Thank you. My second question is from your testimony on , the Universal Health Care Initiative. Reference is made to the report released by the Department and then the principal recommendation is the establishment of a Health Leadership Partnership. Could you give me a little more detail? I mean, what exactly is that about? COMMISSIONER PARIS: The goal of this leadership partnership is to 228 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. develop the plan that will coordinate, that better coordinate, the health services in the City of Philadelphia. We have involved through this process many partners, private and public partners, to come in and put together the plan with us. What I'd like to do is, I would like to ask Carol Rogers from our office, who has been the person spearheading the services, to come and give you more details.
Carol Rogers, R-O-G-E-R-S, and I work in the Health Commissioner's Office. Essentially the findings of the report that was released by the Mayor in May of this past year was that in spite of the fact that many people that put this ballot on the initiative wanted to find universal insurance in the City, that that was not a capability for technical reasons related to health insurance itself. However, we did find 229 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. that we have to advocate both on the state and federal level for universal insurance. We did find that there are adequate resources spent in the City to provide decent healthcare to all, but that the resources were not put in a way that would enable people to have decent healthcare.
I'm sorry. I didn't completely understand that. I mean --
We found that there were enough resources spent in the City to provide decent healthcare for all. So that if you are very ill and end up in an emergency room, that you can get care, but that the services that you need to protect you from getting to that point are not available to people. So we -- excuse me. I'm quite short of breath here. We found that what we would like to do is to bring together a health 230 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. leadership partner. Excuse me.
To form a health leadership partnership, which will be composed of non-profit, all of the healthcare resources that exist in the City, to reallocate their healthcare resources that we could provide decent healthcare. We are in the process of establishing a work group to do that.
Just a couple questions in that regard. Do we know how many people in Philadelphia do not have health insurance?
We know that there are 60,000 more than there were a couple years ago. We know that there are close to, I believe it's -- we do know that. Wait. We know that of people polled, and it's somewhat an underrepresentation, that in 2004 there were 160,000 people without insurance.
Approximately that. It's a survey that's done every two years. It's based on a telephone survey, so clearly it doesn't represent all people that are living without healthcare.
So when we go back to what you said earlier, that there are enough resources in the City to provide coverage --
No. There are enough resources that are currently spent on healthcare. If you look at all of the expenses City-wide, including what's called uncompensated care in hospitals, that there is an adequate amount of money spent that would provide primary preventive care for everyone in the City. We know that, for example, if you go to a hospital emergency room and you need an 232 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. amputation, you will be admitted into the hospital, but that the care that you need to manage diabetes, for example, is not available to people.
I understand that, but at the same time, the hospitals are required by either state and/or federal law to see anyone under that circumstance that comes in. That doesn't mean they're going to get paid for it.
I mean, you're just shifting it from one side to the other.
Correct, but our finding was to use the resources that are spent at the end of the equation, where people -- clearly, it's not only for expense reasons that you want to prevent 233 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. people from having needless amputations.
So that we're saying that if that money that's all spent at the end was used in the beginning to provide primary preventive healthcare, that we would have a much healthier City and that there's enough money already spent if those resources are reallocated to provide care for all.
Well, the recommendations -- we have two major recommendations. One is that we must build a unified voice to advocate both at the state and federal governments for universal health insurance. And locally we found that we should form a local initiative to engage all elements of the community government and local health systems to develop strategic plans to coordinate systems of care to realize decent healthcare for all. And we have 234 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. called for the establishment of something we're calling the Health Leadership Partnership, a new non-profit organization to mobilize and assist these health institutions to come up with strategic plans which will put the resources and the emphasis on the primary preventive aspect as opposed to only at the end where people have preventable health problems.
Okay. Can you forward any of these reports or recommendations to the Chair for us?
Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER PARIS: Thank you.
You're welcome. Are there any other questions from members of the Committee? (No response.) 235 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Seeing none, I thank you very much. COMMISSIONER PARIS: Thank you, ma'am.
Mr. McPherson. MR. McPHERSON: CBH, Community Behavioral Health.
CBH is next. Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, President Verna and members of Council. My name is Dr. Arthur C. Evans. I'm the Director of the Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services. I'm joined today by my Deputy Director Mike Covone and our Medical Director, Dr. Peg Minehart, and I'm here to provide 236 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. testimony on our FY07 budget. The Department of Behavioral Health is composed of two components. The behavioral health component of the department consists of three major entities. They are the Coordinating Office of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs, or CODAAP, the Office of Mental Health and Community Behavioral Health, or CBH. This system provides a full range of mental health and substance abuse treatment for both adults and children via network of community-based services. The other major component of our department is the Office of Mental Retardation Services, and it is responsible for the development and coordination and monitoring of services for children and adults with mental retardation. This unit provides services to over 12,000 people per year, including case management and supports, coordination services, in-home and 237 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. residential services, early intervention for infants and children, family support, day treatment programs and employment services. These services are provided through contracts with over 70 providers. 5 of that is from the City General Fund, 498 million in the Grants Revenue Fund; and 805 million from the Health Choices Behavioral Health Revenue Fund. The budget will support 292 positions, 39 in the General Fund and 253 in the Grants Revenue Fund. 3 billion proposed, 300 million, or 17 percent, is for mental retardation 18 services, billion is for behavioral 19 health services. 20 The FY07 proposed budget will 21 continue our efforts in addressing the 22 behavioral health and mental retardation 23 needs of our citizens. We have three 24 major focuses over the next year. One is 25 to continue to enhance our organizational 238 1 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. capacity to develop a recovery-oriented, culturally competent, evidence-based system of care. Secondly, to foster continued integration of services across the Division of Social Services and other governmental departments, and to promote transformation toward a service system that supports recovery, resilience and self-determination. What I'd like to do is summarize my comments given the lateness of the hour and divide those comments into current initiatives and future initiatives in the next fiscal year. One of the things that we're very proud of is a website that we developed back in July of 2005, which is called the Philly Networks of Care website. This is a tremendous resource to the City of Philadelphia. It provides all of the behavioral health and mental retardation services that are available in the City in a searchable database, as well as a number of other resources that 239 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. provide background information on mental retardation as well as other behavioral health conditions. It also allows users of that system to track legislation that they might be interested in, as well as to store personal information in a password-protected portion of the site so that they can make that information available to other healthcare providers that they may be working with. Secondly, we are putting, what we term, putting a face on recovery, and what that means is that we are very aggressively including the voice of consumers and family members in our decision-making in terms of grant proposals, but also hearing that voice in terms of how we administer programs and manage our service system. Thirdly, because of the City's taking on the HealthChoices program, which puts the City at financial risk, that program allows us to take any savings from the management of the 240 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
