COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, April 15, 2024 10:04 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMEMBER JEFFERY YOUNG, JR. BILLS 240179, 240180, 240181, and 240182 RESOLUTION 240193 - - - 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Good morning. Good morning, everyone. (Good morning.)
I want to thank all of you for being patient with us this morning. Thank you very much. This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bills No. 240179, 240180, 240181, 240182, and Resolution No. 13 240193. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll and take attendance.
Councilmember 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Young. (No response.)
Councilmember Thomas. (No response.) 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. read the title of the resolutions.
Bill No. 240179, an ordinance to adopt the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Bill No. 240180, an ordinance 7 amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," to provide for an increase in the tax that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate; and amending Chapter 14 19-1300, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the City real estate tax; and making technical changes; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240181, an ordinance 20 to adopt a Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget. Bill No. 240182, an ordinance 23 to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2025 to 2030 inclusive. Resolution No. 240193, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a Revised Five Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2025 through 2029, and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2024, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the City and the Authority.
Today we will continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the Clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2025, a Capital Program, and a forward-looking Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 through Fiscal Year 2030. This morning we will hear testimony from the Departments of Public Health, the Department of Behavioral 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, and Office of Homeless Services. This afternoon we will continue with the testimony from the Department of Planning and Development and also the Department of Register of Wills. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify.
Dr. Frank Franklin, Interim Health Commissioner. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Excuse me. I'm going to call up the Office of Homeless Services first. Excuse me. I just want to rearrange the schedule this morning. Office of Homeless Services. The Chair also recognizes Councilman Mike Driscoll is present. (Witnesses approached witness table.) DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Good 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. morning --
Good morning. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: -- Council President and members of City Council.
Before you give your presentation, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President. And first I truly want to thank everyone who is here this morning who works to provide service to our residents who are experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. It is a very challenging job in the best of circumstances, and I do appreciate the service that you all are providing. I am grateful for the families also that we are able to help. I also want to note for the record that I share the same singular 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. goal in this work. And let me say this: This work is not about me. It's not about any of you. It's about the people that we serve. This is not personal. This is business, because this is about people, and I want to be real clear. The goal is to provide leadership, coordination, planning, immobilization of resources to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-reoccurring in this city. With an overall budget that has increased by $57 million since Fiscal Year '18, I am truly perplexed as to why we are not able to help more people and more families. As you all know, I spent the last year and a half seeking to address issues with homelessness in our city. It all started with a constituent case where a mother of five children called my office looking for somewhere to go. I made a call to the family intake line. I did not identify myself. I was gravely concerned with the service I received. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. The more I've looked into this, the more concerned I am becoming. There is a deep, systematic, structural issue with the operation of Homeless Services in the City of Philadelphia. I have met with those living in shelters. I have met with providers. I have met with advocates and with City officials, and my team and I have reviewed every single document you see in front of me, every one, for the last months. We've gone through thousands 14 of pages, and it is clear to me that in 15 order to actually end homelessness in our 16 city, we need a complete overhaul of that 17 department. That is why I introduced 18 legislation calling for the creation of an Office of Homeless Services Ombudsperson. Now that the problem has finally come to light, the buck must stop with us, colleagues. The buck has to stop somewhere. If we continue to allow this office to operate in this way, we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. are culpable for their dysfunction, their lack of accountability, and mismanagement of funds. In addition, this office is currently under investigation by the OIG and has an ongoing forensic audit, which was announced by our Mayor, and I thank Mayor Parker and her Administration for taking that necessary action. I believe we can help many more families with the money we have allocated if the money was managed correctly and the appropriate oversight of the system was taking place. And I want to say on the record right now that until we see written policies and procedures and a system of oversight that will lead to fundamental change, I do not support the operations of this office or any additional funding. Providing additional resources to OHS will do nothing to house more Philadelphians or a system in receiving high-quality services until these changes 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have been implemented. Effective operations are rooted in both function and financing, and as I have stated from the beginning, when I requested additional funds for this department -- because if you remember, I originally requested additional funds for this department and you received them -- last year in hopes that we can open another family intake shelter, my only goal is to ensure we provide high-quality services to Philadelphians.
And I want to state for the record that I appreciate the work OHS has done to open the second intake shelter, but I find it very suspicious that suddenly, after I asked in writing about the progress of the money that we allocated and it was approved last year and right before last week's Appropriations hearing, that suddenly the shelter was identified and ready to open and operate. In addition, I believe that you 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. all were able to get away with this for so long because you screamed, the homeless, the homeless, we have to help the homeless. But what I have learned is that we are not helping those who need us most. To my colleagues, please don't fall for any more of the games. If you care about this issue, get educated about how this really works. Do the hard work my team and I have been doing for months. Then tell me if you are 14 comfortable putting your name on the line 15 as being culpable to this mismanagement. 16 Your approval of this continued 17 mismanagement of funds and lack of 18 accountability for our most vulnerable will mean that you agree with what's been going on. And I will tell you I'm not putting myself on the line or my family for anything that I have seen, read or heard in the last 18 months in this department. And I want to be clear with 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. everybody who is here. I was sent to this body on behalf of the residents of the City of Philadelphia to do a job. Our primary responsibility in this body is to legislate and appropriate our City budget. Do not ask me not to do my job. Let me repeat. Do not ask me not to do my job. If you don't like it, so be it. I have this privilege to represent the people of Philadelphia. I will do my job. We must provide high-quality services and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, money that comes out of the pockets of our hard-working residents. These are not mutually exclusive goals. I do not believe we are doing that in this case, and I will not stand by any longer while many Philadelphians are not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and are not able to receive service in their time of need. Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing those opening remarks. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
You're welcome. Will the Department of Homeless Services please begin your testimony. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that, Majority Leader.
Bring your microphone up, please. Before we even get started, I just want to acknowledge in the presence of our illustrious body students from the Sankofa Academy. Let's give them a round of applause. They are our guests. Can we have them stand, please. All the young people who are here stand. - - - (Applause.) - - -
They are here to witness our budget process as guests of our Majority Whip, Mr. Isaiah Thomas. And the correct name is the Sankofa Freedom Academy, and we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. thank them for being here, as well as the presence of Jeffery J. Young. Anybody else come in? Councilmember Mike Driscoll, Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke. Okay. The floor is now yours, sir. Please state your name and title for the record and begin your testimony. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I am David Holloman, Interim Executive Director for the City's Office of Homeless Services. Joining me today is Peter Curran and members of the OHS executive management team. I am pleased to provide testimony on the City's Office of Homeless Services' Fiscal Year '25 Operating Budget. OHS is requesting $88,714,379. This request will enable the Office of Homeless Services to continue to provide and to maintain services, which includes homelessness prevention and diversion, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. emergency and temporary housing, permanent supportive housing, infrastructure, and administrative services. Before proceeding, it is imperative to address OHS's budget shortfall. We acknowledge OHS's budgetary current position resulting in past overspending. As a result of this, our office is working with the Office of the Inspector General and a forensic audit team to assess past financial practices and to implement recommended improvements. Since assuming this role in October, I have also established safeguards to prevent future overspending, such as a detailed corrective action plan and standard operating procedures, with enhanced fiscal processes and accountability. Despite these challenges, the Office of Homeless Services has seen many accomplishments, such as ending Calendar 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Year 2023, 15,652 visits to our centralized intake centers. Of that, 12,137 unique individuals were placed in emergency and temporary housing. Additionally, through our Prevention and Diversion Unit, we were able to assist 1,428 individuals and family households. Lastly, but not least, through our nationally recognized Landlord Engagement Unit, they successfully recruited 6,982 landlords to connect prospective tenants to the opportunity for affordable housing. As we forecast for FY25, the Office of Homeless Services is embarking on a five-year strategic plan that would align with Mayor Parker's cleaner, safer, greener, economic opportunity for all. The Office of Homeless Services will deploy several tactics to address certain areas. Families, we agree with you, Majority Leader, families deserve to live in a dignified residence. So we will be 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. focusing our move-on strategy to reduce family homelessness in our emergency and temporary housing. Secondly, our elderly, seniors who are living either unhoused or in our emergency temporary housing deserve to live in a dignified place and meet with the proper level of services need. Lastly, but not least, our youth, which is defined by HUD to 12 24 years of age. 7 million from a 14 Youth Homeless Demonstration project 15 grant. That grant is designed to develop 16 a plan to effectively end and reduce 17 homelessness in the City of Philadelphia. 18 We're extremely excited about this opportunity. As we look at our brothers and sisters who are currently residing unsheltered on the street, we will work with our partner agency within the City of Philadelphia to develop a more comprehensive assessment strategy that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. meets people's need. And lastly and in conclusion, I would like to thank the dedicated staff, the mission-driven individuals at the Office of Homeless Services, and also our partners who have worked with us throughout the pandemic and before the pandemic of answering any concerns that we may have.
At this time, I would like to thank the members of City Council for your due diligence, your advocacy, and your passion to make Philadelphia better. We will answer any question that you may have at this present time.
Thank you. I'm going to be brief with my comments and then relax the floor to my members. Just a couple things. The systems that you put in place to deal with the fiscal mismanagement that has been taking place in the Office of Homeless Services, give us an idea in 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. more detail what that looks like. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question. So we have developed a framework, and I have to say framework because we're currently in the mix of an investigation by the Office of Inspector General forensic team, but this work framework that we have in place right now allows for multi-layer of accountability and oversight. What we have done was to bring in all of the internal departments -- can you hear me?
Yes. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: What we have done was have a multi-layered review. We have designed and implemented a multi-layered review that starts with the Executive Director. The Executive Director will be responsible for signing on -- signing off on any contract that is authorized through the Office of Homeless Services. We have also implemented 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. through our Contracts Unit and Housing Unit and Policy Unit where there will be director's level of signoff to make sure that, one, the services that are being rendered are in complete control of what we are paying for by the scope of services, also those line items and items that providers may be billing for and that we're providing technical assistance when there is disruptions there.
And last question, will your department play any role in the proposed triage and wellness facilities proposed by the Mayor? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: At this time, we're working with all of our partners, starting at the Managing Director's Office. Because it involves individuals who are homeless on the street, I'm assuming we will play a role.
And last, what's the timeline for this forensic audit from the Office of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Inspector General? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I'm assuming it will take a number of months, maybe four to five months, for them to do a thorough audit of our office.
Okay. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Mr. President. And, Mr. President, for the record, I am now respectfully requesting a callback for the Office of Homeless Services during our callback budget hearing process. For the record, OHS's overall budget by revenue type, if you can just ensure that I am correct, Mr. Curran. Fiscal Year FY18 -- this is total General Fund and Grants Revenue -- was about $81.8 million; is that correct? I'm just going to say the number, Mr. Curran. I'm going to say the number for each year, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and if you could just verify that that number is correct. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
For Fiscal Year '18, General Fund and Grants Revenue, approximately $81.8 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That sounds correct.
For FY19, approximately $89.7 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
FY20, $94.9 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That is correct.
FY21, $122.3 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That is correct.
For FY22, $95.1 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Correct.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. FY23, $106.8 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
FY24, $140.6 million? That's total for General Fund and Grants Revenue for FY24. I have General Fund $91,564,048. Grants Revenue $49,056,919, for a total of $140,620,967. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That is correct.
Okay. And then for FY21 proposed, total $138.2 million; is that correct? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
Okay. Thank you for that verification. With that information, could you clarify the request for the additional $16 million? How much additional money are you requesting for Class 100, how many positions, in which units, and then again for Class 200? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: For Class 100 in Fiscal '25, our request is 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. 10,635,984. Total General Fund positions is 149. Grant funded positions is 39, for a total number of positions 188.
My question, though, is with the amounts that I have just notated for the record and that you have confirmed, we received a request that OHS is requesting an additional $16 million. Can you help me find where? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: The $16 million is made up of 9.3 million, of which was funding that was scheduled to be --
Could you use the microphone, please. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Sure. My apologies. $9.3 million of this request is funding that had existed in our budget in Fiscal Years '23 and '24 that was scheduled to come out this year. Some of these services that were being covered were some non-congregate sheltering and 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. also -- I believe it's mostly non-congregate sheltering and some other services as well, and obviously we can follow up in writing for the specifics.
And I'm not -- I'm having a hard time hearing you. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Okay.
So if you could just pull the mic closer. Again, what I'm seeking to understand is the additional $16 million request. Where is that reflected when typically you would see that reflected here. And it's only a change. It's a decrease of $2 million, but you all are asking us for an increase of $16 million. That's my understanding. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Right. We were asked to abbreviate that section 22 by the Department of Finance. So I can give you those details directly. I don't have them off the top of my head, but those were initially in our submission. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. I'm having a hard time hearing you, but, again, for the million, you 5 said that goes back to Finance? 6 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: No. 7 The $16 million -- the $16 million is 8 essentially 9.3 million that was 9 scheduled to come out in the Fiscal Year 10 '25 per the Five Year Plan. That's 11 funding that we had the last couple of 12 fiscal years. In the Five Year Plan, it 13 was scheduled to come out. $1.4 million 14 of that is for additional funding for 15 support for operations at the 16 Philadelphia Nursing Home, and $5 million of that is to basically maintain current services and to restore some of the funding that we had to reduce this year due to the 5 million now being awarded in the midyear transfer in the fall.
Right. So let me circle back to that very quickly before I move to my next question, because we did not allocate 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that money because you all told us and we worked with Finance and with OHS during Appropriations and you stated the contracts that you all had already conformed, that you only needed up to that amount and you would deal with the rest of it later once you get on the fiscal year contract schedule. And so my concern is is that every year you have come to us to say, we're fixing this, and then every year you have to come back and ask us for more money. Where is the money going? We did give you enough money to deal with the conformed contracts. Then we just approved another 850,000 for intradepartmental transfer in order for you all to meet additional contracts that had already been conformed that did not reflect in the records that you all shared with us, and then the contract amounts were different. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: So thanks again for that question. The monies that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. came in for the midyear transfer, at that time we requested $14.7 million.
Right. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: 9.6 of that, you are absolutely correct, we were on a calendar year fiscal period, which crossed over a couple fiscal years. The reason why we were projecting a $5 million overspend, because they were contracts that was previously authorized by our previous leadership during that time. As a corrective action plan and to address this projected $5 million deficit while we're in the midst of FY24, we had to make some revisions and to recoup some of these contracts to align with what we have budgetary authority for.
Okay. So let me stop you there, because I know I'm going to hear this a lot today and I'm a little beside myself, because I'm a former chief of staff too. I was a chief of staff to former Councilmember 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Blondell Reynolds Brown. There wasn't too much that happened with her or around her that I was not aware of. So for the record, if each of you could state your name, state your position, and how long you've been working at OHS. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yes. Again, David Holloman, current Interim Executive Director for the City's Office of Homeless Services. I've been at OHS since 2012.
Thank you. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I am Peter Curran. I am the Deputy Director for Fiscal Contracts and Asset Management, and I have been with Homeless Services since 2011.
So you've been in charge of contracts and fiscal at OHS since 2011, but this all happened under the previous leadership of which you all were there. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I was not in charge of all of that in 2011. I was in charge beginning in the summer of 2020.
2020, okay. But still under the previous leadership that you all are referring to in your testimony. Please proceed. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Good morning, Councilmembers. Roberta Cancellier, Deputy Director for Housing Services at OHS, years. 15
And 16 please advise -- you said 20 years? 17 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 18 Yes. 19
And 20 please advise your title again and your responsibility. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Deputy Director for Housing Services. So the services and programs that we operate fall in Housing Services Division. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you. And I'm sorry. Just to confirm, you've been a part of the leadership team at OHS for years? 7 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 8 Yes, I have. 9
So 10 would you state that you were a part of 11 the previous leadership or are you not? 12 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 13 Yes. 14
15 Okay. 16 DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Good 17 morning, Council. My name is Beth 18 Gonzales. I am the Deputy Director of 19 Policy, Planning and Performance 20 Management, and I've been at OHS for seven years.
Seven years, okay. Thank you very, very much. In last year's budget 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. responses, City Council FY24 budget responses, , OHS wrote, the $3,253,904 increase in Class 100 for administration services and infrastructure adds nine additional positions and brings the position total up to 47 to conduct all this work, which translates into a dependable steward of precious taxpayer dollars for high-quality, consistent caring services for 18,000 people at the moment of greatest need in their lives. Six months after you made this statement, you came to Council requesting $14.7 million in additional funding because you had oversight -- because you had overspent your budget for four fiscal years, and you are again coming to request 16 million more to address significant overspending, including Grants Revenue, the Office of Homeless Services Grants Revenue Fund. So I'm going to go down. I'm going to skip a few questions, but I will 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. submit all of these for the record for your written responses. Were you audited by anyone in Fiscal Year '23, including, but not limited to, the federal government, the state government, City Finance employees, the City Controller or internally? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: In Fiscal Year '23, we were part of the City's annual single audit, which was the Controller's Office. The State of Pennsylvania, their Department of Human Services audited us for the -- I'm sorry; it's the Social Services Block Grant. And I believe that was it. We did not have a HUD audit that year. I believe it was two. It was just the state and the Controller's Office.
Was there -- DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I'm sorry. I am mistaken. We also had a monitoring with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
And were the results made publicly available? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I believe so. I don't know by our office. No, I don't believe so, but I think those are published.
May you please share those with the Council President and the Council body? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
In Fiscal Year '24, you were originally appropriated $80 million, the largest ever General Fund contribution to your office, and you received nearly $50 million in Grants Revenue, taking your total original appropriation to over $129 million. You still overspent your budget. Would you be able to detail why? And I heard the bell, and I will respect the clock, and I appreciate this, Council President. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Our Fiscal Year '23, much like the previous 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. fiscal years in which we overspent, the Office of Homeless Services did enter into contracts with funding that we did not have appropriated.
I'm sorry? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: From Fiscal Years '21, '22, and '23, the Office of Homeless Services entered into professional services contracts with funding that was not appropriated to the Office.
Would you be able to talk about -- I will honor the clock. I will come back on the next round.
Just for clarity, did you just say that y'all engaged in contracts, y'all appropriated for contracts with professional services but the funding wasn't there? I'm just trying to get clarity on the status. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is correct.
How does that work, if you don't mind me asking? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Well, it doesn't, but --
I didn't hear you. Say that again. I can't hear you. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: It doesn't. That's why we had incurred the $9.6 million deficit. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: And I also want to note for the record that the Office is currently under an investigation, and we hope that through those assessments of how our financial practices, we can have a better response for you and a more accurate response once the Office of Inspector General, along with that forensic audit team, has done their due diligence on making some assessments.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I've been around for a little bit these last couple years -- DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: And just, as I stated --
One second. I just have a question. Did anybody say we can't do that or that's not appropriate or that's not the best way to go about good fiduciary fiscal management, or nobody saw these things happening? I just wanted to ask. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: No. I want to state this, two things before we get there. Again, it will not happen again, as I've stated in my opening testimony, but there was a difference of opinion as it relates to that. I want to note here, yes, we were at the Office of Homeless Services, but we were not the decision-maker, the final decision-maker. So I need to make that extremely clear. But, again, we don't believe that spending outside of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. your budget is the correct thing to do given that this is taxpayers' dollars here.
So thank you, Mr. President. I know the Health Department right now is glad you changed the order. So I'm not going to focus on your fiscal stewardship. Member Gilmore Richardson is laserly focused on that. I'd like to just from a District Councilperson's perspective share with you some of the experiences that my constituents who have gone through that system have relayed back to me. And, in fact, we've worked with them to try to -- so let me precursor to my questions. I couldn't do your job. You catch people in their worst day, families that are impacted. I get that. You're going to have to answer about the money. I don't know why you took the job, but 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. congratulations. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I love helping people.
