City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

April 10, 2012 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

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

Members absent: None

Staff present: Alicia Barlow, Margene Swarts

Public present: (sign in sheet)

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

ITEM NO. 1 Introductions

The members of the HIAC and guests introduced themselves.

ITEM NO. 2 Approval of the Agenda and the March 13, 2012 Minutes.

Feltman requested a clarification sentence be added to item 3E that the numbers in the bed statistics reflected only crisis stabilization beds and not emergency room beds.

Motion by Collinsworth to approve the Agenda and the March 13, 2012 meeting minutes of the HIAC; seconded by Feltman.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Housing Vision Reports – Deferred until May

No housing vision reports.

ITEM NO. 4 Discussion of LCS Relocation Impact on Downtown

Swarts said for this discussion staff invited guests from the Lawrence Public Library, City of Lawrence Parks and Recreation, and the Lawrence Community Shelter.

Strong said in addition he talked to several downtown business owners to discuss their concerns regarding the upcoming impact of the shelter relocation. Strong indicated that the individuals he talked to had general same thoughts, which were that they were not as concerned about the impact of the relocation on the daytime hours, but the real concern was in impact on the nighttime hours. For the most part, the downtown business owners do not understand how the bus routes will work and what happens with the individuals at night that remain downtown.

Swarts said the bus will run on the normal bus schedule which is 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Strong said people were concerned about those individuals who do not make it on the bus before it completes the daily runs.

Cook said he is hearing talk about the shelter having its own bus to do an evening run for people that are not able to make the last bus.

Feltman said she questions the issue of bathrooms in the downtown area, and will there be a place for these individuals to use facilities.

Strong answered that most restrooms in the downtown area are for paying customers of the businesses, although some owners are more lenient about the use of the restroom. If a person is in the restroom for a lengthy time and appears to be using it as a shower, the owners will make a mental note and will lose tolerance for that activity. Strong said some places are very strict on the policy of the restrooms being for paying customers only.

Mike Wildgen, representing the Lawrence Public Library as the Interim Director, said security is provided at the library. He noted that Matt Lesley, Security Coordinator, could probably give additional details. Wildgen stated the library is open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm for the most part, and they have found that behavior is the guiding factor. He said that the library does see inappropriate use of bathrooms and quiet areas, and sometimes these are being used for illegal activities. Wildgen said the library staff does not know if these individuals are homeless, but they do see those inappropriate behaviors. He said the library has a wide diversity of users, and occasionally this mix can cause some problems.

Dalberg asked what is the library seeing as the unattended use of quiet space.

Wildgen said this area has become a sleeping area for many. He said it was not unusual to see the attempt to stay there all day as a place to go.

Cook asked if the library sees any changes in terms of security with new building.

Wildgen said the new building was still in the planning process and a couple of years away, but with the new building comes a bigger space for public use and more computers available. He said at this time they are unsure if there will be more security available with the budget but there will be security needs to be addressed.

Feltman asked Wildgen if the library has specific concerns about this issue.

Wildgen said the library has wondered about this issue. Will they see more individuals there? Will the tendency be to stay downtown instead of at the new shelter? There are a lot of services that are located downtown. The new library will not be open until 2014, and there is a chance that the library functions may be moved to several facilities for some time until then.

Wildgen introduced Matt Lesley, Security Coordinator, who said most library patrons come in for educational purposes, but they also have some that are there for the leisure space. This affects staff who are there to help people. It is also a daily issue in that some people use the bathroom for shaving, brushing teeth, and drying their clothes under the hair dryer.

Feltman asked what the library currently does about this issue.

Lesley said security and staff will typically address the issue with the person and tell them the library is not an appropriate location for grooming and other chores, and they work with them to show them other places available for those types of services.

Tim Laurent, Lawrence Parks and Recreation (LPR), oversees the city’s recreation centers. He said LPR echoes the comments made earlier by Strong. Staff wise, LPR is equipped to handle this type of activity during the day. There are available shower facilities during the day but in the evenings this is not the case. At the LPR recreation centers, 99% of evening staff is part time. The community building is a large facility and there are lots of places for a person to hide. Staff is seeing this behavior already, especially in the cold months. Oftentimes, the part time staff is apprehensive about finding these folks.

Feltman asked what services the recreation centers provide and what volume of traffic they are seeing.

