COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 7, 2010 10:50 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN MARIA QUINONES-SANCHEZ COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO BILLS 100115, 100116, 100117, 100118, 100131 and RESOLUTION 100141 - - - 2
I'm sorry for the delay. This is a continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. The first department to testify this morning will be Supportive Housing. (Witness approached witness table.)
Welcome. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Council President Verna and distinguished members of City Council. My name is Dainette Mintz and I am the Director of the Office of Supportive Housing. The mission of OSH is to assist individuals and families move toward independent living and self-sufficiency. We plan and coordinate Philadelphia's response to 3 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. homelessness and operate Riverview Home, which serves the elderly and persons with disabilities. Through the hard work of staff and providers, last year we were able to decrease the City's street population to 395. I am pleased to offer this testimony outlining the OSH budget request for Fiscal Year 2011, which totals $98,989,699; 38,473,558 is General Fund at 39 percent and 60,516,141 are Grant Funds at 61 percent of our budget. The Fiscal Year 2011 OSH budget supports a total of 188 positions, including 132 General Fund positions. Of that number, 65 are Riverview Home staff and 67 are OSH specific. This is one less employee than in Fiscal Year '10. There are 56 State and federal grant-funded positions. In addition, the budget supports 127 annual OSH contracts, which provide 6,300 emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing beds for homeless men, women and 4 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. children in Philadelphia. This is one less contract and a reduction in funding for one Transitional Housing Program, reducing capacity by units. 6 Minority business participation 7 rate: Historically, the expertise of 8 providing homeless housing and services 9 lies in the non-profit provider 10 community. OSH contracts out most of its 11 day-to-day work, and in this respect, OSH 12 continues its longstanding practice of 13 contracting with minority and women-led 14 agencies and businesses, both for-profit 15 and non-profit. Seventy-two percent of 16 OSH's contracts are with organizations 17 that provide housing to homeless 18 individuals and the remaining 28 percent 19 of the contracts are awarded to agencies 20 to provide supportive services, including 21 case management, food services, 22 employment training, et cetera. Funding 23 for 95 percent of the agency's contract dollars goes to non-profit providers, which are not officially classified by 5 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the Office of Economic Opportunity as to status. 2 percent. For the for-profit group of contracts, six out of eight providers, or 75 percent of the total, are minority, women-owned businesses. OSH's for-profit contracting, therefore, greatly exceeds the Administration's goal of percent 12 minority, women and disabled-owned 13 business participation in City 14 contracting. percent of the Boards are 16 classified as minority, women, disabled. 2 percent. 21 OSH's Fiscal Year '11 budget 22 summary: The proposed Fiscal Year '11 23 budget reflects level funding from Fiscal 24 Year '10 in the General Fund. In Fiscal 25 Year '10, OSH's State funding was reduced 6 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. by one million. OSH implemented efficiencies in order to preserve the department's core function of providing emergency, transitional and permanent housing for homeless individuals and families in the face of this reduction and the continuing economic downturn. 3 percent, consolidated emergency response and relocation service functions under a single administrator instead of two, created an electronic invoice submission process to take the place of paper submissions, and increased electronic fiscal and contract communication with providers. Accomplishments: Despite the impact of the economy on the City and on its citizens, OSH is pleased to share the following achievements through the Mayor's Homeless Housing Initiative. The progress we made advances our achievement of goals articulated in Philadelphia's 7 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, 2005 through 2015, which was the result of broad-based stakeholder participation.
