City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

August 14, 2012 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Hubbard Collinsworth (at-large), Brad Cook (Bert Nash Homeless Outreach Team), Karin Feltman (LMH), Brent Hoffman (Family Promise), Lt. Matt McCluer (Salvation Army), Shannon Murphy (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Reentry Program), Cary Strong (Lawrence Business Community)

Members absent: Trent McKinley (LPD), Elyse Towey (LDCHA)

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Margene Swarts

Public present: CJ Brune, Pat Benabe, Saunny Scott, Hilda Enoch, Jason Hess.

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 July 10, 2012 Minutes.

Motion by Murphy to approve the Agenda and the July 10, 2012 meeting minutes of the HIAC; seconded by Collinsworth.

Motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Housing Vision Reports

A. Non-Housing – Substance Abuse – Heartland RADAC, Jason Hess

Jason Hess, Executive Director of Heartland RADAC was present. Hess said the agency was founded in 1999 and it started out with six employees. The focus at that time was referral services for alcohol and drug evaluations. The agency would go into jails, the former SRS offices, and other agencies to speak to clients. The staff went where the clients needed them to go. Over the years Heartland RADAC was able to add to services. Currently, they additionally work in case management and care coordination services. Hess said the agency is funded through state and local levels. Heartland RADAC serves 76 of the 105 counties in Kansas, including the entire western half of the state and some counties in north. Douglas is one of the counties that they serve. The agency has always done alcohol and drug assessment and referrals. Over time, Heartland RADAC added services where they needed to. One such program is a funded workforce training for those who have substance abuse. With this program the goal is to provide assistance prior to kids and families getting involved with the state Department of Children and Families (formerly SRS) system.

Hess said six years ago Heartland RADAC proposed a new program to the State Mental Board of Health. They asked for funding for case management within their agency that allowed them to work with difficult clients in the community. The target population would be those constantly using high dollar services such as the Emergency Room, the police department, and State hospitals. The agency refers to this client base as the severely persistently intoxicated. In addition this population may have an undiagnosed health condition. They do not show up for customary services, and they typically only use police or ER services. This population takes intensive case management. Providing case management specific to this population was the next best fit to what the agency currently offered. This population just drinks and uses, and when they get off the bus they go straight back into addiction. The agency was awarded a $200,000 grant for five years. The counties served include Shawnee, Douglas, Wyandotte, and Johnson. For those five years Heartland RADAC was able to save those communities over $4 million in services. The case managers show up where the client shows up, and this was not a billable services. The agency was able to show that they could help folks get out of the state hospital and not directly back into addiction. Many of the clients are homeless or at an emergency shelter so the grant proposal had client service dollars for medications, housing, and basic needs. In May of 2011 the State erased that line item from budget, and that service was stopped last July. Because of the de-funding of the program, there were a number of folks that lost essential support. After October of last year the Kansas Department for Aging decided they wanted to spend time at different agencies that offer services. Everywhere they went they heard people talk about this program. After seeing the impact of not having the program, the State was able to reinstate funding in May. The new grant covers the same four counties and the agency added four more counties as well so the coverage now goes into Salina, Great Bend, Hays and Wichita.

Hess said in terms of the services that Heartland RADAC is involved with that works with the homeless in the Lawrence community, they work closely with LCS. The goal is to get the clients in this realm less precariously housed. He said funding increases have allowed the agency to develop a few more resources. Hess said Heartland RADAC has been working with Municipal Court Judge Scott Miller to see if the agency can provide the court a better idea about the folks that come through his courtroom, thus getting them into treatment quickly. The agency has also reconnected with Bert Nash services. They work alongside case managers in local mental health centers as well as their extensive work with reentry program in Douglas County. Hess said it has been a nice partnership as Heartland RADAC can walk into a room and ask how they can support the services in the community. Hess said this has been one program in particular that has had the biggest impact on the homeless community. Case management and assessment are the usual services. Heartland RADAC contracts with the Department Of Corrections to work with those in reentry. They have staff in both Shawnee County and Wyandotte County, four staff based in Lansing, and one staff at women’s facility in Topeka. They work with these other jurisdictions to assess the folks coming back to Lawrence. Heartland RADAC has two counselors in Lawrence and they spend a lot of time at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the jail.

