One last question. Is there any emergency health center that's open, say, at night? Or do we depend on the general hospital system? Suppose somebody gets very ill at 9, 9:30, 10:30, 11 o'clock at night, somebody in a 1015 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 poor neighbor in the City of Philadelphia, no 3 insurance at all, maybe somebody just passed by and hears moaning outside or something, what do we do then?
For our health centers, we do have an ability for people to call and speak to patient-care provider for people who are enrolled in our health centers hours a day, 7 10 days a week. Other than that, our health centers 11 are not open beyond regular hours. 12 (Estelle Richman comes forward.) 13
I knew I was going 14 to make the -- I don't know how to refer to you 15 because you're not a commissioner anymore, right? 16
Let me just comment on 22 the aging. There has been an aging transition 23 plan. We are interested in looking at how the 24 aging services are going to work in the city. We have aging services that exist in the Department 1016 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 of Human Services and in the Department of Health. We have seen an increasing amount of people aging in a variety of different environments, including homeless and in prisons that are in that age range that you're speaking about. We will be doing -- just as we're beginning to look at policy for children and how to effect that going into the future on an integrated basis, we will also be looking at policies around aging. And I'm saying "aging" very generously. In other words, we're not looking at just people who are 65 and older; we're looking at people who are beginning to age and need that level of support of services. So I think as we move forward in social services and begin to look at more integrated services, we will certainly include people who are aging as well as children.
And I think that age group of sort of maybe 45 to 65 is becoming increasingly needy because of the mergers and being forced out of jobs. (Laughter.) 1017 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
Councilman, I think 45 is a little young for aging, especially to some of us who are significantly older than that.
I see Councilman Rizzo's getting very sensitive over there.
There's a whole group of us who still believe that 45 still young. In fact, I believe 55 is very young. (Laughter.)
Yes. Do you have a feel for how many very senior citizens we either have, husbands and wives that live alone? Or do we know that there's Mrs. Murphy that's 90 and still living in Kensington all by herself? Do we have a feel for a population that -- What motivated that question was this terrible epidemic we had with the flu, a perfect example. My God, if someone came down with the flu and they lived alone, to me it would be very troubling to see a person not have -- if they didn't have a neighbor that cared or a family 1018 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 member, would the Health Department be able to provide some level of services just to make sure that they're not in dire need?
Councilman, at this point in time, the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging does provide some of those services, and we try to work very closely with them. And there is a Mayor's Commission on Aging at this point that we will beginning to try to work with. Many of these services aren't coordinated well. The Health Department, of course, welcomes anyone into the health centers who doesn't have insurance or needs a collaborative process. But the follow-up of that is often left to PCA, and the relationship between City services and PCA is often undefined and needs to be better defined. So I think as this new administration begins to reorganize and look at integration of services in a different way and in a more effective way, I would expect to be able to answer that question in the future in a more cohesive manner.
As you can imagine, 1019 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 I get calls and we get the various letters from our seniors that are 92, 95 and are still living alone, and sometimes I wonder what we can do to make sure that they're okay, other than a personal phone call occasionally to check on them, but that's great to hear that those services will get better coordinated to look at after those folks. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilman Cohen, it's my understanding that the next level above commissioner is actually empress. (Laughter.)
So "Empress Richman" is the appropriate way to address the former health commissioner. Councilman, I also wanted to let you know that Councilman Clarke and I have agreed that we will jointly and periodically check up on you 1020 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 from time to time. (Laughter.)
And just see how you're doing up there in the 17th Ward. I don't think we'll be making many trips up there.
Councilman Longstreth, okay. No, we'll get a different team for Councilman Longstreth because Councilman Clarke and I have to stay focussed.