Number one, close the front door to homelessness and prevent homelessness. With the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Philadelphia's opportunities to prevent individuals and families from ever becoming homeless were multiplied. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided over $21 million to Philadelphia through the three-year Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program, HPRP. Using a competitive process, OSH identified five non-profit homeless prevention contractors who have assisted 1,263 households since October 1st of 2009. 7 million in financial assistance to help struggling Philadelphians pay back rent and overdue utilities, thereby remaining housed. This additional HUD funding to 8 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. help renters allows us to target local Housing Trust Fund prevention funds to assist homeowners to keep their homes. In Fiscal Year '10 through February, OSH assisted 159 households with avoiding foreclosure. HPRP funding is also used at the front door of the emergency housing system in Philadelphia's shelter intake sites. Single men, women and families are screened to determine if they can be rapidly diverted and rehoused to prevent their entry into shelter or reduce their length of stay. Since the start of the program in October, 162 households have been diverted from shelter. Number two, end the need for anyone to sleep on the streets of our City. , a renowned non-profit agency, the City conducts a quarterly count of men and women living on the streets. The November 2009 street count showed 25 percent fewer individuals living on the 9 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. street citywide, 395 in November 2009 compared to 532 in November 2008, and 4 percent fewer individuals living on the 5 streets in Center City, 329 in November 6 2009 compared to 377 in November 2008. 7 These achievements suggest that 8 Philadelphia is making progress toward a 9 third major goal, which is to open the 10 back door out of homelessness, create 11 permanent and subsidized housing. In 12 2008, Mayor Nutter announced a 13 comprehensive plan to reduce homelessness, which has resulted in 1,200 new units of housing being made available for homeless men, women and children in Fiscal Year '09 and '10. Two hundred of these opportunities were designed to provide housing and treatment to individuals living on the streets of Philadelphia. Through a partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, individuals who are ready for discharge from behavioral health residential and treatment programs can transition from 10 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. these programs to independent living with service supports and families can move from transitional housing to permanent homes. Philadelphia has increased its inventory of permanent supportive housing for individuals by 35 percent since 2008 and for families by 122 percent since 2008. S. Conference of Mayors report, Philadelphia reported far more family members entering permanent supportive housing than any other city, with 1,081 family members ending homelessness. The HPRP Recovery funding also contributes to our achievement in this area, with 137 households that moved from shelter or transitional housing into housing in the community under the Rapid Rehousing Program component, with another 300 families in the pipeline. HPRP provides financial assistance to help pay utility or rental arrearages that are a 11 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. barrier to being housed and security deposits or rent for a finite period. Housing stabilization specialists help program participants remain stably housed. Although the HPRP program began only six months ago, hundreds of Philadelphians have been helped and 40 individuals have either gained or retained employment as HPRP staff. We look forward to continued success with this important funding source. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
I have a couple of questions. I'll take advantage of the Chair to ask my questions. According to Pages 12 to 15 of your budget detail, your office intends 12 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to spend approximately $25 million for the purchase of services with providers that will be determined. In past years these providers have been identified when your budget testimony was presented to Council. What is the basis for this change?
The contracting process is the -- traditional role is to contract out most of our day-to-day services. So we haven't made any change there. The process is all a request for proposal process, and any opportunities that are available, we make them available to our entire listing. So we haven't changed any formatting or any funding mechanisms from the Fiscal Year '11 proposed budget than this year.
So are you saying that these providers have to go through the process of responding to an RFP?
Yes. We use an RFP process annually, and then if you have an 13 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. existing contract with us, on an annual basis you also have to respond to a request for information in order to update your information with us and also to identify any programmatic changes. So all of that contracting is awarded through a competitive process.
Every year? So you don't have ongoing providers in your --
No. Just let me be clear. We issue an RFP, and if you have responded to an RFP, you also then on the next year have to respond to an RFI. So it's not as extensive a response as an RFP response, but it's still a competitive response that you're responding to.
I guess that's why in the past you had contracts with providers to provide ongoing 14 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. service, that's why they were in the budget book?
And so you will see them listed, because we anticipate that we will continue to fund them, unless there is some egregious issue with their submission.
Okay. Let me ask you another question. On you talk about close the front door to homelessness and the services that you provide to families and/or individuals who may find themself homeless. I guess I want to ask you, what ongoing supportive services do you provide to families? Even though you may pay their arrearage and their rent and their utilities and things of that nature, is there a supportive service program there to give them continuous help for a period of time until they grasp the need to 15 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. develop their own strong program?