HealthChoices program, which is basically the management of care for people who have medical assistance, and reinvest those dollars back into our service system. We've done a number of things over the years, and currently we are doing a number of other what we feel are both innovative and very useful things to the City. One of them is that over the next two years, we will be putting $10 million into homeless services. Our service is to support people who are homeless who also have behavioral health conditions. You may have heard that as the Mayor announced the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. We are also implementing five new co-occurring residential treatment programs, and essentially those programs are for people who have both mental health and addictive disorders. That tends to be the part of the population that we have the most challenges in terms of serving, and our ability to bring up 241 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. five new residential programs will greatly enhance our service system. We have made a very strong commitment to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. We are really creating a whole continuum of care, from outpatient to residential services for individuals who are death, both for children and adults, and one of the programs that we're bringing up this year is a residential program for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. And, finally, a medical residential program for people who have both behavioral health conditions and also have other complicating medical conditions. We're also very proud of our work around increasing minority participation. When I was here last year, we made a commitment that we were going to aggressively look at and include new grassroots and minority providers into our service network, and over the 242 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. last year, we were able to include new providers, both in terms of new services and expanded services, who are minority. We have built an infrastructure to provide technical assistance for these providers, and we have actually benefited in a number of ways. One of the ways is that many of these providers that we have brought into the network are in areas of the City that are underserved, and by working with them, supporting them and allowing them to become a part of our network, we are getting services into areas that we know are geographically underserved. The other benefit that we've gotten from this is that many of these grassroots providers provide very creative services and have brought in and developed some very creative models, which we believe are going to be very effective at both engaging and working with people. Finally, in terms of the 243 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. current initiatives, we are implementing or are we looking at our early intervention program, which is a program that targets children from birth to three years of age. This program identifies children who have developmental delays, developed some individualized service plan and then prescribes and identifies resources to help those children in terms of meeting or addressing those developmental delays. If FY04, we served 3,806 children and in FY04, we served 4,200 children, and we intend to increase that number again for the current fiscal year. In terms of new initiatives, there are several that I will point out to you in terms of FY07. One is that we are converting our day treatment program, our day service system, into a recovery-oriented system, and essentially what that means is that we're taking programs that people have traditionally attended on a daily basis and converting 244 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. those into programs where people will have a menu of services that they will be able to choose from. That is a $22 million program and conversion, so it's a major undertaking for us to convert those services to a different model.
Back in February, the Mayor established a Blue Ribbon Commission to look at children's behavioral health. This Commission has gotten a tremendous amount of support. There are actually two Councilpersons who will be a part of that, and, in fact, it will be co-chaired by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and Judge Dougherty from the court system. That Commission's role is to look at the children's behavioral health system and to develop both a framework instead of recommendations to guide our development of that system, and, again, we've gotten tremendous amount of response from that and we are sure that we're going to have a set of 245 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. recommendations that will really transform the kind of care that we can provide for children. Thirdly, we are increasing our ability to have peers, people who are in recovery be a part of our service system. We will over the next fiscal year train 100 peer specialists in the mental retardation system. We are moving from a program-funded model to a fee-for-service model, which is a major transformation of that system. And then, finally, we are doing a number of activities that transform our service system, and those include really moving from institutional care to more community-based care and working with the community in terms of behavioral health issues in particular. Some of the activities in this transformation process include a faith-based initiative, a prevention initiative and an initiative to look at how do we reduce health disparities. We have major health disparities in our 246 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. behavioral health system, as we also have in physical health, and we are undertaking an effort to identify those disparities and also to address those disparities. I would be remiss if I did not point out a number of challenges facing the Department and our sister social service agencies in the upcoming year, the most significant of which is a proposed federal reduction in the Medicaid program. This will increase the risk to some of our most vulnerable citizens, and this, in combination with other state reductions, really puts people at greater risk in terms of not being able to have those services that they need to address their behavioral health needs. Finally, what I will say, I think this is a very exciting time in the life of the City in terms of the services that we provide, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the Council to share 247 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. with you our budget testimony, and I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Thank you very much. Has the state set your captation rates for 2007?
They have for 2006, not for 2007. The HealthChoices program is on a calendar year, and so our captation rate is set from July 1 through December 31st of 2006.
What is the total amount of reinvestment funds that you have generated and how do you propose to use them?
Since the inception of the program, our reinvestment total is about 258 million.
I'm sorry. 258 million? 248 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
258 million. That's off of $4 billion over that time period. So that's about a 6.5 percent surplus that we've been able to generate or savings that we've been able to generate. We've done a variety of things over the years, including school-based programs, the sidewalk ordinance. We do a number of things with prisons, with OESS in terms of homeless services. Currently, our plan includes some of the things that I mentioned in my testimony that's increasing residential services. And the way we use these dollars, because they are one-time dollars, these are not renewable dollars, we use them primarily to start programs and to do pilot programs. And once we can establish those programs, we then move them into our general medical expenses and they become a part of our captation over time. So it's a very, very effective way to use the surplus that we are able 249 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. to generate and allows us to expand our services in some ways that we wouldn't be able to otherwise.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you. It sounds like you're doing a good job to me.