Feltman asked what RADAC stood for.

Hess said it stood for Regional Alcohol Drug Assessment Center.

Collinsworth asked how many counties in Kansas were served by Heartland RADAC.

Hess said 76 counties.

Collinsworth asked if the agency was working to go into other counties they do not currently cover.

Hess said yes and no. He said in Kansas there are two agencies that officer very similar services including Heartland RADAC. The Wichita area has Substance Abuse Center of Kansas. They do similar work as Heartland RADAC. Hess said Heartland RADAC subcontracts two of their services to them.

Collinsworth asked what the agency funding stream was.

Hess said the agency is mostly grant funded through the State, including the Department Of Corrections, Department of Children and Families, and Department of Aging and Disability. Hess said in addition, Heartland RADAC bills on Medicaid and receives local money in Johnson County. While there is a mixed bag of funding overall the case management comes from Aging.

Murphy said on behalf of the Reentry Program, they feel very fortunate to have RADAC there. She said the jail offers RADAC staff office space and lunch.

Hess said Heartland RADAC has a unique relationship with the Douglas County jail. This particular jail has been the most inviting. The agency has been able to take this model to other places and work with other jails, including the Unified Government of Wyandotte County. This model has enabled Heartland RADAC to form very tight relationships and to serve people better.

Murphy said having the staff onsite enables the assessor to be able to work directly with reentry staff at that moment. It has worked well and better serves the clients.

Swarts asked if this success was because of specifically the Douglas County Reentry program.

Hess said yes. He said both parties have an understanding of how the two systems work together, which is by connecting with people. Hess said Heartland RADAC does not provide a lot of direct services, although they do provide outpatient services in the Kansas City metro area. He said in most cases the agency has to normally open the door.

Enoch asked about how many are served at the facility from Douglas County intakes.

Hess said the agency does not have a facility so no residential services are offered.

B. Emergency Shelter/Temporary Housing – LCS, Loring Henderson

Swarts reminded the committee that the LCS groundbreaking ceremony was at 10am. There was no additional report from Loring Henderson.

C. Transitional Housing/Supportive Services – Elyse Towey, LDCHA

In Towey’s absence there was no Transitional Housing report.

D. Permanent Supportive Housing – Salvation Army Project Able

Lt. Matthew McCluer reported that the program is seeing good success stories including a family that came to the program with nothing and now owns their own business.

Enoch said it was great that he was there and already attending the HIAC meetings.

E. Permanent Housing –

There was no permanent housing report.

ITEM NO. 4 Receive Bert Nash Second Quarter Report.

The report can be found here.

Feltman said she noticed there were more families with children being served this quarter, as well as a big jump in housing the unsheltered population.

Collinsworth asked Cook how the funding cuts were affecting Bert Nash.

Cook said he was not sure about the agency as a whole, but the outreach program has been funded by the city at a slightly increased amount.

ITEM NO. 5 Receive 2011 Bus Pass and Work Clothing Report.

The report can be found here.

Swarts explained this program pays for bus passes and work clothing for individuals. The funding comes from the City’s Alcohol fund and it is funded this year at $8,000. The City issues a check to LCS and Loring Henderson administers the funds to different agencies.

Feltman asked if LMH has inquired about being included in this program. She said there are bus passes that the hospital provides to many leaving the Emergency Room.

Swarts said her understanding was that LMH purchases their own passes. Historically the original recommendation from this program came from the Community Commission on Homelessness (CCH) and it was included as a part of the original outreach plan. There was a need at that time for several agencies to have the ability to provide bus passes and work clothing to the homeless population. Originally as it was tied to the outreach request, Bert Nash was chosen to be the agency to head up the program. After that LCS stepped up and offered to work with the bus pass portion of the grant. At that time there was not a liaison from LMH associated with the CCH. Swarts said if LMH wanted to be a part of the bus passes then they would need to speak to Loring Henderson and funding requests may need to be adjusted in the future.

Feltman said LMH is a charitable organization so she will check on the bus passes and how LMH is securing them. She said LMH does not want to take away from what others are receiving, but if there is the ability for additional funding they would want to at least have the conversation.

