City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

February 14, 2012 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Hubbard Collinsworth, Brad Cook, Wes Dalberg, Karin Feltman, Brent Hoffman, Shannon Murphy, Cary Strong

Members absent: Mike Monroe, Elyse Towey

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Margene Swarts

Public present: Jeremy Farmer, Saunny Scott, Hilda Enoch, Dana Ortiz, Becky Peters, James Dunn

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

ITEM NO. 1 Introductions

The members of the HIAC introduced themselves.

ITEM NO. 2 Approval of the Agenda and the January 10, 2012 Minutes.

ACTION TAKEN

Motion by Feltman to approve the Agenda and the January 10, 2012 meeting minutes of the HIAC. Seconded by Collinsworth.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Housing Vision Reports.

a. Emergency Shelter – Lawrence Community Shelter

Swarts said Loring Henderson was on vacation, but she could report that the shelter had a recent fundraiser, and they have received all the necessary approvals from the City for the zoning of the location. LCS staff is working with city staff and will apply for a building permit soon so they can start on the work to the site.

b. Transitional Housing - LDCHA

There was no report from LDCHA.

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

Dalberg reported there is no new update because the agency is yet to sign their agreement with HUD for the funding. The funding has not been disbursed yet.

d. Permanent Housing – Bert Hash

Cook said in terms of what outreach staff is seeing as barriers to housing, he has put a list together to share with the HIAC. He said one of the biggest things the case managers are seeing as barriers was the problem of transportation. The city bus does not run seven days a week or 24 hours a day so some folks are not able to make it to work when they have jobs that are not during the normal route hours. Cook said there is also a barrier in the fact that there is limited affordable housing in Lawrence. The less expensive housing that is available is not always habitable, and a lot of the time the outreach team is seeing a requirement for the tenant to show that their monthly income is three times the rent amount. This income guideline for most units will keep many people from being able to rent in the first place, and the lack of higher paying jobs keeps renters from being able to get into these units. Cook said there is also a lack of outreach workers which hinders their ability to reach everyone they want/need to reach. Another problem is a lack of the availability of financial assistance through area agencies. Most of the agencies that offer rent and utility assistance are out of funding by the beginning of the month. Cook said the lack of a detox center is another problem. If someone wants or needs help with detox they have to go to another city. The same holds true for mental health services. In addition, criminal history for some of this population keeps them from obtaining jobs that could make it possible for them to be housed. Also, that criminal history can keep them out of housing as well.

One of the biggest problems the outreach team sees is lack of identification for many homeless individuals. Documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and state IDs are all tied together, and if you are lacking one it is extremely difficult to obtain the others. With the lifestyle some of this population leads, it is impossible for them to find a safe place to store these documents. If a person is lacking these documents it is hard to do much of anything. This is a challenge for the outreach team as well when they work to help the individuals obtain this documentation. Sometimes the case manager is able to vouch for the person in order to obtain this documentation at the state level and sometimes they are not. Cook said it depended a lot on the person at the state helping them.

Feltman asked if the rental requirement for the individual to make three times the rent on a monthly basis is a decision that the property owner makes.

Cook said it was. This is the requirement they are seeing quite a bit.

Strong said there seems to be a trend with some of the issues that Cook mentioned. He said several could be categorized together.

Feltman said in terms of LMH being able to provide mental health service, the problem with this is not a lack of funding, but an inability to retain a staff psychiatrist. She said there was a psychiatrist, but when that person left LMH was unable to fill the position. A requirement of this type of service is that there is a full time psychiatrist on staff. The program could not run without this position.

Strong asked if LMH could possibly reopen the mental health program.

Feltman said she could not say that it would not happen, but it is not in the current plan. With the current state of the budget and funding cuts, it is becoming harder to operate this unit. She said LMH will not write it out because they acknowledge the need, but it is not feasible right now.

Collinsworth said the problem with lack of documentation is concerning to him. He asked what the costs are associated with obtaining this information.

Cook said the costs depend on the state. A birth certificate in California is $30 and in Kansas it is $15. The last person he helped obtain documents had nothing to show for who they were. He worked with the individual to get their hospital records, which can be used as identification. Cook had to sign the release himself in order for the hospital to release the records so the person could get an ID. The person was able to obtain their birth certificated based on paystubs and medical records. After the birth certificate was obtained they were able to get the person an ID card. Sometimes they are able to use yearbook photos, but in most cases this information is not retained by the individual or if it is it is too old to use.