I was going to ask you about the surplus, but you outlined what you're doing with that, and I think it's good, because when this program was first initiated back in the mid '90s, early '90s, whatever, there was fear that it would impact the City's General Fund and we would have to pick up the cost and all of that, and I over the years have seen that has not happened and that through effective management and direction, that you have implemented some good programs. So I congratulate you and 250 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. your staff.
We have some excellent people. Mike Covone to my right and Nancy Lucas I think is here as well and her staff, some of her staff, have done a tremendous job in managing that program that has allowed the City to have that surplus.
I just have one question, I believe. On , your Mental Retardation Services System, you talk about a fee for service system. If a client wants to change services, who helps that client with making that decision? Is there some way you evaluate whether or not that service he presently has is better or maybe some other service, or just does the client have the ability to change services without some consultation?
They do. Most people in the MR system have a variety of people that work with them. One of the primary people is someone called the 251 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Supports Coordinator or Case Manager, and they work with the person and family members to make those kinds of decisions.
The other question -- I said one, but the other one, I just thought about it. On in talking about enhancing opportunities for minority population, you say of 44 10 are of new and expanded programs. Of 44 11 programs, you have 16 that are new and 12 expanded. How many of the new programs 13 came as a result of your providing 14 technical assistance? 15
I would say 16 probably most of them. Many of the providers, particularly the grassroots providers, that come to us -- first of all, they don't have any infrastructure. Many of them have not really been in the business, and so most of them need some form of technical assistance. Minimally they need some technical assistance in terms of how to get credentialed, less so in terms of, for some of them, less so in 252 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. terms of the service delivery part. It's the business of providing the service, and that's where we come in and actually have a full-time psychologist that works on those kinds of issues for us.
So they know what needs to be done, but it's the business side that's always been an issue --
Yes. And one of the other things that we've done, we've tried to be very creative at how we look at this. One of the concepts that we have started to work on is that of an incubator. One of the drawbacks to bringing a lot of small providers in is that you then have to pay for a lot of duplicative administrative infrastructure. We really don't want to do that, given that we want most of the 253 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. dollars to go into service delivery. So one of the concepts that we've started to actually employ is that of an incubator. So you have essentially one entity that provides administrative infrastructure. That allows grassroots organizations to get into the business very quickly because the infrastructure is taken care of, the billing, the back-room operations. It also allows them to focus on what they do best, which is to deliver services, to engage the community, but it also allows, again, very quickly for them to be in a position to be viable from a financial standpoint. And we're actually implementing that as we speak.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 254 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Good afternoon, Mr. Evans.
I want to talk about under your Current Initiatives on , Item No. 3, Reinvesting HealthChoices Savings to Address Gaps in Services, and what I was drawn to was, it sounds like in addition to providing the services, that you're creating programs in what are either, I guess, buildings or residential settings in neighborhoods?
Yes, we are. I think most of these were already cited, but these are programs that some of which are residential programs.
And do you have any particular protocol in place when you -- I mean, do you buy the properties or rent the properties or long-term lease?
Generally it's the 255 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. provider that does that. We don't provide the service, and so the provider is responsible for identifying a site, for rehabbing it, if necessary, and so forth. So we don't really get involved in that until the very end of the process. One of the things we do look at is where the site is being located. We're sensitive to programs, there not being an overabundance of programs in certain areas.
That's all right. Well, I wanted to get to that point. Are there any particular protocols that the providers are required to follow, specifically if it's a new site or a change in use at an existing site, in terms of either community notification or conversation or contact 256 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. with local elected officials or anything like that?
I think historically there has been contact with the local Councilperson, for example. One of the things that we emphasize, we'd much rather have that conversation before when the site is being identified as opposed to in reaction to that. The other thing that we ask providers to do is to adhere to a good neighbor policy, and there are a set of policies that we've established that really help providers to be good neighbors.
And you made reference to whether it's oversupply or saturation, whatever the more technical term is, but you try to be mindful of how many facilities might be in a particular area?
Right. We actually map where facilities are and know where those facilities are. 257 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Is there a threshold number per square mile or per population? I mean, what would cause you to say to someone, You can't put that facility there because we have ten, 15, 20? I mean, is there a particular number?
It's really a subjective call. We look at a map. We look at how many facilities are there. We look at historically is this an area that people have had concerns about, and it's really through that subjective process that we might advise a provider that this might not be an appropriate site.
Let's go back to -- Councilwoman Tasco was in No. 20 4 in your testimony on , Enhancing Opportunities for Minority Population. Maybe I'll take this moment to thank you as well. We had a situation last year based on some legislative efforts that myself and others were involved with for 258 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. what seemed like a long time. It may have been a relatively short period, but it seemed like a long time, created a little bit of upset and consternation in the provider community. You, along with Julia Danzy and the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Joyce Wilkerson, worked very well to try to respond to some of those issues, make sure there was not the disruption that any of us would be concerned about with regard to our social service network, and I want to thank you for your work in this setting.
It ultimately lead to a good result, and I also learned a great deal more about the social service network. Since that time, and putting those efforts to the side, how do people find out about either new programs or new opportunities or new funding? Is it kind of a word of mouth thing or you have to know somebody or is there more of an RFP 259 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. process or notice, City website, anything like that?
