And so that means that in FY '98, the rate prior to the increase was $11 a day?
Okay. In the second paragraph on that same page, you say that 789 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 the $2 increase requested for FY 2000 will bring your rate up to the rate paid by providers -- or paid to providers that is paid by other agencies.
What other agencies are we talking about? Who else is in this business? Who are our competitors?
Well, that's the difficulty in terms of making a clear comparison. Because, you know, other agencies -- we're talking about the basic shelter services and some case managements and other support services, and there aren't any -- you know, it's difficult to compare that to, say, like CODAAP might have a basic house, but they're also providing very intensive drug and alcohol services. And so it's difficult to -- I'm just saying that -- but I could say that in most cases, the rates that are paid by other providers or other agencies are higher than what OESS currently pays.
Is it correct, though, based on your statement, to make a determination that we, the City of Philadelphia, 790 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 are the only people who are in the straight shelter bed business? I mean, there are no other private groups or organizations that contract for people to just have a shelter bed? Other than people who are maybe dealing with drug and alcohol issues or some other issue?
Okay. Now, in the third paragraph, you talk about looking at the recommendations by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition 1998 blueprint and homelessness.
To look at shelter standards which you seek to review and have strengthened. Tell us what the current standards are today for a shelter provider level of service and care that they are supposed to provide and what is the current inspection schedule for all of the providers.
I guess maybe what I would like to do -- I can talk to about maybe 791 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 about what the -- we have a quality assurance -- well, let me talk about the second part of your question, and I'll refer the shelter standards to Sally Fisher, if that's okay. We have a quality assurance team which is made up of seven people. They monitor the contracts for OESS. That includes a supervisor. And what they do is, they go out and monitor the facilities based on the standards as well as other things that we require of our providers.
And how many providers do we have and how many physical locations do we have, and how many people are we serving?
There are approximately 40 or 45 providers of shelter services, but we also have contracts for other types of services like some case-management services, some clean-and-sober services, and the quality- assurance units responsible for monitoring those contracts.
All right. How many facilities and how many people are involved?
There are approximately 792 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 40 to 45 shelter facilities, and they are currently housing about 2500 people.
So we have 40 or 45 providers and we have 40 or 45 facilities.
Is that pretty much -- each provider just has one facility?
Well, there may be providers who are -- there may be providers who are running more than one shelter facility. So, for instance, the Salvation Army is an example; I believe they run three of our facilities.
Self. Dr. Outley runs two of our facilities. One Day at a Time, I think, has four or five facilities. And Catholic Social Services has three.
So we may actually have more facilities than the actual --
The question was, number of providers and then number of physical locations -- buildings, facilities --
I probably would have to 793 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 go back and -- I mean, I could certainly do that. It is actually in the budget detail in terms of which are the providers that we are currently contracting with. Now, maybe we could find that page.
Is there a list of the actual locations of their facilities?
It's at the very back of the budget document. But in terms of the --
Therefore, they're leasing to some private owner. 794 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023
Okay. If you can get us that level of detail and information, I'd appreciate it.
Yes. Would you like to talk -- maybe Sally could talk a little bit about the processes that are ongoing with the shelter standard review.
Hello. I'm Sally Fisher, the Director of the Office of Family Shelter and Services. Good morning.
The current shelter standards that are still applicable today were originally developed in probably mid-1980 or '85, and they have been revised in 1990. These shelter standards were developed by the Mayor's Public Private Task Force, and they're still being used today. They're attached to all the contracts for shelter. 795 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 They're under revision, as the testimony mentioned was that they're under revision again by another public-private task force to further enhance and define and clarify many of the shelter standards that in the original -- or in the one that we're using today may briefly mention things like, you know, children, accommodations for children. The revisions would expand on accommodations for children to include some guidelines on safety and health issues. And, particularly, it also includes Health Department guidelines on the -- to protect -- on the communicable disease -- their guidelines for prevention of communicable diseases.
Well, would these new guidelines go to the level of detail when you talk about children and space for children in the facility? Will they go to the level of detail that the provider would be required to have? For instance, a space indoor and outdoor for the children to play?
Yes. There are some recommendations to that effect in the proposed 796 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 revisions that are currently being reviewed.
And is there any requirement for the provider to have any services in particular for those children if, for instance, the child was to toddler age or preschool age but is possibly not going to either a day care facility or preschool or something like that?
I think what's most clear in the standards is that the patients are responsible for their children at all times.
And that there are more guidelines to the effect that, like you said, the space, making space available, and not so much the services on site, but there are clear directives to identify the support services for families and to, wherever possible, to provide those services on site or to provide some referrals directly to those services in the community.
Okay. What's the current inspection schedule for our shelters?
As mentioned before on the number of facilities and the sites, we'll get that information to you. There are currently within 797 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 our quality assurance unit, there are six program analysts that are assigned -- each are assigned a group shelters. They are required to do an annual monitoring review and to write up a monitoring review on an annual basis. And then they are also responding, depending on the size of the shelter, they may make more frequent visits, but if there are visits and responses to complaints or concerns that may be brought to their attention, they need to respond to those. So to answer your question, they do an annual formal monitoring review, and then they make at least two or three additional informal unscheduled visits throughout the year, depending on the size of the facility. Or they could be there almost on a daily or weekly basis, depending on, you know, the volume of issues or concerns that might be prevalent in that facility.
