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.