It's multiple ways. We do do RFPs, and one of the commitments that we made a year ago was that we would RFP most of the new dollars that we have, and we've pretty much adhered to that, which is one way. The other thing is that we have been fairly assertive at going out into the community. I was out last night -- was it, or maybe the night before. I can't remember -- this week in faith-based organizations, other organizations, both establishing relationships but also saying to people that we are interested in partnering with them. We've had a number of faith-based organizations or people from churches, other faith-based organizations who have approached us based on their knowledge of our desire to work with them and have come to us with unsolicited proposals, and we've looked at those and tried to 260 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. work with people. So it's really sort of a combination of using a standard RFP approach, letting people know that we are interested in working with them, and then working with those individuals that do express that interest.
Last question. On the No. 5, Continued Expansion of Early Intervention Services to Children Ages 0 to 3, you mention that services have increased from 3,800 in FY04 to 4,200 in the current year. Do you have an anticipation for FY07 and just what, if anything, do these numbers really mean?
I think the number is 4,400, but someone is going to check on that. My recollection is that we anticipate serving 4,400. It's very important because these are children who are being identified early on as having delays, and we know that if those delays aren't 261 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. treated, it leads to other issues, school disruption and behavioral problems. A subset of these kids will develop behavioral health problems, we know that, learning difficulties and so forth. So the fact that we are increasing the number of kids that we're identifying, screening and getting early help is very positive, I think, and we're going to continue to do that as long as we have the resources.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Madam President, I'm going to pass right now. I believe the issue that I had a question about, the question has been answered 262 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. that I have.
Fine. Thank you. Any other questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Mr. McPherson, who is our next group to testify? MR. McPHERSON: The next group is the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services.
Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record.
Yes. I am Leticia Egea-Hinton. I'm the Director of the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services.
Good afternoon. I'm Roberta Sharpe, Director of Strategic 263 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Planning and Resource Development from Office of Emergency Shelter and Services.
Thank you. We're here for Rob Hess today, the Deputy Managing Director, who is away at federal court. Our proposed budget request this year is $76,735,232. Of that, $29,481,005 is General Fund, with $47,254,227 Grant funded. There are two major changes this year over last year. The first is that we have included $11 million proposed in FY07 for Act 148 eligible costs through DHS, family preservation funding, that helps us support case management and shelter for families. In addition, there is additional grant revenue for in support of the Mayor's Ten-Year Plan to End 264 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Homelessness, specifically a million dollars in Housing Trust Fund to support prevention activities and a million dollars to be raised in private donations. This year we propose or we're projecting an average census of 2,853 shelter beds. This is about a five percent increase over last year and a 11 percent increase from FY05 to '07. In 12 addition, we'll continue our efforts 13 around planning for ending homelessness 14 through the Ten-Year Plan and through HUD 15 McKinney funding to develop new housing. We'll continue to provide shelter. Last night there were just over 3,000 individuals and families in emergency shelter. We'll continue to support street outreach efforts to help move individuals off the streets and into housing; continue to operate approximately 2,000 beds of transitional and permanent housing for homeless 265 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. individuals and families; and continue to serve approximately 2,000 individuals a year through emergency relocation activities. In addition, we operate Riverview's Personal Care Home, which has a census today of 140 individuals. We support domestic violence initiatives and have expanded beds from 48 to 61 in the past year and have continued expansion planned in FY07.
What we would also like to address are some of the accomplishments that we've made during this year. We did have, with the Mayor's support, the announcement of our Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, as well as also initiated the Grace Cafe, which is part of our chronic homeless initiative in which we have a cafe downtown in one of the churches in the community to support some of the chronic homeless folks who have been sleeping on the streets or under the Concourse. 266 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. We also have funded through our Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs, we were funded approximately 25.5 million, which was up from 6 million in 2003. 7 We've also with our partners, 8 the Department of Behavioral Health, 9 expanded FaSST services and Connection 10 services in shelters, which are 11 behavioral health services to families as 12 well as single adults in shelter, and 13 we've been working very diligently this 14 year regarding performance measures, and 15 we launched what we call our PeopleStat 16 in which we are actually meeting and 17 addressing some of our performance 18 measures with our providers on a 12-week 19 cycle. 20
You'll note that 21 we're seeing an increase in demand for 22 shelter over this year, over the past several years, and that's something that's consistent with what's happening around the country. The U.S. Conference 267 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. of Mayors, cities who are surveyed, reported about a six percent increase in demand for emergency shelter. We're feeling it here as well. In addition, the Philadelphia poverty rate in the year 2000 was two times the poverty rate nationally. So 22.9 percent of Philadelphians living in poverty versus 11.3 nationwide. And by 2005, approximately percent of 12 individuals in Philadelphia are living in 13 poverty. So this is more than 8,000, 14 people and the increase -- so just that 15 three percent increase consists of about 16 8,000 people. So it's not surprising 17 some of that is impacting our work in 18 shelter and in our other services. 19 Seventy percent of 20 Philadelphians with low incomes go to 21 work, but they have trouble affording 22 housing. A 2003 Penn study came up with 23 the fact that there are 60,000 affordable 24 housing units needed in the City. So we 25 continue to struggle against some of the 268 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. federal policy decisions and struggles of families to afford housing as we continue to work through these and to meet the goals set out in the Mayor's Ten-Year Plan.
So we want to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing us, Council President Verna and distinguished members of City Council, for allowing us to present this afternoon. If you have further questions, we are available to answer those questions.
Thank you. On of the testimony that was given to us, in the Key Performance section, can you tell us what are the prevention services that you provide?
We have the Emergency Relocation Unit. That is the unit that works within the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services, and they are the folks who are really involved in 269 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. what we call prevention services. These services can be anything from what we call the para payment, which is money that's allotted to a family. Usually we cap it off at about $750, and these dollars are usually provided to families who are either facing eviction from public housing or their own homes, and what we really do is to work really diligently to prevent them from coming in to shelter. So that is basically the crux of what we are doing at this point in terms of preventing folks from coming in the system. We are in the process of looking at a number of other prevention strategies, that we actually are working with the University of Pennsylvania to develop a model as we speak that's going to address about 50 households.