You love helping people. So if you were talking about potholes, when we see a pothole, we fix it. We look at it -- when we see ten potholes, we question what kind of surfacing are we putting down, because it might not be adequate. So when we start looking at systems and the continuum of homelessness, the first thing I would recommend to you is a flowchart, PERT chart of what happens when somebody walks through your door seeking housing, so that all of us can understand the possible outcomes. We did this for the criminal justice system. We've done this for other departments. You need to help us understand what those outcomes can be. Second question, how much does it cost for a single parent with a kid to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. stay overnight at one of your shelters on average? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Great question, Councilman Jones. The average cost for a single bed per night is ranging between $68 to $73 per night.
Okay. And I can only say that that experience is not the Holiday Inn. It is challenging. Another constituent, who is related to one of my staffers, so I know it's an authentic concern, she refused to stay in the shelters because she was constantly being approached by other females about her sexuality and if she -- I've heard this about staffers. I've heard this coming about from other residents. How do we secure that stay is one that is at least tolerable, that people aren't choosing to sleep on the streets versus stay in our shelters? How do we, irrespective of the money, how do 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we make sure that people stay with dignity? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question. I'm going to start and then I'm going to defer to my Housing. So let me first and foremost say we do not discriminate against anyone from sexual creed, ethnicity or gender. We strongly encourage our providers, the staff, to respect people from all levels. So that gets down to the quality of services. As you have indicated, shelters unfortunately serve as a backdrop for many system failures. The number that I opened up with earlier about 15,000 that we saw as visitors, when you break that down over 12 months, over one-twelfth, there's about 1,300 people that are visiting our shelters from prisons, hospitals, streets, and all different walks of life. It is critical and necessary 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for us to have a better assessment tool at the beginning of the front door, but to also work with our provider community to find out from a trauma-based perspective what can we do in terms of providing technical assistance to them so that these issues that you are explaining there does not occur, and if they are occurring, we need to have a process in place to quickly address that. What I'd also like to say here is that it really starts at the mindset of people that are coming in and the staff. And so it's a partnership there. I think too many times we look at this and not have some set standards. It's standards everywhere, in your household and all. So when people are coming in, if they're coming from an institutionalized setting, it is on us and the providers who are delivering those services to help reshape the mindset of when you're coming into these facilities. I do believe that that will 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. reduce some of the traumatic issues that people are experiencing at the front door.
So holding your staff accountable not to approach residents about sexual favors is key, making sure that the population that is in the shelter doesn't prey upon the other members of the -- not just sexually but taking their items, stealing from them. And then what I would leave this with is, that when somebody comes through the door, there has to be a diagnosis of what their needs are. Some people unfortunately come through your doors with dual diagnosis. They have a dependency on drugs. They have a dependency that deals with some type of mental illness. And I'm not sure within that PERT chart, that PERT chart, how we address those specialized needs, because when somebody comes in that has mental issues, you have to have a staffer that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. can address that. And the question I would have is, how do you interact with Behavioral Health? How do you interact with other entities and create what I would call warm handoffs? So when you realize that somebody has a service need that's beyond yours, how do you softly pass them off so that -- in the case of this one young lady, I mean, she gets abused every night. She gets kicked out, because she fights back. You know what I mean? And she needs constant care. And I don't know -- that's not your fault, but you do need to address the fact that some people need a little more and they need your help. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: We can't agree with you any more. I'd like to state that I apologize for her having that experience in our facility. I wouldn't want that on anyone. We do have case management, behavioral health case management at the shelters, but we need more. And many 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. times where we may see behavioral health concerns, most of our services are volunteer, but I totally agree with you on making sure that when we see those triggers or those signs there, we need to quickly assess that situation and get the person help. So, again, I apologize for anyone that experienced that level of trauma.
So to your point, Member Gilmore Richardson, there's an integration that needs to happen. It's not just linear. It is multi-faceted that we need to take a look at. Finally, Mr. President, 30 percent of my young people at Overbrook High School are homeless. We have got to figure it out so that there is stability in their education, stability in their life, because that instability creates some of the violence that we see on the street. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. If I'm couch surfing and somebody gets mad at me because I didn't do what they wanted me to do, I'm homeless. Some people are living in cars, creating bad deeds, getting dressed in the morning by going to the corner store and put on a new white tee. Our young people should not live like that, and I don't know how the integration happens. So we have a bigger problem you did not cause, but it is your responsibility, and we need to work with you on that. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. I do echo the sentiments of my colleague Councilmember Jones. A lot of people look at homelessness as being one way, but couch surfing is a real big issue when it comes to our young people, and that goes from them trying to go to school while staying with someone because they don't have a place to stay, but also 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. them getting involved in all kinds of other things because they don't have a place to stay or the type of support system that's needed. And so as we move forward, obviously that should be a conversation. In the spirit of my former colleague Councilwoman Helen Gym, it was something she championed in this body to make sure we're making it a priority to address homelessness amongst our young people. And so hopefully there's some level of integration with our School District, right, as a part of this, DHS as a part of this conversation, and obviously the Office of Homelessness. Do you want to respond before I -- DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. I will let my Deputy of Policy talk about our Youth Homeless Demonstration project grant. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Hello again. So as we stated earlier, we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. were awarded $8.7 million to specifically address youth homelessness, and the process for that first initially was to spend six months with our youth to design what that looks like, so what type of housing is needed, what type of supportive services are needed. We did that very closely in partnership with the School District, with DHS, with our Young Adult Leadership Committee, and within our Continuum of Care. So HUD requires all communities to have an integrated, comprehensive approach of coordinating so that you can make better use of your resources. So when we initially started our strategic plan five years ago, we created the Interior Governmental Council on Homelessness. That's all the government agencies that feed into our system or the systems that we utilize, such as DBH, working with the criminal justice system. It was as well the School District. And then we also have community seats as 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. well. So we have a board that's made up of City agencies and community elected -- I mean community selected folks within that. And so with that planning process with the youth, designed the type of housing that we're going to do with these funds, and we're in the process now of implementing that, and we're hoping that it will bring potentially up to 261 units to help specifically with youth, and then it will roll up into our larger Continuum of Care funding. So we have lots of plans in the works to help with that, in addition to supportive services in reference to working with the other systems when it comes to employment and when it comes to entrepreneurship, when it comes to childcare and really working with different support systems throughout the community as well. And I don't know if, Roberta, you want to add anything. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Just briefly, that we've been able to expand access points, to your point, Councilmember, of where can you go. So we've expanded Valley Youth House operates one. We recently added another with Eddie's through this grant source and work closely with the School District and their liaisons as well, so...
Can you give us an updated summary in 90 days -- well, we're out in the summertime. Just give us an updated report, status report, on where you're at on this particular project. Just provide it to the Chair, and I'll provide it to my members as well as the Chair of Neighborhood Services and Homelessness, Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier. At this point, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Council President, I'd like to acquiesce my time to our Leader, Katherine Gilmore 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Richardson.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Council President. And thank you, Councilmember Harrity. I wanted to quickly go back to the tail end of the last question that I was on relative to the issues around the overspending. And so we left off talking about you all receiving 129 million in FY24 but still overspent your budget by another 5 million. And you did tell --
Excuse me, Madam Leader. Did you say 129 million?
Their total budget for FY24, Grants Revenue and General Fund, was $129 million.
What was the follow-up statement you made 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. after that? Overspent the budget?
Did you say overspent their budget beyond the 129 million?
By 5 million? So they got 129 million budgeted and spent an additional 5 million over budgeted?
And you did tell Council's Appropriation Committee that you could continue to operate at the same level of service by not filling positions. That was also stated in the newspaper. You posted publicly, though, that the Office was not accepting applications, and that created 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. panic for many residents and individuals who were in need of housing services. And so with the significant contributions made in the midyear transfer to help address the Fiscal Year '21 to '23 back payment issues, your total FY24 estimated obligations reached a record high of $140.6 million. In FY25, you are requesting to essentially maintain that level of funding at 138 million in total revenue, which was 88.7 million in General Fund contributions, and that comes from the OHS budget data from the charts. But after four years of financial mismanagement, no overhaul of your senior leadership -- everyone who was there under the previous Administration that we keep hearing about are the same people here today -- no clear answers on exactly how this mismanagement took place, multiple ongoing investigations, and the complete lack of written plans or specific operational procedures, why 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. should Philadelphians believe that maintaining an increased level of funding will do anything to improve outcomes for residents experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in the City of Philadelphia? And specifically, what is your operational plan for ensuring that this level of dysfunction and mismanagement does not take place again? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question. So I'm going to start and I'm also going to lean on my team. So just I want to start at the 129 million, because I know you keep referencing grant funds. So about 33 -- between $33 to $40 million -- like for this year here, Philadelphia received from a continuum of care through HUD-funded $40 million. That is money that is really designed to go for units that's already online. It's renewable. Only about $6 to $8 million of that actually comes to the Office of Homeless Services. Reason why, 90 percent of our 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. HUD direct receive that money directly through them. And so when we talk about that number, I want to make sure that we're talking apples to apples. And so when we're talking at a request of the General Fund operating dollars, that is through the local tax dollars. Many of the grants are -- only can be spent on certain allowable expense. I absolutely agree with you that projected overspending was a projection, and so as one of the way of making the corrective changes, we immediately looked at those contracts that did not have budgetary authority and made changes to them. One of the immediate changes that we did was move from a calendar year contract to institute a six-month contract, with the aim of going back to a City fiscal year contracting period. We believe that this will better align our current budget allocations with what we're receiving coming in. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Again, we're working with a forensic audit team to improve our processes that are currently in place. The other challenges are opportunities that I believe we have here. Right now we're very light in our Fiscal and Contract Units. I'm very aware of that. We have anywhere between 150 and 172 contracts with probably manpower to really address maybe half of that. We are really looking at how do we hire up to make sure that, one, we're looking at those things that does not proceed for us to go over budget, but we need more staffing capacity, but we also need to make sure that our funding and what we're contracting with aligns with what we have. Again --
I agree, and I apologize for cutting you off, but I really need to get in as many questions as I can today and I have to make best use of my time. You know and I know that I'm 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. very well aware of the budget. I have the detail here. I have the additional details here from each year. I have all the contracts here. I have all my information here. But I'm talking about a trust issue with the citizens of the City of Philadelphia, those who would need service and need help. How do they know that things will actually be changing? That's what I'm referring to. And I know that a forensic audit is taking place. It's something that I requested. And so once we get through that process, we will know more, but I need to get to my additional questions that I have time for while I have time. You just talked about moving to this fiscal year contract from the calendar year and putting some of the contracts on a six-month basis. I have all the contracts here. I requested them from the Procurement Commissioner last summer. I have a list of those here, for 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the record. In the letter that you all -- in the letter sent to my office on April 2nd, you included a document stating that OHS had completed the transition of moving all contracts from calendar year to fiscal year. That was the information that you all had provided to my office that I have here for the record that I'll submit additionally for the record, along with my pages of 13 questions. 14 You also provided a document 15 that included a list of all conformed 16 contracts, and that was a document here. 17 This was from April 2nd. This is, for 18 the record, the April 2nd document that 19 you all submitted to my office. 20 And so upon review of all of 21 this material, because I know that the 22 important thing here is that I need my 23 colleagues to understand that you all are saying that you're correcting this, but we still have additional questions. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. There are General Fund contracts that have dates that do not align with the fiscal year. They were all conformed after the overspending issue came out. Are they currently in the confirmation process? Why are these contracts not on the fiscal year timeline? And that would be specifically in this document Lines 5, Lines 11, 12, 25, 28, 56, 57, 62, 65, 70, 106, 107, 112, 115, 119. There are contracts on 13 this list that have encumbrance amounts 14 that are different from the contract 15 amount. Please explain those discrepancies and those amounts. And why is the Office of Homeless Services regularly encumbering contracts at lower amounts? And that's the same document, Lines 31, 35, 44, 45, 56, 57, 61, 62, 63, 65, 70, 72, 73, 76, 82, 84, 85, 97, 106, and 107. And I heard the bell. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I'll defer to Finance, but before we get there, I 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just want to assure you when you mentioned why do Philadelphia should trust us, again, I want to help as many people as I want, but I also understand the importance of staying within your budgetary means. And so that's one of the things that under my watch will not happen, as much as I want to help people, but I will defer to my Deputy of Finance to answer some of your contract-related questions.
Excellent. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Thank you, Majority Leader. I guess since I cannot quite keep up with the number -- the line numbers, would it be possible to give me a program name?
I really can't hear you. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I'm sorry. I couldn't quite keep up with the line numbers, so is it possible for you to give me a program name?
Sure. I'll start naming them now. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Sure.
Is that okay, Mr. Chair? I did hear the bell. I want to respect the clock.
Let me recognize the next person. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Because of the seriousness of this situation, I also defer my questions to Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson.
Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, Councilmember Lozada has given her time to you, so we will let you start from a fresh set of minutes. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Councilmember Lozada. I'll go through the lines, Mr. Curran. Acts Christian Transitional Services -- and for the record, this is not against these particular providers. This is the information that your office, the Office of Homeless Services, shared with my office relative to an information request. Acts Christian Transitional Services Bethesda Project, Richard Kulick, Darlene Morris, Drueding Center, Love Pray Peace Project, Veterans Services, New Journey CDC. I can give you every single line. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Thank you. Is the question that they don't allow in the fiscal year that there was not sufficient funding upon conformance?
So after we've allocated the funds that you 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. all requested to deal with the contracts that had already been conformed, we gave you the dollars to address because of the overspending that you had in your department, we gave you the additional money in order to resolve those contract issues. You all stated as a part of your corrective action, that you will align the contracts to a fiscal year instead of calendar year. You moved some to the six-month process just to get them onto the fiscal year process. Many of these contracts that you all have sent in writing to Council that I have listed out here, which is a document that you all recently sent on April 2nd, that document is still listing contracts that have varying amounts based on what you all stated the contract amount would be and how you've conformed the contract. In addition to that, the encumbrance amounts are different than the contract amounts. And so, again, my reason for bringing this up is to notate for the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. record that you all are stating you put these corrective action plans in place, you were doing all that you can, but every single document we continue to receive -- see, I actually read these documents. When I go home, I read them. And so for each of these documents, they do not align. The amounts do not align. The dates do not align. So everything you're saying, it does not align. These are the documents that you all provided to City Council. And so that is my question, and that you are requesting an additional $16 million. We can't see where the $16 million is in these documents. I want to ask about that again. And it also does not make sense in the additional money that we have allocated for you all to address your overspending issues, that we are not receiving correct contract amounts, dates or information. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: So to address Acts Christian Transitional 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Services, there are two contracts there which started January 1st to expire -- I'm sorry; June 30th. That is a half-year extension. So the amount for one is 778,029, which is about half of what it would have been had it been extended for the full calendar year. The reason for the six-month extension was in order to align it in Fiscal Year '25 with the fiscal year. There is another Acts contract which runs from November through this month. That was a winter initiative contract.
And for the record, please, I understand that when you have a contract, obviously the amount would be in half. I understand that very clearly. I'm also a former math teacher. Okay? And so that I do understand. However, how do you explain that the encumbrance amounts are different than the contract amounts outside of that particular circumstance 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of the realigning of the contract? And I won't belabor that point here, because we're very far into the weeds, but I will submit all pages of 6 the questions for the record for your 7 written response so that we have them for 8 the record, but I want to get this on the 9 record for my colleagues so they can 10 understand that what we're seeing is not 11 what we're getting. What we're hearing 12 is not what's happening. 13 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: 14 Well -- 15
So 16 the $16 million, where is that reflected 17 and what is it for? 18 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I will 19 push back a little bit for Acts. The 20 amount 778 was encumbered on the date of 21 conformance. 22
23 Thank you. Thank you for that information. And we have in here -- in fact, I do have a question about that. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. In the responses you sent to my office yesterday in a follow-up to the transfer ordinance, you stated that the funds that I had advocated for in last year's budget to create an additional family intake shelter are now being used by Acts to provide overnight shelter for families. That was a response we received. The $350,000 would cover beds from April 1st to June 30th of this year, and service began on April 8th. That was the April 14th Appropriations response that we received in our office from your office. In a memo that you sent me on April 2nd regarding the intake shelter, you stated that your office reached out to Acts, Lutheran Settlement House, and New Journey CDC because of their experience and then recommended working with Acts. So within an entire year to set up the additional intake shelter, why did you not put that out to competitive RFP 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to solicit competitive bids? And then you sent me this memo on April 2nd and said families began receiving service or will begin receiving service on April 4th. You clearly did not set up the service in six days. So when did you inform Acts that they were being awarded an additional contract or expanded contract responsibility? How many families are currently being served and what is the plan to maintain those beds for FY25? The time doesn't make sense. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I'll start. Thanks again for your advocacy for the family intake site. Yes, we did a soft opening April 8th for the new family intake site, which will serve and have 51 beds, 15 families, but it gives us another location outside of the Center City location. We believe with the amount of money of being $350,000, this was the best course of action by having it start in the last quarter of this fiscal year. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. When we looked at what the cost of a 12-month operational shelter, we did not have the monies and it would be irresponsible to start a contract prior to what we have monies allocated for. As it relates to how did we select Acts versus New Journey or Family, I would defer to my Deputy of Housing Operations for that.
Pardon me? I didn't hear you. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Thank you for that question.
I'm sorry. I didn't hear the last part. You said -- oh, you were deferring? Okay. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yes. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: So selection of providers, either new or renewal, we do either by request for proposal or in the case when they're a non-profit organization, we're going to assess on various factors, right? We look at experience, past performance, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. capacity, ability to start quickly, minority led. And it took us a couple months to go through that assessment and discernment process for several non-profits as it relates to the new site. They are invited to come look at the site. They are -- they responded to our request for information, more information about their organization and their ability to begin quickly, and that's ultimately how we settled on Acts and have served families there since April 8th.
I heard the clock and I will honor the clock. I will circle back to that answer.
Thank you, Council President. I would like to yield my time back to Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Council President. And thank you, Councilmember Phillips. To circle back to your answer, how regularly does that happen in your department and who is in charge of that? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Meaning how regularly do we assess as opposed to do an RFP?
Yes. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: I think we do both. The determination is often a management team determination. Some of it relates to time, how much time do we have. For example, we have not RFP'd winter providers because we're working to get those set up quickly.
And who is in charge of that? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Again, management decision, but request for proposals are managed and issued by the Contracts Unit in concert with the contract units of the City, OEO, et cetera.
Right. But singularly in the Office of Homeless Services, who is the individual who is principally responsible for oversight of that process? Please name them for the record. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: I think for selection of providers like shelters, that's my role as the Deputy for Housing Services.
Okay. And please state your name for the record. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Roberta Cancellier, Deputy Director for Housing Services.
Thank you. And I wanted to quickly go to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. provider oversight. I guess you could answer this question, Roberta. If you could walk me through what the process is for monitoring and site visit. Do you personally do the monitoring site visits? When is the last time you did a monitoring site visit? Was it scheduled? Which provider did you visit? Why did you visit that provider, and what did you find? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Let me start with generally. The Emergency and Temporary Housing team is responsible for planning and monitoring shelters. It all begins with emergency housing standards, which are part of the contract and lay out our expectations of the responsibilities of shelter providers. This is everything from case management standards, cleanliness of the facility, frequency of fire drills, inspections of the facility. Late last year we initiated a strengthened monitoring, a more 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. comprehensive monitoring approach called Boots to the Ground. We recognized that there were some shelter providers that really needed and could benefit from additional hands-on technical assistance from our staff. We've completed the first of those reviews, and actually the second was just completed, and a corrective action plan is in place for the first and we continue to provide hands-on technical assistance, training, meetings and so on so that our providers are in compliance really with the standards that we have set as a system.