You got it, okay. All right, very good. Mr. Domzalski, I wanted to raise an issue with you. It's somewhat of a sensitive topic. It involves the community living arrangements and those kinds of issues. And I've supported many of those developments, the few that I've been made aware of. It's really more of a, I guess, a process procedure and protocol issue where, first and foremost, people have a right to live wherever they want to live, and to the extent 1021 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 that agencies contract with the City and purchase property. I mean, I've had discussions with people that go something like, Well, they should tell us when they are coming and who they are and who's going to live here; to which my usual somewhat sarcastic response is, Did you ever have to tell anybody who you were or what you were about when you bought your house to live on whatever block you live on? Notwithstanding that, because the City ends up oftentimes in a contractual relationship with organizations and they go out often on the market and buy product in certain neighborhoods because of style of property or maybe it's a rancher where everybody can be on one floor as opposed to some of the other properties in the other neighborhoods, which are two-story, three-story, we see often a kind of a congregating, if not a saturation, in some neighborhoods of these particular home-living kinds of arrangements. The question is, how do we both respect the rights of the people in need of service and 1022 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 their ability to live where they want to live and. In every case that I know of, with more than adequate supervision, while at the same time, not creating a sense of panic and scare in the neighborhood, but respecting, I guess, the general inquiring mind that people have of what's going on on the block? The system is such that we don't have to tell the neighbors that somebody wants to be here, and if we tell them somebody's going to be here potentially, I have massive opposition to it and then it ends up in a fight. So then in an effort to avoid a fight, we just don't tell anyone, and then we end up with a block that has really kind of a bad attitude about what has happened. I naturally get the calls subsequent to this activity taking place, and people are asking, Why can't you do something about it? Well, they're not in violation of the zoning code and they have what they need to live where they want to live. Somewhere between all of that, a mechanism allows some level of rational discussion among people who want to have rational decisions 1023 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 and get a better sense from the Health Department of what the game plan is going forward. So my question is, how many of these do we anticipate having? I'm not trying to hold you to anything today, but how do we make it a more positive experience for everyone at every level?
That communication is not a request of permission, but prior to moving in, our expectation is that the agencies are at least notifying the immediate neighbors and are providing phone numbers where a person in responsibility can be reached. But in the vast majority of cases, it's the stupid things that folks miss that set off the neighborhood more than the big things -- things like leaving the trash cans out, parking in someone else's parking space. So we're trying to move them to be sensitive to that.
I'm primarily talking about the period before the move-in. A lot happens from the day the house either goes on the market, or maybe the previous owner has died, and so maybe it's vacant for some period of time, the Realtor's around, sign up, no sign up, 1024 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 whatever. But people on the block know that something has changed in that particular household. And then when they hear that there's a potential sale to an agency to have certain individuals in the home, again, who they may not know, the rumor mill on that stuff takes off. And so it's not maybe a couple people who are either older or maybe have some mental-health issues. It's, you know, they're moving three recently released ax murderers from upstate Pennsylvania, and they're going to live right in that house.
Now -- I mean, of course, that's absurd, but after all of the whisper down the lane, you know, it's hard to put all of that back in the bottle.
And I think it becomes that dilemma of, do you ask for permission on the front end, or generally what we've advised agencies and what we've been advised to do is that there needs to be discussion with the neighbors after an agreement of sale but prior to anyone moving into that house or any work beginning on 1025 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 that home.
Well, what would be helpful to me, though, to be honest with you -- and I mean, all of us, I mean, we actually ran for these jobs -- is if I get some pre-notification that this may be in the works, then at some level -- I mean, I have to -- I mean, I'm going to get the calls anyway, and I generally would always rather be on the front end than on the back end, when I actually can't do anything.
And someone, I guess, could take a chance based on both some level of confidentiality as well as sensitivity to say, Councilman, we're taking a look at that particular property for this use. Do you know the people up there, do you know what the mood and attitude of the folks are? Is there a civic organization, a block group, anything? Do you know a sane, rational person that we could talk to about this particular issue and see if we can work through the steps that get us to, again, the more positive experience? I mean, I need a certain level of 1026 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 information before the moving van pulls up, and then, you know, it's kind of over at that point.
And I think that's the process that "the Empress" will be implementing on this. (Laughter.)
Oh, boy. Now, you know, I have to live with Estelle, so don't start a new (unintelligible). This will be the new thing back at the shop today.
Within the previous administration, the policy was to notify the Chief of Staff's Office of any requests for housing coming in the neighborhood. That's being modified at this point in time. I will be notifying personally all Councilpeople at that point to do just what you said -- not asking for permission but to give you a heads-up that there is an agency that will be looking in your neighborhood. This 1027 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 will apply to all of the seven departments that work with me and primarily will include Health, DHS, and OESS, that are the primary folks that go into the neighborhoods.
