The Madison Affordable Housing and Homeless Advocates United (MAHAHAU) or commonly referred to Mwahahahahahaha asked the mayoral candidates some questions, here are their answers. Also, Monday, March 30th at 3:00 at Bethel Church there will be a brief 45 minute forum with the two answering questions from homeless persons. Since I’m doing this for an organization, here are their answers. My opinions on their answers on another day.
1) What is your plan for increasing affordable housing creation in the City of Madison? How many units do we need? What resources will be required to realize your plan?
SOGLIN: Housing First is the major strategy to end homelessness in Madison, a homeless population that is mostly families doubled up with friends and relatives, then single individuals who are temporarily homeless, and finally the chronically homeless who are the most visible and get the most attention. The city can do this with two major financial resources, TIF funds and tax credits, though the tax credits may be in jeopardy because of Gov. Walker’s budget cuts.
The immediate goal is to create 1,000 units which should be sufficient given the economy and the rate of growth of the homeless population. This number is subject to adjustment, should local programs attract more people who are homeless to the city of Madison.
RESNICK: The Mayor’s Affordable Housing plan targets developing 750 affordable units within five years. Depending on who you talk with, the number of units needed varies, but all agree that 750 is a mere fraction. We need thousands of units, not hundreds.
My administration will concentrate on two major components to promoting affordable housing: zoning and funding. I will direct staff to examine our zoning code to find ways to make it easier to explore innovations such as micro-housing, as Seattle is in the process of doing. I voted to approve the OM Build project on Third St. at both the Plan Commission and Common Council. I know how difficult it was to move this project through the process and want to find ways to make these developments easier to permit. I also believe that housing cooperatives are an excellent model for affordability, sustainability and community development. My administration will work to see we can promote more housing co-ops in Madison.
I am wary of the emphasis on tax credits and TIF that is found in the Mayor’s proposal for funding affordable housing. I believe we will need to make more resources available through the capital budget over years. Additionally, we should be requiring developers to share in the cost of building affordable housing, specifically in cases where existing affordable housing is being demolished in favor luxury units. While inclusionary zoning is not an option, there are other ways to increase funding through fees to developers. And I also believe that we need to keep and build the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I believe the mayor’s plan to gut the fund to provide one-time revenue for his plan is shortsighted.
2) What are your strategies to incentivize landlords to rent to families in the Section 8 rent assistance program, rapid rehousing, or housing first programs? (It is illegal to discriminate against Section 8 recipients yet some landlords do). Would you push for a certain number of housing first units in development projects seeking City assistance?
RESNICK: My administration will support continued efforts by the AASCW and local supportive service agencies such as the YWCA. We will develop these relationships in order to identify more landlords that have vacancies that are willing to work with programs to house people with housing assistance.
My administration would explore the legality and feasibility of incentivizing developers seeking assistance for projects to provide housing first units. Although Mayor voiced opposition to this method in a recent debate, I believe this idea should not be put off the table.
SOGLIN: Enforce ordinances that prevent discrimination again tenants with Section 8 vouchers. Provide more support services through city and county agencies, especially when Medicare is available, to tenants so that landlords do not face the challenge of tending to tenants who may have health issues that impair their ability to maintain their household. i.e. utilize the concept of Housing First where possible in traditional housing stock.
Would you push for a certain number of housing first units in development projects seeking City assistance?
Yes but only if the requisite services are available. i.e. build no more Owl Creeks. Housing First is predicated on the assumption that necessary services are available in areas of health, mental health, substance abuse, job and employment training, transportation and child care.
3) What are your views on denials from housing due to prior criminal offenses that are not housing or community safety related?
SOGLIN: Housing can only be denied based on criminal record if is related to housing. It is permissible to deny housing to an arsonist but not an embezzler.
RESNICK: Madison and Dane County created common-sense ordinances to ensure that people wouldn’t be denied housing for offenses that are more than two years old that was based on evidence on criminal recidivism after two years. Unfortunately, the Republicans in the state Capitol took the power away from the municipalities and counties to use our own ordinances. As a result, we already know of people who are denied housing from sometimes decades-old offenses. As mayor, I will push the Legislature and Governor to return control to Madison.