So to your point, do you have a written policy for corrective action plans for providers? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Yes. We can provide that to the Council President's office.
That would be great. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And going back to the RFI that you just spoke about that they responded to very quickly for the new family intake shelter, could you provide that? Could you show us where that is? Because we didn't see that posted. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: We did not post it publicly. We identified potential agencies based on criteria, experience, past performance, strong performance, and our assessment that they could begin quickly.
Okay. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: I could provide you any additional information that we haven't already.
That would be great, to the Chair. Do program analysts in your department do monitoring site visits? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Yes, they do. They do both desktop, right, reviewing complaints, reports, et 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. cetera, but also boots to the ground, going out, speaking with participants, with shelter providers and providing that support.
Okay. And how regularly during the course of a contract are sites monitored? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: At least once on site, and again, this enhanced process will lead to more. In addition, we use our staff. There are housing quality inspectors that are staffed at the Office of Homeless Services that are certified inspectors that are also going out on at least an annual basis taking a look at facilities, safety issues. And then from time to time, other staff at OHS is there for participant meetings, resident meetings, visits, reviewing concerns or policies and so on, myself included.
Sure. Would you be able to provide that information regarding the frequency of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the visits, the times visited, whether the visits are random or scheduled, is it drop-in visits, client interviews, information that gets into your system, double checking that the information is accurate, engagement with the staff. If you could provide all of that information to the Chair. I'm particularly concerned about how you all are reviewing and comparing the invoices and the purchases for these facilities to ensure there is quality control within these particular facilities and for these particular providers, but also the rubric that you all utilize in order to do the evaluation. If you could submit all of that information to the Chair, that would be exceedingly helpful. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Thank you, Majority Leader. We'd be happy to submit that information.
Okay. How many providers in the last five years saw reductions in programming 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. or non-renewals of contracts because of non-compliance? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: For non-compliance I would need to get back to you in writing as it relates to that. As far as reduction, as we was awarded during the height of the COVID pandemic where we saw one-time funding, there were some contracts that were reduced as of that funding not being available. So we can provide that in writing to you in a more detailed manner.
That would be excellent. Do you all as a leadership team look at spending over previous years to determine a pattern of over- or under-spending? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: That is part of the decision around costs being recouped. So we look at providers that have traditionally under spent and make reasonable accommodations where we should be recouping that under-spend. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. For example, as this projected $5 million budget deficit for '24, some of the under-spending that we recouped were from providers that we saw that had significant under-spending in their current contract year.
Understood. Who is responsible for ensuring materials and supplies purchased by providers are actually purchased? Who at OHS ensures those materials are provided to clients? Has OHS had experiences of providers double billing for materials and supplies? And do you have a policy or procedure in place for when double billing occurs? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. As part of our corrective action plan and updated standard operating procedures, one of the multi-layered review does include housing staff multi-layered from the contract staff to look at those line items that are accountable. So what 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we're looking at right now is to make sure that everything that is submitted for payments are actually lining up, but it's a combination of housing staff, our facility staff. We have food staff that goes out and check these regularly, but we probably could be a little bit better in those areas also.
In the FY23 Continuum of Care scoring, permanent supportive housing, safe haven, how many transitional housing programs are funded with General Fund revenues? And when did these programs start receiving General Fund revenues? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Thank you, Council Leader. Our transitional housing programs are primarily funded -- the non-COCs are funded through the state's housing assistance program. So there really aren't many, if any, at this point General Fund-supported -- exclusively General Fund-supported transitional housing programs. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
So you said there aren't many, so that means that there are some. Could you detail them for the record, please? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I believe Melba Way was one.
Pardon me? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: The provider is Families Forward, and Melba Way is the program.
If you could submit that for the record. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Sure.
Because I don't know why I'm having such a hard time hearing you. I heard the bell. I will circle back. Thank you, Council President.
Thank 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you. Just a couple quick questions because, one, I was interested in the oversight of contracts. So if we could just talk again about this. I first want to thank you. I'm new, as you know, and so I hear all my colleague's frustrations from the past. I know it's a lot, and I know that they've been approving your budget for so many years and there has been concerns that they're looking into, but I want to thank you for meeting with me in February. It was a refreshing meeting, and taking all that you said, I have high hopes for your office. And so I really do hope we can turn this around and want to take a moment to offer the services of me. I'm the Vice Chair of the Housing Committee, and Councilmember Gauthier, who can't be here today, who is the Chair, we're happy to help you with anything that you need. With the contracts, my question 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is, when do you -- you're talking about some technicalities with oversight and whatnot. What have you done now that you didn't do before with the contracts? What have been the changes? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question and thank you again for all of your work around the housing in the past. As one of the things we have immediately did to bring our contracts aligned with the City fiscal year was immediately instituted a six-month contract beginning January 1st to June 30th, with the aim of making sure that all of our contracts for FY25 are on a City fiscal year calendar.
I'm talking not about the money. I'm talking about the oversight of making sure that they're providing the services. We have a tremendous problem with homelessness here in Philadelphia, and I know that the City itself cannot house everybody that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we need, which is why we have contracts with other agencies. We want to make sure that those agencies are providing the services that we expect. So, for example, you said it's approximately $70 a night for us to house people. Am I correct that it costs more sometimes with some of the providers? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. For some of our providers, which provide specialized services, the range can be more, especially during the height of the COVID pandemic where we opened up a few facilities to accommodate our seniors who has more physical disability. Those services actually tend to cost a little bit more. We also believe that given the marketplace as it relates to -- we are getting probably a best value at that low rate of $68 to $73 a night for our shelter. When we look at that, that includes a lot of overhead costs that the providers have to account for in terms of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. fringe benefit, personnel, and also we pay for a number of the leases that are embedded in some of the contracts that are subcontracted out. But we are always looking for how do we get better in that area of how do we reduce costs, and the only way that we can really reduce cost is that we reduce the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in the City of Philadelphia.
Right. So just one last question really about the $16 million that you're asking for. If you can talk about how the money is going to be allocated and what services or contracts will it fund, how many people will it serve. And I ask this because to me when I look at the money, and we talked about this when I was in your office, is that I think as often as possible we should be doing programs like rapid rehousing or taking that money and seeing what we can do to help people pay 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. their rent or stay in the place that they're in at that moment and how can we open up the shelter system to be a place where people are fearing homelessness and get some services of what they need to keep them in their homes. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. Thank you for that question. So I will start and then I will defer to my Deputy of Finance. But just as he stated earlier, for FY25 and the previous five-year spending plan, we were due to receive a significant reduction into the tune of $9.3 million. So part of that $16 million is to restore that. The additional money, we agree this is to maintain services here. And so we know that just by attrition, that more people come in needing some rental assistance or -- I mean, prevention assistance. So some of that money will be dedicated right at the front door for prevention service. As we think about our move-on 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. strategy, instead of having a move-on strategy that waits until someone, let's quote/unquote, have recovery capital, we're thinking about moving on from the front door. So those programs such as rapid rehousing, shared housing, prevention, we also are putting money there where we have seen significant food costs as an example of inflation. I think Pennsylvania has the highest amount of what we pay for food, and so that is a critical need that we're looking to do. The other thing that we want to invest in in terms of our move-on strategy and with the Landlord Engagement Unit, we're dedicating three staff to really focus on that so that we can do better triaging, so we can move people quickly out of those services that they're currently seeking.
Thank you. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. The Chair recognizes Nick O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. First, I want to start by thanking you all for the tireless work you do. I'm not sure if you always hear those words enough, but for what you are doing well, I am grateful. Given OHS's proposed General Fund request and a further reduction in federal funds, I want to start by asking some questions about how these shifts would impact OHS's capacity going forward. Just a brief read through your written testimony shows that the Office predicts that less households will receive homeless prevention assistance. A lower percentage of clients in emergency housing will transition to permanent housing. The medium length of shelter stays will increase by 21 days. The number of households provided rapid 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. rehousing assistance is expected to drop. So what impact, if you can state for the record, will these service cuts have on Philly's homelessness trends? To be clear, will more folks be unhoused for longer periods of time due to these budget changes? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question and thank you for your advocacy. Absolutely. We will have devastating impact. We have seen that as a reduction of many of the dollars that the City was awarded during the COVID relief. Homelessness is on the rise nationally about 12 percent. As a result of the eviction moratorium being lifted about two years ago, we're seeing a steady increase of folks that are experiencing evictions as a result of higher rent, the lack of affordable housing. And so this will have devastating impact on individuals and families who are experiencing 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. homelessness just as a result of decreased funding. Again, as we're projecting, not just Philadelphia alone, we're starting to see that trend in a more upward bound direction there.
Given the compelling case that the Majority Leader is laying out, if we do not fully fund OHS, what is the plan to provide homeless service while the multiple investigations are complete? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: It will --
For example, are there external non-profits who are willing to fill in the gap? Like what do you think will happen there? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I think we will see devastating impact, to be honest. As we look at our provider community -- and this is with everybody. Everybody is going through an organizational restructuring. Our providers are not alone. Many of them are struggling with trying to staff up 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with their capacity. Over the last couple years, especially coming out of pandemic, we have seen some great talent leave this area of social services. The need hasn't changed. The need is continuing to grow as we are continuing to sit here today just by the number of people that we see on our streets every day out here. And so with a reduction in funding, we will absolutely have to make critical decisions on how do we address a rise in population of people.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize for the interruption to your line of questioning, Councilmember O'Rourke, but I wanted to state for the record that the COVID ESG 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. dollars were already spent and the ARP-HOME dollars were just awarded in November. So I just wanted to state that for the record. We know that the COVID money that the City is also using for revenue replacement on the General Fund side has to be spent down by the end of the year. So I want to state that for the record. The information you are referring to has nothing to do with the overspending that has been happening in your department and nothing to do with the fact that we did not give you all the additional $5 million of the 129 that you already had last year total for Grants Revenue and also for General Fund. So I want to be real clear as a point of information that we're talking apples to oranges right now, because you all knew that that was going to happen with the federal funds because the COVID relief dollars have already been spent already and have gone away. I just 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. wanted to state that for the record. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Madam Leader. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: And I thank you for that, because a clarification is homelessness is not steady. I think every day we see people experiencing homelessness through a variety of events, through fires, substance abuse, mental health. And so homelessness continues to rise. I think we have to be honest with ourselves. Any reduction in amount of money that goes towards homelessness, there's going to have some level of impact. I can't sit here and tell you how significant it will be or under-significant it will be. What we know is that the need is continuing to grow out here. One of the things that Council President noted earlier today, we're seeing many of our young people who don't 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. always self-identify as homeless because of the stigma that goes along with that. We're seeing more of those individuals experience homelessness by just couch surfing, living in abandos, which is abandominium buildings that people live in. We know that just by sure.
Excuse me. Just for the record, for those who don't know the jargon, break down abandominiums. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Absolutely. So abandominium is a property that is not livable for anyone in where you may see a building that may have caught fire or have some structural damage. Unfortunately, there are people that still live in those property because they refuse to want to live on the street in a visible setting. And so when I use the term "abandos" or "abandominium," those are places where unfortunately people tend to go out of the element.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember O'Rourke.
Yes. Let me move now to the HOME-ARP plan. You know what, I'm going to move on past that one too. I noticed there were significant bumps in General Fund dollars being spent on security contracts for both the homelessness prevention and emergency housing programs. Why is that? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: So for security, the City of Philadelphia has a contract that awards outfits security. I believe you're referring to Scotlandyard. That is a blanket contract that the City of Philadelphia has and all of our intake centers and the six-run City-funded facilities. We have worked with the Philadelphia Police, our partner communities. Philadelphia as a whole is seeing significant violence right now, and so that is not indicative of what we experience. We want to make sure our 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. staff is safe and we also want to make sure our participants are safe that are coming into our facility. So in partnership with our provider community, we work to make sure that we have adequate level of security. As it relates to the cost and how much of that because it's under a Procurement contract, we actually follow those guidelines.
So it represents the need for increased security, simply put? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Excuse me?
It represents a need for increased security, simply put, and not making up for less federal funding? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: So that comes out of, again, out of our General Fund obligation here as it relates to security in Class 200.
The Office's written testimony noted that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Philly's unhoused population is growing older on average, which is unsettling to say the least, if not completely surprising. Could you explain why more elderly people are becoming OHS clients and how that's changing the services that you provide to the clientele? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. I will start and I will defer to my Deputy of Policy. Yes, there are more elderly people. We believe that there's more elderly people that are coming in. One, individuals who experience homelessness that may have some behavioral health challenges, we have found it very difficult to have those individuals placed in nursing home, a skilled level place. That number has continued to trend as we have seen the closes of personal care boarding home where you see some of our elderly folks with behavioral health challenges have resided in. So just by attrition of some resources being 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. bought offline hard into place, we are starting to see more of our elderly population either unhoused or unfortunately living in our emergency and temporary housing.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
For the record, how many of those beds, all of the shelter beds, how many of them are accessible and ADA compliant? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Great question. We are actually in the process right now of working with our ADA applicants to come up with an assessment of all of our shelter facility to make sure that there are -- all of our intake sites are ADA accessible for everyone, but we're actually doing -- we're going 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to be amending the contract out there to do an assessment on all 42 of our shelters to subcontractors on their end.
Please share that information with Council President and with this body. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yes, ma'am.
So that ends this session, but you have been asked for a callback, so we will see you again before this -- oh, okay. Press the buttons. The button is pressed? I'm going to do it manually, old school way. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young, then the Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad. But just for the record, now you pressed your buttons up here.
It's all good. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Young, then Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Mr. President. You know, this office -- my colleague has done most of my job for me, so I appreciate Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson, but this office serves -- 90 percent of the constituents served are Black and Hispanic, right? And we all know this is the largest poorest city in the country. So what you do is very critical to the health of the City. And just hearing the mismanagement, the fiscal mismanagement, when you are serving the most vulnerable populations in our city is very disheartening to me. But I want to go back to Councilmember O'Rourke's question about the security, because you kind of didn't answer the question. So can you tell us like what data shows you or tells you that you need to almost double your 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. security budget to over $4 million? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thanks for that question and, again, I will start and allow -- so part of our security cost that you see continue to rise, there was a decision made in the prior Administration to put additional securities on the Kensington Avenue. As many of us know, we know that there's a lot of challenges with that particular area there, and so when we --
Point of information, Council President. Councilmember Young, I believe that figure is $9 million.
You're welcome. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: So, again, you're absolutely correct that we have seen a rise in cost in our security 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. costs, and many of that is attributed to security being placed on the avenue of the Kensington area of the City. Again, that was a decision that was made during the prior Administration.
But what are the things that were happening that caused this uptick in security? Like what incidents can you point to to say, you know what, we have to increase our budget for security by X amount of money because of these things that are happening? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Absolutely. I think just the number of incidents, people feeling unsafe working in that area down there, had a contributing factor. The other thing was that to get workers to go down there, again, there was a hazard pay that was assigned to the security firm that was providing that services in there. But people felt unsafe and the participants felt unsafe in that particular area, but I would 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. defer to my Finance Director to talk a little bit more in depth about --
My time is limited. I got a couple more questions, so I understand, okay, folks are feeling unsafe. I just hope that with this additional money, that feeling goes away. Regarding -- I see here that there is an almost over $3 million increase to U.S. Facilities for preventative maintenance where the FY24 obligation is 1.9 million and for FY25 the proposed is over 5.6 million. Could you talk to us about what are we preventing here? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. I'll defer to my Deputy of Finance to talk. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Thank you, Councilmember. That contract serves three City-owned facilities, three shelters. And also in Fiscal '24 we picked up services at the Philadelphia Nursing Home; that is, OHS located a 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. shelter and a winter program there. That contract is also used by the Office of Emergency Management to fund preventative maintenance at the migrant site at Luzerne and also covered migrant services that was at a --
So I see what the contract -- what is covered, but why the increase again from 1.9 million to 5.6 million? What maintenance measures are being done that's different? Like can you explain to us why the need for this additional funds in this category? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Right. Well, increased services increased the cost. So we picked up three sites in Fiscal '24.
Three sites. So an additional three sites? What was that number? 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Three sites.
Three. So just additional three sites. And those same three sites had similar numbers or maintenance numbers as the current three sites that you have now? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I would say that the cost at the migrant centers are enhanced because they offer more than just maintenance. That's more overall facilities management. As far as details of those services, I would have to defer to OIA and OIM for more detail or we can send your office and also the Council President the scopes related to those particular sites.
Thank you. Can you please provide us with those numbers, please. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
And also going through your budget, your 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. performance measures, it seems like every single performance measure, the goals are lower than the previous years. And I know most of the rationale behind it is because there's -- the COVID money has ran out, but I do note that from Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson, the COVID money been ran out. So can you tell us, I guess, how can we -- how much was that, I guess, the federal relief through COVID, and is that money really going to create this much of a hindrance in all of your program-targeted performances? I mean, every single one has gone down, every single performance, but you're asking us for additional revenue. What are we paying for? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I'll defer to our Deputy of Housing Operations can speak to more what the performance measures indicate. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Thank you for that question. I actually 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. was thinking of one very clear example, the ESG CARES money, which ended September 30, 2023, supported 400 households in rapid rehousing. Those fundings are no longer available.
But how much was -- can you tell us, I guess, how much money was allocated to OHS that now is not there which causes this decrease? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: The ESG funding that Ms. Cancellier is referring to, that was $35 million.
$35 million. So essentially if we had that additional $16 million, then we would be able to then provide at least some level of services at a higher rate. One more question. You have -- Mr. President, may I please, one more question? You got a lot of service providers that are under your care essentially, and can you describe to us or tell us specifically what processes 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you have in place to ensure that these service providers are timely paid so there's no disruption to the services that they provide. I mean, given that we are dealing with our most vulnerable population again in the City, can you please elaborate on that process? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. Thank you for that question. Let me first and foremost say, first of all, I apologize for any inconvenience our budgetary shortfall have caused on any provider. I understand clearly the operational impact from a provider standpoint. But the one thing that we're doing immediately is, one, not engaging contracts that we do not have budget authority for. That's first and foremost. The other thing is too having that multi-layer review to make sure that, one, that those items that folks are submitting their invoices for are allowable expense so that we cut down any 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of the discrepancy that may cause a potential rejection. The other thing is that we're working with our partners in Finance to assure quickly and accurate payments that gets out the door much quicker. But, again, I apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused, and we want to get our providers paid in a timely manner.
Thank you. Mr. President, I also echo Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson's call for a callback for this department.