There is. Under HPRP, we're able to provide stabilization assistance. So for anyone who has received ongoing assistance, we're required to track them and provide assistance to them every three months, checking in to see how they're doing, if their housing is still stabilized. That process is connecting them to mainstream benefits they may be entitled to. We also have built in supports trying to connect them to health benefits. We have the opportunity to try to connect them to entitlement services. So that's the level of support that's provided to them, and that's ongoing throughout the provision of the HPRP assistance, which is tailored individually.
Okay. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee. 16 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Thank you for all you do. My first question was along the same lines as Councilwoman Tasco's. Yesterday when we had the Prison Superintendent in here, we asked about what educational components they had. In this helping people transition, is there any -- and I know your funds are limited, but any help in trying to get people like, say, GEDs, that kind of thing?
Not that we fund directly, but part of the services that are provided under the Homeless Prevention Program is obviously concentrated on the housing aspect, and then there will be an opportunity, once we know what the individual circumstance of the household is, trying to get them through referral to existing programs 17 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that the providers are aware of. If you are in our homeless housing system, there is much more detailed case management provided and there are stronger partnerships with education and support service and employment and training opportunities.
Job training, yeah. And that's what these housing stabilization specialists --
I got you. Thank you. One last question. Towards the end of your testimony on 3, you talk about the partnership with Philadelphia Housing Authority.
And the 200 opportunities. To the best of your knowledge, are they filled or are they --
Yes. The 18 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. initiative has a partnership with the Housing Authority in which they're providing us with 500 housing opportunities annually. So we are in our second year of our partnership, so we've had a thousand housing opportunities provided through PHA, and the City created the additional 200 that I specifically reference. So there's been a total of 1,200 units made available over the last two years.
And are they filled? I mean, are people getting into those?
The 200 units that the City created are currently full. The 500 units that was made available in the first year are full, and we're about halfway through the second year.
Okay. All right. Thank you. 19 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's always good every year to see you every year, and I appreciate and this body appreciates the good works that you do.
A couple of questions, though. And if I understood my colleague's question, that we are at capacity within our shelter system and that we from time to time have to turn people away?
We have encountered being at capacity. What the new Homeless Prevention Program provides us is an 20 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. opportunity to more rapidly move folks out of our shelter system so that we can have some space available for folks who may not have any other option but shelter. So with the initiation of that program in October, it has given us some cushion, because we've been able to divert those 162 households that I talked about from coming into shelter, which has made it available for us to be able to offer it. Part of it is doing an assessment to determine whether or not people have any other options at all and if they can be diverted, because our goal is trying to prevent folks from coming into shelter in the first place, because there is a stigma attached to it. There's also a tendency for folks to become very dependent on the system for directing their self-sufficiency, and so we try to avoid that.
So you don't turn people away at this point? 21 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Secondly, with the stimulus dollars that have come down, I'd like to get a sense of how they've helped out.
Two, last year you were talking about new contracts possibly with shelter providers and get an update on where we are with that. Have we changed any of that, if you could?
Under the stimulus HPRP program, we are currently about five months in, and we have been able to utilize the program to provide homeless prevention, rapid rehousing and diversion assistance. We provided assistance to over about 1,200 folks in homeless prevention. We have expended about $1.7 22 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. million in funding, and that's just in the first five and a half months of the program, which has been a great benefit because these are folks who otherwise would be trying to enter our shelter system if they were evicted from the apartments for delinquency or had utilities turned off. So the program has been a great success. We've also diverted families from coming into the system. That's an additional 162 folks. And we also have been able to rapidly rehouse folks who are currently living in transitional housing programs into permanent housing in the community under the rapid rehousing component, and we've been able to move families out of housing for that. So it has been a wonderful asset to our mission and our objective. We were not anticipating having new shelter providers this year. Our strategy really was because we knew we had this program, that it would be an 23 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. opportunity for us to begin to look at diverting folks away from shelter, and, therefore, we were trying to just be able to manage our current shelter capacity to be able to meet the demand. And so this is a program that's allowing us to meet the demand by being able to divert and house folks before coming in.