4) How would you address systemic housing barriers for many first-time renters (18 and 19-year-olds with low-incomes and lacking a co-signer), low income persons, and persons with arrest and conviction records? Would you advocate for revision of Community Development Authority policies to increase access for persons with arrest and conviction records, mental wellness challenges, and adverse credit history, and require a more individualized evaluation of housing program applications?
RESNICK: In the answer to Question 1, I expressed support for housing co-operatives. I am especially impressed by the progress with the Youth Services of Southern Wisconsin/Briarpatch partnership with Madison Community Co-operatives and Dane County to provide co-op housing for young adults. Housing Co-operatives not only give young, low-income persons an opportunity to secure housing, but also provide rental history and experience in housing and governance systems that can be very valuable.
I would also be interested in exploring developing a first-time renter program along the lines of the “Second Chance” program of the YWCA and The Road Home. A partnership could be made with MMSD to provide this training through our schools.
I certainly understand cookie-cutter rules do not apply well to every situation where a person could be seeking housing support. While I won’t advocate for revision of CDA policies, I will advocate opening the policies up for review against current housing data on a continual basis.
SOGLIN: I don’t have an answer. I support the CDA staff looking at these problems and coming back to the CDA and city council with recommendations.
Would you advocate for revision of Community Development Authority policies to increase access for persons with arrest and conviction records, mental wellness challenges, and adverse credit history, and require a more individualized evaluation of housing program applications?
I would but keep in mind that we do not have the capacity to provide many of the required services are beyond the capacity of the city government. For example we know that as our Housing First program is launched, we need help form health care providers to assist in treating tenants; the same is true for tenants who may need support in the areas such as job training and childcare.
5) What does Housing First mean to you?
SOGLIN: The short answer is this: provide housing first and then deal with issues of wellness, childcare, transportation, and skills.
For the long answer see “2014 City of Madison Housing Report”, page 4, Recommendations, Homelessness
RESNICK: Housing first means that homeless individuals are able to obtain homes. With a proper housing first policy, the burden is not placed upon the individual to meet any specific criteria or benchmarks relating to their health and wellness before they are given a home. Instead, the burden must be placed on the city to provide adequate counseling and support services, if they are needed by the individuals who are placed in new homes.
To date, Housing First has been little more than a soundbite in Madison. Very few homeless service providers in our city operate on a Housing First model. While Housing First is going to be used at the upcoming Rethke project, we have yet to break ground on the project. Our next mayor must actively take steps to promote Housing First policies with our partners throughout the community.
6) Do you support legislation to require city supported housing or service providers to report data on tenancy terminations, eviction filings and judgments?
RESNICKI understand that when service providers file evictions, this places additional barriers to future housing for people getting evicted and we should always work to try to avoid these. However, I would be concerned if the legislation was being used as a benchmark that could lead to cutting funding for organizations that are providing housing without exploring strategies to avoid further evictions.
If the legislation was in place to identify unknown “bad actors,” I would be open to its consideration.
SOGLIN: Our legislative process is meant to bring forward ideas like this and have an inclusive public discussion of the goals and purposes of the plan, how it would be implemented and how the information would be used. I need input from MAHAHAU, housing providers, those concerned about privacy, and tenants to evaluate a proposal.
7) How do you plan on working with stakeholders in the community to create a permanent comprehensive daytime resource center? What is your preferred location?
SOGLIN: People who are homeless who mostly gravitate to downtown Madison come from a much wider geographic area; they are not representative of the larger homeless population. Dane County (of which Madison is a part of and which provides about 50% of the taxes) and the State are the best providers of a daytime resource center, especially since Madison is already a significant funder of so many other supportive services.
Before we go further in answering this question we need to understand the history of this process and I refer to County Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner’s letter of 2014.
The location should either be central, or on a public transit route convenient to supportive services, as soon as the county can make it happen.
How much money would you be willing to advocate to budget for this?