So noted. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for giving us detailed answers, but I have to commend my colleague, Majority Leader Katherine 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Gilmore Richardson, for really delving deep, because this is our responsibility to our constituents and use of their tax dollars. I have a question around maternal care in this space. In 2019, in the end of May, early June, I personally escorted a young woman who was pregnant. She was -- she had a partner who was fully invested in supporting her. When I -- and hopefully this has changed since then. When I went with her, the intake process, Cherry Street, was so stressful. She immediately was put on edge by the security guard -- we talked about security at these spaces -- who treated her very poorly, and I could see the tension rising. I didn't have elected office then. I was not in the Administration, but I had served previously, so I was able to call someone and expedite her process. But what we found was, because she was not married to her partner, they 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. could not get a space together, and she was -- he was the only support she would have. These were teenagers. And when I asked, they said, one, there's no intake information segregated by status as in pregnancy, which was alarming, and then the second piece was about the lack of ability to put these two people together in the same space. So I wondered how your department is dealing with that. What is your focus on this most vulnerable population? To be pregnant and unhoused is just unimaginable. And just as a blanket statement, I cannot understand in this country, which is the first world richest country, we're having to do this. So I thank you for your service. I know it's a difficult space, but we have to do better. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I appreciate all of your advocacy. I think you're asking the right questions, everyone here today. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I believe in keeping families together. I think that's a critical core of stabilizing community. But I can defer to my Deputy of Housing to talk about the intake process and how we strongly support trying keeping partners together. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Thank you so much for sharing that experience, and please know we accept comments, complaints at any time, 215-686-4700. It wasn't that they were unmarried. We work very hard so that people coming into shelter basically can come as they are. However, one challenge we haven't solved yet is a couple who has no children, right? Our shelters are for single individuals and households with children. So that was really the reason why they weren't kept together. It is something to work on. Our providers have done an incredible job accommodating two-parent households, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. two-headed households, children of ages up to in emergency shelter, but a 4 couple with one pregnant member is not 5 something that we have a shelter for at 6 this time. 7
So we 8 need to address that. 9 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 10 Pardon? 11
We need 12 to address that, because we have pregnant 13 people in the City. 14 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 15 Yes. I took a very similar call last 16 week, but right. Thank you for bringing 17 that to our attention. 18
So we 19 have -- what is your intake process for 20 identifying who you're taking in, meaning 21 this is a single male, this is a single female? What is the status -- where is pregnancy reflected in this? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: So any household can come to either Apple 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Tree Center, Roosevelt Darby Center. Those are both City-run, City-operated intakes, any household size, any composition, and we will always first seek to not admit someone to shelter. We want to do everything we can to find other alternatives, can they return to family and friends, can they -- are there other options in the community, can we help with back rent, are they from another city and they might want to return. We ask a host of questions that help us to place households, everything from would you as a household member need a lower bunk. If you are a household with children, are you willing to share a room with another family, if that's the only space we have. Are you pregnant? Do you have support from DHS or from other City departments that will help us continue to give that continuous support and warm handoff as needed.
So you mentioned you asked are you pregnant. So 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. do you keep stats that tell you who is coming to your shelter and what the status is, particularly around pregnancy? Do you have those numbers? I would love to see those numbers. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Yes. I'm passing on our Deputy for Policy, Planning, Performance. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Yes. When we do assessments, that question is asked and self-reported, and it's documented in the HMIS system.
I'd love to see those numbers, because this is a population that needs immediate attention. So I want to make sure that they're receiving it. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Yes.
Second question was about since you're the policy person, are you globally working with any other departments to discuss the redevelopment within housing and building? Like are you part of the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. planning process to do that so they are made to the communities that we serve? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: So our service -- our office specifically works with the people that occupy the housing, but the actual partners, we do work with them, but we don't lead those efforts, but we do work with Planning and Development and other folks that do do the building and the construction, and some of the funds that we do get, we allocate and pass through directly to those particular agencies that specialize in that.
So my question was, do you give feedback as to what these homeless shelters should look like and where they should be? That's what I'm asking. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Yes. And that design process, and we get feedback not only just from the staff but even from the community. So, for example, with the youth makeup design, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. what should that look like, what do we need, what should the policies be, and getting feedback from the community.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass. And also I want to note for the record the presence of Councilmember Mark Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Good morning.
So I just have a couple of questions and wanted to hear you all talk about -- and my apologies that I'm late. I was on Council business at another event. And I'm sure you probably already touched on this, but I'm really interested in 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. hearing more about your office and some of the spending issues and misspending, I would say, just because money and contracts seem like it's almost -- here we are on tax day. It's almost as if you showed up with your accountant with all your receipts in a shoebox. You know, it just feels really disjointed and disorganized, and it's a problem because, as you know, our homeless population, particularly during COVID, has really boomed. And I'm wondering if you can address that. And also I didn't see anything in your presentation about mental health services, which I think is just absolutely necessary when we look at our homeless population, the amount of trauma that they've been faced with, the things that they have gone through. We cannot just sort of ignore or act like the need for homeless services -- for mental health services isn't there. And I'm not saying that that's what you're doing. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm just making a point that we need to further address it. So I don't know if you've already talked about these things, but like I said, I'm a little bit tardy, so I'd like for you to discuss them, if you wouldn't mind. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: No. Thank you again, and thank you for your continuous support of our office. As it relates to the overspending, you know, one of the things that we have to be very -- do our due diligence is that we cannot enter into contracts that we do not have budgetary authority for. We know that there is a serious strain on resources overall, and so one of the things that we have to do, and it aligns with Mayor Parker's economic opportunity for all, for those individuals who are able to work, we need to do that assessment at the front door to make sure that we're connecting people to educational and labor force 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. opportunities. As it relates to the second part of your question, we do know that behavioral health challenges are prevalent in our shelters. We do try to connect them as quickly as possible. We work with our partners at DBHIDS to quickly assign individuals to case management, but it's all volunteer-based services. We don't have the authority to force it on anyone, but we strongly encourage. And I think as we look at FY25 and when I talk about doing better assessment, we can do better in the area of providing technical training to our provider community to identify those areas where you may see someone who is experiencing any form of behavioral health challenges so that we can get the necessary services to them in a quicker manner.
Okay. Can we go back to the first question about the budget and I guess the overspending. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Can you give us more detail? Like what happened? How did it happen that we ended up overspending significantly, it seems? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. I think right now, as you're aware, our office is under investigation of the Office of Inspector General, but long story short, until we get those findings and with a forensic audit team that is in place, you know, I defer to coming out with seeing how they're reviewing our past financial practices. But the one thing that we wanted to do was make sure that all of the funds that are awarded through this body of Council, that we're using it in the most due diligent fashion by making sure that contracts are fully funded that we have budgetary authority for.
Okay. And I'm assuming going forward that the controls are now in place to prevent -- and I know you can't talk about what 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. happened already, but going forward, that the controls are in place to make sure that this doesn't happen again. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Absolutely. And we're looking forward to implementing any recommendations that the forensic audit team, along with the OIG, proposes to us.
Okay. Very good. That's my questioning for right now. I'll come back around on the second round. Thank you, Mr. President.
You might want to squeeze that in, because this will be the last round.
Oh, this is the last round. Never mind. Okay. So can you talk to us about the intervention services, particularly for children who are going through homelessness. A couple years ago I read an article in the New York Times 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and it said that -- I forget exactly how it was phrased, but it was akin to the highest number of those experiencing homelessness, the age of the highest number of those experiencing homelessness was like five and under. And so I'm wondering in terms of Philadelphia and our population, where do we stand in terms of young people and children? Because that early displacement, that early insecurity, unless like handled and dealt with, can carry through to a young person in other ways that we may see manifest in not doing well in school, dropping out of school, some of the crime and violence we see among some of our younger population. So all of these things, they don't just go away, as you know, with our young people. We see it pop up in other ways that they're acting out or that they are frustrated or there's this level of insecurity. So what kind of services do we provide? I know we provide a lot of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. different services, but like how intensive is it? Can you talk about that a little bit? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. Thanks for that question. Any young kid that is experiencing homelessness is traumatic. We work with our partners at DHS along with DBH to identify the appropriate level of services, but I would defer to my Deputy of Housing that can talk a little bit more of the integrals of what they're seeing in the housing programs. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: Thank you for that question. One of the first things we want to do is end the experience of homelessness as quickly as possible. And if we can prevent a family from coming into shelter in the first place, we want to do that with back rent, with rent going forward, with a security deposit to move elsewhere. We know those disruptions to a child's life are very challenging. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. We've been able to add a School District-funded staff member at intake to ensure that young children, school-age children are being connected right there before they come to shelter with anything they need, reconnection with school, uniforms, transportation, et cetera. And then from a housing case management perspective, it's really the case manager's role to get to know that family, to work with them through their housing needs, and to get them relocated in the community, connected to supports in the community as quickly as possible. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: And then I think another thing just to add as well, working with our partners with early intervention for children that are five and under as well to help those who are in shelter can get assessed, get the services that they need quicker, so rather than go through the system and not be served for that even when they get moved into community. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you all for being here and your testimony. Dave, real quick, I know that Shared Streets has been a committee that's been set up to deal with a lot of the questions and concerns that we're hearing that involve other City departments, some of our business partners, our non-profits. Are we planning on continuing that moving forward, and is that something that we could hopefully grow to be able to get the input from our surrounding partners? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Thank you for that question, Councilman Squilla, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and, again, thank you for your advocacy. Absolutely. I think that could be a game changer for Philadelphia, because it provides a roundtable where folks who traditionally don't work in this space have an opportunity to bring innovative ideas, bring attention. It addresses a number of issues. One, the well-being of a community. Again, as I stated, when you talk about Mayor Parker's goal around safer, cleaner, greener, economic opportunity for all and some of the quality-of-life issues, this provides us a gateway to address many of those issues with non-traditional stakeholders at the table, such as business leaders, folks like yourself, Councilman, who can bring a different perspective, service providers. We would love to be able to continue that conversation and grow it beyond what we have already done.
Thank 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you. That's great to hear. And mentioning that, there was a program that came out of those conversations, Text to Give or Share to Care, but it was getting right to a point I think where we were ready to implement it and we had some announcements. But where is that now and how can we continue to grow that? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. Absolutely. And you attended the event. We had an event with the partnership of the Loews Hotel where it was called Scan to Give on Giving Tuesday. The idea of that is to bring awareness around homeless issues and to make sure that we're introducing some of the systemic issues around homelessness to that. We have launched that event, and so we're looking forward to promoting that even more throughout the City of Philadelphia to get more people involved. Especially as we move to the warmer months where more tourism start to come, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we need to be able to show there's proven evidence process through our provider community that there are things that work, but it costs, and also not just by dollars, but your volunteer efforts is part of that.
And I think it's important because it was part of an education process, but also as well as awareness and raising money, where you could have people who say, all right, we have programs to help some of our unhoused population, we have places to go eat, we have all these things, and instead of sometimes -- people want to help. Most people have a heart and they see somebody out there struggling, how can they help, what can they do, and sometimes when they don't know what to do, they may do the wrong thing or make it difficult for us. So by getting this information out there, realizing that, hey, maybe there's -- a perfect opportunity was during this WrestleMania. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Like if you want to help folks, right, you want to be able to get them, please do not give money to people outside, but we have this program called Share to Give, or whatever it's called, that we could actually get those resources into our non-profits and our departments and our partners that are really doing the right thing to help people who are unhoused and get that information out there. If you're visiting for a convention or you're coming here to visit the City of Philadelphia, you see it in your hotels, you see it in your retail stores, right, you see it everywhere, and so you know how to help folks when you do see them. You say, you know what, I saw that, let me go to this app and let me donate. And so it's a way to send a message in a positive way and education through what they can do to help, because we know sometimes we have challenges with 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. folks who come there and maybe want to give out food and they create a mess and they're not working with those folks who are not engaging them in a way that provides social services around there. Sometimes that causes a challenge, but having an organized policy and a way to let people know how they could help I think is very helpful. And the last thing I'll say is the Same-Day Pay program that works with a lot of our programs, and we know CLIP and Mural Arts and others are a part of that, is do we see that too as a way to move forward to continue to grow that through our not only Office of Homeless Services but through our other partner departments to make sure we continue that opportunity? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Oh, absolutely. And the one thing I want to make very clear, Philadelphia has some of the best models that I've ever seen, and I've had the opportunity to travel to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. many different places. I understand the level of frustration when we see anyone experiencing homelessness. I personally take that seriously. What we need to figure out as we move forward is how do we right-size this system. We have every model there is. And so this is an opportunity to educate the public about that.
Thank you. Looking forward to working with you to continue those. Appreciate it.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Isaiah Thomas.
Good morning. Council President acknowledged that we had some young people here today, and part of the reason that they're here is to listen to testimony and advocate for more mental health support for young people. I listened to Councilmember 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Bass ask specifically about mental health services in support for families and children that's within your care. Can you just go back to that question and give us maybe a detailed answer, especially for the young people that's here today that came to advocate for more resources for families to receive mental health support. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Absolutely. And thank you for your advocacy for young people. I think the one thing that we have to do when we're addressing young people is to understand the language. Many times us in the academia world or the professional, quote/unquote, professional world don't speak the same language, so it's a cultural difference. And when we talk about trying to provide services for young people -- I have an 18-year-old son and I know throughout the COVID there were some challenges there, but for the young people that are here 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. today, the one thing that I will first say is find someone who you are comfortable with if you're struggling with any type of behavioral health challenges. I think with our partners at the Department of Behavioral Health that has really, really take some unique steps in terms of trauma care, we want to partner with them, but we also want to partner with the young people, how do we engage and do outreach to them so that we can deliver the adequate and the quality level of services that they necessarily and desire and need.
What do you offer right now? If I'm in one of your centers, I've experienced some trauma. I'm in one of your centers. What are my options? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Right now through mental health services, it's really at the Department of Behavioral Health IDS. We don't perform -- we don't 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. offer mental health services through the Office of Homeless Services. We work through our partners in doing that.
So if someone is in your facility, they're having a traumatic experience. They need help. What is the communication? How does the pipeline, what is the system? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. So we have our staff that are trained in mental health one-on-one that are located within the shelter. We also have fast case manager that is supported through the Department of Behavior Health. We try to make those connections through that way and facilitate services.
So I thought I was asking a softball question, but what I'll say is this, and I said this to the Council President. Today is frustrating. I've listened to -- I came to listen today, right? I'm really here because I want to do mental health stuff. I came to listen. We already knew that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. there was going to be some issues around spending, but your answers have not helped us. As someone who came in pretty neutral as it relates to this issue of homelessness, right, you have some Councilmembers who are clearly saying we have to give you money because the homeless problem is a serious issue and you have other Councilmembers saying why would we give you more money when you've clearly mismanaged money in the past and we can't trust that the money you're looking to spend is not data driven. I listened to Councilmember Young's question around security. It just sounds like you're free-styling. So at the end of the day -- I'll close out with this, Council President -- you put us in a very bad position. You put us in a very uncomfortable position. And the reality is is we all signed up for this job, right? We know we have to take tough votes and make tough decisions, but it's 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. not fair that we have to look at a department that's as important as yours, especially at a time like this, and decide whether or not we have to give you money because we're scared of how you're going to spend it or not spend it. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Councilmember Thomas. Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Council President. So I was just told by a friend of mine, who is a service provider, that it's taking you guys two months to essentially pay out on some of the contracts that you have with some of these small vendors. Can you tell us how your audit affects your service providers and their contracts and the timeliness of them being paid what is owed to them? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. I'll defer to our Deputy of Finance. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: The 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. direct connection between the audit and the fee to payments is that obviously due to obviously our crisis, any sort of -- any payments that come out of our office are to receive significantly more scrutiny than they did prior to that. So that is not 100 percent why, say, it would take two months for a specific provider, but that is something that we are experiencing, which is that things that are leaving our office are taking more time due to the enhanced scrutiny that they are receiving.
So can you tell us the average length of time between the moment your office receives an invoice and the moment that payment goes out to that service provider? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: That's information I would have to send to you separately. I don't have that offhand, but I will do so.
You can't estimate? I mean, if you're in charge of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. this particular process, you don't have an estimate on one that you may have seen in the past recently? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: It could be as quick as ten business days and, like I had said, more recently it's been longer than that. It could be 15, as many as 20.
In your permanent housing budget at Fiscal Year '24, it's about 1.3 million obligated for 100 new supportive housing units, and I guess the contractor is to be determined, but you spent, it looks like, 1.1 of that 1.3. Could you tell us who this money was spent with? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I'm not certain about that number. I know that we were allocated the 1.3 and for that purpose.
It's on of your budget, , closer to the bottom. To be determined, 100 new supportive housing units, right? And 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you're asking for an additional 1.8 -- I mean, 1.3 in FY -- in the same budget. So I'm just trying to figure out who received that $1.1 million? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: So some of those funds were used to address the $5 million projected deficit, but we were able to initiate new housing 10 subsidies in Fiscal '24 through our 11 partners at PMHCC providing assistance to 12 individuals with support from DBHIDS. 13
So out of 14 the 100 that you've asked for, you've 15 only been able to provide housing for 20 16 and still spent the majority of the 17 $1.3 million? 18 DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I 19 don't believe that number is accurate. 20
The number that's in this budget here is not accurate? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I don't believe that number is accurate.
The 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. number that you provided to us in your budget, this number is not accurate? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I would have to get back to you, Councilmember, because I know that we did not allocate that amount of funding for that purpose.
It says in here. So this is what -- DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I understand. I see it, and you are correct in saying that, but I would have to get you that information. I don't believe that number is correct.
Could you please provide us with the correct information so we can really assess? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Yes.
Thank you so much. Mr. President, I'm just going to yield at the moment.
Thank you, Member Young. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. The Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke.
I did want to come back to something I was going to ask earlier. I'm asking now. I want to move to the HOME-ARP plan, which seems like the longest lasting COVID era funds -- I want to go to the HOME American Rescue Plan dollars, which seems like the longest lasting COVID era funds that OHS will manage. The Office has stated that the primary goal for this 42 million stream is to rehab and develop new housing for living -- for people living without homes. So here's a rapid-fire round of questions on HOME-ARP and then I'll get off of it. First, I know the housing production goal is to increase the affordable housing stock in Philly by 10 percent. Can you give us an idea of how the boost would impact the daily operation of OHS's housing programs? 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Second, as OHS is entering the implementation phase of HOME-ARP, are there any early concerns or challenges in contracting? Hoping the money can be leveraged for as much housing as possible. Concerned about the new 8 housing units that Councilman Young just 9 named. 10 Lastly, OHS's testimony states 11 that the plan will be implemented this 12 year. Does that mean the production of 13 new housing will begin this year with 14 confidence that it will take place on the 15 72-month timeline stated in the report? 16 If you can answer those and then I'm 17 done. Thank you so, so much. 18 DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: Yeah. To 19 speak about the HOME-ARP, so we're 20 working in partnership with DHCD to award that money out to -- that has been dedicated for that. But about $5 million of that is for tenant-based rental assistance and social services. The majority of that money again is for 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. acquisition, development for low affordable housing for folks who are experiencing homelessness, but that is in partnership with DHCD.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson.
Can you just detail for the record what is the amount of the ARP, who is responsible -- can you detail for the record this ARP funding that you're referring to, who is responsible, and when did you receive the funding? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: I'll answer that. So we had to create a plan of how we would use the funds with the community. So we had an extensive community input process. We were just approved by HUD in November of '23 with the plan, which is on our website, and we're hoping with those funds, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. $23 million of it will be allocated towards acquisition and development, and we're hoping there will be 351 units over a 72-month period once the RFP process goes through. So we had -- it will be in stages, short term, medium and long term when we use those funds. And then in addition, as Dave had mentioned with the tenant-based rental assistance, we're hoping to have an additional 200 units from that. So there will be a total of 551 units in total. And then besides the acquisition and development, 12 percent of those funds, which is about 5 million, will go towards the tenant-based rental assistance, supportive services to help individuals and families obtain stable housing. In addition, 2.1 will go towards acquisition and development of non-congregate shelters. And then 3 percent, which is about 1.26 million, will help with non-profit capacity 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. building as well as operating in the community, and then administration costs too.
The Chair resumes time back to Councilmember O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to make sure I got clear, based off your testimony, does building begin this year for the new housing and can we expect it to kind of be along the 72-month timeline that had been laid out? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: So I think the projects that are shovel ready will start, but the longer term ones won't. But, yes, once that RFP process goes through with our partnerships, projects that have been identified and ready, they will start.
Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council President. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass, then last Councilmember Harrity and we'll wrap up.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. To the permanent housing, how many units did you actually build last year? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: How did we build it?