Laurent said all that is offered are shower facilities and restrooms. There is also a weight room and a cardio area that are available for use for free. There are a lot of people in this situation that take advantage of these facilities. With this population, a majority follow the rules, but a small number do not. Currently, this is not a big issue. The shower facilities are open from 7:00 – 10:00 am and Noon-7:00 pm. Currently the site has less than 10 people who cause problems on a regular basis, and they see a lot of repeat offenders. They also have public restrooms available.

Feltman asked if they see it as being problem in the future.

Laurent said currently LPR recreation buildings can accommodate a lot of people. The concern is that they will see a lot of people who come there during the daytime hours to hang out, not to use the facility for recreational purposes. LPR needs to make sure that they are able to have the control. They have a wide variety of clients that use the facilities for their programs, including children and women.

Collinsworth asked if there were showers at other LPR locations other than the downtown Community Building.

Laurent said that East Lawrence Recreation Center and Holcom Recreation Centers both have showers, and people have the ability to just come in, shower, and leave.

Mitch Young was present representing the Parks side of LPR. He said their concern is about the occurrence of additional camping in the parks when the shelter moves. He said there has not been a lot of camping recently, but there have been a lot of open fires in the evenings. The main concerns are about the extra camping, additional fires, and additional clean up. LPR locks the park restrooms at night, and there are people staff has to ask to leave who want to be locked in restrooms over night. In addition, the parks have the option to reserve picnic tables for events, and this sometimes causes a problem when there are people who are camping out in the table areas.

Cook said that were some Prairie Park neighborhood residents concerned about people camping in that area as well.

Young said this was one of the only parks that has an available fire ring for campfires, but it does not get used often. Typically people are building their fire next to their campsites. He said 90% of the items LPR pick up after they post an area for cleanup is clothing.

Swarts asked if people are leaving the clothing behind when they move.

Young said yes, and that LPR has to give posting of 24 hours before they clean a camping site up, although the fires are put out immediately.

Feltman asked if individuals call LPR to do pick up belongings.

Young said LPR looks for camping sites themselves to some extent, but sometimes the Police Department will call them. LPR then follows up and will go out and post if necessary.

Loring Henderson, Executive Director of the Lawrence Community Shelter (LCS) said he supports a drop-in center. He said he thinks this will be important for the community. Henderson said the question is who is going to run it and what shape does it take, and all of this is open for discussion. He said from the shelter’s view, the question is once the site is relocated and is open, what will happen downtown. When the shelter is open, people in the shelter have to be in a program. LCS will have more programs running at the new location. LCS will serve three meals a day. There will be more reasons to stay there, which should translate into less coming and going. LCS will have a four-part transportation plan. With the City bus system, it is not clear at this point how often the buses run. The shelter has a van as well to assist in transportation.

LCS will have additional offices, so there will be more collaboration between agencies to meet with people, so less coming and going and less transportation should be needed. Volunteers will be available to drive people to appointments. This will get people to and from meetings, interviews and appointments, which should minimize traffic in the neighborhood. In the wintertime particularly, LCS will pick up people for emergency shelter services that have not utilized the bus system. This will not be a standard service, but it will be available for emergencies. The new shelter is designed for a capacity of 125. LCS has found about 120 people utilizing shelter services between them and Salvation Army in extreme conditions. This will not be an every night occurrence. LCS is not a place for people to come in every night for sleeping, as that space is reserved primarily for the people in their programs.

Henderson said the library is a treasure for homeless people. These individuals have a lot of time on their hands. Homeless people can be very smart, very intellectual, and need that outlet. The library has been very open to them, and Henderson expressed a thank you to the library. With Parks and Recreation, a lot of people use these facilities for the showers. The shelter does not have showers during the day for drop-ins. Henderson said he envisions that a new drop-in center could have a few showers for people. Currently, the showers at LCS are in the sleeping area, so it is locked off during the day. Henderson said one of the great services the shelter offers is that they have mail service available. Henderson said he is unsure if the vision of a new drop-in center would have a mail service or if the shelter needs to keep that piece in-house, but that aspect could add a lot of foot traffic.

Feltman asked Henderson what kinds of things he saw with the relocation and closing of the drop-in center that could be issues that the HIAC might not have identified yet, and if any services currently provided are going away.

Henderson said with the relocation, there are going to be a lot of people left on the street. He said he did not know how many, but some people will not qualify for the shelter’s programs. Even if there is the implementation of a part time drop-in shelter, there are still questions of where will the people that use this service go other times. Even if it is a full day operation, there is still the issue at night. There is a need for a bathroom, a shower, and a place to do laundry. Henderson said a drop-in center he was familiar with in Washington had a lot of washers and dryers.

