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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-10-11; Housing Commission; MinutesMinutes of: Time of Meeting: Date of Meeting: Place of Meeting: CALL TO ORDER HOUSING COMMISSION 6:00 P.M. OCTOBER 11, 2018 COUNCIL CHAMBERS Chairperson Newman called the Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Williams led with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Commissioners: Joy Evans Absent: Staff Present: Alan Newman Kristy Randall Shaunee Williams Arline Carrillo Housing Program Manager: Bobbi Nunn APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of June 14, 2018, 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. Marie Jones-Kirk, Community Services Manager, gave a presentation on the Homeless Response Plan. She introduced Sergeant Alonso DeVelasco who was appointed to lead the Homeless Outreach Team in early September 2018. Ms. Jones-Kirk welcomed Holly Nelson, Interfaith Community Services contracted social worker, to the Homeless Response Team team. Ms. Nelson will serve as the supervisor of the additional two social workers, who will start in the next few months. In addition, the team has added Becky Mayeaux to work on the re-housing program. The City of Carlsbad owns Tyler Court and they have been working with the property management to set aside 10 units for homeless residents in Carlsbad. The units are at 30% of an individual's income. We do realize some individuals do not have an income and we do not want that to be a barrier to housing. Ms. Nelson came on board July 31, 2018, and Ms. Mayeaux came on board August 1, 2018. They have been able to house two individuals so far. One is a gentleman that had been homeless for ten years. The other is a female who had been homeless for several years. The team is not only getting them housed, but also working on a plan with them. Ms. Nelson, as a social worker, has been able to work collaboratively with the Police Department, which has been helpful in removing those barriers. She has been able to provide whole person care without having to HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 11, 2018 PAGE 2 of 6 send them somewhere else. We can serve them in Carlsbad as well as connect them to services in Carlsbad. Marie Jones-Kirk, Ms. Nelson and Mary Murphy, nurse in the fire department, attended a meeting at Tri-City Hospital, to discuss how to meet t he complex needs of Carlsbad homeless who use emergency services, which includes those homeless who frequently use emergency resources to meet their medical or immediate shelter needs. Sergeant DeVelasco and Ms. Jones-Kirk attended a homeless service meeting in Southern Riverside County other cities to learn about their successes and their service providers. We are fortunate in the City of Carlsbad to have many services. In developing this program, consistency working with the clients is very important. Sergeant DeVelasco and Ms. Jones-Kirk will sit down with representatives from Oceanside to ensure the cities are working collaboratively. Sergeant De Velasco said he is part of the Hom eless Outreach Team. Officer Andre Ramirez is transitioning into the Crime Suppression Team. Officer Ramirez has been a key part of the success in our program and we wish him we ll. Officer Ron Dement will continue to stay on our team. Sergeant DeVelasco has 17 years' experience with the Police Department. He grew up in Carlsbad and feels deeply invested in keeping the city as good as it can be. Previously, he worked for the Sheriff Department, which is a very different way of doing this job. The team is working in collaboration with Ms. Jones-Kirk and Ms. Nelson. In addition to the team's involvement, they have monthly meetings to discuss who each team member is working with in the homeless population. The Homeless Outreach Team has been working with the homeless population by being more visible and connecting them with resources including providing them with our emails. Sergeant DeVelasco has also done some training to all our patrol supervisors and squads department wid e so the patrol officers are not turning peopl e away because it is after 5 p.m. Our email is policeHOT@carlsbadca.gov. The public can use this email to report encampments or other problems involving the homeless. Currently the city has residents as well as HOAs using the email to identify encampments that we may not be aware of. Our team does establish cleanup crews. We are working with Tim Murphy from the City of Carlsbad's Watershed Project. Th ey have been doing water samples and will be doing weed abatement. While working on the project, they have come across clients and referred them to the Homeless Outreach Team to give the homeless resources. Commissioner Randall asked who the public should contact if they see something. Sergeant De Velasco said if it is a crime in progress, call the police. If you see a homeless individual who you think needs help, you can email policeHOT@carlsbadca.gov. He added Andre Ramirez will be leaving for the Crime Suppression Tea m and t he new officer's name is Casey Monihan from the patrol division who is already working with Homeless Ooutreach Team to transport homeless residents to necessary service s. He wanted to be sure he understands the roll, and an important part of this is to pick the right person. Our team is more of a resource and we put the enforcement over to t he sid e. When we approach someone, they may not want help the first time, the tenth time or even the fifteent h time but eventually they may reach out for help. Ms. Jones-Kirk said that in the past the Homeless Response Team have discussed putting together information for the community and the staff. Part of the plan is to look at outside resources. Ms. Jones-Kirk took the fR\. