There was a jam packed agenda on last night for the Homeless Issues Committee – there was an update on the Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, an update on the Zero Initiative to end chronic and veteran homelessness, an update on the gaps in the system, updates on the Beacon, Messners and so much more. 2.5 hours – you can watch it all here – but I wanted to highlight the section about the gaps and how little progress has been made in the past 6 years.
This discussion starts at about 1:35 (my apologies – it was a long meeting and I was tired from a grant due at noon so I wasn’t really always paying attention to where my camera was pointed! doh.)
This was the written response – please not that this is only the “human services” portion of the original report and does not address the issues with the parks department:
Date: February 5th, 2018To: City County Homeless Issues Committee MembersFrom: Casey Becker, Dane County Human Services and,Sarah Lim, City of Madison Community Development DivisionRe: Review and Update on 2012 “Madison-Area Urban Ministry (MUM) Report on Possible Alternative Sites for Occupy Madison”On July 9th, 2012 MUM issued a report to the Dane County Board of Supervisors outlining alternative sites for the Occupy Madison movement. In addition, the report identified service delivery gaps for individuals experiencing homelessness.At its January 8th meeting, members of the City County Homeless Issues Committee expressed interest in pursuing a gaps analysis of the current homeless and housing services system, using the 2012 MUM report as a starting point for some of their work. Committee staff were asked to review the report and provide updates on the priorities listed.The updates below focus on the human/social service priorities identified by MUM in the document.On page 4 of the report, several needs were identified by Occupy Movement members in response to asurvey question “where are the gaps?” Staff updates follow in italics. Sections with no updates areblank.1. “Storage for personal belongings.”UPDATE: Sanctuary Storage, a long-term, overnight storage program run by volunteers was funded by the City of Madison in 2014 and operational until the end of December 2017. Long-term, overnight storage is still available through the St. Vinny’s Lockers program, operating on Fish Hatchery Rd. in Madison.As of 1/23/18, St. Vinny’s Lockers program has 40 active users and a capacity to serve additional 20-30 clients. There was a slight increase in demand for the program after the Sanctuary Storage closure. The program had 55 empty bins prior to Sanctuary closing, they now have 42 empty bins. Each client can have up to two 30 gallon bins.2. “Day shelter where services may be accessed.”UPDATE: The Beacon day resource center opened on October 16th, 2017. It offers a variety of basic needs services (lunch, 6 showers, laundry, mail/message service, telephones, computers, refuge, etc.) and resources provided by partner agencies (housing, employment and training, connection to health care, etc.) began to phase-in to the space in January of 2018.3. “Day shelter that offers a place to sleep for people who work third shift.”4. “A wet shelter for people under the influence.”UPDATE: Currently, there is no shelter that allows active use on-site. Most shelters have a behavior-based policy and do not require sobriety to enter and utilize services.5. “Shower access for people not in shelter.”UPDATE: The Beacon has 6 single occupancy, gender neutral showers. Showers are available 365 days a year, from 8:30am –3:30pm (30 minute time slots). A shower is also available at the Catholic Multicultural Center Monday –Friday from 9am –3pm, and at the Off the Square Club at St. John’s Lutheran Church for Off the Square Club members.One of the long-term goals identified on page 6 of the MUM report included “additional housing for those with low income.”UPDATE: The City and County both created affordable housing development funds in 2014 and 2015, respectively.Since 2014, the City has funded 567 affordable units, with an overall goal of 1000 new rental units by 2019. In 2017, 272 additional units received City financing and are now awaiting approval for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, bringing the City’s total to 839 units. 171 of the units are dedicated to homeless individuals or households.The City, in partnership with Dane County, has also provided financial assistance for support services for permanent supportive housing developed through Affordable Housing Fund Initiative.The County has funded 480 units since 2015 (some overlap may occur with City’s funded units).Education efforts have been underway to increase awareness and knowledge of the need for affordable housing in Dane County. The Dane Count y Housing Initiative was created to provide outreach in this area: https://communityoutreach.countyofdane.com/housinginitiative Several policy initiatives were also identified in the report on page 7, including:1. “Revision of 14 day rule regarding duration at one camp site.”2. “Implementation of all recommendations of the Dane County Task Force on Poverty Report including making the Task Force a permanent committee.”UPDATE: The Poverty Report was submitted in 2009, and the Task Force disbanded after the report was released. The Human Services Board worked on some of the 2009 recommendations and discussed implementation strategy, including the creation of a permanent Poverty Commission. The Poverty Commission was created in 2013, but has not met regularly since 2015.(NOTE: Supervisor Wegleitner points out the at the administration is not providing staffing for the committee to be able to meet and the committee is recommended to be disbanded)3. “Implement a Vacant Property Registration fee and process:a. Encourages landlords to maintain vacant properties up to code thereby protecting the property values of surrounding properties;b. Encourage landlords especially on foreclosed on properties, to consider renting vacant housing units, increasing available housing within the community;c. Use the revenue generated to support housing programs within Dane County. Among the communities that have implemented such fees: St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chicago, IL, Madison CountyKentucky.”4. “Preserve human services funding for 2013. Funding to human service agencies has been cut each of the last 11 years. From 2000 -2010 the Human Services budget realized a surplus at the end of each of those fiscal years. However cuts to services were not restored with that funding, the funding was pulled from GPR to zero out human services and used to fill holes in other budget areas.”UPDATE: The 2017 Dane County Budget included language establishing how the human services fund would be closed at the end of 2017. This language included, “To the extent funds are available after [close out procedures ] are applied, the remaining surplus of GPR budgeted for the human services fund will be retained in the human services fund and applied to future budget expenditures.” The 2018 budget included $3.9 million of projected 2017 surplus. Similar language was included in the 2018 budget.Additionally, a cost of living adjustment for the service agencies under contract with the Dane County Department of Human Services was passed in 2016(0.70%), 2017 (2.00%), and 2018 (1.25%).The Dane County Board also passed an ordinance requiring a living wage of $15/hour by 2022 for agencies under contract with the Department. The cost to agencies to increase the living wage has been subsidized by Dane County in recent years. The living wage increase schedule for contracts after 1/1/2017 is as follows:2017- $12.502018- $13.002019- $13.502020- $14.002021- $14.502022- $15.005.“Create a human services reserve fund using any human services surplus dollars in a fiscal year.”UPDATE: A Human Services surplus was created in the 2017 Dane County Budget and maintained in the 2018 Dane County Budget.6.“Consider development of a Community Housing Loan fund to assist individuals with security deposit.”7. “Explore collaboration with City of Madison CDA to identify vacant city owned residential properties for development of coop housing and single room occupancy sites.”