Let me delve into that a little further. So the same shelter providers that were from the prior contract still have the contract?
All right. To what percentage is renter homelessness versus homeowner homelessness? There are a lot of things that attribute to the cause of homelessness. One of them this body identified as foreclosures. But I want to know a little bit, have you looked into what utility shut-offs, in light of the fact that we're deregulating electric and there have been rate increases from the Gas Works, to what 24 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. degree is utility shut-offs and what percentage are renters among the homeless population?
The majority of the funding is being provided for rental delinquency, and then second would be utility shut-offs. We have been limited in our ability to provide utility assistance by changes that HUD has made to the program regulations in which they have stipulated that we cannot assist anyone until they have made every opportunity to avail themselves of existing utility assistance programs. So what we have then decided to do was to try to reserve our funding for those folks who had larger arrearages that the existing programs could not provide them a hundred percent of funding and so that we could be able to address their needs.
Actually, that makes sense, to exhaust those funds before you have to go into your own.
But I guess what I'm trying to get to is, what percentage of renters are the homeless?
Of the homeless population, what percentage come from a renter environment versus homeowner that lost their house?
I would say that easily over 85 percent of them are from the renter population. This year, because we had the Recovery program, we took the dollars that we have been working with for the last couple years under the Housing Trust Fund and used those exclusively for mortgage foreclosure assistance, because it's the only program that provides financial assistance to people who are in foreclosure. And so with that program, we've been able to assist -- and, again, the fiscal year started in July -- we've been able to assist about 159 people. 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
My last point on my follow-up is, then what percentage of that population is a result of utility shut-offs?
That's an important step. With deregulation coming, there may be another flood created because of people living in dark houses and places that can't be heated.
I'll save my next questions for my next round. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Okay. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Each 27 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. department that's come in I've asked them to go through their open positions and explain any newly created positions or vacant positions and the need to fill them. I note in your proposed, I guess it was, seven and a half percent cut that the Administration provided to City Council, there were eight positions listed with a total savings of $475,461 that tie in with the vacant positions that we have here. So the Clerk Typist II position, can you explain to me how those duties have been performed while it's vacant?
We have eliminated that activity in our Fiscal Unit and so that activity has been absorbed by the existing staff.
And has the sky fallen since the staff has absorbed that?
No. It's just made things a little bit more challenging. 28 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. The Data Services Support Clerk position, same question. Who has been performing these duties?
Again, the activities have been absorbed. The impact here is that it is a service in which we're also not only assisting internal staff, but we also provide assistance to providers who use the automated tracking system, so if they have technical difficulties, that was a staff person who typically could go out in the field and try to help them work through that. So it just means that folks might have to wait a little bit longer for us to be able to resolve some of those issues.
Okay. The Administrative Specialist II position, who is performing these duties now?
Currently, the duties are being, again, absorbed, and this one is more of a challenge. 29 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Existing staff is having to address new grants that come into us, and as I've testified, 61 percent of our budget are State and federal grants. So it means folks are having to do more, trying to find the time to be more efficient in what they're doing, and so in some cases, folks are feeling a little overwhelmed.
These are positions at the Riverview Boarding Home, and this has resulted in increased overtime and risk of being in non-compliance with State personal care regulations. And so we usually have to maintain a particular 30 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. ratio of staff.
We have a need to be able to do laundry of linens and be able to --
Rather than get into a discussion about it, if you could please provide whatever State regulation requires you to have a certain number of laundry workers for us to look at, I would appreciate it. Healthcare Aide.
Yes. We have five vacancies in Healthcare Aides, and these are aides who assist the elderly and the disabled with daily activities, bathing, dressing, things of that nature.