Well, if an inspector had to go to a facility on an almost daily or weekly basis, isn't that the first sign that there might be some serious problems at this location? 798 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023
Yes. And we review any complaints -- the volume of complaints or concerns that may be raised about a certain facility. Yes, that is kind of a signal that there's problems.
Well, what I would like to then ask is for a detailed listing by facility of the date of annual inspection for that particular facility, as well as any informal inspections, what was the nature of the inspection, what brought you out to the facility in the first place. And then I'd like to know how many facilities, if any, each year for the past three fiscal years have been dropped.
I mean -- guess I would like to respond to that because it is --
There are -- I mean, we work very closely with L&I and the Health Department on this as well. And I would say that within the last six months, we do monitor the complaint reports on a monthly basis. And one of the facilities in particular was getting almost daily kind of the type of 799 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 situation where that you were referring to, and that provider is no longer a provider in the system. And I would say that probably in the prior year, there were one or two that were dropped for a similar reason. But we can provide that information for you. That's not a problem.
I'd appreciate that. Are six analysts enough, given -- I mean, your testimony has been you may not know the exact number of facilities that we have but if at least every provider has one and some have two or three, we are now moving up into the potential for 40 to 60, 40 to 70-some-odd facilities all over the place. Can six people deal with that?
Well, this budget request will actually add one additional person to the quality-assurance unit.
And I think that will get us a little closer to where we need to be. Right now, I think that there is a 800 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 feeling that we, because of the employment and training program and the major effort that we're making in that area, we've had one analyst who has been doing both the employment and training, and monitoring that closely, as well as -- I think she's had three or four other shelters that she's been trying to follow. And I think it was clear that that wasn't sufficient and that we really needed to add another person to take the burden off of that -- off of her in particular.
Last question in this area. The program analyst goes out to make an inspection; what are they looking for? Is there a checklist? Are they looking that the place is clean, that it was recently painted, electrical systems, air-conditioning, heat? What's the nature of an inspection?
A program analyst needs to take into consideration, first of all, what L&I has in record or may have in their database, of which we do have access to the L&I violations. And they check to make sure that all the licenses are current and that they're posted. 801 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 They do a review of the facility, they do a walk-through of the facility. Now, they don't do as much of an in-depth review as, say, the Health Department does, but then the Health Department goes out on an annual basis as well. And that report can be made available to us. We cannot as readily access it as L&I.
Does it make any sense for this review to try to coordinate --
-- those inspections so that your person is actually with the area inspector from L&I and from the Health Department?
The other items that the program analysts would be involved in are things such as doing a client satisfaction survey, taking a select number of the clients and doing a questionnaire, and looking at the record-keeping, how well that they monitor the safety and the 802 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 supervision of the clients.
Whether the meals are being served, what kind of meals are being served. So it's a whole cross section. There is a checklist and there is a monitoring outline which we can make available to you.
Mr. Nardone, if you would forward to my attention -- I know the Councilman wouldn't mind -- whatever information he is seeking, I would make sure that each of the Councilpeople receive it.
Thank you, Madame President. Certainly, let me thank all of you for the work you do. I think that Bill Parshall was good before you and that you've been doing an excellent job, given the restraints of -- you've 803 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 been doing an excellent job, period. I will say that I'm happy to support the initiative to have training dollars involved to try to keep us current with what we need to do to help people. Having said that, I'm really, really concerned, as you know, about these TANF cuts so I hope I don't have to, you know, after March 3rd, Madame President, I hope I don't have to call them with all these people sitting on the benches and saying somebody's got to come get them. Quite frankly, we've been there through every administration, and here where at another emergency point. So I am hopeful that as this emergency approaches, that we will have some -- and I know we have a long-range plan-- some way to deal with the intake office to provide for a high influx of people. As you know, Mr. Nardone, my new focus is on us doing more to help upgrade other shelters, so that's my focus for the year. I always have something new for each year. And my only question this morning is, I met with the Red Cross yesterday. I know that they want to do probably in my area 25 units to -- 804 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 excuse me, 20 units to help deal with fire victims. And I'm wondering -- I know that a lot of the McKinney money is earmarked. Is there some way -- they were talking about home development dollars of 1.5 million and HSP McKinney dollars of a million over three years. Is there some way that we could possibly work with them to do some program and --
Well, I would encourage them -- I mean, first of all, I have not spoken with them about their proposal, and I'll be happy to meet with them and talk to them.
There is presently a special-needs housing development RFP that is presently being discussed, and the focus is on both transitional and permanent housing. And I'm not familiar with what the specific plans is for what they're working on. I know that there was an RFP meeting earlier this week, which I hope they attended. I know that the deadline for proposals is March 9th, but I think that that's something that I'd be happy to work 805 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 with them on.
That's good. They just wanted -- they were asking my opinion on whether or not they had an opportunity, whether or not they should deal with the RFP. They really want to do something, and certainly, I think they add a good dimension to the overall scheme in this problem. And thank you. I'll be glad to call your office and try to set up some meeting to discuss where they would fit in to the whole process.