Feltman agreed and said privacy laws in this case can be problematic.

Cook said most of the time utility bills will work as well, and most of the time they have success with medical bills but this depends on who they talk to at the state. Sometimes staff at the DMV will take the alternate documentation and sometimes they do not.

Murphy echoed Cook’s concerns and said that the Sheriff’s Office has an agreement with the State of Kansas that they will accept the mandatory jail medical screening as documentation to obtain a Kansas birth certificate. She said although they have this agreement with Kansas, other states present a problem because there are no such agreements outside of Kansas.

Cook said the DMV also used to accept mug shots as identification, but that is no longer the case.

Collinsworth said it sounded like the cost to secure this documentation could range from minimal to astronomical.

Collinsworth asked Feltman if LMH had considered offering an incentive to a psychiatrist to take the position in mental health services at the hospital.

Feltman said the hospital did try to do that when they were actively recruiting for the position. She said LMH worked very hard to keep the professional that they had on staff, but they were unsuccessful. She said part of the problem they face is that if they are able to get someone into that position, will they be successful in replacing them when they leave. With funding cuts, the position of staff psychiatrist in a hospital is not as lucrative and the pool of applicants is greatly reduced because of this fact.

Collinsworth asked Feltman if this was a long term problem or a short term problem.

Feltman said it was her belief that the problem is a long term one. She said the jobs in in-patient treatment facilities are just not available right now. LMH recognizes the need, and offers a 24 hour crisis stabilization center in their ER that allows for someone experiencing mental health issues to stay in the ER for a longer amount of time than a typical patient. After the 24 hour period, staff can either discharge the patient or refer them to another facility for treatment. This is a step in the right direction, but it is not a full stay.

Swarts said in terms of the transportation piece, there is a public meeting being held by the City to hear comment about route updates and changes as well as general information. Swarts said in addition, the Douglas County Health Department is conducting a survey about the health services in the community. This information came to staff via the LAN list serve as a notification. The Health Department is asking citizens to do a survey looking at their view of health services in the county. It is found on the front page of the Health Department website found at: http://www.ldchealth.org/index.php.

Feltman noted the transit meetings are being held over the next three days.

Murphy said the meetings are only to accept comment on the proposed route changes and not the times of operation or days of operation.

Collinsworth said one of the proposed routes includes stops by the jail and the new shelter site.

e. Non-Housing - Just Food – Jeremy Farmer

Jeremy Farmer, Executive Director, was in attendance to give an overview of the Just Food program in Lawrence, which is a service of ECKAN. Farmer said the original idea behind Just Food began with the vision of several concerned citizens. They had an idea that Douglas County needed a food bank that could act as a hub for food distribution. The met monthly to talk about the issue and when the American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding became available, ECKAN was granted $250,000 for the program. The way the program was set up, it was not sustainable because it did nothing to make money to keep it running. Over the next few years, there were several ideas that were implemented and discussed, including charging agencies for food pick-ups. About a year ago, the agency found out that it only had 30 days left to operate and the agency would have to shut down without additional funding. The Board members spoke to the local media, and the community stepped up to raise over $100,000 in eight weeks.

Farmer said that he came to the agency in July, and he found a need to bring the program back to the idea of being a hub distribution site. He worked to build bridges with agencies and worked to get back to this root idea. This idea was unique to the community. ECKAN had run a food pantry out of the United Way building, and it made sense that the food pantry would be at the food bank. The first part of their program is operating the location that allows for people to obtain food. He said the agency now serves around 3000 people a month, and 40% of these people are under the age of 18. The second program that the agency administers is the mobile food pantry. Just Food distributes food via the mobile food pantry on the second Monday of each month, and with this they serve around 900 people a month. They also operate a federal commodity program that touches 800 people a month. Farmer said Just Food is getting back to being that hub location for food distribution, and has been able to coordinate with many local agencies to being down food costs and streamline the process. He said in the summer of 2011 there were many agencies doing a lot of good work, and most of these agencies’ first priority is not food but other services. He said that while food is a part of what these agencies do, Just Food feels as though this is their responsibility and after review, they took ownership of that piece of the services.