On the same chart, it is indicated that the point-in-time count of homeless living on 270 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. the street is projected to be 250. Would you please explain what you mean by "point-in-time"? Are you saying at any given time we could have 250 homeless people on the street?
What we do is a couple things to try to watch trends and what's happening with individuals on the street. Quarterly Project HOME coordinates a count through the midnight hours of individuals actually lying or sleeping in the streets of Center City, West Philadelphia, Kensington. And so they tally that on a quarterly basis about the same time at night in the same way. This is how we know that our numbers have gone from over 800 in 1997 to over 200 today. So while we've seen a big decrease in the last several months, we've seen an increase. In addition, the Police Department on a weekly basis in District 6 and 9, which are Center City districts, does a count, does a Center City street 271 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. count alone. The last one of those on March 3rd was 203 individuals. So we have a couple ways of gauging what's happening at a given point in time, if our strategies are working, what other strategies we need to employ. So what you see on this chart is our quarterly projection, an average of the four quarters of '07.
Would that include the homeless that are down in the Concourse?
Is the City turning away people from shelters for lack of space?
Well, I would say no. What we do is actually for most of the people that come to our door, we generally end up placing them. Most of the times what we do at the front door is try to encourage folks if in fact they have continuing family arrangements or 272 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. other resources in the community to use those. Much of what we've experienced recently in this last fiscal year is that most of the folks that come to our front door, whether they be families or single adults, don't have other resources, which really has reflected a significant increase in our shelter census.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam President. Maybe you could help me. Recently there's been some media on a new facility in Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill. And the minute you talk about a shelter, it starts to get people stirring. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know. Could you comment on what exactly is going on? Could you explain when you plan a facility like this the communication with the community? I know 273 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. that the at-large members of Council, which we represent the entire City, were not communicated with. We got blindsided by this project. Maybe there was some communication with the District Councilperson. I don't know that. It didn't appear to happen until late, if it did. What's going on there and who exactly is going to be housed and what is our City's involvement in this particular site?
We appreciate your positive support. I think you're one who said in the paper, Let's wait and hear. Just because people are homeless doesn't mean we can't find a place for them. So thank you for that, Councilman. We're at the very early stages, and we do start with the Councilman's office of the district and have those conversations. Unfortunately, the minute the word gets out, there's a frenzy around it. So while we're at the very 274 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. preliminary stages, in that New Covenant Church on Germantown Avenue has expressed a willingness to house a program, we have a ways to go with the community and with others. In fact, we have yet to meet with the Councilperson and stakeholders, immediate stakeholders from the community, the broader community, other Councilmembers and so on before we even come to a full resolution. Of course, in the mean time, we've got to be working out programatically and contractually how we might do it. But certainly we're not going to proceed until we know that we've done our due diligence with the community and with City government as well.
I believe the media story -- and thank you for acknowledging my feelings on the issue. Was the media report accurate that this need is a result of other facilities not happening?
Well, yes 275 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. and -- yeah. Yes, it is. Definitely.
Because it's a shame if there's a need someplace else that this becomes the third or fourth or fifth choice. So let's go back to the question. What failed that moved you to this location?
As you know, Luther House, you probably remember, Luther House steeple collapsed in the West Philly shelter that housed about a hundred individuals. We've not found replacement space for that yet. In addition, there was a fire at Acts Master in the last several months, and so families are staying temporarily at Wanamaker School in North Philadelphia. We've not found a permanent replacement for that site.
The steeple 276 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. collapse, are you telling me that something couldn't be done at that location to make that place habitable? A steeple collapse doesn't sound like it took out the entire building.
Well, it was a lot more serious. There were some structural -- the actual steeple collapsing did actually affect the building that the families were being housed in, and so that's what had an impact on that.
And then how did we get to Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy?
Well, we've been to a lot of different places. I'm not going to say that we may not have considered that particular location along with some of our other opportunities that have come along, but you're correct, that 277 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. it's been a bit of a challenge in terms of trying to open up a facility for families in particular in any neighborhood. And so I think part of what brought this to our attention was our involvement with the Katrina hurricane victims, and that's when this particular facility was brought to our attention. So it was kind of out there. It was being considered at some point to be used with that particular population and it didn't happen.
I guess we overlooked the particular population. These are mothers with children?
Yes. They are mothers. They would be mothers with children, yes.
And what is your recommendation? Because the 278 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. community asked me this question, and, again, this is not me asking this question. This is the community. And I don't know why they're asking, but they are. Is the norm that when children are housed at a shelter that they go to the schools in the community or do they go back to their neighborhood school?
Well, the kids are offered a number of opportunities, because, of course, we all know that legally they have a right to go to school wherever they are. But what we do is -- what we've done is, we generally encourage the children, if they so choose -- because moving from location to location can be so traumatic. Many of the moms often choose to stay in the neighborhoods where they came from. So that does happen. The other piece about this particular opportunity or project is that New Covenant themselves have some of the 279 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. pre-school program that they would certainly be willing to allow some of our pre-school children participate in, and, actually, many of the children that were being considered for this particular facility, I think it's about 47 percent of them, are pre-schoolers. So, yeah, most times the children choose to go to their neighborhood schools, but, yes. Honestly, some of the children do go to the neighborhood schools, not a large percentage, but some of them do.
I see no 16 problem with that, but it's a question that I wanted to ask. If you could just -- and I'll only take another few seconds here. Could you please tell me a time line? When realistically do you think this is going to happen or not happen?