All right. Thank you and thanks again for all that you do. This is has been -- between the announcement of the welfare, quote/unquote, welfare reform and the sidewalk ordinance, this has been a real nightmare of a year. But, hopefully, it's almost here and we can somehow move forward. 806 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 I'm so afraid when I hear stories of things that happens in New York and how they put welfare recipients on trucks and take 'em and drop 'em in streets and say, Sweep it, no matter how you feel. If you're sick, then you have to do this and sit in this chair and work, and you get cut off. I mean, there's so many nightmare stories. I'm really, really worried because I contend, and always have, that our city has a problem that we can resolve, a problem that we can solve if we together do all we can to pool our resources and maintain or commitment. I'm glad to see the focus -- your focus on this continuum because we absolutely need to do what Councilwoman Clark said and keep records so we can, in the future, say we know this number of people are off the rolls because they have certainly gone on to be successful or independent-living people. And, finally, what I ask is that the information that you get for Councilman Nutter and for Councilwoman Clark, if you would give it to the President, then she will make sure that we have all of that information. 807 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 Is that all right, President Verna?
I would just like to thank you for the support that you give, Councilwoman. You have been very helpful.
I just have two very short questions. Mr. Nardone, you state in your testimony that with welfare reform on the horizon, the shortage of family beds is likely to become more severe, and development of additional beds resources all the more critical. How many additional beds do you anticipate we're going to need? And how do you propose to acquire these additional bed resources?
I think it's really difficult to project what is the number that we will need. I mean, what we know is that between 808 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 March and June, there will be 32,000 families who will potentially hit the two-year time limit. Now, not all of those people -- I mean, I don't think that it will be all of a sudden that on March 3rd that there will be thousands and thousands of people who are lined up for services. I think it's going to be much more insidious than that. I think it's going to be much more over the course of time. But the thing is, for instance, if you look at the number of -- if you look at the 32,000 number, if 2 percent of those families become homeless over the course of the year, that roughly equals roughly the number of people who are families in shelter today -- or, you know, 600.
Well, can you tell us how you propose to acquire these additional bed requirements?
Well, I mean, what this budget proposes is to try to expand the existing family capacity by 200 in terms of the development of at least one additional site, that we're not wedded to one site -- it could be 200 beds at more than one site. 809 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 We hope that the rate increase will spur additional providers to come to the forefront. And I would also say that we are working with one provider now with respect to some renovation dollars to hopefully develop another 100-bed site. We are always out there trying to develop additional residences for homeless families. So I think it's definitely going to be a challenge, though.
And do you notify the District Councilperson before you do that?
You also state that as the City prepares to face the welfare reform challenge, we will need to work with the legislature and the Governor to ensure that the State maintains its commitments in vital areas such as these. What is the Administration's position if the State does not fund the additional demand for services?
Well, I mean, we're 810 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 hoping that we can -- I mean, the main -- the main focus of that, I think for me, is the $2.2 million in State funding. If that is not restored, the City will either have to, I think, provide those dollars, or we're going to again throw the OESS budget into turmoil.
When would you know if it's been approved by the State?
We will know, hopefully, in April or May. But I think, hopefully, we'll have some signals before that about whether or not this funding is going to be restored.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Thank you, Madame Chair. That 2 percent is sort of a conservative estimate, I would say --
-- out of the 32,000 families. Do we have an estimate of how much money, let's say, it would take to take care of a 811 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 2 percent problem in terms of welfare?
Well, I would just say that if it is -- the analogy -- or where I was going with the comparison, and maybe I wasn't as clear, is that 2 percent would roughly equal 600 families. And right now, our emergency shelter system services about 500 families. And most people who remain in shelter remain in shelter for four to six months. So if you took the OESS budget, which is -- if you just took the shelter portion of that budget, which is roughly about to million, 14 and you took either one-third to one-half of that, 15 that is the potential impact if that's the result 16 of the cuts. 17 So that's on the order of magnitude of 18 -- I don't know if my math is good, but it's 6 to 19 10 million, if those people were sheltered, came 20 into shelter, and we just added shelter beds and housed those people.
A scary thought, isn't it? 812 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023
And I don't think we really have visualized it yet as to what the impact March to June may be in terms of our overall operating budget in here in the city in terms of our overall policies.
I think that, as I said earlier, is that we also might not see all of the impact in one fell swoop.
I think that it's going to be something gradually and all of a sudden -- well, not all of a sudden, but we are going to see the population rising over time.
And I think it is. It's going to be sort of growing and then it's going to be there.
Right. I think -- the thing is, is that I don't know if it's really going to be important then that it isn't -- that 813 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 the City is going to be in a very difficult position to continue to just increase shelter beds to meet the challenge. And the State is going to have to come up to the plate on this, I think, and continue to provide the resources to do the job.
No, we're going to need a program to really begin putting people into treatment and housing and other aspects that really are job-producing. And that they can become -- and the mentally ill who may be coming off the welfare rolls that we have no idea, no 13 assessment yet of what impact that's going to have. Okay?
On , at the bottom, you have the annualized for a new shelter facility. And I'd like to know where that is and how it is going to -- how this money's going to be spent and who's going to be doing the contracting and the rehabbing and refitting of this.