And within those agencies, is there any level of a strategic plan that says, We have a certain population to serve, these are some of, these are many of, these are all of the areas where we -- you know, in a perfect world if properties were available and the size and the space and the other needed things to make it work, this is what we plan to do this year or next year or over the next few years, if we have to place, you know, pick a number. Five hundred people need to be placed across those seven agencies, and this is where we would look to try to make that happen.
That's one of the things we're going to be working on. I think you heard the question earlier about the $40 million going into the mental retardation system. A lot of that will be for community living arrangements and the like, so we will be trying to put together a plan. As we continue to expand and work within 1028 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 the Sidewalk Ordinance, one of the basics of that is housing, so we'll be looking for that. So, indeed, part of what we need to move to now is a much better coordinated way of looking at housing and at neighborhoods. One, so that we don't violate people's rights, but also so we don't saturate neighborhoods and continue to have the rumor mill be out there before we are in beginning to make sure that people who live in Philadelphia can live in safe, affordable housing in neighborhoods.
Thank you very much. Is Councilman Clarke in the room?
Councilman Cohen, I 1029 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 may subcontract out some of my work so on some of those days, there may not be me appearing, so I'll notify you ahead of time of who it's going to be. (Laughter.)
All right, thank you. I kind of want to follow up on Councilman Nutter's questioning with respect to the community living arrangements. And one of the things I needed to get a sense of is, when we enter into these agreements with various organizations to provide these services, I need to get a sense of who monitors the actual living arrangement from the City. Too often, I go to a lot of these facilities and you see varying degrees of conditions. I mean, sometimes you have some very nice facilities, and sometimes, frankly speaking, you just have a bed thrown in a corner. I know with the Housing Authority, there are certain Section 8 regulations associated to have a person that comes out and reviews it and inspects the facility. What do we have with the arrangements that we have in this? 1030 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
There are three different layers, at least three different layers of monitoring that exists. The first is from a licensing perspective. The State Department of Public Welfare licenses all of the community living arrangements prior to any individuals moving into them. So that's the first piece. Each of the individuals living in the home has an assigned case manager, and while the case management responsibilities may vary somewhat, the case managers are responsible to visit the home monthly and visit the individuals and make some assessment of what's going on there on a monthly base. And in addition to that, there's a program analyst who's a monitor responsible for the agency providing those services as well. If there are incidents which occur within that home, they are investigated independently. We have a separate investigation unit so that if there's allegations of abuse or neglect that come about with these particular individuals, we will actually do an investigation on that. 1031 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
What about the physical conditions; is that the responsibilities of the licensing?
That's the licensing end of things, but it also can be raised by the case manager.
And that's community living arrangements, being the small three-person residences. They are similar, although larger facilities that are operated on the mental-health side, called "community residential facilities," which also have similar licensing requirements, which the State Department of Public welfare is also required for licensing.
All right, and what are the -- I mean, are there certain guidelines associated with that?
I mean, I've seen some instances where 20 people live in a 3-bedroom house.
Mm, I hope not. There would be no one under contract with us -- there 1032 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 shouldn't be anyone under contract with us with individuals. What you may be referring to are some boarding homes, that aren't contracted or licensed.
I mean, I'm not 10 saying they're legally doing this. 11
But my concern is 13 -- I mean, who's checking the store? 14
This is Estelle Richman, 15 Director of Social Services. 16 They have a variety of different ways. 17 I think people use community living arrangements 18 very generically, and I think you're talking about 19 where people with special needs are living in the 20 community. Probably -- CLA, I think, to Mike and other people, means a very specialized living arrangement, just for people with mental retardation.
There are also very 1033 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 specific monitored living arrangements for people who have mental illness. There is recovery housing, which is a group-living situation for people who have drug and alcohol addictions. And then there is a whole range of housing for people who are homeless, who may have mental illness or drug and alcohol problems. That's also monitored.
All the rules and regulations for all of those kinds of City-funded housing have rules. They may not all have case managers and they may not all be inspected by DPW, but they are all under contract with the City, and in any of those situations, the City monitors what's going on. In addition to that, however --
Frequently, they may be under the Department of Health. There are group homes that are set up under the Department of Human Services, there are living arrangements in 1034 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 group-home setup under the Office of Emergency Shelter, there are group homes that are operated by the State for people who are released from prison. So there's a whole variety of those. All of those right now will be funneled through the Managing Director's Office to be able tell the Councilmatic District person that there's a group home that will be coming somewhere within your area. In addition to that, all of those that we tried to contract with or control, there are personal-care boarding homes. In the personal- care boarding home, there's a license that comes through L&I for safety, but otherwise, there's no 16 contractual relationship with the City. And those are the ones we hear about most frequently that are problematic to communities.