How many have you built out of that? Because -- well, let me just phrase it this way: With the numbers that my colleague is shooting out, being somebody who comes from the construction industry, all that money that we've spent in the last seven to eight years, roughly around 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a billion or so dollars, we could have built a lot of permanent housing with that money. You know, we need to start figuring out how we shelter people permanently, not temporarily. I'm just completely confused and this -- you got to see our frustrations, right? I mean, this is astronomical money that could have been spent for permanent housing to house some of these families. I just don't -- I would like to know what are the changes you're going to make to move forward in a way that we can house people permanently? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: We agree with you with housing people permanently. For the record, our office don't build permanent housing. We work with our partners at DHCD that has the responsibility of that. We also work with our partners at the Philadelphia Housing Authority to provide individuals and families the opportunity for shelters. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I think through our Landlord Engagement Unit, what we're doing is trying to engage landlords who has prospective property at an affordable rent so that we can do better planning of getting people to those sites. But we absolutely agree that more people should be in permanent housing.
Yeah. This whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. It's just unfathomable. I am lividly upset with what's going on here and the lack of concern, frankly. I don't feel it coming from you guys. You know, I believe that you were completely unprepared for this meeting. And I agree with my Leader, we definitely need to call you guys back to give you some time to actually think about your answers and figure out some real stuff for us, because what you're spouting now is not doing it. Thank you, Council President.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you, Member Harrity. We're wrapping up, and the Chair recognizes Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Council President. Again, thank you very, very much, and thank you to each of my colleagues, particularly those who extended their time to me as we continue to undertake my office's deep dive into the Office of Homeless Services. I do want to thank each of you for being here and for responding to the numerous requests for information that we have asked over the last months. But 18 I heard you say right-size, and I think that's what we're seeking to get to. We need to right-size this department. We don't know how to fully fund this department because you all have spent years entering into contracts that you didn't have money for, and you're operating without a clear set of standard 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. operating procedures, without clear oversight, without clear monitoring, without clear compliance. So we don't really know what it costs to operate this system, because you don't know what it really costs to operate this system at its best, fully functioning, helping the most amount of people. Then you say that you'll have to cut service because of lack of funding, which I completely disagree with. We went over the numbers, and as you see here, colleagues, from FY24 to FY25, there's only a decrease in $2 million for General Fund and Grants Revenue per the information that was provided by the Office of Homeless Services. Yet, in your budget documents and details, you are having most of the amount of people that you could service here in the City of Philadelphia. In addition to that, I just wanted to ask two very brief questions and I will end with this. If you could 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. detail for the record how much money you have brought in in grants last year. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: We brought in $96 million.
So you brought in $96 million in grants just last year? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Now, when those are awarded, it doesn't mean it's in that fiscal year. Some of it is federal fiscal year. Some of it is city fiscal year, but cumulatively, yes.
I'm sorry. For the record, if you could just detail, it's just grants? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Yeah. This is grants, federal and state.
All federal grants outside of your General Fund budget; is that correct? DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Yeah. Excluding General Fund, yes.
Thank you for that information. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And, finally, I have a very serious question that I could ask each person on your leadership team who is here, not just the people who are at the table. Are there any other members of your leadership team here? (Witness approached witness table.)
Who work directly in the Office of Homeless Services. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I don't work there, but I would like --
Only if you work in the Office of Homeless Services if you're in the senior leadership team. Mr. President, can they approach the table, please?
Sure. Yeah. May you please approach the table, please.
Is 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Bruce Johnson here? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: No. He's away on a family matter.
Okay. Thank you. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Mr. President, this will conclude my questions here. If we could start with the Director and we'll work our way down. If you could state your name and title for the record, and then I'll ask you a question. Then we'll go just one at a time, and this will conclude my questions. We can start with the Director and work our way down. State your name for the record and your title. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: David Holloman, Interim Executive Director for the City's Office of Homeless Services.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you. My last question, this will go to each of you. So I'll ask this question once. State your name for the record, your title, and then please respond to the question. Have you ever personally benefited from any finances from the Office of Homeless Services? Have you ever personally accepted or received any money from the City of Philadelphia or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the federal government that was money intended for the Office of Homeless Services and the work that your office does? Have you ever personally received any of those dollars? DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: I have never received any dollars for the Office of Homeless Services, from the Office of Homeless Services or any other state or any local that benefited me.
Thank you. Next. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
My name is Diana Rivera. I am the Contract Administrator for the Office of Homeless Services. I'm the Contract Administrator for the Office of Homeless Services and my name is Diana Rivera.
Yes. And please respond to the question that I asked of the Executive Director. That question will be for each person.
No, I have never gained any money or funds from any contractor or vendor or potential vendor for the Office of Homeless Services or for any other City office that I have worked at.
Hi. My name is Sabrenia Best-Morrison. I'm the Assistant Deputy Director of Facilities. And, no, I have never received any funds from any state or local government. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Hi. My name is Jerome Hill. I am the Director of Compliance. And, no, I have never received any funds or any type of payments.
Thank you so much. Next. DEPUTY DIRECTOR GONZALES: Hi. My name is Beth Gonzales. I'm Deputy Director of Policy, Planning and Performance. And, no, I have not received any funds from any federal, state or local dollars.
My name is Rochelle Rahim. I'm the Fiscal Officer at OHS. And, no, I have never personally received any funds from the state government, city 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. government, federal government.
Hello. My name is Ebony Williams, Director of Landlord Affairs. No, I have not received any funds, city, federal or any other thing. My paycheck was low funding. No. I'm just kidding.
Good morning. My name is Daiquiri Robinson. I'm the Director of Long-Term Housing, and I have not received any local, state or federal funds from the Office of Homeless Services.
Good afternoon. My name is Katima Smith. I am the HR Manager for the Office of Homeless Services. No, I have never received any 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. funds, state, federal or local.
Good afternoon. Sherylle Linton-Jones, Senior Director of Communications for the Office of Homeless Services. And the answer is no to all three.
Good afternoon. Fred Gigliotti, Director of Emergency Housing for the Office of Homeless Services. I have never received any funds from the City or state government that was supposed to go to the Office of Homeless Services.
Thank you very much. Next. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CANCELLIER: 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Roberta Cancellier, the Deputy Director for Housing Services, and I have not.
Thank you very much. DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: Peter Curran, the Deputy of Fiscal Contracts and Asset Management. I have never received any funding from the federal, state, local governments or any other source intended for the Office of Homeless Services.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for allowing us to get that information on the record if needed in the future. Thank you, Council President.
You're welcome. Final question, Councilwoman Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. I just have one question. You 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. all just mentioned receiving $96 million in grant dollars. How much philanthropic dollars have you all received, if any, and are there corporate private dollars that work in partnership with OHS, and if so, how much? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: I'm sorry. We have not received any philanthropic funds recently, like within the last, I'd say, two to three years.
When was the last time you received philanthropic dollars? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: We did receive two small grants from the Clinton Foundation.
How much? DEPUTY DIRECTOR CURRAN: From the Clinton Foundation. DIRECTOR HOLLOMAN: And for better accuracy, can we provide that to you in writing so that we can give you the accurate amount whether we received 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it in the last three years and from which entity that we received it from?
Yes. If you could -- Council President, if we can ask for the philanthropic dollars, corporate or private funding that they received over the course of the time between 2019 to the present, that would be awesome.
Absolutely. Please provide the information to the Chair. Seeing that there are no other questions, you are on notice for a callback, and obviously between now and that period of time, you should be able to provide the information requested of you today. And I know we have individuals from the Administration who is here as well, and so hopefully they'll make it an urgent process in terms of making sure we receive the information back. And we also know that this 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. particular department is under investigation, and so hopefully that process can be expedited as we address the decisions that need to be made regarding this particular budget so we aren't voting blindly on the budget with no outcomes on what things are going to look like in the future as well as, most importantly, the final outcomes of what actually happened in the past. With that being said, thank you very much. Ms. Loughead, will you please call up the next panel who will provide testimony together.
Yes. Dr. Frank Franklin, Interim Health Commissioner, and Dr. Jill Bowen, Commissioner of DBHIDS.
Members, you will have the opportunity to ask questions after you hear testimony from the Department of Public Health as well as the Department of Behavioral 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Health and Intellectual disAbilities. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
So we're going to ask that you state your name and title for the record and begin. I'm going to ask for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbilities to begin your testimony. I want to, first and foremost, thank Dr. Jill Bowen for her service to the City of Philadelphia. I want to also acknowledge soon-to-be interim leader, Dr. Marquita Washington, so I'm --
I'm sorry. Marquita Williams. It was a long morning. So congratulations. - - - (Applause.) - - -
Dr. Marquita Williams, looking forward. You got fans up there also clapping. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. We look forward to working with you as well in the capacity of Interim Commissioner. So Dr. Jill Bowen.
Thank you for announcing -- we were hoping that we would be able to announce today. So we're very excited about it.
Yes. I was wondering why she wasn't up here, but I'm going to let you go ahead and do what y'all do, the Administration. Go ahead.
This is your swan song, so keep passing it along. That's cool. But thank you, Dr. Jill Bowen.
Thank you. And I want to just say before I start, thank you to City Council President for the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. citation that recognized the Department's work, efforts, and achievements during my tenure. I really appreciate that's a full team effort and --
Before we get started, I just want to thank you and your team particularly around working with my team specifically addressing the issue of trauma and mental health as it relates to the issue of gun violence, right, and the vast variety of services and resources that y'all offer when it comes to addressing the mental health and trauma that our young people and their families are experiencing as it relates to the gun violence that we're seeing in the City of Philadelphia. I don't think people really recognize you got a lot of families and young people walking around with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of seeing people getting shot and murdered day in and day out. We know hurt people hurt people. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So I want to publicly acknowledge you and your team for just being a part of our roundtables and support of our efforts around that issue. Will you please begin your testimony.
Really appreciate your efforts on that as well. Good afternoon, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Dr. Jill Bowen, Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, DBHIDS. Joining me today is Dr. Tierra Pritchett, Deputy Commissioner of Administration, Finance and Quality, and Amanda David -- where is Amanda -- Chief Program Officer, Director of the Division of Behavioral Health. I am pleased to provide testimony for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services' Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget. Our mission at the Department 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services envisions a Philadelphia where every individual can achieve health, well-being, and self-determination. The mission of DBHIDS is to educate, strengthen, and serve individuals and communities so that all Philadelphians can thrive, enjoy improved quality of life, and benefit from City services that residents can see, touch, and feel. At the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, Fiscal Year '24 was a kickoff and expansion of strategy for many of our efforts and is being deepened further in Fiscal Year '25. DBHIDS has a priority vision that ensures that all of our efforts work collectively to address trauma, achieve equity, and engage community, encapsulated as TEC, T-E-C, for trauma, equity, and community. Through this lens, the Department has worked to revamp 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. operations so that system responses are trauma aware and equitable and do not in and of themselves add trauma when a person is already in distress. DBHIDS has worked to reduce behavioral health disparities and promote racial equity within BIPOC communities, and we have transformed systems and approaches to actively involve and empower communities, integrating the insights of community and faith-based leaders, providers, advocates, individuals, and families with lived experience, academicians, and community-based organizations into program development and operations at all levels. DBHIDS does this work in partnership with over 100 stakeholders. To address trauma, DBHIDS has utilized a multi-faceted approach, including creating an external stakeholder learning collaborative and subcommittees that provided multi-year recommendations, which are in various 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. stages of implementation. The subcommittees focused on trauma related to violence, the impact of trauma on children and families, prolonged trauma that people experience over time, secondary and vicarious trauma, and the intersections of trauma that can result when individuals and families interact with multiple safety net systems. Some of the recommendations and activities that we have already implemented in our recommendation-to-action approach that moves with urgency to stand up these recommended initiatives include distribution of behavioral health resource cards to children, families, and communities throughout the City, reaching over 50,000 households; expanded trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy, particularly in underserved areas; held focus groups with both perpetrators and survivors of gun 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. violence to understand early risks and then to use that information to enhance upstream services for today's at-risk youth; launched Trauma to Triumph, an initiative aimed at annually providing resources, support services, and opportunities for 100 youth living in high crime and high poverty areas. The community-based organizations have been selected and will be infusing resources and support services into the community in Fiscal Year '25.
To achieve equity, DBHIDS continued our DEI efforts to diversify the provider network, creating an open network at Community Behavioral Health for certain levels of care, supporting entry for small and mid-sized providers, establish the social determinants of Health Equity Unit to tackle disparities arising from systemic racism, and introduced the Forensic Equity Unit to address health-related needs of incarcerated individuals and those in the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. justice system. In addition, we hosted BIPOC provider focus groups to identify and break down barriers to entry into the provider network. DBHIDS convened external stakeholders and BIPOC community leaders to develop sustainable strategies to address the devastating impact of trauma and the substance crisis on Philadelphia's BIPOC communities, with the goal of making it easier to navigate the healthcare systems and increase the number of professionals with cultural humility and linguistic competence within the DBHIDS/CBH provider network. To engage community, DBHIDS strengthened partnerships with community-based organizations combatting gun violence and secured stable funding to bolster their infrastructure and address priority issues. Through the Community Wellness Engagement Unit, DBHIDS deployed teams of community wellness specialists with lived 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. experience, including peer counselors, recovery specialists, and autism peer specialists. CWEU engaged in nearly 300 community activities aiding over 7,500 individuals. And the Network of Neighbors, inclusive of community members trained to support and lead responses to stress, trauma, loss, and violence, responded to 135 requests related to children, gun violence, opioids, and suicide. In Fiscal Year '25, Community Engagement will intensify the collaboration strategy approach with all our City and community partners. During Engaging Males of Color Initiative, DBHIDS collaborated with First Person Arts to produce Trigger, a deeply impactful film highlighting the experiences of those affected by gun violence in Philadelphia and their healing arc. Nearly 3,000 individuals have seen this film at screenings through educational institutions and community organizations, with an additional 3,300 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. views via WHYY, and further screenings are planned in Fiscal Year '25 as well as a toolkit to support communities in their Trigger-screening activities. ReCAST, the Resilience in Communities After Stress and Trauma, which is a substance -- is a SAMHSA-funded initiative, specifically focuses on addressing the traumatic impact of community violence on youth. It has funded a total of 67 community-based and driven projects, the youth that provide safe spaces for promoting social and emotional well-being, youth leadership, intergenerational communication, and community pride, and continues into Fiscal Year '25. Our Faith and Spiritual Affairs Initiative is designed to empower faith communities to access behavioral health resources when needed. Clergy are available through the Philadelphia warm line for callers seeking faith-based 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. supports. DBHIDS will host its 17th Annual Faith and Spiritual Affairs Conference this year entitled Rising Above: Empowering Youth to Heal from Trauma and Violence. In addition to TEC, DBHIDS recognizes the vital role of addressing social determinants of health for comprehensive well-being and community success. In 2023, we piloted a program providing food, technology, and transportation to individuals who were receiving behavioral health treatment. The pilot affirmed the positive impact of addressing these needs, promoting food security, enabling access to telehealth and economic opportunities, and enhancing mobility for broader job prospects and social engagement.
That work has been incorporated into an on-site one-stop shop effort to connect to related services that will continue into Fiscal Year '25. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Through our Children's Cabinet, DBHIDS created a strategic framework that outlines a set of priorities to implement, focused on the distress that our children are experiencing in this post-pandemic era in light of the violence and substance crises that affect their everyday lives and recognizing the negative impact of social media. This resulted in the development of a social media toolkit, palm cards with useful approaches and how-to information, one designed for youth and one designed for parents so that they have the information they need to understand and navigate the dangers and find alternatives for social connectedness. The Children's Cabinet will continue to focus on children and schools and further the trauma work related to gun violence in Fiscal Year '25. DBHIDS, with tremendous help from this body, City Council, thank you, has transformed the behavioral health 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. crisis system. It looks nothing like it looked a few years ago. Between January '22 and February '24, nearly 153,000 calls were received by the Philadelphia Crisis Line, including 9-8-8, averaging 193 calls per day. There were nearly 3,000 warm transfers from 9-1-1 to 9-8-8. The Philadelphia Community Mobile Crisis Response Teams provide regionalized citywide coverage through four providers, managing teams that 14 operate 24/7. Preliminary results 15 reflect the success of this model, with 16 high ratings of satisfaction by those who 17 were served by the CMCRT and the majority 18 of crises resolved in the community. 19 With 302 numbers down and the 20 time needed for diverts from the CRC 21 reduced dramatically. Several other 22 cities and states have been reaching out to learn how they may develop similar approaches to Philadelphia's model. In addition to the expansion of 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Adult Community Mobile Crisis Response Teams, in Fiscal Year '25 DBHIDS will expand the number of longer term crisis intervention stabilization teams to provide up to six weeks of therapeutic intervention to individuals at risk of reemergence of crisis. And DBHIDS is also supporting the establishment of the first adult behavioral health urgent care center in Philadelphia, with the first center scheduled to open in early Fiscal Year as part of this continuum of 14 adult crisis services available to 15 Philadelphians. 16 Also an academic evaluation of 17 the crisis system transformation itself 18 has been procured and will begin in 19 Fiscal Year '25. 20 DBHIDS is also actively engaged 21 in developing an evidence-based model of 22 care for those with both behavioral 23 health and intellectual disability 24 challenges and continuing to work with 25 stakeholders trained in this 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. evidence-based model in Fiscal Year '25 and beyond. And as substance use disorder continues to be of grave concern in Philadelphia as well as in many other cities across the country, DBHIDS offers a comprehensive range of treatment and support services, including peer support, outpatient treatment, residential treatment, licensed recovery houses, and hospital-level treatment. This past year the Department has stood up an innovative ASAM, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Level 4 program tied to acute and post-acute medical care to shift the system so those who need intensive wound care treatment can also flow easily into substance use recovery, and this is continuing to expand in Fiscal Year '25. There has never been a model like this before. So far since almost a year, nearly 200 people were admitted to the program, who never would have gotten 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recovery services before, and a majority of them complete the program and continue their recovery.