Farmer said they have looked into how they can function as a resource to these local agencies. He said all the food received from food drives is shared with the agencies, and they have worked very hard to build relationships with grocers and farmers. He said last Christmas agencies like the Salvation Army had to pay retail prices for food when they purchased goods for their clients during the holidays. With the strength of coordination and agency relationships, Just Food has established a network of 30 agencies and now has buying power from local grocers. He said sometimes the grocers even lose money with the deals that they are able to give the agencies. This past Christmas, every agency saved money. Most agencies have big hearts and not big pocketbooks. Just Food is asking consistently what they can do to be a better resource for these agencies. Farmer said the idea is not to just give away food because this is not solvent. The mission is to go beyond just meeting the need, and Just Food works with these local agencies to figure out how everyone can work together and provide more than just food. It takes all agencies, not just one.

Hoffman asked Farmer what his contact information was.

Farmer said the easiest way to get in touch with him was email at jfarmer@eckan.org.

Feltman asked Farmer to talk about the volunteers at Just Food.

Farmer said the network of volunteers is amazing and the program volunteers logged over 130,000 hours of time in 2011. There were upwards of 30 volunteers that helped distribute food this week to 700 people. Last year alone the agency gave away 995,000 pounds of food for free. The volunteers are needed and are wonderful. The program only has two full-time staff people, and everyone else is a volunteer. He said the program even has full-time volunteers. There are many unselfish people that help keep the program running.

Hoffman asked if there was now a sustainable financial system for the program.

Farmer said it was now sustainable. He said it was amazing what happens when people in the community know you exist, and they have seen this in the form of cash donations. The agency worked very hard to educate people about the services and necessity of the program on a local level, and as an example he himself has four other meetings he is attending today alone to get the word out. A year ago they were 30 days away from being forced to close. Today they are looking into moving into a new building. There is now 20 months of sustainability built up. People support solvent programs that have a clear, defined mission. There are agencies in the community that will not let this program fail because it is a piece of the puzzle. A year ago the closing of the program would not have affected many agencies as it would today. They are consistently pursing fundraisers, education, and grant applications. Above all, they are constantly talking to community members about the program.

Hoffman asked how Just Food works to improve on efficiencies and to get programs costs down.

Farmer said the fact that their only expenses currently are the building and two staffers. The new location will be able to accommodate multiple visits by agencies. Currently agencies can utilize Just Food once a week. When the move occurs, agencies will be able to come to the facility five days a week, as will consumers. Farmer said the agency does not have a lot of extravagant things or fancy deals. The main cost of the operation is food. They have an agreement with Feeding America where they can purchase food though the regional distributer of Harvesters. In this economic time, businesses are getting smarter with their ordering, and the over-stocking of food is rarer than it used to be for the grocers. A few years ago there was an ability to receive a nice tax write-off when donations were made, and grocers had a lot of food to donate. Farmer said it was important to do a better job of decentralizing the purchase of food so Douglas County can take care of Douglas County. Additionally, Just Food has many food drives, and all that food is given away in the county.

Hoffman asked if there is a partnership with local growers.

Farmer said there is. He said Hy-Vee recently donated a 9ft by 30ft cooler, so the agency can now store much more produce than they were able to hold before. He said when he arrived at the agency last summer, the agency was open to service providers on Wednesdays, and since most agencies do not have a cooler to hold produce there was really no room for it in food pick-ups. This cooler will allow increased amounts of fresh food and increased access to that type of food. Just Food works with Douglas County Master Gardeners, and there are partner agencies that are working with the Farmer’s Market merchants to secure donations of leftover produce. This allows for the leftover produce to go to good use and not to just be thrown away.

Murphy commented the Sheriff’s Office has had a great experience in taking their clients to the food bank, and they have always found the process easy and the volunteer staff very helpful. She said it makes for a comfortable environment for the folks that need to utilize the services.

Feltman asked Farmer what the criteria was to obtain food.

Farmer said the long term goal is to get everyone on the same page in Douglas County. He said right now, every agency has different requirements to obtain the service through case management. The guidelines at Just Food are much more liberal, and there are no requirements for the agencies. The goal is not to make it difficult for agencies to get food for their clients. For the food pantry, the income guideline is no more than 185% of the federal poverty level. Sixty percent of Douglas County is at this level. There are 68,000 eligible residents of Douglas County, and last year Just Food assisted 14,000. There are a lot of eligible residents that are not utilizing the service. The only requirement they have is that there must be a Douglas County ID on the person. He said after hearing from Murphy, he is pleased to know that the agencies are finding the process to be a positive experience. He said Just Food works with agencies to help those without the Douglas County ID or lack of an ID at all, and how to deal with this population. Also, Just Food works with a nutritionist to ensure that all the food groups are represented for those using the food pantry.