So are there different guidelines for every individual department in terms of the living arrangements, the physical characteristics of the buildings? I mean --
Because there are 1035 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 different types of clientele? I mean --
There are different kinds of clientele and different rules that may apply from the State licensing agency. In other words, when we say CLA with mental retardation, those rules are frankly different than the ones for community CRRs, which are community residential programs that are funded and licensed through the Department of Mental Health at the State. The rules there are somewhat different. The monitoring from the City may be very similar, but the rulings around a 3-person site versus is a 16-person site can be very different. What we have to do for homeless is still different between the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services than it would be for Mental Health, and the rules followed by recovery housing is still another definition in there. What we're going to try to do is set up some guidelines and some benchmarks around what that monitoring has to be so that we can reduce significantly complaints from the community. But that's on the housing that the City subcontracts for. 1036 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 So for personal-care boarding homes where the City is not a funder directly or indirectly, it presents another range of problems.
Let me say, Councilmen, that in my district, we have formed a Group Homes Task Force, so if there's somebody from your community -- about three years ago now -- who wants to talk with people who have done some research on that, I'm sure that the group head would be available for that. We did some research and found out, and we have about 100, at least 100 in my district. And, you know, the same problems exist for all of us. Some blocks feel "Why do I have ten and somebody else has none?" So I'm sure we all have the same common issues.
Thank you. Are there any other questions for the Health Department? (No response.)
The Council 1037 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 President, Commissioner, is interested in knowing how many beds are filled at the Philadelphia Nursing Home, as well as the status of your contract with the Episcopal Long-Term Care for the running of the nursing home. When is it up, and do you plan on bidding this out again anytime soon?
The census today is 436, and we presently have an agreement with Episcopal Long-Term Care that runs through June 30th. And in terms of the planning for the facility, it's an area that we continue to discuss as to what is the best way of providing that service. And, presently, the facility has been making good progress. We've had an unprecedented State survey in October, in which, for the first time in the history of the facility, we had a completely deficiency-free survey. So we're very happy with that progress, but we know that it's an area that we need to continue to pay attention to.
Yes, Councilwoman. 1038 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
The -- our budget, I think, approved the rate. At this point, it's 451. So with the 436, we're about at 95 percent occupancy.
Okay, thank you very much. Are there any other questions? (No further questions.)
You're welcome, our pleasure. We will now move on to of the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services. (Office of Emergency Shelter and Services witnesses come forward. )
Thank you very much. Could you please, those of you who are leaving, keep your conversations low so that we can continue on with our hearing. Thank you very 1039 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 much. We're glad to have you, Mr. Nardone and Miss Fisher. Would you identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, Chairwoman Blackwell and members of City Council. My name is Michael Nardone, and I am Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing. I am joined today by Sally Fisher, the Director of OESS. Other representatives from OESS are also present, as is Estelle Richman, "the Empress of Social Services." (Laughter.)