Let's see. Just could you confirm that none of the reductions listed in the seven and a half percent budget reduction scenarios have been taken?
Okay. During last year's budget process, I submitted a question in writing about OSH's Homeless Management Information System that I don't believe was responded to before the budget process ended. I'd like to go back to the question. You received funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce to create an online information infrastructure designed to facilitate information sharing and resources creation that will assist in ending homelessness. You've also received funds from HUD to maintain a Homeless Management Information System 32 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. in order to assess the effectiveness of homeless programs. What is the status of these initiatives? What findings have you made from the data collected?
The status is that the Homeless Management Information System is operating. It has been for several years. Those are grants that go back a number of years, and every year we get a renewal grant to continue operations. We utilize the HMIS for two primary purposes. It provides us with an opportunity to get a daily census. Providers utilize the HMIS on a daily basis to tell us the number of homeless people who are occupying beds or units. So on a daily basis, we're able to know what our census is. And on an annual basis, it also provides us an opportunity to be able to track an individual's history within the system. So we can go into HMIS and pull up a record of when a person entered the system, how many times 33 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. they entered in a year, what facilities they were placed at and various notes that tells us about their history and their activity while they were in the system.
So is that the system that tells us where we get the figures of a percent decrease in 10 Center City homelessness or -- 11
No. The HMIS is 12 the system that allows us to know the 13 number of units we have occupied, how 14 many vacancies we have so that on a 15 day-to-day basis as folks come into our 16 intake, we're able to go into the HMIS 17 and know where we have a vacancy for a 18 particular family composition. It also 19 gives us the ability to generate reports 20 on the number -- the demographics of 21 folks who are in our system, the number 22 of -- 23
But those 24 are people who are in housing already, not people on the street? 34 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
People who come into our intake for placement, which is a different population than the people who are on the street. And so the folks who are being engaged on the street, that information is not being inputted into the HMIS.
It is -- right now it is a process that is meant to be able to document the number of people who are placed in housing. The system for outreach is being -- the numbers are being counted by DBH, which operates the outreach function. They're maintaining a database on the number of contacts they're making on the street. Once the contacts on the street results in a placement in our system, then the HMIS can validate and confirm that that placement occurred.
The 35 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. Sorry I missed the beginning of your testimony. And, Madam President, let me say that we've come a long way. We have a long way to go, but we've come a long way in terms of dealing with homelessness in the City from the days when Lucien Blackwell started the program under Frank Rizzo a hundred years ago. But I certainly want to thank OSH, Dainette Mintz and the whole team, and certainly say that we also are so proud of President Obama and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, because not only has it made a major difference in homelessness, but it has done in foreclosure and unemployment extension and in job training and so many areas, but it's made a significant difference, because this is the first time we have been able to -- I'm sure Ms. Mintz 36 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. already said it, but this is the first time we've been able to pay for services that are not narrowly homeless, to try to pay for utilities if you've applied and in other areas that certainly keep a person indoors and in their home. So I want to commend them and certainly give a shout-out to continue our cafes. We have one in West Philadelphia. I dare not mention it, then somebody will fight me on that, but we believe in our cafes. And I've learned through dealing with prisoners, homelessness and everything else we do that not one broom does sweeps clean. So we've got to have different approaches for different people, and certainly we support cafes and hope that at some point we can reopen others in different places, because they are really good to help at night. I mean, people want folks to come in and make use of Center City, Madam President, and all that it brings 37 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and people don't want to see homeless people on the streets, so that means we have to have some place for them to be and those who don't want to go and then that sort of thing. So we certainly want to commend this department, thank them, thank our President, thank PHA for what it's doing, and certainly hope that we can continue these cafes. It seems to me that obviously one of the biggest problems we have is when it's code blue or code red, and that's still an issue when we have people in numbers who still go in the subway and who are still out. So that's always an issue, and we do what we have to do to make sure people are in, but certainly that still becomes an issue. So I'll end my comments by saying our party this year will be July 16th, God willing. I haven't asked the City yet, but out here at Dilworth Plaza. So we'll invite everybody again. And, again, I thank you and the whole team, 38 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Letty and everybody, all of your folks, who do an excellent job. And, again, I say we've come a long way, baby. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. I'd first like to just start off by also thanking Dainette, her staff and all the agencies that work with homelessness here in the City and provide those services. I think you do a good job.
