations and guidelines for this program, but the framework has been established. In the past there had been several types of definitions for several pots of funding for homelessness programs. The previous form of ESG used one definition, the school districts used another, and there were even other variations depending on what funding source was being utilized. It was not uniform in the past, but the HEARTH Act gets closer to a universal definition. Swarts said that staff is unsure as to how this will look going forward, but the Continuum of Care Self-Assessment that was completed by this body will likely be important input as the implementation of the HEARTH Act continues.

Feltman added that she researched the document “Opening Doors” that was on the check-up that the body was unfamiliar with. She will email the link to staff and staff can send it to the body. It is a good tool to consult and see if the community is heading in the right direction. She said it was a 10-year plan to end homelessness and is very aggressive. If this is going to be the referenced overarching plan then the HIAC should be familiar with what it is.

Swarts said that the idea originally was for every community to have a 10 year plan. This guidance came out under a different administration, and a lot of community worked through a plan such as this. The Lawrence community considers the Housing Vision to be their 10-year plan.

Feltman said the “Opening Doors” document was started by Kathleen Sebelius.

Swarts said in addition this document may be a piece of the HEARTH legislation. The regulations have been released first, and how to implement those regulations locally will be forthcoming.

Feltman said her impression was that this document was very well put together and it may give the community the teeth to fight for the sustainability of some of our programs. It begins at the national level and filters down. It is a good tool to make sure that the community is on track with national goals.

Cook asked if the definition for chronically homeless is the same as in the past.

Swarts said for the most part, yes. There may be enhanced definitions for chronic homelessness, but the basic definition for that piece remains unchanged.

Swarts added that HUD is planning on looking at all the CoC check-ups that were filled out and they are doing a comparison regarding how the different continuums across the nation are dealing with their issues. Swarts said she was interested in seeing how this final data will look. In the state of Kansas, there were 20 different communities and stakeholders that completed the survey including eight regional coordinators. There were also representatives from education, SRS, HMIS, the Statewide Homeless Coalition, and other stakeholders that completed the survey from their point of view. The statewide coalition has always struggled with how different the state of Kansas looks across the board. Often there is funding available and granted in the eastern part of the state that cannot be utilized in the western part. There are not enough resources to start and maintain programs in the western part of the state that you can in the eastern, nor do the communities necessarily know how to ask for the funding.

Enoch asked if there was a State of Kansas housing department like HUD.

Swarts said KHRC is the office that administers the housing programs such as the HOME grant from the state level.

Enoch asked if a comprehensive plan should be pulled together for the entire state for this type of funding.

Swarts said that the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition is a volunteer board that facilitates the CoC funding across the state. This body works to get information to those parts of the state that really need it.

Enoch said that the body needs to lobby the state about funding.

Swarts said that there is not an agency in the state such as HUD, and the closest is KHRC.

Enoch said that this agency is not doing its job.

ITEM NO. 6 Miscellaneous/Calendar

Swarts said the next agenda will contain the next round of Housing Vision reports. In addition, last meeting there was discussion on the need to cover the issue of the Day Center when LCS moves out of downtown. Last month this item was not on the agenda, and the body indicated they may want to look at discussing the item further.

Feltman suggested a separate meeting with stakeholders to cover this item.

Cook agreed and said that the HIAC needs to find a time and schedule a retreat with other representatives to discuss this matter.

Swarts said the planning for the item will be on February’s agenda.

Murphy reported that Dresslar reached out to MAAClink regarding the Sherriff’s Department’s inability to become trained on HMIS. Murphy said that the application for the agency went to MAAClink, and the subsequent training did not occur and the item just ended. John Rich from MAAClink contacted Murphy and asked if the program was still interested in utilizing HMIS. In the meantime, the agency had contracted with the KU School of Social Welfare for their data entry. The agency is looking at the merits of joining HMIS. At this point it does not appear that this will happen, but if it turns out that other agencies find merit in the system they can revisit the idea.