3 represents Grant Revenue Funds. I would like to begin my testimony by summarizing some of the progress we have made in the development of the City services for homeless individuals and families over the past year. Thanks to resources made available to support the 1040 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 Sidewalk Behavior Ordinance, we have made great strides implementing a plan to enhance behavioral health services for chronically homeless individuals. We have more than doubled the number of contracted staff dedicated to providing outreach and case management on the street and have expanded the hours outreach is available, including a new overnight shift. These outreach efforts are being supported by a new computerized management information system that is now being implemented. The City is also well on its way to developing more than 160 new residential placements for chronically homeless individuals with mental-health and substance-abuse problems. This includes the development of entry-level facilities of approximately 50 beds, 2 additional 25-bed Safe Haven sites, and 50 additional placements in supported independent-living situations for people ready for the transition to permanent housing. Additional behavioral-health services have also been added to the OESS system as part of the Sidewalk Behavior implementation 1041 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 plan. While there is clearly much work to being done -- in particular seeing to completion the planned Safe Haven sites -- censuses performed independently by the police and by Project HOMES Outreach Coordination Center indicated a decline in the number of people living on Center City streets. We hope to build on this positive momentum in the year ahead as we bring the remaining residential services on line. We have also begun over the past year implementing initiatives to increase employment and training-related services for individuals and families in emergency shelter and transitional housing. 3 million to support employment and training initiative targeted at homeless individuals and eligible for Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), primarily single men and women. OESS began implementation of this program this year and hopes to enroll approximately 475 people in Fiscal Year 2001. This initiative complements services developed by Greater Philadelphia Works for 1042 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 homeless families on TANF employment, including specialized employment advisors and life-skills classes with a job-readiness focus. The programs available through GPW as well as the OESS initiative for non-TANF homeless clients provides an employment and training infrastructure to assist homeless individuals and families in emergency shelter and transitional housing. 9 million in federal McKinney Homeless Assistance Funds to Philadelphia this fiscal year, an increase of 1 million grant funds over the last year's level. This award will support development of 111 units of new housing as well as continued funding for more than 300 units for homeless individuals and families. Finally, consistent with the Mayor's recent announcement proclaiming the year 2000 "The Year of the Child," OESS is implementing several initiatives related to children, including establishment of an Office of Children's Programs within OESS and renovations to the family intake area, which were completed in collaboration with 1043 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 the Please Touch Museum, to provide a more child-friendly environment. With respect to the FY 2000 budget, it represents a carry-forward of the spending plan for the current fiscal year. It will support services at the heart of the OESS mission and provide for continued implementation of the important priorities initiatives outlined earlier in my testimony. The budget assumes funding for 2450 shelter beds, an assumption comparable to the one made for this budget for FY 2000.
2 million in State Supplemental Homeless Assistance Funds provided in prior fiscal years. Reduced levels of State assistance could impact the ability of OESS to meet shelter demand within budgeted resources in the upcoming fiscal year. In addition to emergency shelter, the FY 2001 budget continues investment and other important components of the homeless services system, including case-management, employment and training, homeless prevention, as well as the 1044 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 continued development of transitional and permanent housing needed to break the cycle of homelessness. As demonstrated by this mayor's leadership in development of the City Sidewalk Ordinance Plan, the Administration is deeply committed to the development of a continuum of services for homeless individuals and families designed to help people move from the streets to self-sufficiency. As the Mayor's transition team continues its work, we will have an opportunity to fully evaluate the homeless services continuum and recommend changes to move the existing system forward. In the interim, the budget before you today continues the programmatic direction, building on the progress made on homelessness issues during the previous administration, with the strong support of City Council. Of course, the federal and State governments will have to continue to step up to the plate if we are to continue to make progress. 2 million in State Homeless Assistance Funds would be a very positive step. 1045 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 The Sidewalk Ordinance Task Force established by Mayor Street and cochaired by Chamber of Commerce head Charles Pizzi and Sister Mary Scullion have made this a top priority of theirs in Harrisburg, and I would respectfully that Council may likewise wish to support this effort to restore these funds. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to testify before you today, and I would be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Thank you, Mr. Nardone. Certainly, we are happy to support in any way we can any initiatives for more funding. We support and look forward to working with you and Joan Kromer for more transitional housing. We do have groups who are interested. And, finally, a few years ago, we had a program for all of the children in the shelters, where we had dinner and gave certificates to all of those kids who are on the honor roll, and it worked out real well. We brought them all here to the caucus room, and they were very pleased and 1046 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 they got all dressed up and all of that. So certainly, in working with you and in the Mayor's new Children and Youth Program, we're happy to list that as a program that we're willing to try to sponsor to help the youngsters who are in the shelter system.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
I have a few questions. I made note in your testimony that there's no discussion of interaction with the Philadelphia public schools while children are in 1047 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 homeless care, and I'm sure there's very legitimate reasons for that. But what kinds of consideration are given to the gap that happens during that place in their lives?
Well, we work very closely with the School District, and there is a liaison for homeless children that's employed by the School District. And one of the things that we hope to be able to do is, with the establishment of the children's services coordinator, to kind of look at the gaps that there may be in terms of services provided so that the School District and OESS can work together in terms of the services that we provide.
