Yesterday, Kathleen Falk’s Office invited me to attend a press conference on homelessness. It was an opportunity to thank County Board Chair Scott McDonell for his hard work in getting $150,000 in the County Budget for homelessness. $50,000 will go to help get jobs for the homeless and the rest will go to keep the overflow shelter at the Salvation Army open year round. Several news accounts are below:
Channel3000.com
Channel 27
Daily Cardinal
Cap Times
This is a step forward. Currently, the warming shelter is only open in winter months. The warming shelter currently consists of 14 mattresses in the hallway, but its better for some than whatever alternatives they might have. This overflow shelter is for women with children who can’t get into the shelter because it is full and have no place else to go.
As we stood outside in the cold with freezing toes, it just sort of seemed very appropriate to be thanking the County for taking this kind step. After the press conference several of us were standing around and talking about the way the public sometimes perceives the homeless. As we shivered, someone wondered aloud, who would “choose” to be homeless in this weather? No one had to answer the question, the answer is “no one”.
A big thanks also should go out to the Homeless Consortium who put together proposals that were presented to Kathleen Falk and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. While the County did their part to step up to help the increasing homeless population. The City didn’t fare so well. Here’s a re-cap of some of those 44 pesky amendments, 2 of which went ok, the rest went down in flames, in part, no thanks to the Mayor. At the time, I think I summed up the budget/our values by saying screw the homeless and that they got to “share the pain”.
Amendment No. 22
Agency/Service: Parks / General Parklands
CDBG – Provider to be Determined
Page(s): 103 (Highlight No. 3), 153
Sponsor(s): Alds. Konkel, Rummel, Solomon
Remove funding for the hiring of two additional hourly Park Rangers. Provide funding in the CDBG budget to add two homeless outreach workers to deal with homelessness issues, including addressing issues surrounding car campers and issues relating to homelessness in the parks. An RFP process will be used to determine a provider.
CDBG: Purchased Services $ 70,000
Parks: Hourly Wages (13,514)
Benefits (1,486)
Total $ 55,000 Levy Impact: $ 55,000
The homeless get to “share the pain”. Failed 7 – 13. AYE Gruber, Judge, Konkel, Rummel, Solomon, Verveer, Webber NO Clear, Cnare, Compton, Palm, Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway, Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius.
Amendment No. 33
Agency/Service: CDBG
Page(s): 153 – New Program: Eviction Prevention (Provider to be Determined)
Sponsor(s): Alds. Solomon, Konkel, Kerr, Verveer
Provide $50,000 for eviction prevention or entry funds (provider to be determined via a Request for Proposals).
Purchased Services $ 50,000
Total $ 50,000 Levy Impact: $ 50,000
The homeless got to feel some more pain, hand delivered by the Mayor. This one was a 10-10 tie with the Mayor voting no. AYE Clear, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel, Solomon, Verveer, Webber NO Compton, Palm, Pham-Remmele, Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius, Cnare
Amendment No. 36
Agency/Service: CDBG
Page(s): 158 – Program #33 – Salvation Army
Sponsor(s): Alds. Konkel, Solomon, Kerr, Verveer
Provide an additional $7,500 for a year-round overflow homeless shelter.
Purchased Services $ 7,500
Total $ 7,500 Levy Impact: $ 7,500.
This one was one amendment for the homeless that passed 13-7. AYE Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Bruer, Clear, Cnare, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Palm, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel NO Compton, Pham-Remmele, Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Brandon, Clausius.
Amendment No. 46
Agency/Service: Office of Community Services / Community Resources
Page(s): 171, Program #64 – Domestic Abuse Intervention Services
Sponsor(s): Alds. Konkel, Solomon, Verveer
Provide $29,000 for homeless emergency vouchers for victims of domestic violence.
Purchased Services $ 2 9,000
Total $ 29,000 Levy Impact: $ 29,000
Passed on a voice vote.
Amendment No. 51
Agency/Service: Office of Community Services / Community Resources
Page(s): 173, Program #78 – Porchlight, Inc.
Sponsor(s): Alds. Solomon, Gruber, Konkel, Kerr, Verveer
Provide an additional $40,000 for transportation assistance for low-income, Metro-dependent adults to search for or maintain income security.
Purchased Services $ 4 0,000
Total $ 40,000 Levy Impact: $ 40,000
The homeless got another dose “sharing the pain”. Even thought this got changed from $40,000 to $10,000 it failed 8 – 12. AYE Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Rummel, Solomon, Verveer, Webber NO Clear, Cnare, Compton, Palm, Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway, Sanborn, Solomon, Skidmore, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius
While the County took some baby steps, the City failed pretty miserably. To be clear, while grateful for the County’s efforts, it’s not all that is needed, there is so much more that needs to be done as we struggle with how to deal with people who are afraid of the homeless who use the parks and camp in their cars.