And the MORS team, which Mobile Outreach and Recovery, provides linkages to recovery supports and substance treatment. This is critically important because the MORS team is an on-the-ground assessment team, which makes it easier to get into services and treatment directly from the street. And they've engaged over 2,400 individuals and facilitated 346 linkages to treatment. Homeless Outreach engaged over 8,000 unique individuals in 2023, connected nearly 5,000 people to services, tracking for follow up from the 2018 and 2019 encampment resolution 20 pilot. Of the 298 total individuals who were placed on the by-name list, 97 percent are no longer being seen or actively engaged with homeless outreach teams today in 2024. Only nine people from that 2018, 2019 pilot by name list 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have been seen on the streets throughout the City and only one in Kensington. This data is now available to the public on the DBHIDS website. I was looking for Councilmember Lozada. org/SDOH, click on the Outreach tab. And this data will be regularly updated monthly going forward and into Fiscal Year '25. DBHIDS also works closely with the First Judicial District's specialty court programs where individuals with behavioral health challenges may be diverted from a traditional trial track. This includes Veterans Court, AMP Court, Drug Treatment Court, and Mental Health Court. Our work is outlined in the TEC comprehensive plan. org/tec. In Fiscal Year '25, DBHIDS will continue, and I know they will because of all of these amazing people that are here 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with me today and of course the incomparable Dr. Marquita Williams. DBHIDS will continue to scale up our effective efforts as outlined in our TEC plan for Fiscal Year '25 and beyond. All of our partners contribute to these efforts. The support of City Council has been critical in helping to address the deep challenges to behavioral wellness and the trauma that has so widely impacted Philadelphians. We appreciate the ongoing support of Council and the opportunity to highlight the work of DBHIDS. My colleagues and I are happy to respond to questions at this time. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Dr. Frank Franklin.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, President Johnson and members of the City Council. I'm 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Dr. Frank Franklin, the Interim Health Commissioner for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Deputy Commissioner Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, Ryan Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief of staff, Sara Enes, and the division directors across the Department are joining me today. I am pleased to provide testimony on the Department of Public Health's Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget. The FY25 budget will continue to support our mission to protect and promote all Philadelphians' health and provide a safety net for people disproportionately impacted by societal factors that limit their access to healthcare and other resources necessary for optimal health and well-being. Given that you have my full testimony and my full written testimony, I will provide a high level summary. The proposed Fiscal Year 2025 General Fund budget totals $149 million, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. approximately -- well, let me go back. 149,276,661, a decrease of $4,459,659 from Fiscal Year 2024. The decrease is due primarily to one-time funding for pay-as-you-go capital support for health center infrastructure in Fiscal Year '24. The Department currently has 908 filled positions and requests 1,082 budgeted positions in FY25, an increase of one position over FY24. The growth is attributed to hiring additional staff for air pollution control. Some of the Department's accomplishments includes expanding dental and cervical cancer prevention services, convening a task force on housing, and supporting affordable housing among people with HIV. Since its launching in 2019, our Philadelphia Food and Justice Initiative has provided over $1.99 million in seed funding to 27 entrepreneurs and organizations to address food injustice and expand healthy 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. food access in neighborhoods that need it most. Twenty-five grantees are BIPOC owned or led, are woman owned or led. 5 The Department has advanced our 6 efforts in understanding and addressing 7 maternal mortality and morbidity by 8 advancing the nation's first severe 9 maternal morbidity surveillance program, 10 which utilizes hospital-level clinical 11 data to analyze severe maternal morbidity 12 trends in depth and identify public 13 health improvement opportunities. This 14 work that we are engaged in at the 15 Department aligns with the Mayor's 16 priorities of public safety and 17 well-being, economic opportunity, 18 housing, clean and green, and education. As we continue to engage from the pandemic and reimagine our new normal, the Health Department continues strengthening critical areas essential to public health services. For example, expanding our health center network promotes equitable access to primary care 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. services, pivoting our COVID-19 resource hubs into community-based public health resource hubs to support consistent avenues of community engagement, and enhancing the Department's capacity to build diverse and skilled workforce in alignment with our strategic and community health assessment priorities. Thank you, Council President and members of the City Council, for your continuing support of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and I'm happy to answer your questions.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon, Department of Public Health. In March of 2023, after meeting with hundreds of neighbors in Lower Northeast Philadelphia and having walked 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. entire neighborhoods in Oxford Circle and Lawncrest, I called an emergency meeting to address a serious concern in Oxford Circle and, that is, rats, large extensive number of rats in Oxford Circle. So, yes, Philadelphia, one of the things that was very important is that I asked the Public Health Department to come up with a massive campaign to address finding issues -- finding resolutions with this particular matter. I also asked the Public Health Department that they work on developing a comprehensive strategy that will utilize campaign work to notify residents, education work to help residents understand how to rid rats but, most importantly, to come to work with Vector Control to make sure that we find a way to get rid of where the rats originated from. And thus far, after that emergency meeting, there was a level of concern that was said to me that was going to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. happen. The emergency meeting took place, and then after that meeting, Dr. Palak had notified me that there was inspections that took place. Once the inspections took place, there was a summary of how many residents opened doors and so forth. However, following those inspections, there has not yet to be an extensive massive education campaign, massive solution-oriented campaign to resolve the issue with rats in Lower Northeast. My question here for you today for the Department of Public Health, if you lived in areas where rats were really, really, really inundating your neighborhood and you were a person, you would be highly concerned. So I'm concerned that of the $6 million that is allocated to environmental protection and so forth in your department, there are only six workers that are identified to work under Vector Control for this year. And the Mayor, having represented this 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. particular area, also is big on this clean and green initiative, and she's very much aware of this issue as well, to the point where if she would have known this was still going on, she herself would be disappointed. So what I'm telling you right now is that this department has to do better in terms of campaign work, education work, and resolve work. And what is the plan going forward to make sure that rats not only in Lower Northeast but other parts of the City of Philadelphia is reflected in this budget so that we can make sure that residents feel like this problem is being solved?
Thank you, Councilmember, for the question. Yes, absolutely, the Department agrees rats are an important issue, and I'm sure no 22 one in their neighborhood would like to be inundated with rats or any other rodents. I'm going to defer to my Deputy 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Commissioner, Dr. Palak Raval, to speak on this.
Good afternoon. Thank you for the question, Councilmember. I agree with you completely. We do have -- we did have those meetings, and what we have begun doing is a comprehensive -- what we used to do in the '70s -- and I was not working for the Department in the '70s, just for the record -- we had funding from the Centers for Disease Control to do what was called a comprehensive rodent survey, which involves the door-to-door knocking of individual residents as well as doing the educational campaigns. We even had a mystery rat, a person that dressed up as a rat to do education and outreach. Where we are is, we would like to implement that and reinvigorate that program. We can do it with the funding that we have. The challenge we're having is that our -- the staff that we need to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. conduct that work are titles called field investigators and Vector Control workers. We have been working with our Office of Human Resources, because quite often we end up interviewing people from the service rep list and people that have applied for service rep positions, when they hear that they need to go ahead and go out in the field and deal with rats, they have a tendency of not wanting those jobs. So we are -- we've worked with OHR to highlight that field investigator position, and we're actively working to recruit the staff and to fill the vacancies.
Not to cut you off, I just want to say really quickly, because my time is short, that to me this is a promise of a plan. It's almost like -- these rats are in Germantown as well, right? It's around other parts of the City of Philadelphia, I've read. And I feel like for us not to have -- I just want to get you on the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. record as saying like is this on a daily radar for you? Because it's on a daily radar for all of the residents in Northeast and some of the parts in the City of Philadelphia, and I feel like it's being ignored, right? Not ignored, but you're not making this a huge priority in your department, and for me, I need to see a little bit more off of your testimony as well as budget to kind of reflect the needs that are needed to solve this problem.
Councilmember, I'd be more than happy to share the rodent pilot survey plan that we're putting together. Once Dr. Franklin and the team looks it over, we'd be happy to share it with your office so that they're well aware of what our outreach plan is going to be, and then we can begin moving forward. As I mentioned, we're actively working to fill our vacancies. Vector Control is allocated 23 positions. We 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have multiple vacancies associated specifically with the work that's done for field investigators and our Vector Control operators. So we will gladly share that plan with you and your office, and then we can, with your assistance, maybe come up with innovative ways of filling those vacancies and making sure we have a significant impact. I know some of the staff have come out, and the blocks that were identified on Oxford Circle, there was treatment provided, but would love the opportunity to also have community meetings so that residents know that they can trust our staff as they're coming to the door to address the rodent control and the rat issue specifically.
Thank you, Chair. I just don't want the Department of Public Health competing with the Homeless Service Department as 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. an inefficient department. So I just want to make sure y'all keep working. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Phillips. I agree with you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Bass.
How's everybody doing? So I want to start with the Health Department and I wanted to start -- just today Mayor Parker announced the new Office of Business Services, and she did it on North 22nd Street, which was fantastic, in my district, and just talked about how much easier it will be to start a restaurant-related business. But in thinking about restaurants, their opening, the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. licensing, one of the things that has been of great concern to me -- and, Dr. Nelson, I know you know this very well -- is stop-and-go's and the lack of enforcement from the Health Department related to stop-and-go's. And even to my surprise, because these folks operate with a restaurant license, that there are no cleanliness standards that seem to be enforced by the Health Department. I've been in many stop-and-go's with many different Health Department staff and pointed out this and pointed out that and what would be clear signals to me not too eat from this place, you know, dirty cobwebs and cobwebs in general and dirty floors and all kinds of things, and not really seeing any sort of response from the Health Department that says, you know, red flag, this is a problem, this location is a problem. So I'd like to hear some sort of response on like are y'all going to make this better? Is it a priority? Is 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it not a priority? I'm just trying to find out like is it just me or like is the Health Department okay with this? Because it seems like we are. It seems like the Health Department is. I'm not okay with it. Because it's been a long time.
Absolutely it's a priority for us, Councilmember Bass. I'll defer to Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, who oversees that area for the Department.
Thank you, Councilmember. And, yes, we've been out to many a stop-and-go's or nuisance establishments, and absolutely. So the Health Department, we conduct food inspections that are a 54-point food inspection investigation. The top 27 items are risk factors. The items that you're -- and I want to -- sorry my back is to you --
-- while I'm talking on the microphone. So when our staff conduct these inspections, the risk factor violations are those violations that actually cause food-borne illness and food safety impacts. Those items could be anything from improper handwashing to actually not having certified food safety handlers, et cetera. The items that involve cleanliness issues, they pertain more to good retail practices, and the Councilmember is aware that a lot of the stop-and-go's, quote/unquote, have restaurant licenses, but they don't have enough food. They're not carrying on an actual food-handling procedure and process, which lends to them getting the lower retail category violations. We also count the number of seats, and we work with our Department of Licenses and Inspections --
I'm sorry. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I don't want to cut you off, but I know my time is limited. But in terms of the number of seats -- and you know because we've been out together. And so we'll walk into a place. So when we say the spirit of the law is that they're supposed to seat 30 to be able to have a restaurant license. And so someone will stack up 30 folding chairs and say there's my 30 chairs, even though there's absolutely no square footage for you to open up all 30 of those chairs. And so the Health Department, just in my opinion, has a duty and an obligation that like this doesn't fit the spirit of the law and so, therefore, we have to do something about it.
It's been years. We've been on this since 2017. I'm just saying.
No. The law has been on the books and the licenses 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. are issued by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. When it comes to -- we can cease operate food establishments that are posing an imminent health hazard or imminent health risk.
So what does it require for you all to pull a license of an establishment that is not following the spirit of the law? What does it require from the Health Department?
Sure. So we do not have the authority to revoke a food license. That is the Department of License and Inspections. We work with them. We categorize and count the seats. We also work with the Liquor Control Board and Liquor Control Enforcement. As the Councilmember is aware, we do the joint visits with them.
In this realm -- sorry. In this realm, they have more authority, and that is why we make 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. referrals and we work with them to do joint inspections to try to go ahead and cease operate the establishments that may not be posing a food safety risk because they don't necessarily have an actual food operation.
So what authority does the Health Department have to close a business that's operating poorly? Because -- and I'll just tell you this, and we had a conversation just last week, me and the Commissioner, new Director, and welcome aboard. We had a conversation just last week about a minority-owned establishment, restaurant, that had some issues and it was like clear that they have to operate in a particular fashion. They have to be above board. They have to have -- you can't have all of these different conditions that could be problematic, but it almost feels as if there are some rules for some businesses and other establishments can be as dirty as they 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. want to be and there is no enforcement. So I'm trying to find out what level of -- or what kind of tools do you have in your toolbox that can help us when it comes to the enforcement that's necessary from these specific types of businesses that we know are skirting the spirit of the law?
Absolutely. So currently the tools that we have in our toolbox are immediate cease operations, and then we also can take the establishment to Common Pleas Court if they are a multiple repeat offender. The establishment in question that you're speaking of, Dr. Franklin did reach out. That establishment had mice. It had lack of hot water and a host of other risk factor violations.
Yes. And, listen, everybody has got to play by the same rules, but I'm saying -- and so not to excuse anybody, but at the same time, it does feel heavy handed when it comes 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to particular businesses versus other businesses, because like I said, you and I have been out. We've been to -- and I don't want to call out any in particular, but you and I went on a tour. I'll just say it's on Hunting Park Avenue, and it was atrocious.
Call that jawn out so I don't go there and get something to eat.
It was Hoagie City. It was a Hoagie City on 2244 West Hunting Park Avenue. But it was horrible. And they had built their own walls. They had done their own construction. They had -- it was just horrible. And when we asked for -- they had put in like a little -- well, I don't want to go into the whole thing, but when we asked for enforcement, I don't believe, and you correct me if I'm wrong, that one ticket was issued. There was another stop-and-go that we went to on Germantown Avenue 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. right after that, Germantown and I want to say Butler or Pike, a stop-and-go right there, and they had almost no food. I think the food that they had was like their lunch, which they produced as the food. Not one ticket issued from the Health Department, and it's kind of like when are we going to be able to do something? Do you have any tools? Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree. Maybe I should call L&I back and talk to them a little more extensively about this.
I think that, Councilmember, when it concerns liquor and alcohol, which these stop-and-go's are, because there is cross-jurisdictional authority between us, the Liquor Control Enforcement Board, the Liquor Control Board, and Licenses and Inspections, it would -- and there's a Nuisance Committee that stop-and-go's fall under that we have meetings with 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with the Law Department and we have strategies to address these issues. What happens when we have a place that has a restaurant license but no food, we cite them and we share that information with the Liquor Control Enforcement team, Liquor Control Board, because they then have the authority to be able to get rid of that liquor license. We can only cite the food safety issues. We can cite if they have mice, if they have pests, if they're unclean. We can cite all of those things, but in order for us to immediately cease operation -- cease operate an establishment, the violation has to be of an imminent health hazard.
There has to be a level -- and I know I'm over time, Mr. President, but I'll just say this in closing. There has to be a level or a sense of urgency from all of the departments, whether it's L&I or the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Health Department or LCB, to say the operation here is unacceptable and it is a nuisance to the business, because when we look at where a lot of our shootings, a lot of our fights and all kinds of altercations and things happen, you know, they happen a lot of the time inside or outside of these very establishments. We have to park police cars, which infuriates me, we have to park a police car to guard a stop-and-go, which is the source of the foolishness in the neighborhood in the first place. So I know my time is up. I'll come back around, Mr. President.
Councilmember, I will just say this for the record: We are working with our partners. We just recently had meetings with L&I, LCB, Liquor Control Enforcement. We've also included the Commerce Department and the Law Department, because we understand -- and PPD. We understand that when we do this, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we have to do it well. We know that PPD can arrest a person, but if we close that establishment down, even for a few days, we interrupt the pattern and can have a significant impact on the health and well-being. So I'd be more than happy, you know, Dr. Franklin, through the Budget Office, we can share more details with you.
Dr. Nelson, we've been talking for like seven years now.
And if it was under the authority that we had, you know, it -- but we don't have the authority for liquor control and those things.
Just a sense of urgency. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. I just have a question, though. Even though it may not be under your authority, did y'all have like maybe an inter-task force with the individuals with the authority and kind of all collaborate together?
We do, President Johnson. We do. The Law Department has a Nuisance Committee that Kristin Bray chairs, and we all get together on a monthly basis, but we also do sweeps with our PPD, L&I partners, Liquor Control Board, and Liquor Control Enforcement. Every once in a while we also include Councilmembers. Councilmember Gilmore Richardson has gone out with us. Councilmember Sanchez had gone out. Councilmember Bass had --
Well, this is an ongoing task force, so intergovernmental collaboration. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
It is an ongoing task force, yep. And we have the list of the bad actors and we go through each one, and then we come up with a strategy so that we're all working collaboratively together to address the issue. And when we go to do a SWEEP cert, it's all of us on the same beat that are walking and issuing the cease operations and making an impact.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes the Chair of Health and Human Services, Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for being here. These are very big departments who do very important work for our city, so I have a lot of questions and I'm going to try to phrase them as shortly as possible, succinctly. Do we have any preliminary 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. analysis on the Joy Bank program? I'm particularly interested in the impact of doulas and if expansion of this program is necessary.
Thank you for that question, Councilmember. That program sits with the Division of Maternal and Child Family Health, and I'll bring the Director, Dr. Stacey Kallem, to give you feedback on that. (Witness approached witness table.)
Hello. I am Dr. Stacey Kallem, the Director of Maternal, Child, Family Health. Thank you for that question. The Philly Joy Bank is our guaranteed income and pregnancy pilot. We do not have data yet, because it actually hasn't launched. We're set to launch tentatively June 22nd, and we have contracting with Drexel University, who will be doing a really rigorous evaluation. So as we have data, we'll 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. certainly come back and share it.
And January -- when did you say it's going to start?
No. It should be starting in June, like in a month and a half.
Understood. All right. Thank you for that. We look forward to any updates on that and any recommendations around how that money really made an impact. We would love to see that. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Second question is about the status of the health centers in Northeast Philadelphia that are supposed to be -- I don't know what the status is, so I don't know what they're supposed to be, if someone could update me on that.
Thank you, Councilmember. My Chief of Staff, Sara Enes, is overseeing that project and she'll provide you with the input. (Witness approached witness table.)
Thank you so much for that question. We are in the process of planning for two health centers in the Lower Northeast. One is scheduled to be set at the Frankford Transportation Center. It's part of an in-fill development with the Frankford CDC. The site will contain the health center, a grocery store, and some mixed-income housing. Currently on the health centers end, we are in the concept design phase. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So we finished our programming and we're doing concept design, moving into the next stage of the design very shortly. That project with the Frankford CDC, they are waiting. They have applied for and are anticipating notification about their funding sometime in the fall. So a timeline for establishment of the construction will be set at that time. The second site is currently scheduled for the campus of Friends Hospital. We just finished a very lengthy community engagement process with Councilmember Lozada and we hosted a series of community meetings throughout neighborhoods in the Northeast to obtain feedback and input as to the location, needs, you know, demand. And so right now we are -- that just concluded about a week and a half ago maybe, two weeks ago. We are preparing our response to comments document. That will go out to everyone who signed in so that we can make sure we've answered all questions. And then 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. zoning -- decisions related to zoning will come shortly hopefully thereafter.
So the first one is slated for September of this year for --
Well, we don't have -- so currently there is no 9 construction schedule for either site. The Frankford site is, we're waiting on a decision related to funding for the entire project.
I am not sure. I know that the Frankford CDC applied for LIHTC funding and some other tax credits. So that -- the actual development of that project is based on that funding. For the health center's portion, we do have our funding to build out the internal piece of the health center, but the remainder of the building is the Frankford CDC.
And do 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you have a CDC partner for the other location or is it just all you?
So you would have a faster way -- once your zoning was done, you would have a faster way to put it into action?
Okay. Another question, which is for Dr. Palak, I would think. Do you have a role in the contract negotiation or renewal of the Covanta incinerator in Chester, which has a deeply problematic impact, one of the worst examples of environmental racism in the country, and I just wondered what the Public Health Department's role is in that.
So we do not have necessarily a direct role, but we're working with our Office of Sustainability extensively to -- pollution is something, it doesn't stay on the county boundaries. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
It depends on which way the wind is blowing. So we are working through our Office of Sustainability to advocate for what is needed regarding that incinerator.
So speaking about working with them, do you recommend for them how we dispose of our trash in the most equitable and healthful manner? Your office has some oversight on that or if they don't, should they?
So the way that we handle trash in our city is done with the Streets Department. We are working with groups like Circular Philadelphia and others. We hired when I became -- we hired an Environmental Justice Coordinator that is working and focusing on the issues associated with trash and how we equitably distribute the environmental bads while we all benefit 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. from the environmental goods. So we are working on that. We just met with Circular Philadelphia and Sustainability and a handful of other groups, including the Streets Department, to figure out what are things that we can do in terms of the overall trash streamline, and while we do not have a regulatory authority over it, how can we be a supportive partner from the Health Department.
Yes. I hope you have a sizable influence in that space, because something can be technically great on one end, but if you don't have the health impact integrated in our responses across the City for all things, not just trash, but I know that's a lot of work for the Department of Public Health, but we need to really look at what healthy Philadelphia looks like and to have research and your presence in these spaces, and whatever needs to happen, we should talk about how to make 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. sure you have a front seat in these spaces.
I appreciate that, and, you know, the trash issues directly relate to the rodent issue and the rat issues that Councilmember Phillips was bringing up. So it's all connected, interwoven, and wherever we have the opportunity to interject, we will absolutely interject and advocate for those things that are better for our city.
