City of Lawrence, Kansas

HOMELESS ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

November 12, 2013 Minutes (Lawrence City Commission Room)

Members present: Michael Brouwer (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Re-Entry Program), Brad Cook (Bert Nash Homeless Outreach Team), Hubbard Collinsworth (at-large), Laurie Hooker (LDCHA), Becky Peters (Family Promise), Trent McKinley (LPD)

Members absent: Kadie Jorgensen (LMH), Lt. Matt McCluer (Salvation Army), Cary Strong (Lawrence Business Community)

Staff present: Danelle Dresslar, Rhonda Peterson

Public present: Anna VanSchoelandt (Willow Domestic Violence Center), Mariah Lovegren (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Re-Entry Program), Doug Wallace (KSHC)

The meeting was called to order at 8:32 a.m. 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 October 9, 2013 Minutes.

Motion by Collinsworth to approve the Agenda and the October 9, 2013 meeting minutes of the HIAC; seconded by McKinley.

The motion passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 3 Receive 3rd Quarter Bert Nash Homeless Outreach Report.

Dresslar handed out the report and let the committee know no action is required. She will forward the report to the City Commission.

Hooker asked if it is known why the number of chronically homeless is so high.

Cook said he doesn’t know for sure. Sometimes it is due to people returning from a previous quarter.

Collinsworth pointed out the results from the flexible spending funds have been depleted.

Cook said the funds are gone; they have been spent and were depleted in early August.

ITEM NO. 4 Housing Vision Reports.

A. Non-Housing – SNAP Program Changes

Dresslar contacted someone in the workforce center, who was contacting another individual from DCF to come before the board. Dresslar said when she put the agenda together, she still had not heard from DCF, so Dresslar contacted the workforce center and said she hadn’t been contacted yet regarding a presentation. They were going to follow up with DCF, and Dresslar was given a new contact person at DCF. At this time, there is no one to speak before the committee. She will keep trying to contact them and have someone give a presentation.

B. Emergency Shelter/Temporary Housing – LCS

Loring Henderson was asked to come before the committee, but is not present at the meeting.

Hooker said she saw him speak on Saturday, and he said the shelter has been full and he will approach the city soon to address that.

C. Transitional Housing/Supportive Services – LDCHA (if needed)

Hooker said they are still slowly rolling out the transitional vouchers. The wait list is shorter, around 20 or so. Hooker said she noticed there were several small families on the list.

D. Permanent Supportive Housing – HOPE Building

No updates.

E. Permanent Housing – LDCHA Section 8 Statistics (if available)

No updates.

ITEM NO. 5 Discussion of Meeting Schedule and Attendance

Dresslar said sometimes these meetings get really short, and there is a problem with having some people show up consistently for the meetings, both speakers and committee members. She feels sometimes like every month the board is here listening to the same things. Some agencies may be getting tired of reporting the same thing over and over. Dresslar is proposing changing the frequency of the meetings, possibly to every other month or quarterly.

In the past there were several hot topics that needed to be discussed, like the new shelter and the downtown issue. She would like input from board members and see if they agree with changing the frequency of the meetings. Because this group is the regional advisory board for the Continuum of Care, and most continuums tend to meet quarterly, this group would not be out of line to decrease the number of meetings being held.

Cook said he was good with reducing the number of meetings to every other month or even quarterly. Perhaps it would help with more consistent attendance and reduce the over-saturation of the same information being presented every time.

Dresslar said would go ahead and leave the meetings on the room schedule just in case something was to come up, the committee would still have the room available for a meeting.

McKinley and Peters were both good with reducing the number of meetings.

Brouwer said he thinks having quarterly meetings would be good.

Collinsworth asked how the board maintains replacements for positions for other organizations, like the Salvation Army, and how does the board get them more involved.

Dresslar said she feels reducing the amount of time to which committee members have to commit will help them feel the time spent at meetings is more productive. They will not be hearing the same reports over and over every month. She believes changing the meetings to quarterly will have a positive impact.

Hooker said changing the meetings to quarterly might give the board members the opportunity to get different speakers.

Dresslar asked members when they would like to start the revised meeting schedule.

Cook asked many people on the board have changes to their positions.

Dresslar said Collinsworth’s term ends at the end of December. Brouwer’s term ends as well, but he is eligible for reappointment.

Dresslar asked if the board would like to hold the December meeting, then have the next one in March. She said she is planning ask Bob Nugent speak at the December meeting.

Cook said that would be fine.

Motion by Brouwer to change the committee meeting schedule to quarterly after the December 2013 meeting, with the first quarterly meeting being held in March 2013. The motion was seconded by Collinsworth and passed unanimously.

ITEM NO. 6 Calendar/Miscellaneous

Collinsworth asked for an update on HMIS.

Doug Wallace with KSHC asked if Collinsworth has a specific question about HMIS.

Collinsworth asking how is it coming along, and can information be retrieved from the system now.

Wallace replied they are constantly looking at the HMIS system. The system is working well, the reports have been fixed. There are still issues that come up from time to time; MACAClink, the vendor for the HMIS can be contacted and they will try to help fix those issues. They have been working on how to get users trainer quicker so that more people can use the system. For instance, the Lawrence Community Shelter has several users, so they are working on a “train the trainer” program to help get more users up to speed on the system.

Collinsworth asked if the federal government has removed the 10 year plan.

Wallace said no, they have actually added deadlines. There is now a plan in effect to end veteran and family homelessness by certain dates. The federal government has priorities, and it will want communities to working toward ending homelessness for these special groups. They are still looking at the Kansas ten year plan and revising it with these new priorities.

Wallace said the point in time count is coming for sheltered only.

Dresslar said they will not have to have the training like the previous time. They will do the housing inventory count and the point in time count together. They are trying to find a better way to do those counts. When the report is submitted to HUD, the housing inventory bed count--how many people they say are in the beds--is supposed to match the point in time count, and it never does. They are trying to figure out a better way to manage that information.

Wallace said the NOFA will probably be out in 2-3 weeks. They are finalizing the registration. They are working on writing Exhibit One.

Collinsworth asked for an explanation of Exhibit One.

Dresslar said Exhibit One is the narrative of the Continuum of Care application. HUD is only funding renewals this year, so projects like HOPE House and Project Able must have narratives written before the application can be submitted with it. The challenge is that this one is for 101 counties. The narrative addresses the entire state of Kansas; it is well over 100 pages. It describes what the current needs are, the state of homelessness throughout the 101 counties, it describes the housing programs, services, coordinated assessments and how everything is put together.

Wallace said committee members are welcome to be a part of the process, attend meetings and provide input.

Dresslar added the agencies fill out their own applications and submit them to Wallace, and he includes them in the submission packet.

ITEM NO. 7 Public Comment

No public comment.

ITEM NO. 8 Adjourn.

Motion by Collinsworth to adjourn the November 12, 2013 meeting of the HIAC; seconded by McKinley.

The motion passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 9:01 a.m.

Attendance Record

Members

01/13

02/13

03/13

04/13

05/13

06/

13#

07/

13#

08/13

09/13

10/13

11/13

12/ 13

Michael Brouwer

Hubbard Collinsworth

Brad Cook

Brent Hoffman

Matt McCluer

Trent McKinley

Cary Strong

Laurie Hooker

Becky Peters

Kadie Jorgensen

X - Meeting Cancelled Due to Inclement Weather

E - Excused Absence

U - Unexcused Absence

() – Last meeting in term.

* - First meeting in term.

^ - Last Meeting

# - Meeting not official – no quorum