Basically, one of the ways -- what we do is -- and maybe I could take this over to Richard Shaeffer to talk about how we would lease a facility. But basically, we haven't 814 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 made any decisions with respect to sites. We are always out there trying to find sites. I think what we envision there is entering into an arrangement with someone who's able to rehab a site and then amortizing those costs over time as part of the lease so that someone who could front the capital to do the development and then recoup those dollars over the course of a long-term lease. But we haven't -- we haven't set our sights on any one particular facility, and it doesn't necessarily have to be one large site. It could be -- in coming up with the budget figure, we were saying, This is what we wanted. We wanted to try to accommodate at least 200 additional family members and what would that look like in terms of, based on prior knowledge of shelter facilities, what would be the per-square-foot cost related that. So that was our best guess of what it would cost to do a lease for a 200-person facility and renovate it and get it up to spec. But it could just as easily be two 100-bed facilities or four 50-bed facilities. 815 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Okay. Thank you, Madame Chair. Mr. Nardone, as you well know, we have some problems in our neighborhood, in my district, concerning a proposed shelter facility, family shelter facility. And, you know, I realize and most people realize that the need for family beds, you know, is very great. I just need to talk a little bit about the process for site selection for shelters. I would think that if you were going to look at a site, that that is the time that you would come to a Councilperson to see if there's some history there, if there is some history surrounding that site. In my neighborhood -- or in this particular neighborhood, and I don't live 816 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 far from there, the people are gearing up for a fight. I wanted to know, how many other new facilities are having the same type of neighborhood opposition?
Well, unfortunately, I don't know that there's an example of a neighborhood that we've gone into where people embrace us coming into a neighborhood. I often -- sometimes I wonder if Councilpeople will take my phone calls because I know that sometimes I'm telling them about a possible facility that we might want to do in their district. What we try to do and what we ask our providers to do is to reach out to both community neighbors as well as City Councilpeople to get a read on what is -- you know, what is the -- what are -- so that they're beginning to develop those relationships. We also then reach out to the Councilperson. And we try to do that before we're too far along. And sometimes I'm afraid the system doesn't always work as well as we think it will. But I mean, that's the process that we try to 817 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 engage in with respect to --
Well, when you reached out to me, it was after the fact.
And I spoke to Mrs. Highsmith (ph.), who's here, nice lady. I spoke to her husband before -- well, when I spoke to them, they said they were interested in purchasing but didn't state a reason. And as I told Mrs. Highsmith yesterday, had she talked to me, I could have given her a history because she said I put so much money in the building. And I understand all of that. You have to remember, there are lots of people -- and I keep reading articles about different groups gearing up and caring about what's going to happen with welfare reform, and they realize it's going to increase the homeless population; however, they don't want it in their neighborhood. But it seems to be -- I think there seems to be a way that we can all work together. Maybe some neighborhoods are neighborhoods where 818 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 they will fight you day and night, and maybe there are other neighborhoods where we can go in and present a positive package rather than to wait until we get to the community meeting where people are already upset because they didn't know about it, and they're just spouting off about it. It seems to me that I'm want to be a part of helping to help homeless people. But on the other hand, I think there needs to be an evaluation as to how many beds are placed at a site because of the density that it can create on the neighborhood. And, unfortunately -- and I just want to state this for the record -- the site on Coulter Street, the location there has been -- the community's been fighting the use of that sight for about 15 years, long before I came here, and it had nothing to do with the Office of Homelessness, but it's the other uses that was there. And I think that's one of the reasons why the community is so geared up to fight that. And I don't know what we can do. I don't know what we as City agencies and officials can do to relax and calm down what's going on. 819 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 'Cause it's my understanding now that they have an attorney, and there was a cease-operations yesterday and whatnot. But I would think that -- because had they come to me, I would have told 'em not to select that site because I know how they have fought other projects that people proposed for that particular site. And I think there just has to be some way where -- and even if it's not me, but it should be the Councilperson, and we can talk to people in that particular neighborhood if we're not familiar. I just happen to be one that's very familiar with that neighborhood. I grew up not far from there, and I know the problems that have existed at that particular location. And I think that that's some way that we can help relieve a lot of your stress and relieve mine, you know, and relax the community and help the operators. And the bottom line is helping the homeless people. So -- but it didn't happen this time. I walked in here on the Deliverance Shelter, and I feel like I walked in on the Coulter Street Shelter because I'm sitting here 820 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 and nobody called me, and I just happen to be a Councilperson that came from a community- organizing background, and I was out there in those neighborhoods and I knew about that problem. And it would have saved a lot of people a lot of headache, it would have saved the Highsmiths lots of money. Now, I don't know how it's going to turn out, and I don't want to sit here and act like it's not going to happen, but that's one of the reasons why you're having so much opposition. I could have told them not to look there, to look somewhere else. So I just wanted to raise that for the record.
And, Mr. Nardone, I would like to echo those sentiments. I think it's absolutely totally essential that you get in touch with the District Councilperson before you do something.
Because we might have advice for you on of another location.
So we can work together. 821 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023
I mean, think that's a communication we have to work towards. I think in this particular instance -- what happens frequently is that we have providers who are looking for sites in any number of different locations. They don't necessarily come to us before they have found a site or before they've begun work on a site. Frequently, they'll come to us after they've done the work on a site, and they'll say, We want you to give us a contract to provide emergency shelter. And then we have to consider whether or not we fund them. That's somehow -- that's --
But we're also saturating some areas more so than others.