Good afternoon. This is Sally Fisher, Director of OESS. Good afternoon, Councilwoman. 1048 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
We do have -- there are a number of things that are happening with the school-aged children and with the School District. Mike had mentioned the liaison with the School District, that we work very closely with around the homeless initiatives. There is currently a full-time school teacher in our intake office that has a class every day during the school year. When the school is open, he runs a classroom for the school-aged children that are in the waiting room that particular day with the families who are waiting to get an assigned shelter placement. In addition to that, the School District is also coordinating a Head Start Program for one of our larger shelters at Stenton. So for the families at Stenton, they could go to Martin Luther King High School, the three- to five-year-olds, Head Start Programs. These are a few of the initiatives that we're currently in process, and we still want to develop more, and we want to develop more for all 1049 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 of the children. But there is the liaison with the School District, and the School District of Philadelphia is required to provide special assistance to children, school-aged children living in shelter, in that they can have access to tokens if they wish to continue to go to their school of origin while they're in shelter placement and other services such as that.
Okay, thank you. It's clear in your testimony that you recognize that homeless children have different added special needs. And in addition to the computer labs that are currently in place, what other kinds of things are you doing for children in homeless shelters? Let me be more specific. What is the relationship with the Department of Recreation? And anecdotal calls tell me that children in homeless shelters are not treated with the same level of dignity than children who are not in 1050 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 homeless shelters. And the same question will be posed to the Department of Recreation.
I think the what the establishment of the children's services coordinator position allows us to do is to begin to do that full-scale assessment of what are the services available currently in the system, and she's been on board for about two months, and she's beginning to put that together in terms of what are the services that are presently available and what are the gaps. The whole rationale for developing this position was to be able to identify what those gaps were and then work with the existing systems and make better linkages. I think you're pointing to something that we definitely need to do, and what my hope is, is that the children's services coordinator will be the catalyst to help us do that because, absolutely, one of the things she needs to do is make sure that in terms of the Rec. Department, that the children in our shelters are maximizing the use of the resources that are currently available. 1051 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 We don't -- we didn't think there was a need to necessarily establish a parallel system of children's programs within the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services, but I think what we did feel is that we needed to provide a position for a person who would provide leadership in terms of making those linkages.
And I think that this would not be -- this would not be in a vacuum with the other initiatives that are going on that Director Richman mentioned in terms of children's services across all the agencies.
A request, and you may already be on your way to doing this, but I would be curious to know or see if you're looking at a map, the homeless shelters and where they're 1052 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 located, with dots, and then how close they are to rec. centers, so that we can see the big view, the potential for those relationships. So could you honor that, please, and forward it to the Chair?
On the end of the last paragraph, of your testimony, top of , you indicate that there has been a loss in State funding. What was that attributed to? And recognizing how the funding process goes and works, knowing all the kind of variables that you have no control over that impact into a loss of funding, what were the causes here?
This is funding that's provided by the State. The Commonwealth provided a supplemental appropriation of 2.2 million. I believe it was in State Fiscal Year '95 and '96. It was eliminated in '97 and '98. It was restored fully in '99, and in this fiscal year, it was reduced to million.
What reason were you given for that by the State? 1053 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
Well, what the State has historically said is that that was a one-time appropriation of funds and that the original 2.2 million was to cover the added costs of welfare reform changes made that primarily impacted single adults. And what we've made the case and tried to make the case is that with the welfare reforms being enacted, that that's a funding source that should be continued in the current fiscal year, in FY 2000. And then rather than restoring the full 2.2 million, the legislature chose -- I should say that the Governor had not provided any additional support for that particular supplemental appropriation in this fiscal year, but then the legislature provided $1 million in supplemental funds.
On the last of your testimony, , the middle paragraph, quote, it says, "Although some have been lulled into a false sense of complacency on the issue, as you are well aware, welfare reform still looms on the horizon, threatening much of the good that has already been achieved." 1054 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 So given that reality, what proactive measures are you considering, given that eventual reality?
Well, I think it's -- I think that what we've tried to do is put in place, using the resources that are available with respect to Greater Philadelphia Works, the specialized employment advisors as well as the life skills that are funded through Greater Philadelphia Works. I think that's our primary mechanism. But I think that, you know, we -- at this point, it's difficult to really predict what will happen in terms of the shelter population. I mean, in a way, what happened -- and a lot of that is how aggressively will the State implement sanctions related to welfare reform. We don't necessarily feel the -- when sanctions are implemented, we might not feel the impact immediately. It's more of something that over time, people will come into the shelter system after they've exhausted all other resources. So it might not be something that happens immediately. At least at this point in 1055 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 time, we are not seeing that impact in terms of shelter population. And the thing that we're trying to do proactively is to get the $2.2 million restored so that if there is some impact, we as a city are in a better position to at least respond in terms of having the shelter beds available.