You know, I honestly have no time line at this point. I think that we're like -- 280 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
When do you need to be there, though? I mean, are you telling me that this is a facility that there's no real deadline to have, whenever it happens, it happens?
Well, no, I'm not saying that. Do I need it tomorrow? Yes.
Is it going to happen tomorrow? No. We're still in the early stages, as was indicated earlier. We have a meeting that's supposed to be scheduled with Donna Reed Miller's, the Councilwoman's, district, and that has not happened. There still has to be community buy-in, which has not happened. You know, of course, it would be the whole process with an ordinance 21 and all those other things, as well as a construction fit-out. So can we say that it's going to be ready in two months, three months, four months? It depends on the outcome 281 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. of many of the earlier parts in terms of just getting community buy-in.
Okay. I appreciate that. And you can understand, I think you do, it's always a concern when people open a newspaper up and hear it that way rather than through their representatives. Thank you, Madam Chair.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. As you may well imagine, I've worked with everyone who is here from OESS and have for many years, and we commend them on the job they do. It is a concern certainly that the numbers go up and are going up around the country. I remember when the most we had was 2,400 in a night. As was said, we had 3,000 last night, and I remember the days when 282 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. we had about 2,100 a night. So those numbers do concern us, but certainly it is our responsibility to take care of people in need. I want to commend them. Last year in their testimony they talked about Bright Spaces, which is a program to help children in shelters where they have little classrooms set up with books, as well as play equipment and other little animals and toys for children that gets them ready for school, a set-up like kindergarten or in a school setting, very, very nice. And the other thing I'm especially pleased about that I wanted to mention is the new Keys Program. Many of you know the young lady who used to call herself my daughter who would come in here all the time and act out. You may notice, if you think about it, that you haven't seen her lately, because as God would have it, she became part of the new Keys Program and when she passed away, 283 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. she was in her bed in her own apartment. It's a wonderful program, because it gives social supports, but allows chronically homeless people to have their own apartments. So even though she's no longer with us, she passed away in her own home, which is something she had always wanted. And she's a young lady who was about 49 and we knew her since she was 14. As you know, Tonya would come in here and act out and demand money. Yes, she passed away. She passed away, but as God would have it, she was in her own apartment as part of the new Keys Program and she was in her bed.
Oh, gosh. The President asked how many children she had. Tonya for a while got pregnant every year in a crack house. So Tonya had -- I guess she had about five children when she passed, and some were 284 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in foster care, her parents had some, and we had OESS services for her after she passed where we talked about her, and we met some of her blood relatives. And they knew about us. But certainly it was a sad situation. We met her in the Youth Study Center when the Director was removed back in 1973. She was abused there, and out of that situation, she became a victim of all the ills in the society. So Tonya was a victim, but now she's gone on, and I'm just so grateful that she ended up passing away and she was lying in a fetal position, but in her own apartment in her own bed. So she passed away, thank God, in a peaceful place, in her own place, and she was blessed to do it as she would have wanted to. So I'll be eternally grateful to OESS for her. And that's Tonya Hayman, and we'll always remember her. Thank you.
Thank you, 285 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Councilwoman.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
With respect to policy in terms of location of facilities or contracts with individuals that have facilities, how does that work from a geographical standpoint? Is there an RFP put out for anyone to provide services or shelter space, or do you guys look at an area and -- talk to me about it.
I think we do a combination. We have put RFPs out on the street. Public Property has worked with us to identify locations. At this point, we'll talk to anybody willing and start the process of talking to the community, 286 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. because we've had trouble finding places that wanted to accept the individuals that we serve. We have looked at Council Districts in terms of people coming into shelter and different zip codes throughout the City, and we know that homeless individuals and families are coming from all over the City.
They're not. So I think it's an ongoing challenge. We're hopeful that the support of our other City agency partners and the support of the Mayor's endorsement with the Ten-Year Plan sort of help us with the public education piece and with the community education and community support for people who, in many cases, have nothing else wrong with 287 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. them except that they're poor.
So at what point -- and let me back up a little bit. Would you say that -- I don't know if it's the majority, but from a percentage standpoint -- most of the facilities are in North Philadelphia and probably closely followed by maybe West Philly?
I would say that, yes, that they are and then West Philadelphia.
Probably most of them in my Councilmanic District, the North Philadelphia part?
Don't thank me yet. And would you say that this happens because your ability to go in other locations throughout the City have been rebuffed, to some degree, by communities and other outside forces?
Well, I'm 288 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. going to date myself a little bit. I guess what I would respond to that, having been with this Department for as long as I've been with the Department, the way that I believe that they started ending up mostly concentrated in certain areas of the City had more to do with the fact that at the point that there was a lot of advocacy going on and there are certain neighborhoods in certain areas that at that point in time in history, you could just open up a facility and there were no questions. And a lot of it -- you're correct, a lot of it had to do with areas that you didn't have as much community organization and support and stuff like that. So, yeah. I would say that some of that has gone on. At this point, we're kind of trying to move away from that and really seriously looking at where we are concentrated so that we can really map out where most of our facilities are and begin to do some outreach with other 289 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Councilpeople to let them know what our need is as well and not relying so heavily on certain areas.
Okay. I kind of heard that like a couple of years ago.
Let me ask you this -- and I think I've been extremely accommodating to the needs.
If at some point, and it may be coming up soon, that I start pushing back -- because I think, frankly speaking, it's not right for both the citizens in the district and the individuals who find themselves needing shelter to all be concentrated in a particular geographical area. If I decide that I'm not really at a point where I want to continue to accommodate every opportunity there is for a shelter 290 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. or some sort of assistance for homelessness and transitional housing in my Councilmanic District, what's the policy going to be then? What are you all going to do? Are you all going to get more aggressive with some of these other areas of the City or are you just going to send people to Jersey, or what?