Feltman asked if anyone can get the fresh produce.

Farmer said this was correct, and there is not a long application process at Just Food to obtain food. A person just signs in. There are additionally no requirements for the mobile food pantry. With the mobile food pantry, Just Food served 51% more children in 2011 than in 2010 and 78% more seniors in 2011 than in 2010.

Ortiz asked Farmer if there is support for those who do not have ID cards.

Farmer said that is something the agency is looking at because there are no policies in place for this instance. The main reason that the ID is required is to ensure that the Douglas County residents are the ones getting food. When agencies such as Bert Nash bring clients in, Just Food will take the word of the case manager so there is no problem there. In helping 3000 people a month, there will always be some that do not want to follow the rules. With an agency, this is not really a concern.

Murphy said the Sheriff’s Office has not seen a problem in assisting those with no ID.

ITEM NO. 4 Receive Fourth Quarter and Annual Bert Nash Reports.

Staff provided the reports. They can be found here.

James Dunn commented there were no statistics on the report from the viewpoint of eviction numbers. This report speaks to those obtaining housing but not to those losing it. He said he personally was renting to two individuals under an HPRP program who he had to evict.

Cook said a few years ago they reported on this data, mainly when the individual returned to homelessness. Since the agency moved to HMIS to capture the data this statistic has not been followed and reported on.

Dunn said he felt this stat was very important for this body and that many landlords have been burned by the Kim Wilson Housing, Inc. HPRP program administration and tenants for damaging the units. It is very expensive for landlords to rent to this population.

Cook said people get evicted for many reasons, and it is not just destruction of a unit. He indicated he would forward the suggestion to include this in the report to Sharon Zehr who is the supervisor for the outreach team.

Dunn said from his experience, those who have lost housing did not have any active case management. There was no case manager who came to the unit to see how they were living and how they were doing. In both the cases he is referring to, the tenant had a job.

Cook said that they could have obtained housing without a case manager.

Dunn asked which agencies had to have case management.

Cook said Transitional Housing is required to have a case manager relationship, Section 8 is not.

Murphy said their case management when a client is housed is on a voluntary basis. There is a very fine balance to continuing to reach out to the client, and trying not to pull vouchers. They work very hard to keep the engagement up, but the question is at what point does one give up? Social service and case management are very important to successes.

Hoffman said Dunn’s concerns are very important, and with 2500 vacant units in the City it is important to foster this case management relationship. This concern needs to be addressed.

ITEM NO. 5 Discussion Regarding how the USICH ‘Opening Doors Across America’ Might Be Applicable in the Lawrence Community. (Link to Public Manager Article)

Feltman asked if this item could be deferred until the March meeting so the committee can have more time to look over the document.

The HIAC agreed to postpone the agenda item until March.

ITEM NO. 6 Discussion of Next Steps Regarding the Drop-In Center.

Swarts said this agenda item was to see how the HIAC wanted to proceed with the discussion regarding the drop-in center once the shelter leaves the downtown district.

Cook suggested a meeting in the Development Services offices to study and discuss the issue.

Feltman suggested starting with a planning session to determine who needs to be at the table and in what format they wish to frame the discussion.

Cook suggested meeting from 8am to 9am on the day of the next HIAC meeting, March 13, and then the regular meeting can begin at 9am.

Staff said the meeting can be held in the City Commission room at that time and staff will make arrangements.

ITEM NO. 7 Miscellaneous/Calendar.

Swarts provided the HIAC with the final program report for the HPRP program.

Hoffman said Linda Watts was putting together a document regarding the proposal for Earned Income Tax Credits to be eliminated. If that measure is approved, it will result in a tax increase for those currently qualified for the tax credit of $400 or more. The document will have the names and addresses of delegation members at the state level. This will be a major hit to this population if this legislation passes.

Cook added Douglas County Legal Aid and the Senior Center are providing free assistance with tax preparation.

Dresslar said in terms of the Continuum of Care Check-up which the body helped to fine-tune, an action plan is being formulated that will be submitted to HUD to provide an outline for how the Balance of State will move forward with their process. Dresslar asked if HIAC members could look over the document that was previously filled out and offer any action plan items suggestions back to her no later than February 27.

Feltman said she is on the agenda for the March meeting to bring LMH information. She asked for suggestions on what information to provide.

Swarts asked if she could report on address information from the shelter and Family Promise to see if some numbers can be pulled to see how many from these two agencies are utilizing the ER.

