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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-11; Housing Commission; MinutesMinutes of: Time of Meeting: Date of Meeting: Place of Meeting: CALL TO ORDER HOUSING COMMISSION 6:00 P.M. JANUARY 11, 2018 COUNCIL CHAMBERS Chairperson Newman called the Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Randall led with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Absent: Staff Present: Commissioners: Arline Carrillo Joy Evans Alan Newman, Acting Chairperson Kristy Randall Shaunee Williams None Interim Community & Economic Director: Debbie Fountain APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of November 14, 2017, were approved as written. ITEM NOT ON AGENDA There were no items not on the agenda. NEW BUSINESS Chairperson Newman brought the meeting to order. Debbie Fountain, Interim Community & Economic Director, said the item before the Housing Commission is the Homeless Response Plan. Marie Jones-Kirk, Community Services Manager, will be giving the presentation. Ms. Jones-Kirk gave the presentation on the Homeless Response Plan and opened it up for any questions from the Housing Commission. Commissioner Carrillo commented she saw a homeless individual's bedding by the train tracks off Tamarack. Chairperson Newman said Ms. Jones-Kirk mentioned the person that was helped is working. What is it that separated that individual to be able to get help by securing a place to live? Ms. Jones-Kirk commented that is not a unique barrier. This individual was overwhelmed because for her there were so many hurdles. She had a few life issues that came up, and for her she thought she would never be housed again. We met and discussed her finances and looked at some goals. Our office has a HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2018 PAGE 2 of 6 working relationship with the property manager which helped. Having social workers will help to work with property managers. We just needed to identify the barriers, and we did that. Chairperson Newman asked if it was an expectation that would apply to a lot of people. Ms. Jones-Kirk said not a lot but some. Chairperson Newman asked if she could give a percentage. Ms. Jones-Kirk said it may work for the working poor that are having a hard time paying their rent and other things. Ms. Fountain added that we need to do more work with rental assistance and other programs. It could be a church or a social services organization like Interfaith that have rental assistance programs or a property owner that has agreed to hold off on the deposit for a couple of months. The importance of the social worker is having an advocate who can bring in the expertise as well as develop a relationship. Many of the homeless become overwhelmed when faced with several issues at once. The person Ms. Jones- Kirk identified was considered "working poor" and actually had a job. Our staff in Housing & Neighborhood Services does this type of thing a lot, but we are trying to formalize the program through the social workers. There is no intent that the city will be the only provider. We are working on matching up all services out there to make a plan. Ms. Jones-Kirk may make a plan and work with the person on a manageable way to implement it. Our staff is very good at this. The person we already helped had the willingness to get out of being homeless. Some homeless people may choose being homeless as a lifestyle. Some may need more mental health services or recovery from an addiction. Once we begin to move forward, we may encounter more extremes. Chairperson Newman commented that if 60% of the homeless really want help and do not want to be homeless, then that would be great. Ms. Fountain said some people may think it is the other way around; that more are not willing. Chairperson Newman asked where do you find a place for them? Ms. Jones-Kirk commented that is the biggest challenge that we face; the lack of housing. With the changes we face on how things are regulated and finding the means, there will be less people we have the ability to help. One way is to think about tiny homes; thinking outside of the box. Another possibility is shared housing; encouraging people to live in a roommate type situation. Sometimes the goal is the housing, but sometimes you have to remove some of the barriers. We may work on getting people into housing, but we must also keep them in that housing. Chairperson Newman commented, good job. Ms. Fountain said the social worker or Ms. Jones-Kirk will need to keep working with these individuals even after securing housing for them. It will be an ongoing case management type situation for the social HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2018 PAGE 3 of 6 worker. We are trying to think of this in a more creative way. One idea is to buy an existing apartment complex and then contract out for them to be managed and put restrictions on rent levels. We have tried to negotiate with developers to make a certain percentage affordable at the 30% AMI or less. Looking at other types of housing such as shared housing, group homes, we would need to have a manager for that. The biggest issue is we do not have enough affordable housing as the need is huge. All of the affordable housing complexes have a waiting list. This is not an easy process, but if we get one win, we will celebrate that one win. I have mentioned to the Housing Commission that we have not come up with a plan to end homelessness, just a plan to work with the homeless. We are not fully staffed yet for this plan, it will take a lot of work and that is why we have this action plan. We do not know how long this will take, but the Homeless Outreach Team is working on this. We want to include more people in on the conversation. We do receive requests from people who want to be able to help. If we take it to our Homeless Response Plan, it will be better than just giving the homeless things. We are working on a plan to request exactly what we need. Commissioner Carrillo commented it is an individual targeted plan. Ms. Fountain agreed. It is an individualized plan for each person we work with. Besides the fact that they are homeless, there may be other things that are similar with other people. Trying to connect them with services without making it somebody else's problem. Commissioner Carrillo commented like the officer that took that person. Ms. Fountain said yes. Commissioner Evans said she had gone through this herself. She was one step away from being homeless. She was on the Section 8 waiting list for 11 years. It was scary to think the waiting list was so long that she may never get on that program, but she did. Del Mar used to have shared housing, but that was because they did not have any affordable housing. I was able to secure housing that way and lived with a roommate for seven years. It is difficult and scary. Ms. Fountain agreed with Commissioner Evans. There is still a higher need than there are resources. There may need to be an acceptance that someone may not be able to live in Carlsbad. I have shared with our staff when a person will call me and say they live in Las Vegas but want to live in Carlsbad. There is a limited amount of housing now. Some people come to California with the promise of a job, but once they get here, they realize how expensive it is to live in California, especially in San Diego County. Even with a job, a person may not have enough income to live here. The reality is that some people may need to consider a roommate situation. We do need to be reasonable in setting up expectations. We all realize that just because you want something, doesn't always mean you are able to get it. Commissioner Carrillo shared it is a different housing market. Commissioner Evans commented it is sticker shock here. Ms. Fountain agreed. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2018 PAGE 4 of 6 Commissioner Carrillo shared the second-hand stores are good. Ms. Fountain did say there may be more services in Carlsbad than where they currently are. Commissioner Evans said the largest goal is to get them housing. Ms. Fountain said we are trying to figure out ways we could use second dwelling units or other ideas. We are working on pooling together different connections. We do have an advertising budget. Plus, if a homeowner knows we are working with a social worker, they may be more inclined to rent to someone working with a social worker. Commissioner Evans said as Americans, we want to help. It may be an eye opener if they are dealing with the in between person and not the homeless person. Ms. Fountain shared at our first Neighborhood Services Conference in Carlsbad one of the themes was to serve with what you have. So, if you have a place available, maybe you can help. Or if you have a talent like knitting caps or whatever, you can help there too. Sometimes people think they are helping, but really are not. Maybe the better way to help is to volunteer with Meals on Wheels getting meals to those who normally cannot get out or cannot afford them. What we have been doing for the past 25 years is not working so we cannot keep using that same model. It does not mean it was ill intentioned or didn't have some successes, but now we must evolve as the face of homelessness has changed. It is hard because we are trying to move this big ship in a different direction, but maybe it just needs to go the same way but different. The Housing Commission is key in making this plan work. Please keep your eyes and ears open in other cities and maybe bring back ideas that you think can work here. It may be something we have never thought about or tried before. If we all work together, we may be able to make a dent in the problem, even if we don't solve it. Ms. Jones-Kirk commented that what she likes about the plan is that even though she is the manager of this, it belongs to the community. The community has ideas we need. We are not trying to end homelessness, but we are trying to find creative ways in dealing with it for those who want to participate. We were careful to not put things in the plan that were pipe dreams or not attainable. The City of San Diego is building a 15-story building, but that would not work in Carlsbad. We may be able to come up with something similar to that plan. Commissioner Evans shared there are a lot of strip malls that may be able to be renovated and used for the homeless. Ms. Fountain said starting small is good. Commissioner Randall asked how are you working regionally to relieve tensions with residents. Ms. Fountain.said there has been a regional effort going on. Our plan is focusing on Carlsbad residents. If we see an advertisement for an apartment in Vista and we do not have anything available in Carlsbad, maybe we can connect them through Interfaith. Even if we do not have availability here in Carlsbad, we can help connect them with surrounding cities. Our goal is not to move the homeless so it is not our HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2018 PAGE 5 of 6 problem, but we do realize not everyone can live five blocks from the beach. It may be a baby step, but maybe eventually they will be able to make it back to living in Carlsbad. Like the woman I spoke to in Las Vegas, we can suggest other cities in the area that are a little less expensive. They may need to take it down a notch with their dreams. A lot of other cities are working towards going to this model. We do not plan to send them to another city if they do not have transportation to get back. Maybe in some cases we can work with people to connect with their families. Because we are working on individualized approaches, each case will be different. Commissioner Carrillo said it sounds like you are targeting a permanent solution. Ms. Fountain said yes everyone has a story. Commissioner Carrillo commented that her family came here from Washington state in a station wagon. Chairperson Newman said that for some people they need economic help; they may have housing but economically it is tight. Other people it is economic and partly company problems with inviting a stranger into their homes. Maybe a modification of their home could be offered so there could be a locked door between them and the stranger. Just having a third party overseeing this will be helpful. Ms. Jones-Kirk said there is a program in El Cajon where they do all the screening on both sides. In this situation, they make sure it will be a good fit for both sides. We did hear from two homeless individuals who suggested living together. That is the model Ms. Fountain and I are looking at. We do not want to create the wheel, but partner with those organizations who already have a model in place. Commissioner Randall asked for the point in time count, do they need volunteers? Ms. Jones-Kirk said she will have a better idea tomorrow and will let Commissioner Randall know. Commissioner Evans said the number one issue is finding a place for the person to live. Ms. Fountain agreed with Commissioner Evans. We have a very giving community, but we need to get all resources lined up. Chairperson Newman asked if we were able to find a site, a motel or something, that needs work, that would be a great opportunity to have the homeless individuals to assist. Ms. Fountain said we do have a little bit of leverage because we do have the lnclusionary Housing Program. We are hoping to work with other programs through partnerships. Chairperson Newman asked if we are getting State and Federal help. Ms. Fountain said yes. We do have Federal help and we are suggesting to the City Council to make more of the money available for this program. Currently with the changes in the Housing Law and Real Estate Fees, there will be money at the state level. Chairperson Newman closed the Housing Commission. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2018 PAGE 6 of 6 The Housing Commission for January 11, 2018, was adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Fountain Housing & Neighborhood Services Director PATRICIA CRESCENTI, Minutes Clerk MINUTES ARE ALSO TAPED AND KEPT ON FILE UNTIL THE WRITTEN MINUTES ARE APPROVED.