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 11, 2018 PAGE 3 of 6 Homeless Response budget to the City Council in May and was given $99,000 for enforcement or encampment clean up. Ms. Jones-Kirk commends the council and the leadership team for their support in this effort. In the past, the city did three encampments cleanups a year; it now does one or two a week. In this effort, the city contracts with Urban Corp and they are working with Housing & Neighborhood Services and Public Works. The money set aside in our budget is for the cleanup efforts. In addition to being sworn officers, we have done counseling, transportation and worn many hats. Having Ms. Nelson on the team is a huge help. The team is conducting care meetings to work on planning and bringing in other service providers to expand the conversation and hopefully not duplicate efforts. Sometimes a homeless individual that will go to four or five different places to get help. The Homeless Response Team finds there are individuals who will come in from Oceanside trying to look for the best services. We find the key phrase is diversion. Ms. Nelson has been able to bring on 28 new clients. Some of them with a limited touch and some much more. Ms. Nelson works for Interfaith Community Services, and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and compassion. Ms. Nelson said she has been practicing for eight years and has worked in various settings such as a hospital, juvenile hall and some wraparound services, some trauma, especially for homeless. Many of the homeless have experienced trauma as a result of being homeless. Some display behaviors because of their experiences. She will act as the manager and have two licensed clinical social workers. In the interim, she is wearing multiple hats. Ms. Nelson has been looking at other communities and am excited about creating our own program. At Interfaith her role is to work with the hardest to service, some have mental illness and some may have immigration related issues. Ms. Nelson works to get homeless residents connected to mental health programs and doctors. Referrals has come from people who work at City Hall, and in addition, I am engaging with individuals at Pine Park. It is not uncommon for me to have ten people waiting for me when I get to the park. It is unique because she is not tied to a specific program; she is able to help those who may have addictions or in an unfortunate situation. Homeless services in general are lacking in consistency. Many do not let their guard down; even not giving me their name, or their real name. Ms. Nelson worked with one gentleman who was a veteran and had had a traumatic experience and was dishonorably discharged and is now homeless. The Veterans Administration has now expanded their program to help those who are discharged dishonorably. Ms. Nelson's work is about coordinated care and helping individuals get connected to resources. On her first day at about 4:50 p.m. we received a call regarding a person who was outside at the pay phone at City Hall. Ms. Jones-Kirk and she went outside and engaged him and offered him to meet with her the next day so we could discuss his ·needs. He came to our office the next day and shared he was struggling with addiction and recently exited from a sober living situation. She worked to divert him back into that system, respecting the autonomy that he wanted to do that himself. He came back into my office the next day and we spent two and half hours where we found a sober living place for him with an opening. He was receiving SSI. He is now in a residential treatment outside of the county and has kept me updated on his situation. Another very compelling story is of a woman who was diagnosed with cancer, which she just found out about last week. Her role was to get her connected to the appropriate medical care. Ms. Nelson scheduled her with an appointment at UCSD Cancer Center and secured her transportation. She will be going with her to the Oncology appointment. In addition, she is working with her to apply for Social Security benefits. She is hoping HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 11, 2018 PAGE 4 of 6 to get her to a place where she will have a good quality of life. I too am a north county local who grew up in Fallbrook. Sergeant DeVelasco commented to Chairperson Newman that he had a great question about the types of people the team works with in the field. When he went to training in southwest Riverside, the Murrieta representative said there are three classes of homeless individuals: the "have nots", those that do not want to be homeless but because of unforeseen circumstances have found themselves to be homeless. The have nots are the most difficult to help because they usually do not ask for help. Then there are the mental health individuals. We know who they are, but it is difficult to get to them. The last are the will nots. They are the chronic drug user who chooses to be homeless. The number of homeless children that go to school and live in their cars with their parents is hard to count. The team is going to try and develop a strategy to find the working homeless. Those are the people the team would like to focus our resources on. Ms. Jones-Kirk said staff has been working on a lot of resources and reaching out. The number of homeless children identified from the last school year was 53 children. That is an undercounted number. There are resources within the school district. We have not done an active reach out yet. Interfaith provides services to families and within the schools. I cannot do my job without these two individuals. My goal now is by next month to have more ways to get connected. Commissioner Evans said the team has done a great job with identifying the problem; the mentally ill, the drug and alcohol problems as well as those individuals who are down on their luck. You will need more than $99,000 and two people to get to all of the homeless in Carlsbad. How do we get more money? Ms. Jones-Kirk said that the $99,000 specifically is for a contract with Urban Corp to work with Public Works to focus on cleaning up the encampments. The city also has a contract with Interfaith Community Service for $250,000 for additional two social workers as well as Ms. Nelson's position. When looking back at our last homeless count in January, it was 162 individuals. The city may have to expand its team, but right now it will start with the two social workers, recognizing it may have to add additional resources to the team. Commissioner Evans commented that time is of the essence. The community knows there are more homeless than thought and I want our city to shine and not have a problem like in Los Angeles. Sergeant DeVelasco agreed. Ms. Jones-Kirk said our team agrees and appreciates the commissioners' support. The city not only needs resources, but to have a solid program in place that is sustainable. Chairperson Newman asked Ms. Jones-Kirk what the issues are. If you have a homeless person in Carlsbad, how do you define where they are