Right. And it's difficult if we know when -- if we know, we try to bring that information to Council's attention. And in this case, you know, I thought that it had been; and obviously, it wasn't. And it wasn't until we came to you to talk to you about it in advance of doing the site that I found 822 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 out about that, that it hadn't been brought to your attention. It was also then that we set up a community meeting that you participated in. And, as you know, as we've discussed, the Mayor is very interested in this particular property and has said he will set up a meeting with both the representatives from the community as well as OESS as well as Miss Highsmith to see if there's any resolution to the situation. It's a particularly tricky one. The other side of the coin of this, of course, is this is a facility that has been zoned since the turn of the century, since about 1930, for use as a rooming house unit, and I guess one of the issues is going to be if it's this difficult to do it in an area where it's zoned, how are we going to be able to do it and achieve the things we need to do with respect to family beds moving forward. I think the other issue here -- and I'm not the expert on this; Debbie Russo is, and many of you know that she's having -- if she hasn't already had two babies, she's in the process of it. That there are fair housing issues that also 823 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 get involved in this, and I don't profess to be totally knowledgeable about this, but it does get into the whole issue of what type of notification, what type of process can you put in place prior to kind of going ahead with a particular facility. And it's a very complex area and I couldn't agree with you more that we need to have a lot more dialogue on that.
Well, we do. And -- well, the dialogue, I believe, would be helpful, irregardless to the fair housing rules and laws. Because, really, if I was going to look for a house, and when I looked for a house, I wanted to know if they had Town Watch, if the block was organized, just a whole bunch of basic little things that would help me understand the neighborhood that I was going to move in. And I think people need to understand where they're going to move. We have institutional living in Chestnut Hill, we have a lot of times of institutional living in all different types of neighborhoods in my district. And we have those big old homes in the area -- or people kind of 824 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 think whether we have the figures or not or facts that it's over-saturated. When you take 3 buildings on one half of a block and add 200 people or however many, it's going to have an impact. It will have impact maybe on the public schools 'cause I understand the children, I think, normally go to their school that they just left. But it's going to have a impact. And when we talk about standards -- and it's my understanding that Mrs. Highsmith runs a very good operation, but people don't care about that. Well, they care but the real deal is the density, the intrusion of about 200 more people on a particular block in three buildings. So. . . And one of the other uses, as you heard, was very negative, and there were people blowing horns. And I mean, it was a real, real, real problem over there at that location for a long time. There were drug dealers, prostitution, all kinds of things. It was such a negative use that has turned the neighborhood against that particular site other than a use that they agree to. 825 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 What about those kind of standards, behavior-related standards in and around the site of the shelter? And does shelters have -- do they have like a recreation room or some other kind of room where, when weather's bad, where children can sit and where families can sit in particular?
Well, each -- and I can maybe ask Sally to talk about talk a little bit more about this. But each shelter does have rules which are in conformance with general guidelines that the OESS promulgates. With respect to this particular facility, Mrs. Highsmith had begun to develop a fairly comprehensive set of rules. It was our hope that we would be able to actually get some community input in terms of what some of the issues were. For instance, the facility, it is a clean-and-sober facility; people do not use drugs, they do not use alcohol on the premises.
One of the issues that we heard that came up was with respect to visitation. And part of the whole process we had hoped to engage in was one where we would begin to 826 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 discuss some of those issues. The proposal that Mrs. Highsmith came forward for us was to do the to families at 5 131 West Coulter. We had really not discussed any 6 further with respect to the other two properties, 7 and I know that's one of the things that the 8 community was really focussing in on. 9 I guess what my hope again -- and, you 10 know, maybe I guess it's proving naive -- is that we would have been able to engage in a dialogue with the neighborhood concerning what might be on the rest of those premises. But, unfortunately, we haven't even been able to get -- you know, we haven't been able to get to that point. And I guess, you know, I -- you know, I -- you know, OESS is kind of stuck in the middle. On the one hand, you heard the testimony about the needs for additional shelter beds, and Mrs. Highsmith is an excellent provider of services and has shown that she can provide these services and runs a good program. And on the other hand, you have, you know, the clear neighborhood concerns about this property. And quite frankly, I didn't have the 827 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 history that you had with respect to Coulter.
Yeah, I know. That's why I wish someone would have --
And, you know, so I would hope that maybe we can move to that process to begin that dialogue; I'm just not sure if it can happen there.
Well, if we -- maybe we can move to part of it anyway when we meet with the Mayor and the other people.
But I think it's important that Councilpeople need to be involved 'cause it will help, I think it will just help.
And, obviously, you have a lot of these residences in your district.
And we try to work with you closely and you've been very supportive to us. And I think we owe it to you.
Okay, okay, thank you. No further questions, Madame Chair.