Very well. 3, middle paragraph, you speak about enrolling 450 people by the end of the Fiscal Year 2000, and 475 people in FY 2000. And I'd just like to mention that enrollment is one thing, that's good, it's a first step. But graduation and successful completion is another.
Absolutely. We are following -- with this initiative, we will be following people not only at placement but also for intervals up to a year after placement. We -- we hope that there's a lot we can learn from this. We're contracting with nine different providers at this point to provide employment and training services, and it's really our intent to really stay on top of the providers and make sure that they are achieving the goals 1056 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 that we've set out for them and making funding decisions accordingly in terms of as we go forward with this initiative.
That's important, because we have a history back in the early '80s, where employers would hire young people, knowing full well that there was no intention on their part to retain them after X-number of years, based on the contract. So your future report should reflect as well the number of people that replace the full and part-time jobs and then those who are retained over X-period of time.
It's part of our service measures that we follow very closely.
And my closing comment is, Congratulations on the public-private partnership with the Please Touch Museum.
And making that world happen over there for the children.
I appreciate your being able to come to our opening, and I would invite other members of City Council to come and see the 1057 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 new intake area.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Nardone.
And good afternoon, Sally. I just have a couple of questions. Our office keeps getting calls and complaints about the lack of cleanliness at certain facilities, and I just don't want to say what facility; we can talk about that later.
Short of terminating a contract, how does your office address these kinds of complaints which seem to go on for years?
Well, we have a quality 1058 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 assurance unit, which is made up of a -- has a supervisor and seven quality-assurance analysts. And what their role is to do is to take complaints like this and to basically follow up with the individual provider and respond to those complaints. So if there are -- we should speak after this session, and I should take the names of those places and have our quality-assurance team go out there and try to identify the problems. Short of shutting the facility down, what we try to do is work with them to identify what are the practices that they should put in place to get their program up to speed with the standards that we are setting for them. So, I mean, that's the typical approach that we would take. And so, you know, I would be happy to take any lists or providers that you've been getting complaints about.
Just a follow-up on a question that I heard Councilman Nutter and Councilman Darrell Clarke ask in terms of the community living in neighborhoods. And I know last year you developed a good-neighbor policy as 1059 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 a pilot. How long has that been going on now, and do you have any results? Is that going to expand to other parts of the city, the good-neighbor policy?
I think what you're referring to is the Health Department Good Neighbor Policy, which in West Philadelphia.
Is that -- I thought it was your department. It's not?
I think it's the Health Department that takes the lead, but with respect to a couple of the facilities that have opened recently in West Philadelphia, they are participating in that process. I mean, I think generally, it's a good mechanism to try to identify problems and deal with some of the day-to-day things that might come up in terms of facilities in a particular area.
Mm-hmm, okay. I thought we got that from your office but, you know, we can call the Health Department and get the results of that, 'cause we were interested in having that implemented in our area.
Because, you know, we have an abundance of different types of facilities with more than single-family living up in our neighborhood.
How many families are in the shelter system? Just families.
We have approximately 400 families and 1200 family members. I can tell you that as of yesterday, it was 1249 family members.
Okay. And right now, do you have a shortage of beds? At one point, there was a shortage or an anticipated shortage due to welfare reform.
There has been some moderation in terms of the family shelter demand. And so presently, we're in pretty good shape in terms of meeting the demand, and there are some -- there's at least one new facility that we will be opening very shortly that will further help us to meet any anticipated family shelter demand.
Okay, I have one more question. There has been a drastic reduction in 1061 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 the number of homeless on the streets of Center City. Do you keep statistics on the number of homeless people forcibly removed from the public sidewalks for violation of the Sidewalk Behavior Bill?
I mean, generally, we have not had to force anybody from the sidewalk. I think that we've had some success with is using the outreach resources that are available, and I think that it's kind of been the teaming of the outreach with the police that's really helped in terms of being able to transition people into residential placements. And it's also having those different residential resources available that has helped move people from the streets into those placements.