City taxpayers will be paying 50% of the cost through taxes paid to Dane County.
By what date?
When Dane County completes the job.
RESNICK: One of the first ideas I announced was a commitment to creating a combination permanent comprehensive daytime resource center and new men’s emergency shelter. While the ultimate goal is to end homelessness through providing permanent housing, we must acknowledge the immediate need for shelter services, which justifies the need for a facility like this.
The logical location for this center is the central isthmus. This is where most of our community’s homeless and supportive service agencies are.
The city’s contribution to this project would be substantial, but we will not be able to go alone on this. We will need to partner with the county, local non-profits and the philanthropic community in order to make this a reality. Starting on Day One, my office will convene with all of our potential partners to locate, fund and develop the center as quickly as possible.
8) What are your views on the criminalization of homelessness? (Examples: the response to individuals in and around the City County Building; citations for trespassing and for parking on the street for too long while sleeping in the car; not being able to leave belongings anywhere; not having a public restroom to use and getting public urination tickets, etc.) Would you put chairs back on the first floor of the Madison Municipal Building?
RESNICK: That homelessness exists is criminal enough. We need to do everything we can to provide the services and housing for people so they do not have to be in positions where they could get ticketed for ordinance violations as you describe in the question.
Beyond that, I would also work to find solutions to mitigate penalties for violations that are related to homelessness. If that requires changes to the MGO, I would support it. If it requires working with the Madison Municipal Court, I will do that. I have support providing solutions to the need of public restroom facilities and I will continue to do that as mayor.
Additionally, I would return chairs to the first floor of the Madison Municipal Building.
SOGLIN: It depends upon the offense, the record of the offender, and their willingness to cooperate. For example, motor vehicle violations which result from a series of nine DUI offenses that lead to license suspension can be addressed by the city’s program administered by the YWCA driver’s license recovery. Parking violations would depend upon the nature of the offense – did it interfere with snow plowing or rush hour traffic?
But if an individual defecates in a public building where there is a rest room a few feet away, I will not support decimalization of the act. The same is true for any acts of violence. Private property owners have a right to expect that unwanted encroachments will not continue.
Would you put chairs back on the first floor of the Madison Municipal Building?
Not without proper supervision. The urine stained chairs pose a health hazard.
9) Do you have any plans for addressing the existing affordable food and pharmacy deserts that exist near low-income communities, and if so, what are your plans?
SOGLIN: Please see the city’s food policy plan, note my recent initiative to provide temporary food transportation services to residents of Allied Drive, and our effort to incentivize a permanent fresh grocery in the neighborhood.
Also, please note the issue of food security and hunger was never on the city agenda until I raised it 2011 – for which I am receiving a good deal of criticism regarding my travel to a number of cities to see firsthand what they are doing in developing fresh markets and public food markets.
We are now addressing the issue with support for fresh food at Allied Drive. It is my hope that we can develop a workable model there that we can apply city wide.
RESNICK: An immediate concern is the food desert in the Allied Drive-Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood. I have supported funding for transportation in the short-term and to provide incentives for grocers to locate there and would continue to work towards a local grocery store if elected.
10) How do we increase transit access and transportation options for low income and homeless people? Do you support free Metro rides for homeless persons to seek housing, employment, benefits, and services?
RESNICK: I strongly support free Metro rides for homeless individuals. These could be administered through shelters and other agencies. Transportation is a vital need for people looking to find and access jobs. I supported previous expansion of the low-income bus ticket program and would do it again should data show the need.
SOGLIN: Yes, if we can figure out a way of paying for it. Perhaps free during non-peak hours, since a lot of that can be done during the day.
11) What are your feelings on the state proposal to drug test for Food Share and public benefit eligibility?
SOGLIN: I have a better idea. Drug and alcohol test all legislators before they vote on any motion. in committee and on the floor
RESNICK: This proposal is an abomination and I couldn’t be more opposed it.
12) What are your views on the roles of Neighborhood Resource Teams (NRTs) in low income communities moving forward? How are NRTs impacting homelessness and low-income communities for the better? What are your plans to engage the residents in these low-income communities to participate?