Thank you. 828 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
One of the suggestions that I would make as a result of this recent conversation here is that we are the ones who contract, we are the ones with the dollars. Therefore, we should be able to not move towards this issue over a period of time but insist that all vendors -- active vendors, people who want to be vendors who provide this service need to, must, and are required to notify you and the District Councilperson before they put one piece of -- one speck of paint, one nail, one improvement to the building. I don't understand why we are at a disadvantage in having to somehow slowly move towards this dialogue when we have the purse strings, we pay the bills. And if you don't do it this way, you're going to get a contract, period. Why is it such a gingerly process? To 829 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 me, it's very clear. We pay the bills; if you want to be a contractor for us, these are the rules you follow. If you don't do it, you won't be a contractor.
Well, the thing is -- and, again, I'm not a lawyer, I can't discuss the fair-housing issues. But I think that a formal notification process.
A formal notification process prior to a person either purchasing a house or beginning to do the work would, I think, potentially be a fair-housing issue. And I think maybe, you know, maybe I need some -- and the thing is that -- and so what we try to do -- what we do, not try to do but what we do is, we ask our providers, encourage our providers to both get in touch with the community as well as the Councilperson. And we personally, before we contract, we contact the City Councilperson.
But before you contract is a period, a point in time where the house has been bought, the work has been done, the 830 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 beds are there, and now we're going to contact somebody about something that -- Let me tell you the long-term problem in this, and you're in this business, you're in this particular area of service, and I may be insensitive. In order for this stuff to work, the neighborhood has to embrace it. Now, whether or not that's naive to think they'll ever embrace, I don't think it is. I think people can ultimately embrace this issue -- if you don't sneak it in on them.
And the point is, if you expect dialogue and openness and acceptance and you -- not you, but they do it under the cover of night or don't tell people what they're doing and all of a sudden it's there, you'll never get that acceptance, and the people in that community who need the help will never be embraced by that community because of the negative attitude about how it was snuck in on them. And I'll give you a perfect example. And this is my other question. We have successful long-term, permanent, dignified housing 831 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 opportunities for people in special needs in this city already being done privately. Organizations and homes like Project Home and Women of Hope, they were fought by the community, they were terribly fought by the community in its inception. And at this point in time, I would suspect that Project Home one of the best neighbors in that community and has been a tremendous success -- not only for relieving homelessness but for allowing people who have special needs, who are recovering addicts, have mental-health problems and other issues, to live in a communal setting and support each other. It's a perfect situation of 30, 32 units of single people. Why are we not replicating using our dollars from the federal government, State government, local government and replicating those successful operations instead of building large 200-bed warehouse-style shelter systems.
Well, a significant portion of the funds that we spend for homeless services is for the type of programs that you're 832 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 talking about. And in this -- and, historically, the City has devoted almost all of its McKinney funding, which is the competitive funding that I mentioned in my testimony, almost all of that funding goes to support efforts like this as well as the special-needs development RFP that is funded through the Office of Housing and Community Development. The OESS budget is really only one piece of the entire range of programs that are available.
I think you're always going to need -- you're always going to need entry-level programs for people who have an emergency and who need to find some sort of shelter -- whether or not it's people on the sidewalk or if it's families who are dislocated. And the thing is that -- so I think that if you look at the amount of funding that we provide, a substantial portion of the money that we provide for homeless services on an annual basis is provided to those type of programs. And it's just reflected in -- like, for instance Rowanne (ph.) House in West Philadelphia, 833 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 PEC, that has State money, it has City money, it has federal money. That's a good example.
What portion of our overall budget, all sources of funding --
-- is directed towards those types of operations? And I'll point specifically to Women of Hope and Project Home.
I would say that roughly -- and this is a ballpark, it's going to be like 35 to 40 percent. And 35 percent of the entire homeless budget, including -- because, you know, you lose -- I mean, we're focussed a great deal today on just emergency shelter. But the thing is, you also have to look at the dollars we provide for prevention, you also have to look at the dollars we provide for some of our outreach. I mean, in looking at the entire range of things that we do, emergency food is another big piece of this. So if you look at how much we provide specifically for those type of housing programs, I think it's in the range of about 40 percent.
Does it make more 834 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 sense to begin moving that percentage upwards considering the fact that the people who are served by those operations find permanent housing in those locations. This is not in transition; this is something they're going to be at till they decided -- till they can buy their own home or till they pass away.
That's exactly why in -- I mean, I think you're right. That's exactly why, in designing both the special-needs housing development RFP for this year as well as the priorities for City McKinney funding, that the priorities for those programs are going to be the development of transitional and permanent housing, along the lines of a Project Home or a Catholic Social -- I mean, you can name -- I mean, we have some great models here in the city. It's not just Project Home; it's Horizon House, PEC, and --
I have the most contact with them, and it's not to denigrate anyone else because I'm sure they're equal.
But those two operations are, because of my personal experience 835 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 with them, are that much more impressive in what they're able to do because they attack the problem wholistically. It's not just finding someone a roof over their head; it's finding them a community they can live in to get the best of their life that they can. And that communally living is what really does make the difference in a -- not a 200-person setting but in a 30-person setting. And it makes an inordinate amount of sense to me, and I really wish that we could continue to push to in that direction so that the goal -- and I know the goal is to get everybody off the street and into permanent dignified housing.