You know, there are a lot of efforts in the city. I know in my area, there's going to be a cleanup -- a "Clean Your Sidewalk Campaign." Clean outside, around your house. People want to take their neighborhoods back and have a real positive impact on the physical appearance of the neighborhood. So when you're transitioning families 1062 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 from shelter to permanent housing, are you doing workshops? Are, you know, people kind of being oriented to the responsibility of being a renter or a homeowner? 'Cause some of the problems -- there's a program that's right near my mother, and there's a Catholic church that owns properties right near my mother, and I happen to know them. And she was having problems 'cause these people were new neighbors, new habits. And I called the priest and we kind of resolved them, but is that all a part of the transitioning program back out into the neighborhoods?
Yeah. If I could answer that or address that issue, we have the -- the mission of OESS is to move people from homelessness and into permanent housing, independent living, and to be self-sufficient. In that process, people from shelter -- I mean, our primary objective is to get people off the streets or to provide a place for them to stay that's warm and is clean and safe. In the process, though, after shelter, there are a number of contracted transitional housing providers, and that provides yet another 1063 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 step towards independence. And the expectation of those programs are that individuals in that process, that they learn life skills, they learn budgeting, they learn home management, they learn how to prepare meals, and also how to be responsible community members.
So it's kind of bits and pieces as people stay in the shelter system. And that's provided that the individuals follow that continuum.
So that's provided for maybe a year into placement? Or is there a cutoff date? I guess the question is --
Transitional housing programs usually from anywhere from six months to two years, depending on which program.
You know, 'cause we happen to know the priest at the Catholic church, but it doesn't mean that a neighbor would know who to contact if they were having some type of problem with that particular tenant. And if you're still doing counseling, or if an agency is contracted to do counseling, then, you know, 1064 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 people would need to know who to contact. So I guess the best thing is -- I don't know how we would find out who was the owner of the property or what contractor had that particular contract to -- so I guess I want to know if it's a one-shot deal or is it ongoing?
With respect to the transitional housing programs, it's definitely ongoing. There's a case manager that follows the person for the full -- up to two years that they might be in transitional housing.
And if there's a name -- I mean, if there's a name or an address, we could always check it against the transitional housing program just to see if it fits into that category. And I think that in that case, the appropriate step would be to have that case management agency go out and meet with the family and try to work to remediate the problems that are out there.
Thank you, Councilwoman. 1065 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you. In your budget request, you're requesting $16.5 million for purchases of service. Could you point me to a document that would list the services that you're purchasing for $16.5 million?
The bulk of that money can be found in the budget detail for the OESS budget on -55.
So all of the $16.5 million is detailed on those pages?
Most of it. Now, that would be for those providers we're contracting with this fiscal year. We don't -- I mean, there isn't necessarily an expectation that we would contract with those same providers going forward so that -- in other words, we renew contracts every year for shelter providers based on their performance and based on the level of bed need, so the thing is that there might be providers on that 1066 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 list we might not fund fully at the same level as this fiscal year, but that gives you a general picture of what are the providers that we're currently contracting with. And generally, those are continued going forward.
So that, again, most of -- for this fiscal year, how much is -- forgive me for not knowing the number for this fiscal year. How much is the number for this fiscal year, the budget, the one we're year in now?
I'm going to defer to the Budget Director on that question, okay. (Richard Shaeffer comes forward.)
Good afternoon, Councilman. My name is Richard Shaeffer, 1067 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 Administrative Services Director for OESS. And the bulk of that increase is attributed to the inclusion of the $2.2 million that was referred to in Mr. Nardone's testimony as the funds that we hope to get back from the State in the next fiscal year.
Okay. And if I look in this year's budget, I'll be able to see the dollar amount that you have budgeted this year and what all those services are for, detailed?
Because sometimes they're just thrown in there -- and I'm not going to pretend that I read that carefully, but sometimes they're just thrown in there with not detail, and I'm pleased to hear that there's detail, because in some other budgets that we've listened to today, that they weren't detailed. So if you're telling me they are, that's great.
Excruciating detail. Thank you very much. 1068 OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. - BILL 05 - 2/16/00 Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any more questions for OESS? (No further questions.)
The next department is the Department of Recreation. (Department of Recreation witnesses come forward.)
Are you ready? Please identify yourself for the record and continue.