Collinsworth asked if the jail contracted with another agency for HMIS.

Murphy said yes, for case management only services.

Collinsworth asked for contact information for the agency.

Murphy said it was the KU School of Social Welfare and she will email Collinsworth the contact.

Cook added that there is a much clearer picture with the new way of entering data for the Bert Nash team. There is a much better tracking mechanism in place. The fourth quarter report looks much better than the others.

Swarts said there have been conversations with the HMIS provider and the state representatives to offer additional training. Staff is looking into ways to assist an agency like Bert Nash. Swarts said at this point the plan for the state is to stay with MAAClink. Moving forward the state is working to determine how to make that partnership work.

Collinsworth asked how much funding was needed to keep the HPRP program going.

Cowen said in terms of the HPRP program, the original amount of the grant was $748,000 and it started in November of 2009. This is a huge amount of funding. He said he did not see any place locally that can offer that type of funding.

Collinsworth asked if there was any other way the community can look at these types of programs that have a fixed term and after a certain point the funding is gone. If it works in the community, how can the community continue the program?

Feltman said a good discussion would be how the community adds a sustainability factor to these programs.

Collinsworth said with LCS moving there are a number of issues. If the move does occur how the HIAC can address the general populous of Lawrence and Douglas County and find the money we need to keep these programs afloat.

Murphy said she agreed with an earlier point that Cook made in that the final numbers from the HPRP program will be important going forward to address this type of question.

Collinsworth said recently he has seen programs drop off the board as he has spent time in the hospital, and there needs to be someone on the HIAC that continues to nudge people toward making these programs last.

Cook said the question is always where does the money come from? The City does not have the resources to fund it, and he said personally he would not want to pay for the program to continue as it had based on the guidelines. He said it was a great program that helped a lot of people, but there were many clients of Bert Nash that did not qualify for the program as it was structured. It is a difficult choice of who and what you want to fund, and while it was a great program there were a lot of barriers that kept people from being eligible.

Cowen said he agreed with Cook. There were many barriers set into HMIS and into the regulations of the funding. Many of the barriers that kept people from being funded were the same barriers that were keeping them from being housed.

Hoffman said if you are going to spend $800,000 on a program you need to make sure it can be sustained.

Knoche asked if there was a Point in Time count in 2012.

Dresslar said that HUD very recently notified the CoC that there will be a required 2012 sheltered Point-In-Time count, as well as a Housing Inventory count nationwide on January 25.

ITEM NO. 7 Public Comment.

Enoch said she will be very interested in seeing the HPRP final statistics when they are released. It is too bad this program has to end because of funding as it did some good when it was operating. There is a major need for a plan to be in place when the shelter moves regarding the drop in center. There is not much time to have an alternative. The CHC is aware some of the neediest people in our community are not the ones who will move with the shelter, and they are also not ready for a structured program. These people suffer from mental illness and addiction issues. These are the people who will be wandering the streets without any services. This is not just the responsibility of the police department, but it is the responsibility of groups like the HIAC, churches, and agencies. The work needs to begin now or there will be a problem. People that are working hard to get out of homelessness will be in the shelter. Half of the homeless in the community are not representative of this group. These people will never be independent and may never be able to hold down a job. They are human beings and this item needs to be addressed.

ITEM NO. 8 Adjourn

Motion by Murphy to adjourn the January 10, 2012 meeting of the HIAC. Seconded by Feltman.

Motion passed unanimously.

Attendance Record

Members

01/12

02/12

03/12

04/12

05/12

06/12

07/12

08/12

09/12

10/12

11/12

12/ 12

Hubbard Collinsworth

Brad Cook

Wes

Dalberg

Karin Feltman

Brent Hoffman

Mike

Monroe

Shannon Murphy

Cary

Strong

Elyse

Towey

X - Meeting Cancelled Due to Inclement Weather

E - Excused Absence

U - Unexcused Absence

() – Last meeting in term.

* - First meeting in term.