What do we do, if anything, to interface with and deal with our surrounding communities around Philadelphia as far as the issues of homelessness is concerned? Do we share information, funding sources, the ability to maybe interface with some of the people who come into the City to want to, in the best sense of the word, help people? I mean, church organizations 836 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 in the suburbs? It seems to me that the City of Philadelphia has become, over the past 15, 5 years, the sole source provider of social services 6 to homeless, addicted, and other types of persons 7 in need; and that the suburban communities have 8 basically abdicated their financial responsibility 9 and kind of shifted their problems in this regard 10 to the city that really can't afford to do it on 11 their own. 12 I mean, State monies aside and federal 13 monies aside, what is it that we do with the 14 five-county surrounding area to help share the 15 burden of homelessness and services to those who 16 are addicted and mentally ill? 17
I think that, overall, our 18 knowledge is fairly limited. I mean, there's no 19 coordination across the counties, but there is -- 20 I mean, there's a sharing of -- Salvation Army could speak to the effect that they have folks at the Gateway Center who they identify as needing a long-term residential center, and they have many residential centers outside of the City of Philadelphia that they utilize. They refer the 837 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 clients out there. We have a linkage with the Norristown Family Shelter. I mean, we know that if someone's coming from Montgomery County or Norristown into Philadelphia and they're homeless, we refer them back to those shelters. So we try to keep the dumping, if you may, to a minimum, if we can identify that the people are from outside the City, and to have somewhat of a linkage. But there could be more coordination, and I think Michael would have to speak on the State level in terms of the funding. I mean, I'm not sure who --
I'm only talking about the grass-roots organization, people who, with great, intention -- church organizations who come into the city, who wanted to do feeding and help, have we been able to identify opportunities for them to truly help our homeless and people in need by helping them to create places in suburban communities to help house this regional -- this regional problem and these regional citizens?
We certainly have approached those groups. Unfortunately, I can't 838 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 report that we've had a great deal of success in terms of getting them to refocus how they do their efforts. Of course, you know, we've kind of focussed on the notion if what their goal is to feed homeless individuals, that we would prefer that they do it at one of the City sites. I think what you're talking about is maybe somewhat of a more creative engagement that maybe we have to take a look at.
I think a lot of our -- you know, as Sally kind of described, we don't have that type of, you know, city-county level of coordination. I think it's really more on a case-by-case basis with respect to individual organizations. For instance, you know St. Barnabus is one of our facilities, and we've been working closely with Episcopal Community Services, which is actually located in -- affiliated with some of the churches out in the suburban communities, and they are providing a substantial amount of resources to help fund a facility in the city. And so I think it side of happens more 839 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 on an individual basis with particular providers that we know of but. But, you know, sometimes with street feeding groups, it's very difficult to engage them in a discussion about other types of formal activities.
Have we looked at trying to find providers who would be willing to acquire property to build a facility in suburban communities, where there may be less of a pressure on the service-providers of that county to provide other types of services than there are here in Philadelphia? I mean, for example, I am sure there are suburban -- there are current contractors now who could establish a facility similar to the one on Coulter Street in a suburban Montgomery County community or in a Delaware County community. The fair-housing laws apply, I would expect, across county lines as they do in Philadelphia. And the same resistance that may be found in Montgomery County would be protected by the federal courts there as well as here. Again, the concept for me is that Philadelphia has become the social-service 840 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 provider for the region -- very much unfairly. I mean, we have people that have been in the system who are from New Jersey, who are in the prison system in New Jersey or in the drug system in New Jersey or in the surrounding counties. And somehow or another, Philadelphia, because of the dollars that it spends -- and rightfully so on this issue -- becomes a magnet for the region for these social problems. And I see no reason in the world why a facility in Montgomery County couldn't be purchased by the City or supported -- supporting a contractor or vendor who wants to buy something in Montgomery County and spread around the problems so that people can get the appropriate services without putting the entire impact and weight on the City of Philadelphia. And I would urge -- I mean, I don't know how they'll feel about that in the suburbs, but perhaps they'll understand the depth of this problem and all of our needs to cooperate in dealing with it.
Well, I think we need to do more outreach to the other counties. I don't 841 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 think that -- I think that's something that maybe we need to explore. I mean, we do have and Sally can talk about the residency requirements that we have in the City of Philadelphia. I mean, there is a residency requirement in order to receive shelter. We also have a substantial contract with Travelers Aid Society for people who come into the City of Philadelphia, to help them relocate back to, you know, wherever -- whatever might have been there point of origination. But, you know, I think you're -- I did I think -- you know, I could talk to you about those programs and say that, you know, that tries to prevent against that sort of thing happening. But, by the same token, I think your point is well-taken with respect to outreach to other counties in terms of providing -- sharing the load.
I mean, it is a burden that needs to be shared, that needs to be addressed. And I think that, you know, as with other issues as it relates to education and other types of problems that we face -- the court system 842 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 is a city alone -- we're really at a disadvantage. I think the federal fair-housing laws would allow us ant permit us the ability to expand our network of shelter and transitional and permanent housing opportunities throughout this region, as it should be throughout this region.
With the protection of the federal courts and the federal laws. I mean, community people in Philadelphia, who maybe ignorantly or realistically don't want this kind of activity in the community have their views circum -- have their views gone around by the federal law. And I don't see why the federal law shouldn't apply in Montgomery County or Bucks County or any other county around Philadelphia as it applies here. And I would urge you to start looking for other opportunities throughout the region so that we can share this problem together.