Feltman said she will do that.

Feltman said last time there was discussion regarding composing a letter to the state delegation about the effects on the community of the HPRP program being discontinued because of funding. Now that the final statistics are available, there should be a letter from this group to support the funds.

Collinsworth said there is concern with what the Kansas Legislature is doing in terms of Medi-Kan, and the fact that Blue Cross Blue Shield is not a participating program.

Cook said from what he understood this will mostly affect Cottonwood, and that the changes are being proposed for next January.

Enoch said this had not been decided yet.

Collinsworth said it was next year, but the state has requested submittals for the program by July of this year. How can the HIAC influence this decision? He suggested taking a consensus of the HIAC and asking staff to draft a report to submit to the City Commission. This decision will affect a lot of Kansans. The program is supposed to be limited to three agencies, and those agencies are supposed to be statewide in representation. With Blue Cross Blue Shield not participating this is a scary thing because Kansas will run the risk that the responsible agency might be located in the eastern part of the state when the assistance is needed in the southwest corner of the state, or the agency might even be new to the state entirely.

Murphy said more information was needed on the changes to start to determine how to move forward with such a letter.

Cook suggested having a guest speak from Cottonwood since they are the agency most affected by the legislation.

Staff will look into having Cottonwood speak at the March meeting.

Saunny Scott added Cottonwood was having a meeting on February 15 at the Holidome to discuss the proposed changes. One of the main problems for them is that there is a suggestion that the people with developmental disabilities should not be covered by such a program. The program as suggested is mostly for medical problems, and most Cottonwood clients require management problems with their disabilities and not so much medical issues.

ITEM NO. 8 Public Comment.

Dunn said the information that Cook presented in some landlords and leasing agencies requiring an income of three times a person’s rent to qualify for a unit is true in a lot of places. He said in his case he varies this requirement a bit by things such as past rental history, if they own a car, and if they smoke. He said he has seen tenants pay zero rent, and in addition receive a check for utilities. He has found people that are paying $32 a month in rent who have given up their vouchers to move into the shelter.

Cook said he has never seen a zero rent tenant who received additional money. He said typically renters have to come up with around $75 a month for utilities.

Dunn said he has seen it in the form of a check received each month from LDCHA.

Collinsworth said a lot of renters scramble and beg for $75 a month in utilities.

Cook said he has seen clients give blood or plasma, do odd jobs, and ask the church or another agency for assistance. Whatever they can do to cover the utilities they will do. He said in his experience if you have zero income your rent responsibility is still $50. He said he understands Dunn’s concerns, and receiving only small amounts of income can keep persons out of housing.

Enoch asked Feltman about the lack of mental health services at LMH.

Feltman repeated the information provided previously regarding the lack of the ability to find a staff psychiatrist to keep under employment.

Enoch asked if there was not anyone in the entire country that could have taken the position.

Feltman said the search was a nationwide search, and because funding has been pulled from mental health programs, there is a smaller pool of educated professionals that are qualified for this position. It is not a lucrative field anymore and the jobs are not available. She said you can build the facility, but staff will not come if you cannot run it.

Enoch asked if the nurses on staff met the requirement.

Feltman said by regulation there has to be a certified psychiatrist on staff.

Collinsworth expressed concern regarding the fact that a person studying to become a professional in this field needs to obtain clinical hours, and with cutbacks this training is harder and harder to find.

Feltman reiterated that LMH is well aware of the need, and they are always looking at ways that they can help to meet the need. They are not ignoring the issue; it just is not something feasible at this time.

Enoch said there is a strong connection between those with mental health issues and those in jail and those that are homeless.

Feltman agreed and said the ER has a high mental health demographic.

Collinsworth said LMH has made positive steps in the way of adding the crisis beds.

Enoch said yes, but those are only occupied for a maximum of 24 hours. Enoch suggested Feltman bring statistics next time regarding the crisis beds.

Collinsworth asked if there was any new news on HMIS.

Swarts said as of now the Balance of State is still working with MAAClink and it looks as if they will continue working with them on issues and concerns.

ITEM NO. 9 Adjourn.

Motion by Cook to adjourn the February 14, 2012 meeting of the HIAC. Seconded by Collinsworth.

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

+ - Present

X - Meeting Cancelled Due to Inclement Weather

E - Excused Absence

U - Unexcused Absence

() – Last meeting in term.

* - First meeting in term.