Hoffman asked how an agency could be added to the list.

Swarts said that was not something the HIAC was charged with, but if an agency had interest in being part of the program they would need to speak to Henderson and the rest of the group.

Enoch said it would not hurt for the HIAC to speak in favor for LMH’s need for bus passes. She asked if Henderson needed the entire allotment that he received.

Cook said there was absolutely a need for the allocated bus passes. He said the agencies could use three times the amount they receive as it is. They are all being used.

Enoch asked what the criterion was to receive the passes.

Cook said sometimes it was first-come first-serve, and sometimes it is based on need.

ITEM NO. 6 Miscellaneous/Calendar.

Murphy announced her last day with the Douglas County Reentry Program will be August 17, therefore she is submitting her resignation from the HIAC after this meeting. She will be moving to Montgomery County, Maryland and will head up their reentry program. The program she is going to has been in place for 40 years and they are expanding their program. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is currently interviewing candidates to fill the position.

The Board thanked Murphy for her service.

Feltman said she was unable to attend the City Commission meeting where the bus route was discussed. She said she sent an email in support of the bus route and extended hours.

Enoch said the idea was to add a supply demand program for people who need to get to work after hours or those whose shift ends at times other than when the bus route is running. The City Commission voted unanimously for the entire budget proposal and the bus piece was included in it.

Hoffman said Family Promise has been working on a Transitional Temporary housing program as well. They recently had their first family move into a temporary housing unit. They are working to expand the program and they want to continue to add units and continue to cycle more people into temporary housing from the local shelter, and ultimately into permanent housing. They have seen that families are getting where they need to in order to maintain housing, but they usually need a couple of months to finish saving the money after their shelter time runs out. This will help them complete that transition. A third of the Family Promise chapters nationwide have implemented this component. Locally, Family Promise has been working with landlords in the city. The agency is very excited about this step.

Enoch said the Douglas County Commission voted in favor to turn over land near the United Way building to Tenants to Homeowners for their senior housing project. Enoch said neighbors came to that meeting and had petitions to submit to show they were not in favor of using this land for senior housing. Enoch said she felt it would be very helpful for this body to go in front of the City Commission to speak in support of the project. The zoning must be altered and it is her hope that HIAC members will attend the meeting or write a letter of support for the project. This is a valuable project for a group of people that do not have housing. It is very important to approve this project as it is senior-specific. The development will have a community room and it will have affordable rent and full accessibility. The Chamber is working on their project to bring retirees into the community, but this one is for the senior who already live here.

Cook asked when the item will be heard by the City Commission.

Swarts said it will need to go to the Planning Commission first.

Enoch said the County Commission approved it unanimously.

Swarts said the County Commission looked at the issue of deeding the property to Tenants to Homeowners. It was a land item and not a development item.

Brune said there were issues that the neighbors had including drainage. The opposition was not entirely geared toward the idea of a senior development.

Strong said there was a Family Promise fundraiser coming up and it would be a silent auction.

Hoffman confirmed it was Sunday September 9 at Maceli’s.

Feltman said the Family Promise fundraiser will feature silent auction items such as baskets with things such as tools, cleaning items, recipes, and other items that would help a family that is moving into their own place. The winning bidder can keep the items or donate them to a graduating family.

Hoffman said the children in the program as well as children in recently graduated families will be donating artwork for the auction as well.

Swarts said there was also a Tenants to Homeowners fundraiser on September 30^th at the Castle Tea Room.

Enoch asked Murphy if there was enough information in place for the person who takes over her role with Reentry to be successful.

Murphy said she had been working on a packet that had explanations and guidance for the next director.

Collinsworth asked for a status update on the Point-in-Time count as well as the HMIS.

Dresslar said the Point-in-Time planning committee has their first meeting this week in order to start the process. The count will be around the end of January.

Swarts said the Statewide Homeless Coalition has been working with entities and agencies on HMIS. Within the next year MAAClink will have all their training completed statewide, and they have worked hard to make changes in the system and figure out the glitches.

ITEM NO. 7 Public Comment.

There was no additional public comment.

ITEM NO. 8 Adjourn.

Motion by Murphy to adjourn the August 14, 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

Matt McCluer

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