Thank you 843 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 very much. Are there any other questions or comments from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank you. The Department of Recreation and the Betsy Ross House is next. (Recreation Department panel members come forward.)
Good afternoon, good afternoon. COMMISSIONER DIBERARDINIS: Good afternoon.
Please identify yourself for the record, Commissioner, and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER DIBERARDINIS: Okay. Good morning. I am Mike DiBerardinis, Recreation Commissioner. Good morning, Council President Verna and Councilmembers. I would like to present 844 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 to you the Recreation Department's FY 2000 Operating Budget request for $37,900,109 in the General Fund appropriations and $9,265,409 in Grants spending authorization, for a total of $46,404,518. This is an increase of $3,827,703 in the General Fund over Recreation's FY '99 estimated obligations. The Recreation Department's FY 2000 General Fund request supports 610 full-time, 166 part-time, and 1,901 temporary employees, and provides for an increase of $688,000 in support of negotiated wage increases and full funding for existing positions. From here on end, I will just summarize my testimony.
Please because we do have copies of your testimony. COMMISSIONER DIBERARDINIS: Okay. In FY 2000, we will continue to support the expansion of organized recreational opportunities for youth and adults throughout the city. We will continue, as we have in the past, to provide an extended swimming season and an extended ice rink season. We will expand our organized sports and athletics 845 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 programs, and we will also expand our Visual Performing Arts and Mural Arts Programs in our centers throughout the city. And in our next fiscal year, FY 2000, we also plan to build an improved -- build on and improve our After-School Care Programs and our Tot Recreation Programs. But the most significant part of the FY 2000 budget is the nearly $1.8 million increase in our Maintenance Division -- proposed increase in our Maintenance Division and the nearly $220,000 increase in our Program Division Budget. With these proposed increases, we will, for the first time, be able to have formal, standardized performance standards throughout our system. With this money, we will be able to hire 46 new semiskilled employees -- these are permanent full-time employees -- and 47 year-round seasonal employees. In addition to that, we will hire 8 new skilled-trades employees in the Maintenance Division. And in the Program Division, we will be able to hire 17 additional assistant rec leaders. With these additional -- oh, and in addition to 846 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 that -- I'm sorry, in addition to that, we will be able to hire 34 seasonal employees who will be deployed to our neighborhood parks in addition to the we already have, for a total 46 six-month 6 seasonal employees that will be deployed to our 7 larger neighborhood parks throughout our system. 8 This will allow us to, like I said 9 earlier, move into some very clear and detailed 10 operational standards for those facilities. For 11 instance, all of our A and B centers will have 12 permanent 40-hour-a week maintenance staff who will keep the centers clean and follow a rigorous daily, weekly, monthly, and annual maintenance schedule.
Amen. COMMISSIONER DIBERARDINIS: Yes. In our C centers, we will have a seasonal staffing of hours a week year-round to do the same thing. 20 And there are standards for the 20-hour-a-week C center maintenance functions, custodial functions at the facility. In addition to that, within the Maintenance Division, we will also have skilled-trade standards in terms of the inspection 847 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 and preventive maintenance of our major system and annual standards for our heating system, our roofs, our outdoor lighting system, our plumbing systems. We will also have standards for the neighborhood parks that have the seasonal employees deployed to them. In the Program Division, we will have hours of operation standards for A, B and C centers. For instance, all A centers will have a full six-day operational schedule; B centers will have a five-and-a-half-day operational schedule, as well as the C centers. We will have both the age group standards programs for children, for youth, young adults, for adults and seniors at our centers. And we will have also have standards for the types of programs that will be available to those users. So we are very encouraged and pleased that we will be sort of -- if to this budget's approved, be able to provide those standards to our users, both in the Program and Maintenance Division. At Vets Stadium, there is a proposed increase of approximately $600,000, and that will 848 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 be used for cleaning, upgrading, cleaning, and security services as well as for the purchase of equipment and supplies for increased maintenance at that facility. And, finally, just a brief note about the Department's leadership in the work of the Children and Families Cabinet. We are the lead agency around our Violence Prevention Programs, and it is our goal to reduce the incidences of youth violence in the city. And we work closely with the Police Department, with the Health Department, with the School District, the libraries, many departments around these initiatives. And I'll just outline three of the major ones. We have the "Ice Violence" public education program, which is a neighborhood-based initiative that is attempting to break the cycle of sort of the carrying and use of the handguns by the young people, and it provides vehicles for adults to interact with young people in their neighborhoods. There's a video and there's resource information and there's discussion pieces and a lot of things that adults can do with kids 849 2/19/99 WHOLE COMM./Budget/Bill 990023 can do around this really terrible issue. There's the Youth Violence Reduction Project, which is the City's effort to, in some part, replicate the initiative that was carried out in Boston that drastically reduced their youth homicide violence rates. That's moving very well, and we expect to kick that off sometime this spring. And there's the initiative called "Safe and Sound in Philadelphia," which is a large grant received from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which attempts to place the city and neighborhood organizations working together to improve the availability of youth opportunities as a way of not only decreasing violence but also impacting on substance abuse. If you would like, I can now briefly do the Camp William Penn testimony, as well. Or if you'd like to wait, I could --