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Home My WebLink About2023-05-04; Letter from Affirmed Housing - Supportive Housing and Housing for Higher Needs Populations (Districts - All); Barberio, GaryTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL Datt0/4b3 CA ✓ CC ✓ CM -~ ~M (3) ~ May 4, 2023 Council Memorandum {city of Carlsbad Memo ID# 2023040 To: From: Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services Mandy Mills, Director of Housing & Ho~ss Services Via: Re: Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager ~ Letter from Affirmed Housing -Supportive Housing and Housing for Higher Needs Populations (Districts -All) This memorandum transmits a letter from Affirmed Housing related to Supportive Housing and Housing for Higher Needs Populations. Staff is providing the following information in response to a City Council member's inquiry associated with supportive services provided at Windsor Pointe. Background In 2017 and 2020 the City Council approved a financing package for land acquisition and construction of the Windsor Pointe affordable housing project. The project, developed by Affirmed Housing, is 48 units located on two non-contiguous sites in the Barrio neighborhood, at 965 Oak Avenue and 3606 Harding Street. Half of the units provide affordable housing for low income households with a veteran and/or local affiliation preference. The other half provide permanent supportive housing for homeless with a severe mental illness diagnosis and who are awaiting permanent housing. Discussion Since the project opened a year ago there have been community complaints and concerns related to the level of support needed to match client needs. Throughout the first year of operations city staff have worked closely with the project owner and property management company so that this project can provide a safe, quality living environment for the residents and surrounding community. Behavioral health services for the severely mentally ill residents are provided through contracted services from the County of San Diego. Affirmed Housing wrote the attached policy letter in August 2022, which generally identifies their concerns with the level of support for permanent supportive housing units. City staff recently received a copy of the letter because of continued conversations with the County of San Diego about appropriate service levels for Windsor Pointe and other permanent supportive housing projects. Community Services Branch Housing & Homeless Services Department 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2810 t Council Memo -Letter from Affirmed Housing -Supportive Housing ... (Districts -ALL) May 4, 2023 Page 2 Next Steps City staff will continue to advocate for a higher level of supportive services for projects of this nature. Attachment: A. Letter from Affirmed Housing cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager Cindie McMahon, City Attorney Mickey Williams, Police Chief Michael Calderwood, Fire Chief Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works August 30, 2022 AFFIRMED HOUSING Re: Supportive Housing and Housing for Higher Needs Populations Attachment A Affirmed Housing has been operating Supportive Housing (SH) communities since 2012 and is one of the first affordable housing developers to enter this field. Since that time our company has had the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the gaps in SH, and the need for alternative housing options for unhoused individuals. To date, Affirmed owns and operates 16 SH communities across the state of California. We have 12 additional SH developments under construction. The funding sources for these projects vary, but regardless of the funding sources, we are seeing a high number of individuals moving in who have a Serious Mental Illness (SMI). While some funding partners provide and fund higher level services-such as medic.ation distribution on-site, on-site nurse and clinical staff including a psychiatrist -the majority of our SH communities lack these additional resources and funds to cover these services. This funding gap, paired with funding requirements to house individuals with the highest acuity, is leading to operational challenges which inhibit the success of many residents for the sake of a few. Specifically, the data we have collected reflects that over a two-year span, anywhere from 5-20% of our SH Residents with a Mental Health Illness have had to leave an SH community as a result of ongoing behaviors related to their mental health. Another affordable housing developer shared similar data for their SH communities. Their numbers were even higher, with -40% of Residents moving out due to behavioral issues and/or a need for a higher level of care. A recent example of this is a multi-family No Place Like Home (NPLH) funded community in Carlsbad, CA. This community has a 50/50 split ofNPLH Residents and general affordable housing families. The funding requires that all units be equally distributed throughout the community, resulting in NPLH residents being housed next door to affordable family units. A NPLH resident began having issues immediately upon move-in. The issues rose to a level where police were called daily (both by the resident themselves, as well as neighbors in the building). The local Psychiatric Emergency Response Team and Mobile Crisis Response Team were called multiple times. Every time the agencies refused to take the individual in, even though the individual had physically injured themselves and was also calling for support. It also came to light that the County paid provider had been working with this individual for many years, and the individual had been in and out of every housing option available, with no successful housing stabilization. The provider-who should be the expert in serving this population-is not consistently on-site due to the County model, a model that does not fund on-site County services which leads to operational challenges. The County provider was at a loss for how to further support the individual and advised Property Management to proceed with whatever recourse they needed, leading to the filing of an eviction proceeding. 13520 Evening Creek Dr. N., Ste. 160, San Diego, CA 92128 www.affirmedhousing.com 858.679.2828 This story highlights the immense gap that exists between what SH is (an independent living community where residents have the support of Case Managers), and what is needed (a dependent living facility where residents have the on-site 24/7 support of clinical licensed health workers and staff.) Due to the lack of funding being allocated to higher level mental health facilities, SH is being used as the "catch- all" to house residents who are in dire need of a higher level of care. To continue this would be both a disservice to the population in need of higher-level housing, and to those being housed in SH who truly fall within the category of individuals who should be living in SH. California State Senate Bill 1338 for the creation of the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, reflects the understanding at the statewide level for increasing the support and care, as well as housing options for populations experiencing a SMI. However, the Act does not allocate funding towards housing specifically for the population the Act is intended to support, meaning many would likely end up in housing options such as SH, which will not be sufficient to support these individuals who have higher needs. This is an additional gap which should be closed to ensure that more individuals with a SMI are not housed in communities that do not have higher levels of support and on-site services necessary for dependent living. Finally, an additional funding gap in the existing NPLH funding is that the funding does not cover the cost to repair damages caused by Residents. Based on the population being housed under the NPLH program, it is likely there will be damages caused to units due to issues that arise during mental health related incidences. Affirmed is already seeing the need for funding that will support the cost of repairing damages to units. Many Housing Authority agencies offer similar programs, such as San Diego Housing Commission's LEAP program which helps landlords cover the cost of some damages. We suggest the State create a similar program to help support existing NPLH communities. This letter is to notify those who are creating the city, county, and state policies there is a clear need for a new type of facility; communities to house individuals with the highest needs and funding to support the development of those communities. These higher-level dependent living communities with on-site wrap-around support for populations with SMI -such as on-site medical aid, on-site medication distribution, 24-hour security, and staff who are trained to work with a higher need's population. Sincerely, Cc'd San Diego County Board of Supervisors Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors County of San Diego Housing and Community Development Services Director San Diego City Council Los Angeles City Council San Jose City Council Dpt. of Housing and Community Development Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services San Mateo County Public Health, Policy, and Planning San Diego Housing Federation Enterprise Community Solutions Behavioral Health Services LACDA OHS San Jose Office of Supportive Housing CalVets CSH