And when you read the testimony, it's very clear that you just can't work alone, that you have to have -- and you have the partnership with CBH and DHS and PHA and all those departments, and that's what 39 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. helps make this change. I certainly have seen the change. I've been here 4 years. I've seen the change in Center 5 City and I've certainly seen the change 6 out in neighborhoods. 7 We have some very good 8 providers too up in the 8th Council 9 District, and I do see some of them 10 sitting here today. 11 But I do have a couple of 12 questions, Dainette. We're still working 13 hard to keep the services open over at 14 the Y. 15
We're 17 working to see what we can do, and the help with the heating situation there has really helped keep those men with a home over the winter, such an extreme winter. But how do you actually really keep up with the count of homeless men or homeless people on the street? How difficult is it to take a count when you say that there's been a reduction and 40 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. there's only 395 people living on the streets?
Through the Homeless Coordination Center that's funded by the City's Department of Behavioral Health, we have outreach teams whose job it is to go out on the street, both Center City as well as into various neighborhoods of the City, to engage homeless persons. There is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week hotline where folks can call to report someone who they see on the street who they feel are in need of assistance. So they're out every day, every night trying to engage folks to be placed in appropriate housing and treatment. On a quarterly basis, the outreach teams and volunteers go out on one night a quarter to just count the number of people who are visibly homeless. Some of them are persons who they know because they've been working trying to engage them. Some of them may 41 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. be new folks that they don't know. And so they're just strictly counting the number of people who they see. And they go to Center City, they go to the bus terminals, they go to 30th Street Station, they go underground in the concourse and other areas where we know homeless people may populate, as well as covering areas in West Philadelphia and Kensington and other parts of the City where we know that there's sizable population. What has been difficult for us is to be able to validate and count the number of people who might be living in abandoned buildings, because there's a safety issue with going into those buildings and trying to count people. And typically the street count happens after midnight so that we can strictly be counting the people who are on the street. So we use that as a barometer to determine that if that number of people appear to be homeless and living on the 42 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. street, then they are homeless. So we utilize that quarterly count to be able to compare it to the previous year's count. We do it seasonally to determine whether there is more or less people on the street. The testimony refers to the fact that when we went out this past fall and did our count on that particular night compared to the night a year ago, there were fewer people.
Thank you. One of the problems has been providing utility assistance to people that don't meet the low-income requirement of LIHEAP and Crisis. So under this, what is it, H --
-- HPRP, are there income restrictions when someone is applying for utility assistance?
Actually, it's a little bit higher, so we can serve the very low income and we can serve all the way up to 50 percent of the median income, which is different from typical low-income programs, which limits it. And it was because the Recovery program was also trying to be of assistance to people who may have been impacted by the economy, who may not have had an issue but were laid off because of closure of their companies and were in need of assistance for the first time ever, and so they were trying to provide a range of incomes for us to be able to also assist those folks.
Well, that's really good, because those were the ones that were caught with no one being able to help them.
Exactly. They sort of fall in between. Typically they 44 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. haven't been low income enough and so they have not been eligible for assistance.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
I have a number of category of questions here. Let me first go to an issue Councilman Greenlee is actively involved with, and that is the issue of domestic abuse. I was trying to verify what the fact is with the State. The State has decreased its dollars for domestic abuse programs. What is your office relationship, if any, with domestic abuse programs in the City? 45 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
We have an annual contract with Women Against Abuse where we operate -- they operate through contract with us a domestic violence emergency housing facility.