Thank you. For your part of Public Health, I'll have my remaining questions sent by e-mail. I would like to switch to Department of Behavioral Health and I have some questions around your Mobile Crisis Teams. Dr. Bowen, thank you for your service. I know the hand-over will be very warm, and I appreciate everything you've done for our city. I wanted to know about the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. response times, because we got some feedback from some advocacy groups around some problematic time spans in that area.
So thank you for that. We've been working really closely with the advocacy partners. Our goal is to get response time down to 30 minutes, which is not even heard of in the field. The average is more like 45 to an hour, and we are there. We're about an hour. We are building those. With the support of City Council, we have been building bridge teams, and that is for teams that will sort of double the capacity during the high volume times, and our main goal there is to reduce that response time. I just want to say to keep in mind that the majority of the calls that come into 9-8-8, what happens when you call into 9-8-8, quite different than what happens at 9-1-1, which is more of a relay. 9-8-8 is an intervention. It's actually a therapeutic intervention, and 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. most of the crises get resolved through that. So that's actually immediate response.
I'm sorry to interrupt. Time is short. The 9-8-8, if it gets tracked from 9-1-1 to 9-8-8 or there's a direct call to 9-8-8 and it can also be tracked from 9-1-1; am I correct in that?
So we have Philadelphia Crisis Line workers who are the ones who, people at the 9-8-8 call center, are also embedded at 9-1-1. The call comes into 9-1-1. They can shift the call to 9-8-8 if in fact it's appropriate for a 9-8-8. But the majority of the calls that come in from wherever they come in are actually managed through the PCL intervention, and it's about 10 percent of the time when a call needs to be sent -- it's the same group that actually dispatches, which is one of the beauties of the -- it's why it's a model program, because it all 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. happens in the same space, which actually reduces any kind of wait time. So it's not that the person hasn't had an intervention, like just sitting there without any intervention before the team gets out there, but the time is about an hour and we'd like to cut that down to 45 minutes.
Well, in the field it's not that long a time, but it is too long in reality. We don't want it to take that long. When we do the reviews from the people who have received the services, they actually give us very high marks in terms of things like it came timely, probably because they're on the phone with someone throughout that, but they say the responses are very good. It's a very positive response from the folks. But we agree with the advocates. I mean, we work with them. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. We have -- particularly Treatment not Trauma is a very excellent group that has been really advocating for the highest quality crisis system possible, and we have representation from them on our advisory board and we work closely and actually credit them with a lot of advancements that we have made, because they have very good ideas, and it's a social work group, but other advocates too. So we agree, which is why we are building those bridge teams.
Council President, I'll hold my questions for the second round. Thank you so much.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. Hello, everyone. My first question is for the Department of Behavioral Health. Are there any 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. affordable mental health programs or resources that residents living in the City of Philadelphia can access without health insurance?
So the Department of Behavioral Health covers for uninsured and underinsured. So treatment is provided through the grant money that we get from the state and feds. You probably -- I know we've talked about this, but 98 percent of our funding comes through those kinds of grant monies through the state and the Medicaid dollars through the feds and state. But you're talking people who are uninsured and, yes, that's what the programs and the treatment is all covered through the Department on the City side for people who are uninsured.
Okay. And for the Department of Health, how can we -- how can the City's health centers be expanded to include more services and refer specialists, and how effective is 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the Injury Prevention Program and what approaches are being used to reduce gun violence?
Thank you for the question, Councilmember. Regarding the services at the health centers, we actually have had opportunity this year, past fiscal year, to expand a lot of the services there, and I mentioned a couple in terms of cancer prevention services, also the opportunity to build two new health centers. And the second question was on injury?
Yeah. It's on the how effective is the Injury Prevention Program and what approaches are being used to reduce gun violence?
Most of our involvement in ending gun violence at the Health Department has been through our CBI programs and our hospital-based intervention programs. We work closely with those two programs as well as -- let 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. me get this for you so I can make sure I have it right. Yes, the Hospital Violence Intervention Program, the coordinated Community Violence Interruption Program, and the community-based diversion support for youth with firearm offenses. The goal in Fiscal Year '25 is to sort of work with both of those programs, particularly HCVI as well as HVIP to hopefully coordinate and integrate those services a little bit better, because both programs have assets that they could benefit from if we can sort of coordinate and integrate some of their work and eliminate the opportunity from working in more isolation.
All right. Thank you. That's all I got for now, Council President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. I'll stay right there with Public Health for a second. On the question of the Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Program, I wanted to learn more about it. Are those new programs -- I'm a newbie. Please forgive me. Are those new programs or changes to existing programs, and how would Philadelphia's youth access these? Obviously this is something I'm asking in light of gun violence prevention.
Yeah. I was just saying how does Philadelphia's youth access these programs and what are the partnerships necessary to maximize their access? I'm asking this question in light of gun violence prevention.
Okay. Actually 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the Hospital Violence Interruption Program and the Community Violence Interruption Coalition have been around for some years. I don't have the exact date, but I could call up one of my directors to sort of give me the exact date when they were started with the Department. As far as their access to -- for youth to be able to access them, we work with our partners. A lot of the individuals who are with CBI and HVIP are actually on the ground.
Okay. That's fine. I wanted to recognize the critical role DBH plays.
Just for the record, my directors came and reminded me, we also have the Youth Health Corps, which is another route for --
Yes. To access 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that work or to access prevention services.
Got it. Thank you very much. So the Public Health Department plays a major role in providing a safety net for Philadelphians who otherwise can't access basic healthcare. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
We know regular access to primary care is key to keeping folks healthy and preventing medical emergencies that can devastate families, both medically and financially. From your budget testimony, we know that there are plans to expand critical services to the City's health centers, especially for mental health and substance use disorders. You have also named that service delivery has been negatively impacted by staffing shortages. What, in your estimation, are 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. causing the actual staffing shortages and how can we help address this issue?
Councilmember, I'm sorry. I'm having a problem getting the last part of what you were saying.
What's causing the staffing shortages and how can we help address this particular issue?
Okay. In large, a lot of the staffing shortages in the Health Department or the Ambulatory Health Services, that division, is in competition with a lot of different players across the City for critical staff. It's important for the Health Department to remain competitive. We work with our partners in HR to recruit, OHR as well as the Health Department HR, but I'm going to also bring up -- well, Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson can speak to some 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of that, also the Director of Ambulatory Health Services who can expand on that, if you'd like. Doctor.
Sure. Thank you, Dr. Franklin. So one of my responsibilities, I'm also over our Health HR division for the Health Department. What we did with the Office of Human Resources centrally is, we looked at bands of salaries. So we looked at what are the comparable salaries that nurses receive, that medical assistants receive, that medical clerks receive, and did a comparison with our current job specifications with Civil Service, because those salaries had not been raised in years and years and years. When we did that assessment and did the comparison, we realized that we needed to go ahead and raise salaries. We also realized that we needed to create specifications. A lot of the feeder series because of the pandemic for 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. entry-level clerical positions have been the service rep list. A service rep is not as qualified to address with a rodent issue as they would be to deal with a medical chart, so we created -- we worked with our Ambulatory Health Services, our OHR, and our Health HR to create a medical clerk job spec and a senior medical clerk job spec. We also reached out to the unions. District Council 33 Local 488 represents those folks, so we made sure they were on board and okay with us and the language of this job specifications. I'm happy to report those jobs, they were finally approved through the Ad Board and they're being announced for filling of those vacancies. So those are the things we've been doing.
Thank you very, very much. Are mental health and substance use services available at all City health centers right now? 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
To my knowledge, yes. We have a mental health counselor at all the City health centers.
Fabulous. I know DBH is busy building out two new health centers in Northeast Philly. Will mental health and substance use services be offered at those new facilities as well?
Mental health services will be offered there as well or behavioral health services.
But not full behavioral health services, because they are not necessarily behavioral health clinics, but we do have behavioral health counselors at each of the health centers.
Okay. Thank you. I'll come back around. Thank you.
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Rue Landau.
It's all good. First questions are for DBHIDS. Thank you, Dr. Bowen. Congratulations on your move.
So as the City is expected to move people experiencing homelessness with substance use disorder into treatment, I want to know more about the resources that currently exist and how we plan to expand them to meet the needs. I've asked a lot of people these questions. No one can answer it, from non-profits to people on the ground, and all signs point to DBHIDS. So if it's okay with you all, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm going to ask --
Not only can we, but we have. So we increased by 200 beds in the system for residential rehab. We just completed that 200 in 2023, so at the end of 2023. We increased our IOP programs, four new programs, that can serve 30 people each. We increased our MORS team --
Can I pause you for a second, because I don't know what the --
No. I don't know what the baseline is for the increase. So I'm going to rattle off my questions and would love to get the answers. We can slowly go back to them, but the first is, how many people in Philadelphia are in need of inpatient and 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. outpatient treatment services and what are their needs? Is it drug treatment, mental health care, wound care, all three? How many beds are currently available? How many exist and how many are available, free and available, and has the City done a comprehensive bed utilization study? What are the requirements for the available beds? For example, are there barriers to entry if the person is actively using drugs? Can they smoke cigarettes? Are there barriers to wound care? If they cannot be actively using drugs to come into a facility, how much time do they have to wait through withdrawal before being assigned a bed? What resources will be available to them during that withdrawal period? If there are not enough beds available, where are people being placed currently? If you expect an increase in patients coming into treatment, what 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. facilities will be utilized? What's the current plan to address the gap between the number of people who may be receiving treatment in the coming weeks and the long-term efforts to increase capacity? What services are provided in these facilities? Mental health care, wound care? How long do patients typically stay in inpatient treatment and what is the stay length based on? Is there any follow-up upon discharge? How do you ensure follow-up? What housing is connected to treatment and for how long are housing supports available? And then, finally, how are people assigned to outpatient slots? What are services -- what other services are provided with outpatient, like mental health care, healthcare assistance with benefits? How do the outpatient clinics keep track of their consumers to ensure they come back? Thank you.
So you want to know 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. about the entire system. That's good. That's okay.
The entire system. And I appreciate the increase in 200 beds, but I don't know the baseline.
Okay. So we have -- so first I'm going to talk to you about substance beds, because that has been the focus and -- first of all, we have capacity in our bed base system, just so that I say that, right? Some of that is because we've built it in anticipation of increases, but we do have capacity. The number of beds in our substance system is 1,874. On any given day, there are vacancies. I even know today's. There are 109 beds available today in our substance system. That can change hour to hour, right? We are -- we do have a treatment access website on CBH's website. We have a place where it gets 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. upgraded like three times a week, but we are building a bed registry to make that a much more dynamic, active system. As far as outpatient and flow from inpatient to outpatient, so that's all tracked as part of state responsibility, our responsibility to the state. So we know that whether people are -- what percentage of people like make it from like an inpatient to outpatient. We put things in place to try to make that as effective as possible. These are all different types of warm handoffs you're talking about really as you flow through the continuum, and we make connections between different parts of the system. For example, I know that like Amanda David and Andy Devos, who is in here -- hello, Andy -- have been working very closely in anticipation of needing to have faster flow from one part of the system to the other in the event that more people are going to be coming into 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the system, working between the CRCs, which are the entry points, Crisis Response Center entry points, and the substance programs, the residential bed programs, to make sure that they're communicating with each other as well as possible so there's no delays in getting people into the treatment service. So one of the problems is that you do not want any delay in there or any barriers. There isn't a barrier to coming into -- tobacco is not a barrier. We removed that a couple years ago. There's no barrier. I'm getting good help here. As far as, yes, individuals are matched with an outpatient treatment provider before they leave the service. So those connections are made. Whether it's mental health or substance use, those connections are made beforehand. I think it's really important when you think about treatment -- let's talk about substance, because that's been 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a lot of the focus of this -- that you don't just think about bed base, because levels of care are based on medical necessity and you need to be able to use this very robust system of IOP, or intensive outpatient treatment, that's what IOP is, or outpatient treatment even if you are, let's say, connected in a shelter. You heard some challenges, mental health challenges. We have housing specifically for people with substance, transitional, we have safe havens, we have recovery houses. Some are more low barrier, because you're talking about, well, what if they come in and they're not ready. Well, there's still access for folks. The connection, though, to outpatient treatment is really, really important. We have built some programs just this year also because of the intense need and because we take accountability, we take accountability 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for the fact that it's still really not okay in Kensington. It's not. And it's not okay for the people that live there, and what we need to do is help people to come off the street. We've been doing that, always been doing that. What we did was, we added things that broke down the barriers. Wounds became a significant barrier to getting into rehab. We initiated the first ever licensed wound care van in the Commonwealth. We now have two of them out there, and they can clear someone so they can get into treatment quickly off the street.
We also created the first ever connection between the Level 4 ASAM, which is your most complex level of rehab, and they can take care of the wounds now there even if they went in for like hospital-level surgical necessity on the medical side, and they can now have their -- they can move into rehab even if they have an IV line still in or a PICC 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. line still in. That's not been done before, and that broke down so much stigma, I can't even tell you. But we have put in -- and the MORS team that I was mentioning before. Anything that gets people into the system -- we have capacity in the system. What we need is good flow into the system. We also just want to say one more thing, which is that we also have an overflow plan to be able to handle surge.
Thank you for that. I would want to submit these questions to get a couple more particulars, but the one question that wasn't answered is, what's the current need on the ground? So we have 1,874 beds with 109 available today at this moment. What's the need on the ground? If the need on the ground is 1,000 more people, we can't provide them beds.
Okay. So this brings me to the new publicly available data that's up, which shows you and shows 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the public what is happening in Kensington in terms of who -- the numbers of people that Homeless Outreach is connecting with. Currently it's about 675 people. We know a fair amount about them. We know that percent of them 8 are chronically homeless by HUD's 9 definition, and we know that 61 percent 10 of them are newer to the area. 11 We know that we connect up and 12 can get certain percentages of them to 13 come in. If the question is what if they 14 all were brought in, right, would we be 15 able to manage that influx. That 16 depends -- so for now we have empty beds 17 and we have also slots, outpatient slots 18 available. So there is capacity in the 19 system, but that's why we have an 20 overflow plan. It's utilizing 21 out-of-network network to be able to expand, and we could expand also within the providers that we currently have. So there is capacity to expand further if we needed to, but it's also 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. really important to use the full continuum of care and to also recognize that there is a limit for how long they stay in one level. And so you have to really utilize the whole range of services that are available. I heard the dinging. I heard it.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. First, let me say thank you to my partners at the Health Department for your willingness to participate in multiple community meetings to ensure that community residents were able to express their concerns or their support for the much-needed health centers in the 19124 zip code. I look forward to the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. fact sheet, the information sheet being shared out with everyone who participated and those who didn't have an opportunity to come to any of the meetings, but we want to make sure that folks feel like their contributions were heard, valued, and respected, and I appreciate your willingness to do that. Thank you so much for that. Every time I hear from DBHIDS, I get severe anxiety, because what we say and what we are doing or what people are feeling on the ground to me are two different things. And we've had this conversation. I've met with you and your team multiple times. You know, I'm going to just start off with the beds conversation, right? We've talked about the need for beds. Dr. Bowen, you've said many times that we have enough beds. I'm still trying to figure out where are the beds and what are the beds and how are they classified and all of that. And we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. talked -- I talked to you guys about the way we're doing things currently and how we have to find the ability to be able to go online like we do for a flight or for a car rental, for a hotel rental and find the beds, not just in Philadelphia but across the Commonwealth, right? Because we're getting people from everywhere. So we need to -- I really want us to take advantage of finding a system that will truly allow us to find a bed, because we have heard many times that when people are ready to go, they're ready to go. And so we should be able to put them into a bed. It doesn't matter if it's a treatment bed. It doesn't matter if it's a shelter bed, a DV bed. It doesn't matter. They're ready to go, and we need to get them in to a bed, stabilize them enough to be able to then move them to whatever bed is more appropriate, right? And so I had this conversation with you. I wanted to put it on the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. record, because I want us to seriously do that. We have been talking about the same 700 to 1,000 people living unsheltered in Kensington for years. Yet we talk about we're responding to 50 percent of the need or we're responding to people and we're getting them into treatment. How? Who are the people? Who is counting? Is there really 700 to 1,000? Is there 500? Is there 3,000? Who are these people? Where are they coming from and who are the people we're putting into treatment? We have providers on the ground that we are funding that say they serve 30,000 people. Where are these numbers? Who is counting?
We've had this conversation, but I've never gotten numbers, real numbers, right? I've never gotten a solid answer. That's why I'm asking on the record. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Well, not only do I have a solid answer, it's now available to the public, right? So what you have asked for and what the community has also asked for, they want to see the numbers. They want to know who is out there, and we now can do that. And that was not an easy thing to build, let me just tell you. It's complicated. It's complex out there. It's not that easy to get the information that you're talking about. There's self-report, but that's not enough. So I'll tell you what we know now, and I want you to see it. It's DBHIDS.org/SDOH, and then you hit Outreach, and this data comes up. It's going to be updated monthly so that we can see. But we know some very interesting things right now that we didn't know before. So I definitely don't want you to be anxious. I want us to be very much on the same page here. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
-- and have been for the last to years, 7 and over the last eight years, it has 8 been an absolute disrespect and disregard 9 for community residents. 10 So I just say cautious, be very 11 cautious with choosing your words, 12 because my anxiety right now is at a 13 different level. 14
And so I want to be respectful, but I also want us to recognize that we have not done this community any -- we've done a huge disservice to this community. And so finding out that there are now systems in place that can collect this data, I want us to figure out how do we not collect -- not just collect the data, but how do we connect people to the services that they need and get them out of -- 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Yes. And we totally hear that. We hear that from you, we hear that from Council, we hear that from others as well. We also hear that from the community, and that has been the driver for us to put into place the things that we put in place. What we have put into place just this year is actually quite different, and knowing that, most of the people that we're counting -- and who is counting is DBHIDS Homeless Outreach are out there every day. It's our providers. It's the providers who are part of the outreach teams.
So tell me what your numbers are. What are your numbers? If we were to ask you today, how many people are living in the streets of Kensington?
So I would tell you -- and I assure you it's never an easy answer, so I'm going to give you the answer, because the truth is where the -- 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. even if it's complex, it's not simple. It's what has to be addressed, right? And all of those barriers and all of these things that we've built that we get all of this attention for across the state and across the country are things that were built specifically because of the concerns that you're raising. Like the wounds don't -- why can't they get into treatment even if they have wounds. Why can't the system take care of people and get them into recovery even if they have wounds. Why would smoking be a barrier. Why is there any barrier. We removed --
I can answer that. I can tell you that. We are in this position right now today because for the last eight years, we've been talking about safe injection sites and not prevention and recovery. That's why. Because --
Okay. I can talk to you about prevention and the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. prevention that's going on in the schools, because we go upstream with this at the same time we attack it right where it is. We're also upstream like crazy with this, really, really high upstream with this in the schools. We have enhanced our prevention programs specifically in Kensington because of the challenges that the kids are facing. It's helping them to address substances, so when they're in the midst of this, how they can deal with it and also not go down that road, and also with the violence. So the things that we have been creating are not separate from what the concerns are on the ground, and we take that seriously, and we do feel accountable for everything that works and everything that doesn't work and any gaps that there are. So everything that I'm talking about is actually meant to fill the gaps that you're talking about. When we learn something like 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. more than half of the people out there in the street are not the same people, even being able to get data about what happened to the people that we brought in, you know, in 2018 and 2019, like was that effective, are they back out on the street again, do they just go in and come right back out. We're actually learning it's something different than that. We're actually learning that the majority of the people are coming in new. Are they coming in to shop? Are they coming in to socialize? So we need a different strategy for that group, which is now the majority of the people that we're encountering out there as opposed to the chronically homeless that we've been encountering, let's say, for quite some time, and they meet the definition for HUD's chronic homeless. Okay. So different strategies, but we have this data and we can show it. And we can say more too, where are they 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. from, how can we determine where they're from. They say they're Philadelphians. Are they Philadelphians?