Strong asked Henderson if he felt the drop-in center needed to be located downtown, or if it should be available for those who do not join the programs at LCS.

Henderson said he was unsure if downtown was the right location, but he feels that there needs to be something available for these individuals to be able to sit down at a table and have a cup of coffee.

Feltman suggested that the HIAC could do a community public relations campaign or a compassion campaign to get the word out about these issues. There may be a lot of people who live near downtown that need this educational knowledge, including residents, people with garages or porches, and those who deal with extra traffic in alleys or backyards.

Henderson said the drop-in center should not be a place with programs. The idea behind it should stay simple.

Hoffman asked how many individuals the drop-in center is seeing.

Henderson said this was hard to estimate. Currently they get people who drop in, and another group of folks who are staying at the shelter. The drop-in center gets around 100 people throughout the course of the day.

Cook said there is a sign in sheet at the drop-in center, but the people utilizing the site do not all sign in. Traffic through the center is always moving, and in the morning it is very crowded because many people come in for breakfast that stayed in the shelter.

Hoffman asked for a best guess on the number of people utilizing the drop-in center.

Henderson said he guessed an average of 50 people use it.

There was discussion on whether people have a reason to come downtown for services. Services are at the hospital, 19^th & Haskell, and clustered in other places. Henderson said the shelter will discourage people coming downtown to “hang out.”

Collinsworth asked how long after an intake is completed is it determined if the individual is in a program.

Henderson said if the person comes into the shelter on a Friday night, staff will start processing the intake right away, but the individual would not meet with a case manager until Monday. LCS makes the decision right away what program they are in. The Management Plan submitted to the City states a guest has 90 days to stay in the facility, but they have to be serious about the case management plan. If the individual is in a case management plan and is not serious about it, LCS can ask them to leave. In addition, if the individual is in a plan and they are successfully working that plan, they can stay longer than 90 days. Sometimes things take a bit longer than the 90 days, and if a person is working a plan they should not be penalized because it has gone over the 90 day timeframe.

Dalberg asked Henderson about the meal schedule at LCS.

Henderson said LCS currently provides two meals a day. The new site will be able to offer three meals a day. LCS has included one position in the budget that is for a kitchen person to prepare lunch. LCS will have a kitchen and dining area. This area and service is only available to people in the shelter programs.

Hilda Enoch asked how cold the temperature has to be for people to be picked up in the winter.

Henderson said at 32 degrees or below this service will be provided.

Enoch said the phone is pretty important piece of the drop-in center.

Henderson said LCS will have a phone available that has a separate line for shelter guests to use. A phone in the drop-in center would be an important piece. A person can get long distance at a reasonable price.

Enoch said people need breakfast, too.

Henderson agreed and said something like cereal and coffee could be very easy to facilitate. Coffee is crucial.

Enoch said a washer and dryer are also important. She asked Henderson if LCS gives bus tickets for medical appointments and other such commitments.

Henderson said yes, LCS does have bus tickets at the shelter for the people who need them as a part of their case management program. Other agencies may also have bus passes for the same reason. Henderson said he feels like the drop-in center should not get involved in bus passes and decisions on getting people to appointments. The idea should be to keep it simple.

Feltman said the more simple the community can keep this, the easier it will be to find a group interested in taking this on.

Swarts asked the HIAC if they would like to think about what they have heard and revisit the item on a future agenda.

Strong said the HIAC should take some time to think about the discussion and what they have heard. He said they were able to hear a lot of information, yet there is much more to discuss.

Hoffman said the HIAC should bring in some of the faith groups located in the downtown area to be part of the discussion. He asked if there could be further discussion on some other groups the HIAC should invite, what community needs do they see appearing as the shelter moves, how they deal with those issues currently, and where are gaps that we see.

Swarts will invite the groups discussed.

Collinsworth asked where does the funding for bus passes come from.

Swarts said the passes come from the City’s general fund designated through Outside Agency funding. This funding also covers clothing and work safety clothing. The deadline for outside agencies to request general fund money is coming up in early May. Swarts said she believes that the bus passes and clothing funds have been part of the Bert Nash homeless outreach request.

ITEM NO. 5 Miscellaneous/Calendar.

Cook asked Dalberg to comment about recent operations changes at the Salvation Army.

Dalberg said the Salvation Army has discontinued the warming/cooling center due to decreasing funding. The Salvation Army has asked Henderson if churches downtown can help with the overflow situation as the space in their building is no longer available. He said there has been overflow every night.