RESNICK: I am not opposed to NRTs and see their purpose in connecting low-income neighborhoods with city services. If there is an impact NRTs are making on homelessness, I am not seeing it and I don’t believe that is a focus. The NRT Background Paper authored by the Mayor on the city’s website doesn’t even contain the words “homeless” or “homelessness”.
One way we could use the neighborhood resource teams is to connect with families who are doubling up in apartments and help families find more secure housing. Additionally, people who are holding the leases would be helped by not putting their housing in jeopardy through lease violation.
SOGLIN: NRTs are the strongest mechanism for systematically dealing with the challenges of poverty. They change neighborhoods and people’s lives by doing their job – encouraging people to organize themselves and then serving those needs. Please read the lengthy description of their work on the city website. We have expanded the teams in the past four years. I hope we can do more.
13) What is the plan for the city budget and directing more resources to low-income communities? There were reports that the residents of these communities would get to choose how this money would get allocated- would you support this? How would this be decided? How do you plan on getting community involvement in this process?
SOGLIN: The final legislative authority in a democracy are our elected representatives. That said, in the past four years, two processes were implemented to get greater community involvement in preparation and adoption of the budget. One is the community discussions, both in person and on line, which rank and prioritize programs and the
second, directly attached to low income communities, are the Neighborhood Resource Teams.
As a result, there are significant shifts in budgeting which amount to millions of dollars. They range from new bus routes (to Owl Creek) and low income rider subsidies to redirection of city capital budget resources into libraries, community centers, and splash parks.
This summer we begin transitioning to a new funding process for purchased services based on system improvements not services.
At the end of the day, I do not support a process that gives final authority for the expenditure of public money in a few hands no matter how noble the purpose. I prefer to reform our decision making process and fundamentally attack the problem: how do we stop an unnecessary TIF of $16.7 million or the advancement of a fire station or police station not needed for another three years at a time when we are not getting the public support to build and staff community centers, healthy groceries, and recreational facilities?
RESNICK: Too much of our resources in our city budget are focused on the downtown and central isthmus. Although there is a proposal in this year’s budget to include participatory budgeting, the funding is going to studying the process rather than putting dollars into communities. There are successful examples of participatory budgeting around the country, but only when substantial dollars are available for the community. I worry that the plan currently devised will not do enough to warrant serious engagement, but I do support participatory budgeting.
While I was impressed with the Mayor’s Office efforts three years ago to increase community conversations on the budget, efforts since that time have been lackluster. Recently, more members of city staff were present at community meetings than residents, and meetings have been planned hastily with less public notice. I plan to better engage neighborhood leaders and residents throughout my administration, welcoming more residents to provide direct input both on our successes and failure. I am committing at least one opportunity every week for community members to communicate directly with me, and I vow to have active, not passive, relationships with community associations.
14) The city has pledged to end chronic homelessness by 2016. What does this mean to you and how can it be done?
RESNICK: Ending chronic homelessness in Madison will be one of our top priorities for my administration. Even though the Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed changing the deadline for ending chronic homelessness from 2016 to 2017, I still believe that ending chronic homelessness in Madison by the end of 2016 is achievable. Other communities are already taking steps to solve this problem and I believe, with a renewed commitment to this cause, we can reach this goal.
We can end chronic homelessness in Madison by adopting the best practices adopted by Zero: 2016. We will start by my administration taking a much more active role in helping the agencies that are currently working together on this goal. My administration will commit to working to leverage our resources with non-profits, and by working collaboratively with the county to provide more permanent housing units to achieve the goal of “functional zero” level of chronic homelessness in Madison.
SOGLIN: I believe the city can find enough housing stock for the 30-40 chronically homeless individuals by the end of 2016 utilizing our commitment to construct and staff new units with WHEDA tax credit funding if Dane County cooperates in providing necessary social services and counseling services.
If that happens, we will still have two challenges. First, other communities learned that there will be the problem of some chronically homeless refusing to move into permanent housing. Second, if we are successful, that may generate more demand as word spreads.