I'm serious. At some point, when I go up Broad Street, I mean, Broad Street is like the major thoroughfare through pretty much everybody's district, but in the Fifth Councilmanic District along Broad Street, it is essentially institutional row, and at some point -- I just had someone in last week who wants to open up another facility on Broad Street.
Well, all I can say to that is that we are starting, at least from my vantage point, starting 291 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. to really take a serious look at where we are concentrated and that we are trying to begin to have some conversations with other Councilpeople about what the need is. You're correct. To have facilities concentrated in different areas probably is not healthy to anybody, but what we want to do is to kind of begin to look at other options. And you're correct, we should be looking outside of North Philadelphia as well.
I think we need your help and the help of neighbors that are near facilities now to say, This hasn't ruined our neighborhood, this hasn't ruined property values. We work hard to make sure our programs and our facilities are high quality and people are treated with dignity and respect, and we expect of them that they --
But some of them are not. Some of them are problematic, and I've talked to you all 292 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. about that. I have one right now that I agreed to six months ago. I'm not going to say the location, but I think you know where it's at.
I think that the dilemma with that one is, most of it is people's fear of the population, particularly that population. Ideally, what we want to do is to downsize it and do something different in terms of the types of programming that needs to be available, and not necessarily the services that are inside that particular facility, but breaking it down into two different unique facilities. But at this point, we're unable to get space to do that.
Well, when I talked to some people, actually providers, and I asked them -- because 293 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. personally I don't like just warehousing people. I think if you're in a facility, there should be some components of that contract that require that both the provider and the individuals in there get involved in some sort of life improvement program, be it a class for GED or if they have GED, higher education, job training, something. I don't think that we should continue to just essentially allow people to get a contract, warehouse them, folks like Ridge Avenue, just stand on the sidewalk and hollering at women all day, not being productive for anybody, not even themselves. Mr. Hess, you're right on time. And I don't think that we should continue to allow contracts to be let with providers that are essentially giving the bare minimum of services. I mean, are we going to -- and if it costs more money, then maybe we need to look at that. I guess I'm just up to here. I mean, to be all honest. And I've bent 294 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. over backwards, even though I found that all of the people in the shelter system didn't come from North Philadelphia, including the ones downtown. That was the story I used to get, send them back up North Broad Street, because we move them off to Love Park and send them to North Broad Street. At some point, we have to do some things differently, and I think maybe you'd be in a position to have people be more receptive if they thought there was a program that improved the life skills of those individuals and have them become more productive citizens, like the Ready, Willing and Able, which we were fortunately able to get in the City. Are we looking at that in a serious way?
Well, yeah, seriously, we are. Recently I was at a summit about veterans, and one of the things, although Rob doesn't know about 295 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. this yet, I guess, in terms of what I'm thinking, but kind of looking at some different opportunities and options and different ways of doing exactly what you're talking about where we are providing more concentrated services, a different type of model. Although I will say that while Ridge Avenue does have its weaknesses, there are programs that are going on inside of that facility.
Well, look, there are a lot of people that are in that building, and the one thing that a lot of people do is smoke cigarettes, and so the question is -- because of the way the facility is structured, there isn't space that allows folks to go out of that particular front area, and the small area that they have on the side of the building is primarily a parking lot. So it's not an excuse, but I'm just saying that I know that that's one 296 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. of the reasons, because I'm in and out of there pretty regularly, and I asked the same question, why are all these people out front. So it's kind of hard to keep them contained in the building.
I don't want to contain a person in a building. I mean, they're not in prison, but I'm saying -- and although I'm not in and out, I go by there all the time, and it just doesn't seem like -- I talked to the people that are in there. I know it's not a good facility, and I've agreed to give you guys an extension. I know the extension terminated, and I didn't say anything. Right?
Because I know our situation. But I just think that we really need to think outside of the box. And I know some people you're never going to be able to get involved in a productive program in terms of life skills, but I just think that there are a 297 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. lot of people that if we made those things available, that they would take advantage of them, get some outside entities involved, some foundation people, whatever, so these people don't become throw-away people, that we really need to come up with some different strategies. Okay. Let me go to the Parkway. What are we going to do with this situation over in front of the library and the Family Court building?
I apologize for joining you late, as I've rushed from one court to Council this afternoon. Councilman, the Parkway issue, as you know, has been one that we struggled with for a number of years. I think we've actually made a lot of progress on the Parkway over this past 298 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. winter with the introduction of a couple of new facilities. First, at Grace Cafe at United Methodist Church at Arch and Broad has opened up and has housed anywhere from 50 to 100 men a night and women in that facility, largely men and women that but for that facility would be on the Parkway. And so that's become one alternative. A second alternative opened just this past week with the opening of St. John's at night. They're now opening their dining area for about men and 15 women, again, but for that option who 16 would be on the street, who have chosen 17 not to come into our shelter facilities. 18 And so a combination of those 19 openings and the closing of Logan Circle 20 for redevelopment or construction has 21 really reduced the number of people on 22 the Parkway throughout the winter. And 23 we're going to be talking with those 24 organizations to see if we can continue 25 some of that activity into the summer, 299 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. again, to reduce the number of people on our streets. That said, we do still struggle with the issue of street feeding that you have been very involved in and called a number of meetings together, and you made the recommendation that we issue an RFP to try to find an alternative indoor facility. Because I think we can all agree that there is very little dignity in having to stand outside in public in a line in all kinds of weather in order to enjoy a meal. And so we have struggled with this one for some time and, at your suggestion, even issued an RFP to ask folks in the Center City area that might have an appropriate kitchen and dining facility to bid on it, that we would pay them to open that facility to outside groups to come in through their generosity, provide a meal to people that are hungry, in an air conditioned or climate-controlled facility. 300 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I was very pleased when we held the free conference on that that we had. I don't know. Eight or ten organizations joined us. Tragically, when the RFP became due, there were no responses.