Henderson said LCS was working on this situation, and they are going to be phasing in some space at churches to help with the over flow in the next few weeks as they get permissions from the City. Henderson said they may have to use two churches at once as church overflow occupancy is limited to 15 people per the zoning code.

Cook said the other issue he wanted to bring up was the City Commission’s discussion of the recreational vehicles being parked downtown at South Park. Cook asked if the HIAC wanted to have a discussion about this decision and look at a recommendation, or if this was more of an issue for the City Commission.

Murphy said she has noticed that the issue is just affecting the particular streets around the park area.

McKinley said the other areas that were being discussed are already covered by other ordinances. This particular area was one that had been left out of the parking requirements for residential areas in the code. For vehicles that exceed a particular length, the code only allows parking for two consecutive hours on any city street unless for loading purposes, such as the case with moving vans. Otherwise, a vehicle has to be on private property for longer term parking. McKinley added there are safety issues as well. A structure that is not designed as a permanent dwelling structure, that is parked where an impact could happen, is dangerous because the occupant of the vehicle is probably not wearing a seatbelt in the parked vehicle.

Discussion on the issue followed, and the HIAC decided they did not wish to make a formal decision or recommendation.

Swarts added that Trent McKinley is the new representative from the Police Department for the Committee.

Swarts said the Community Cooperation Committee (CCC) has been working on a new informational brochure. Swarts asked that the HIAC members take a look at the draft to see if they find any changes or updates that need to be made so staff can let the CCC know. This item is just an information piece that is geared to homeless types of services.

Swarts noted the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition will be holding their annual Homeless Summit on April 23 and 24 in El Dorado. The Summit registration is $25 and agencies and individuals can register online. There are some scholarships available for homeless individuals, and to apply for these scholarships one will need to go through the website at www.kshomeless.org. Swarts and Dresslar will both be attending and presenting at the Summit.

Swarts announced that the City will be providing training on the Kansas Open Meetings Act and City Ethics policy. The training will be held Thursday April 26^th with an alternate date of Wednesday April 18^th. Both trainings will begin at 6:00 pm in City Commission Room.

ITEM NO. 6 Public Comment.

Enoch said she did not know how much trouble the strange structures that people build as their homes are actually causing. There is nowhere for them to go. There used to be a place for people to camp, but that was taken away. Enoch thanked Wes Dalberg for all of the services the Salvation Army provides.

Discussion followed regarding these structures.

A member of the public stated that she spent some time in Texas, and she lives in a utility trailer. She has been allowed to park it in her mobile home park. They allow her to be there, and it is somewhat private. She asked if these people can be moved to a mobile home park, where they have a community and better services.

Cook said that decision would have to be up to the owner of the mobile home park, and it would be great if it was an option.

Collinsworth asked if it is the fact that we are looking at a motorized vehicle with a structure on the back that is the illegal part. He asked if there was a camping site at the area lakes.

McKinley said Clinton Lake and the Army Corps of Engineers have camping, but there are fees, and some areas are closed during winter. There are restrictions on how long one can stay at the same site, when some of the areas close at different times of day, and when they are closed for seasons.

Collinsworth asked if the HIAC wanted to find funding for these people to be able to use these other resources. People in the community say there is a need more housing, so how can this be accomplished.

There was discussion about a “camping fund” as a way to provide housing since there is not an abundance of housing available.

There was discussion about talking specifically to the people who are in the inappropriate residences, and asking them if they would they even want the HIAC to recommend anything.

McKinley said they did deliver notice to the people in the RVs about the topic being on the City Commission agenda, so they are aware of the discussion and invited to attend the meeting.

Cook said the issue before with camping was that the Housing Vision is geared to get people into permanent housing. Camping is not a permanent housing option.

Towey asked if those people who choose to live in the RVs even want the help of the HIAC to look at solutions or to find funding. She suggested to start the HIAC should talk to them.

Saunny Scott asked if there are parking lots that are closed at night which would be sometimes okay to park in overnight, but would have to move during the day.

Strong said there are still more safety and health issues with that.

McKinley said the police department stopped giving tickets for this parking issue because the issue was coming forward for discussion at the City Commission.

ITEM NO. 7 Adjourn.

Motion by Murphy to adjourn the April 10, 2012 meeting of the HIAC; seconded by Strong.

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

Trent McKinley

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.

^ - Last Meeting