and if they really are from Carlsbad? Ms. Jones-Kirk answered that Carlsbad has been sharing homeless people with Oceanside, Vista and other north county cities, and part of the program development will be to establish the criteria. Ms. Nelson said the homeless are a very transient population so there is a lot of movement. The team is unable to verify, but the HMIS system allows service providers try to input homeless individual's information. In ~ HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 11, 2018 PAGE 5 of 6 Carlsbad, there is La Posada as well as the Carlsbad Service Center. Ms. Jones-Kirk and I have talked about serving those in Carlsbad who are homeless and who have family close, maybe went to school there. Many of Carlsbad homeless have college degrees. The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), ServicePoint, used by the San Diego region, serves as a resource to show who has accessed services and where. Ms. Jones-Kirk said sometimes it is challenging as they may not be homeless here, but they really love it here and want to stay. Capturing information is the key in this situation. The city does not want to double up its efforts. We have had families that have children going to school in Carlsbad but they are not homeless in Carlsbad. Commissioner Randall commented that there is a risk with having children that go to school in Carlsbad but are homeless in another city. Ms. Nelson answered that the McKinney act allows children to go to schools of their preference. Carlsbad is an affluent community and it is costly to afford an apartment here. I would not want the child to travel too far on a bus so the Homeless Response Team is looking at different options. For families, there are several different options in the area such as in Vista there is Solutions for Change that has a family shelter. The family can live there for 45 days and then be placed into an apartment. They pay a percentage of their income. There is also Operation Hope in Vista that will help families. Carlsbad does have quite a few affordable housing complexes. Commissioner Randall asked if the families who are in Operation Hope or Solutions for Change, can they go to school in Carlsbad? Ms. Nelson answered "yes". The McKinney act states that for parents it can be challenging and there can be shame and secrecy. Service providers and social workers look at attendance, which is crucial for the child's development as well as proper nutrition. They are a resource to work with the parents to connect them to necessary resources. Ms. Jones-Kirk told the Commissioners that she will send them a copy of the act. The act helps those of who work with the homeless. It is a customer service conversation; you may not be able to receive services in Carlsbad, but we can connect to resources. It is not just handing them a business card, but also making calls to organizations so they do not feel like they are being passed through the system. If the team is not able to connect them to resources, then 30 days down the line they may be part of our program. Ms. Nelson reiterated that this is a new program so it is continuing to evolve. There is such a need for help with the street homeless in Carlsbad since the team only has her as the social worker, but it hopes to expand soon. Ms. Jones-Kirk said that Ms. Nelson shared with the commission members about her client that has cancer, and she is working closely with her to make sure she follows through with her appointments and sees the specialist as well as her primary care physician. Ms. Bobbi Nunn, Housing Program Manager, commented that the two people who were previously homeless and are now placed at Tyler Court are over 55 years of age as Tyler Court is a 55 and older community. Ms. Jones-Kirk commented that when she looks at the three people here, Ms. Nunn as the Senior Program Manager is a key member of the team. Ms. Nunn and Ms. Nelson have connected to partner with people who HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 11, 2018 PAGE 6 of6 are on the Section 8 waiting list. Ms. Nunn please share with the Commissioners about the funding we recently received. Ms. Nunn said the program Ms. Jones-Kirk is referring to is part of the Section 8 Program. The city requested to get 75 vouchers to assist non-elderly disabled individuals. The team is looking for homeless in Carlsbad who are under 62 and disabled, so the homeless to get them on the waiting list and hope to house some of them. Cha irperson Newman asked if there will be any placed in Carlsbad. Ms. Nunn said that with the Section 8 Program it is easier to help the clients as they will be paying 30% of their income towards housing. She is currently looking for available housing for this program. Commissioner Evans asked if there is anything the Commissioners can do to help with this effort. Ms. Nunn said she will refer that to Ms. Jones-Kirk. Ms. Jones-Kirk sa id the immediate need is to educate people you know in the community. Let people know what we are doing in Carlsbad. You can have them get in contact with me if you would like. I will also share any information I have with you as a Commission. I will send you the non-emergency phone numbers for the police department as well as the officers email addresses. Interfaith Community Services has an amazing process for donors with furniture and other items. Ms. Nunn added that if you know of anyone w ho has a rental they would like to rent out, please let her know. They have done some outreach to people who have second dwelling units also. Ms. Jones-Kirk said she was happy Ms. Nelson shared the information on t he holiday program. We are looking at possibly 25 homeless individuals that will be part of that program. Sergeant De Velasco offered the Commissioners the chance to come on a ride along with him if they are interested. He stated he will give them his business card so they can contact him. A ride-along is eye opening when a person sees the interactions the Homeless Outreach Team has with the homeless. The team has built good relationships with Carlsbad's homeless. Chairperson Newman adjourned the Housing Commission Meeting at 7:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, &a·ffi- Bobbi Nunn, Housing Program Manager, for Deborah Fountain Community & Economic Director PATRICIA CRESCENTI, Minutes Clerk MINUTES ARE ALSO RECORDED AND KEPT ON FILE UNTIL THE WRITTEN MINUTES ARE APPROVED.