I appreciate the thought, the suggestion. We thought it was a good one. We continue to struggle with this one. It is a problem for a variety of reasons to have folks congregate at various nights of the week on the Parkway for meals, but the real tragedy is that we as a City can do better than that. We can do better than having people have to stand outside in line in all kinds of weather. There's got to be an indoor facility somewhere where generous people can meet up with hungry folks and enjoy a meal together. And we've got to keep working on that one until we solve it. We haven't solved it yet. 301 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Okay. With respect to my earlier questions in terms of thinking outside of the box, how difficult would it be for you to pull together a set of ideas on the contracts that we will let in the future, say, starting next fiscal year, contracts that involve placement for shelter facilities and things of that nature, must include the following components, and understand that it may call for an additional dollar amount if they're asked to provide a different --
Well, I think the good news there, Councilman, is, it will not be difficult at all. It's certainly in keeping with the direction that we've received from the Mayor and from the Director of Social Services, who has really challenged us to think through how we can integrate services differently, not only in our shelter facilities but kind of across social services. We have, as you may have heard, 302 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. this whole DSSCares plan, which is really exciting, first in terms of the tool that we'll be able to share information across DSS departments, but more to the point, really to be able to integrate the services of various DSS departments in a way that better supports our clients, and I think that's what you're talking about.
In terms of doing that, it's right on point with where Director Julia Danzy is taking us, and we are absolutely on board with that. I think what you heard here in the way of an earlier response was a little bit -- they held back a little bit, because both Letty Hinton and Roberta Sharpe and their staffs have been very, very creative. They actually have a very exciting kind of new family, life skills, education design that they're working on that we hope to be rolling out here just in the next couple of weeks. We're finishing up now evaluating RFP responses with some 303 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. very innovative prevention programs. So I think you're going to see more and more of that. I think you're right to challenge us in that direction, but it's also a direction that the Mayor and the Director of Social Services have been challenging us, and it's really, frankly, kind of the direction that the Ten-Year Plan takes us. Somebody once said if we keep doing the same old thing and wonder why we're getting the same result, shame on us. Well, that's really true. We really are looking at very innovative best practice, evidence-based practice solutions to be able to move people, not just into shelters, because, again, shelters are point of entry, they should never be considered a point of destination. Our highest and best outcome is all of our men, women and children moving back into the community in supportive housing. And so that's our 304 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. objective, and we have to be more creative in order to get there. We also have to better use the resources of all social service departments in an integrated, coordinated, effective way to help make that happen, and that's really the charge that DSS under Julia Danzy have provided to us.
Can you through the Chair get us a copy or summary of your objectives and strategies to move us forward to that point?
One last question. Would it be possible for you to get me a map of the City of Philadelphia and outline where all the locations are as it relates to shelter facilities and transitional housing?
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. 305 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
You and I have been going around on trying to, on your efforts, to try to expand the program into neighborhoods as we dealt with a site in my district, and I think you know what I'm going to say. Some of the issues raised by the community had to do more with what Councilman Clarke described. And I think when citizens drive through neighborhoods and they see people congregating on the street, the picture that they see is, this is what's going to happen in their community. I think what would be helpful, 306 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. prior to deciding that you wanted to use a facility for a shelter, is to begin to meet with the community, talk about the issue and ask them what is it that they would like to see or would they be willing to work with in their community. When Estelle Richman was here in the Department of Social Services, in trying to open up the communities for housing group homes for the mentally challenged, they started a good neighbor program, and the good neighbor program went in and they began to talk to the neighbors about the project and got their input, and they were able to expand the program. And I would imagine that some of the concerns raised in my area where you wanted to open up a shelter was the current climate in that community of problems that the City hadn't addressed. So we talked about that.
And if 307 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. they didn't feel the City was going to address those problems in a limited way, they were not willing to expand and open up their community to even broader problems that might exist. So I think that because it is important that we try to provide some way to help those people who are in need, but it is the management of these providers who provide the services that these neighbors don't wake up in the morning and there are 50 to 60 people standing on the sidewalk or that they're being accosted when they come home in the evening. So I think trying to find better ways to get the providers to run these programs might be helpful in moving into other parts of the community that are really organized and very vocal. And I was glad to hear you say that you all are working with the other social service agencies, because I wrote down here, what is your relationship with 308 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. the Office of Health around the drug issues and how many of your clients need residential treatment or referred to those residential treatment facilities, and is there a coordination there where they can get those services.
Yes. Councilwoman, let me begin by thanking you for your leadership in your district that has helped us come very, very close and I hope very soon to wrap up a lease that will allow women who have been victims of domestic violence to have a safe haven, and so your leadership has been key in that. We appreciate that. It really will allow us to double the number of domestic violence beds in the City, which is long overdue. So I want to thank you for that. With respect to your question regarding drug treatment and our access to drug treatment for individuals that have that need that are within the shelter system, let me thank our 309 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. colleagues at the Department of Behavioral Health for just unprecedented levels of support that they have provided us over the last couple of years and continue to well into the future. We have established a relationship with the Department of Behavioral Health that will allow anybody who is in our shelter system that has need for substance abuse treatment to be properly tested, assessed, referred and the proper follow-up done between the systems. So I won't tell you that's a perfect system yet, but it's come an awfully long way over the last two years and has made very significant progress just within the last few months. So we're very, very pleased with that relationship. I think that's an outgrowth of kind of the mindset within the Division of Social Services and a credit to the former leadership and the current leadership of the Department of Behavioral Health now. 310 3/8/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.