So what you're telling me is that we now have new people there, which to me means that we've done absolutely nothing to prevent people from continuing to come into that footprint. Is that what we're saying? All of the strategies, all of the --
I don't think -- I think people can come into Kensington, yes, and I think that there is -- they can come into Kensington, but they're not coming -- they are mostly from Philadelphia. What I'm trying to say to you is that we are able to check whether they have ever -- whether they are CBH eligible; in other words, they have a Philadelphia address. They have had a Philadelphia address. They have a Philadelphia address. If in fact that's the case, we know that they're Philadelphians. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. It's about three-quarters of the folks who have a Philadelphia address or have had a Philadelphia address. So they're Philadelphians.
Is that because we've allowed them to use an address that is Philadelphia --
No, no, no. We're talking about an address because they have received services from CBH at some point, right? So it's not just, well, they're using one of the places to pick up their mail. So if there are folks who are -- and I know they've had conversations. We've had conversations with the state about this. We've had conversations with Secretary Arkoosh and Deputy Secretary Smith, and I know that they are aware, and also DDAP Secretary. And when there are people who come from elsewhere, we can work with the people there. Like our Single County Authority that works under Amanda's division, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Amanda David's division, has single county authorities that they work with all the time. If there are people here from there, they will contact them and they will work on where is the best place for that person to be treated. And if they're Medicaid, then the Medicaid of the place they're from is the actual responsible party to pay the bills. So we work on this all the time, so --
Dr. Jill Bowen, do we have the numbers? She just asked for specific data.
I'm sorry. 675 who were engaged in the past 90 days, 142 are chronically homeless, 119 fall in this -- they have more than three contacts, so they don't meet the HUD definition. And then 61 percent have only had one to two contacts. And if you want --
So give me the total number of people you say are out there. You didn't give me that. You went kind of around that. What was the 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. total number?
Let me ask you this, Dr. Bowen. I know this is your swan song and we're getting ready to wrap up for our break and the stenographer has to take a break as well. I know it's on your website, but the Chair requests that you provide the data to the member and members of Council as a whole as opposed to us going --
Give us the official report. And then I've been working with you for a while. I know it's your swan song, but I did get a whole lot of -- like you gave like 10, 15 scenarios as to 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. why the situation is, when I think we want more of a strategy and proactive approach on here's how we're addressing the issue, because when you talk about all the reasons why a person is out there or they're not from Philadelphia but they come in here and they're getting high and how they provide a service, like what is our plan as a city, though, to track and strategize on how we treat those individuals so we can have our own dashboard to kind of gauge how we're being effective in that area.
One of the things -- so our strategy, okay, is to bring people in off the street. So we say at DBHIDS, and we've been saying this for a while, harm reduction is step one, it's not step done. That's our thing, right? So our strategy is to connect up and bring in for treatment. That has always been our strategy. What we do to try to make that as effective as possible is identify 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. every barrier to getting people to come in. And so this past year the focus has been on the wounds, because that was a huge barrier. We broke down those barriers to help people come in that would not have come in. So we get more people off the street than we would have. Now, the other barrier is really knowing who is out there and making sure that our strategies are effective, right?
But that was what the data piece is, and also to be responsive to the community that wants to know what's going on.
The Chair recognizes -- no. The Chair requests that you provide the data to the Chair of Health, who is Nina Ahmad, and the gentle lady from Kensington, who is working very aggressively on this issue in partnership with Councilmember Jim 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Harrity, Councilmember Mike Driscoll, and Councilmember Mark Squilla. That's why you're getting these lines of questioning.
Absolutely. And I know we have a second round, so you'll have an opportunity to do any additional follow-up, because I'm sure members -- there's several members who are queued up for our second round, so we will -- yes. So folks are still on the first round. And so after lunch, we'll finish at 2:30 and we'll see everyone back and we will go from there. Welcome, Dr. Marquita Williams.
And this is why I'm doing this today. Thank you. (Recess from 1:58 p.m. to 2:36 p.m.)
4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. This hearing is now resumed. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffery J. Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. First line of questions are going to be devoted toward the Department of Public Health. In the Philly Joy Bank program, is it possible that you can provide us with data on income levels of the participants, the zip codes of the participants, and the amounts distributed to date? Also if you can provide us with who will be doing the assessment to see if this particular program has ultimately achieved the goals that we're trying to achieve. And I say that to say, you know, because guaranteed income is great in theory, but if we are really trying to target a population that is experiencing these health issues, I do think that we should -- the spending of the money should be targeted more toward those 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. things that are going to directly affect the outcome. So I just want to keep that in mind as you are going through this program. A thousand dollars sounds good until they spend that thousand dollars on things that ultimately contribute to the negative health outcomes that they were experiencing in the first place. So if we can keep that in mind. Second question is related to -- it's a non-budgetary question. I'm sorry. I'm going off task. But the regulations regarding the tobacco retailer permit here in the City of Philadelphia. In 2022, I believe the regulations were changed to state that no 19 new licenses will be able to be within 500 feet of schools grades K through 12. Now, in a prior life, I represented a corner store who her father died and she inherited that store, and when it was time to renew her tobacco retailer license, she was denied that 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. license because she was considered to be a new owner, although she inherited that store from her father, and that license was kind of like the backbone of that store that's been in that particular neighborhood in Fishtown for over 30, 40 years with no issues. And so can we talk about -- can you just explain the premise of this regulation and why if a property was already exempt, why now this new owner cannot apply for a license, particularly in this case where she inherited a business from her family, a business that she has worked there since she was a kid. Why is it now that she is unable to continue to sell a product, a legal product, that that store has been selling for over 40 years?
Thank you for your questions, Councilman. For the first line of questioning, I'm going to have Dr. Stacey Kallem respond, and for the second line, I'm going to have 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson.
Hello. I'm Dr. Stacey Kallem, Director of Maternal, Child, Family Health Division. I'm going to try to speak more slowly this time so people understand me. So the program hasn't launched yet. The Philly Joy Bank will be launching tentatively June 22nd of this year, so in a month and a half. I think one of your questions was about who is eligible. So it's folks who live in one of the three neighborhoods in Philadelphia that have the highest rates of very low birth weight births. So that's Cobbs Creek, Nicetown-Tioga --
I'm concerned, yeah. And it's folks that are 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. making up to $100,000, right? So the question is again, I just want to make sure that we're clear on when we're collecting the data, can you provide us -- that's why I said can you provide us with the income data of the participants, their zip codes, again the amounts that's distributed per zip code and also -- yeah. That was it. So we can then determine -- and also tell us who is evaluating that data to determine if it is going to be meeting the goals of what the Health Department has.
Yeah. So for evaluation, we did an RFP and we selected researchers from Drexel University from their School of Public Health who will be doing our evaluation. We don't have the program data yet, right, because we haven't actually started, so no one is enrolled, but I can tell you about the neighborhoods we're serving. The median household income is about 20 to 30K per year, so we expect 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. most participants to be around there.
I'm familiar with that, but, again, your program states that it's folks that are making up to $100,000. So I want to make sure that how can we -- how are we targeting the participants, right? Because if you target folks that are mostly close to that hundred thousand dollar level, then the outcomes that we're expecting, the health outcomes, are a little bit different than folks that are living in poverty in the City. So, again, how do you target the participants?
So we're going to be recruiting in a few different ways, so really relying on trusted messengers in those neighborhoods, so prenatal care providers at our health centers and other prenatal care establishments, WIC, home visitors. So really folks that are in the neighborhood and trusted is where people who are pregnant might be is who 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. will be doing a lot of the outreach and recruitment for the program.
And what was the determination of that income, the income level, the hundred thousand dollar income?
So it's actually based on community feedback. So we partnered with researchers from CHOP Policy Lab and did formative research where we did community-focused groups of Black Philadelphians who had recently given birth or who were pregnant about the Philly Joy Bank and how should we make all of our design decisions, and one of the big points of feedback we got from community is to make sure we tie eligibility, not just to the federal poverty line or Medicaid eligibility but really thinking about those Philadelphians who maybe make too much to qualify for traditional public benefits but aren't yet making enough to thrive. So we looked at a living wage calculator, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and that's where we came up with the hundred thousand dollar sort of cap. But, again, knowing the neighborhoods that we're focusing on, we don't expect many people to be in that range.
Okay. So if you don't expect that, then why create that, I guess, artificial kind of like cap then if you don't expect it? You should set the cap at what your expectations are.
We were really trying to be responsive to the community feedback, which they told us to set it higher than sort of a traditional federal poverty level.
Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. And then the question regarding the tobacco retailer license and the 500 feet from K to 12 schools.
Essentially, again, the rationale is -- 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the premise of my question is because I had a client whose father owned a store that she inherited and then at the end of the year she had to apply for a license and was denied, and I'm just saying if the goals are to decrease tobacco use, I understand that, but this particular property has already had tobacco use -- tobacco sales for almost 40 years in that particular neighborhood. It doesn't create any kind of new disparity or new issues because they've already been there. So if you can elaborate on that.
Sure. And I just want to clarify for the record, it's a tobacco permit. I don't want to confuse it. It's a tobacco permit, not a license.
And tobacco permits are not transferable. So the permit is associated with the person and the establishment. So it's issued -- 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it's similar to a driver's license or a liquor control license. It's issued to the person and the establishment, and it's non-transferable. So that's what ended up happening with the person that you were representing. It's not transferable. And then they probably -- and I don't know the address, so I don't have the details, but I'd be happy to follow up if you provide the address. But if -- since it's not transferable and if it's in a cap, which was legislation to prevent youth tobacco access, so there's no -- there shouldn't be tobacco stores in -- we want to make sure that the poorest of our neighborhoods are not saturated with tobacco retailers. So if she's in a cap or he's in a cap, then they wouldn't be able to get the permit.
So I tell you that this isn't -- I guess at one point it might have been, but this is in Fishtown, right, where there's no issues with income or low-income folks or 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. whatnot. So I made the argument at the -- we appealed and I made an argument at the Board. Only one person on the Board who was actually a lawyer understood my argument, but everyone else turned it down. But I just say that to say that we think we really need to take a look at our systems, because it is prohibiting small businesses from operating in our city, and I don't think we want to prohibit small businesses who have been operating in our city for years with no 16 issues whatsoever. And so I think we should look at our regulations to make sure that our regulations are meeting today's standards and today's needs, particularly in those particular neighborhoods. And I heard the bell, so thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Young. We will now move to Councilmember Phillips. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
Thank you, Majority Leader, Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson. Just quick rapid-fire questions for the Department of Behavioral Health. There's a waiting list of children and families for services. How long -- how big is that waiting list?
So I don't have that directly, but I have to say that the services are embedded in the schools, and so there really shouldn't be a waiting list to be able to get access to treatment. There's providers right there in the schools. They can tap into a whole array of specialties depending on what the needs are of the kids, and there's also prevention providers. So are we talking about people 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just calling to sort of separately get -- we also have expanded our PACTS program, which is very trauma focused for the kids. There's now -- 6
I just 7 wanted to make sure there's enough 8 providers to be able to serve our 9 children in those schools. So if there's 10 not a waiting list -- 11
I'm getting no 12 waiting list. So what I'm concerned 13 about, though, if you hear that there's a 14 waiting list, again, that concerns us. 15 So we want to make sure that they call 16 Member Services, because there should not 17 be a waiting list for kids. 18
Okay. 19 Great. 20 Providers should be delivering 21 intensive behavioral health services year 22 round in the home and in the community 23 settings when not in schools. What does 24 intensive behavioral health services 25 utilization look like in the summer 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. months and are families being engaged, as well as in what way is DBHIDS and DHS providing services for delinquent and dependent children?
So IBHS is year round. They are in the schools when there's summer school. They are at the homes or in the community. So they do maintain connection with people who -- kids who have met those criteria. And also remember these are providers that are also in the community. IBHS is always in the community, in the home and community, which is what I was saying.
Can you provide data around academic improvement of the kids who received these services?
So I don't know that we have that. We can talk to our school partners, but IBHS is a Tier 3 service, just so I am clear on that. The school does have services for universal, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Tier 2. They have school counselors. They're even a provider for CBH in the step space, but IBHS is a Tier 3. So it's folks that are really struggling with need -- you know, a certain level of treatment. So I do not know for those kids where the academic -- and it's not necessarily going to be something that can be seen short. It might require like longitudinal data. So I'll get you the answer to that to know to what extent they're tracking it, but I think it would be the school system that is going to have that data. You know, they are partners with us, so we can check that out.
Thank you, Dr. Bowen. Thank you, Majority Leader. That's my time. I'm good. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Phillips. The Chair now recognizes 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Majority Leader. Just a few other questions. One was about the relationship of DBHI with the gun violence prevention programs and if you worked on the cognitive behavioral therapy support that we were told they now include in their programming.
We have cognitive behavioral treatment infused into a great deal of the work that we do to real evidence-based practice. So when we talk about gun violence, we always talk about trauma, right, because trauma leads to gun violence. It also is a result of gun violence. So we're very, very trauma focused and, therefore, the PACTS, which is the Philadelphia Alliance for Children Trauma Services, right, is a very 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. intensive trauma-focused, cognitive behavioral therapy. So we have trained a whole bunch more providers so that they have those particular skills and we have expanded the network of PACTS providers within the City, and it's across the City everywhere in the City. So we have cognitive behavioral therapy infused into the work that we do with the kids throughout and also the school -- training the folks in the school.
So actually my question was about the actual programs that are doing anti-violence work. Is your department intersecting with them? These are the grassroots folks who are on the ground doing -- violence interrupters, all of those different smaller groups, not the School District or the bigger entities.
So we support IMA, Mothers in Charge, Black Men Heal, and they are engaged with us on a number of initiatives. Like one that's called From 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Trauma to Triumph, and it's a list of those folks who are providing the services to the kids, and it's meant to be preventative from going down the gun violence road, and it actually came out -- the types of programs that are being offered by the community-based organizations that are focused on gun violence is based on the work of the external stakeholders around former perpetrators of gun violence and what was going on in their early lives and how can we prevent that happening for the kids that are currently --
My question is really, yes, you do work with them, and do you have data to show over time that your involvement with these CBOs have done what? Do you have -- have you collected information around that?
So we'll get you whatever information that we have. The initiative that I just told you about is a newer one that is standing up, but we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. do support -- we have supported this sometimes, Healing Hurt People, Cure Violence, CeaseFire. So we are funders of this and we do have data there.
Because I just want to see how embedded CBT or other things of that nature are -- each of these programs, because it is abundantly clear that we need it, and so I wanted to see if there's a comprehensive policy around all anti-gun violence work from the City of Philadelphia that's funding of any sort, whether DBHI is connected or connect to providers who do that. So I just wanted data around that, how many are getting --
We can get you that, but sometimes there might be an initiative where we have a grant that they -- and they bring in a provider there. Often they're also part of the network. And so in a sense, we are part of what they're doing there, but sometimes it's not necessarily like we 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have the data for that particular program, but we'll get you what we have.
I just want to be a collective place where we get all this information.
And your department seems to be the most appropriate place, whether or not you're --
Yeah. So we need a report to say we've done this, this happened in one year, two year, this is good, this is bad, how do we move. That's all.
All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President -- or Madam Chair.
Thank you. Thank you so much, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Ahmad. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's Black Maternal Health Week in the Commonwealth, so I want to highlight that. Of the top ten most populated United States cities, Philadelphia has the highest rate of infant mortality in the first year of life, and when we look even closer to race and ethnicity, Black infants in our city are over four times more likely to die before their first birthday than white infants. This is a crisis, but we do know how to solve it. When we design solutions that see the whole person and the barriers that they face, we can achieve true success, and the Philly Joy Bank pilot program is exactly the kind of response that I believe that we need. So I share Dr. Ahmad's excitement about the program 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. launching in June. I want to thank all those who have put in work there. I just wanted to ask for it to be stated on the record clearly. Can someone just speak to some of the common impacts of guaranteed income programs in general just so we can state on the record for this portion, please.
Thank you, Councilmember. I defer that to Dr. Stacey Kallem.
Nice to see you, and thank you so much for your enthusiasm and for the question. So as far as guaranteed income --
Pardon me. Please state your name for the record and speak directly into the microphone. Thank you.
I'm Dr. Stacey Kallem, Director of Maternal, Child, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Family Health at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. So thank you so much for the question. As far as guaranteed income and its impacts on birth outcomes, a lot of what we know comes from Canada actually from a program called the Healthy Baby Prenatal Benefit, which gives low-income pregnant people in Manitoba, Canada unconditional cash, and it found that it reduced rates of low birth weight by and a half percent and 14 reduced rates of prematurity by 21 15 percent. That is amazing and something 16 we're really excited about. 17 And then here in the U.S., we know that states that have an earned income tax credit and that also during COVID during the expanded child tax credit -- so not guaranteed incomes per se, but both ways of getting more cash to people during pregnancy -- also decrease the rates of prematurity and decrease the rates of low birth weight. 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
We thank you for your work on this, Dr. Kallem, and all those who have gone into it. Look forward to helping to slash those maternity rates for sure. I want to turn my focus to Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. In the aftermath of deaths of Christian Hall and Walter Wallace, it was abundantly clear that as a city we needed to rethink how we respond to people in crisis. Deeply heartened, super excited about DBHIDS's plans to continue and expand the Philadelphia Community Mobile Crisis Response Teams. These teams send medical professionals to those who are in crisis and they free up other resources, like the police, to focus on other issues that they may be better trained for. Last budget cycle, thanks to the efforts of a number of Councilmembers, including Minority Leader Brooks, Councilman Jones, Councilman 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Squilla -- sorry if the bell is going. I want to just finish this up -- Council President Johnson, Councilwoman Gauthier, past Councilwoman Vaughn, as well as Councilman Driscoll, an additional $3 million was added to this important work. Can you tell us how the addition of 3 million actually aided your work that was secured by those members?
Yes. That was specifically to build the bridge teams so that we can address the response rate. So that has been this past year building up those teams and getting them ready to hit the streets. So specifically what it was meant to do is what it was used to do. So bridge teams, that's what that part was about.
Thank you very much. Madam Chair, is there a Round 2?
Yes, 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. there will be a Round 2, time permitting.
So we'll get through the first round as quickly as we can. Is that good for you, Councilmember O'Rourke?
Excellent. Just please get in the queue. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Harrity.
Thank you, Leader. So just checking these numbers. So you said right now out of a thousand or so beds that we have, there's about 175 available? I believe that was the number.
109 available, okay. That's not even -- all 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. right. And the number that you're saying of homeless addicted out in Kensington is about 675, you're saying?
The number that has been encountered during -- yes, is 675. And like I said, that now is publicly available data.
Okay. Do you have -- so what happens if we, say, send you 300 people in a day? What would you do then?
Well, we're about to start doing the Mayor's plan and we're planning on the AMP program and the PAD program, and I would imagine that during that process, you're going to have some very high numbers of people that are going to be needing to be put somewhere. I'd just like to know with 109 beds how you plan on doing that.
Okay. So first of all, we are part of and engaging 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. alongside the many agencies that are involved in this work. We are engaging folks every day, even today. We have not only the capacity, we also have overflow beds, and we are prepared for a surge, but we're also really looking at the rest of the continuum, because we also have slots available there. So it really depends on what they need, do they need outpatient and some form of housing, do they need --
I can tell you right now that none of these people need outpatient programs. They all need inpatient programs. There's no 17 way they'll be able to stay sober on an outpatient program going back to the place that they came from. That's just outrageous to even think that somebody that is on this type of drug is going to --
-- be 4/15/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. able to go to an outpatient program --