It has 100 beds. It is also a facility that has the particular expertise to deal with domestic violence victims.
We also support Women Against Abuse in their operation of a transitional housing program, and we also have been the agency that has been the applicant and the recipient of the federal Domestic Violence Prevention Grant, which provides funding to ensure that our community as a whole, Police, Probation, et cetera, are educated to the issues of domestic violence, are responding in a manner in which it is taken into consideration the concerns and the rights of the victims and ensuring 46 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that they're having ample opportunity to get the legal representation, police representation that they need to be able to be out of harm's way.
So we have been the recipient of that grant for the last four years.
And on the initial -- you say there's an annual contract with Women Against Abuse. What is the status of that? Is it stable?
All right, then. What is your interface with the Office of Equal Opportunity around MBE and WBE subcontracting?
We work with them closely. We obviously receive our percentage for meeting the minority business opportunities. We also provide them with information about the number of funding opportunities we have. So, for example, every year when we issue request 47 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. for proposals, we provide a copy to them in order for them to be able to provide us the range for minority and business participation. We also have them participate in the review to ensure that we're in compliance with that, and work very hard to provide them with information in regards to the number of non-profits that we contract with.
Now, your agency ultimately makes the decisions about MBE, WBE subcontracts?
How many contracts does the department have with PHMC and what type of services are provided under those contracts at PHMC?
We have one contract with PHMC. It's providing case management to a number of our emergency housing facilities where the provider may not have the capacity to provide the case management, they're just housing the families. And so we have the contract 48 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. with PHMC where they're providing the case management.
I would probably have to get back to you with the amount of that.
Can one of your staff help you with that, only because time is never on our side.
Do you know or could a member of your team also tell us how many of those contracts does PHMC subcontract to other entities and the total -- no. First I need to know the amount. I need to know the total monetary value of the contract with PHMC first and is there --
The contract is $1,880,769. 49 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Is there a, what one might call, a standard operating procedure wherein OESS requires, requests that subcontracting agencies do business with MBEs, WBEs?
We identify in our contract that if there are any subcontracting opportunities, that they should be providing an opportunity for minority, women and disabled businesses to participate.
And then what monitoring, what oversight exists to ensure that that stipulation is obtained?
They're required to identify for us any subcontracting and to whom, and then we also require documentation of whether or not they're minority or business, et cetera.
Documentation such as? 50 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Such as a copy of the Board certification and makeup and composition.
Board of Directors makeup and composition, as well as whether or not the business is identifying whether or not it's a certified business. Oftentimes non-profits aren't on the City's registry list, so we oftentimes have to ask the providers to identify whether or not they are minority or disabled.
Final follow-up on this, and I'll have to come back because I have several more questions. What has been the experience of PHMC or others like that honoring MBE, WBE participation?
It hasn't been an issue for us, primarily because we have -- there's very limited subcontracting activities with our 51 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. contracts. Most of our providers are providing the direct service themselves and so they really aren't subcontracting out very much of it, but when they have, they've been very compliant with responding to our request. Again, part of the limitation for us, as we've indicated, is that many of our funding requirements dictate that we can only contract with a non-profit to provide the assistance. So in some cases, that has been an awareness that if we could count those organizations within our OEO, we would be in a position to more than exceed what the quota may be. We also have had very good results in being able to identify when we do have subcontracting that folks have gone out of their way to try to identify minority and female-owned and disabled businesses, and in many cases they've been successful. So we have quite a number of minority participation, and as the testimony indicated, we've exceeded 52 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. our quotas.
Thank you, Madam President. I'll continue on the next round.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you again, Madam President. Where we left off was a couple of specialty groups that constituents that you deal with that I'd like to address a couple of answers to. The percentage of young people in shelters between the ages of 18 and 24, is that a growing demographic, shrinking demographic?
It is a growing demographic. However, for entry into our emergency housing program, all youth have to be emancipated, and we typically have had, I would say, probably a number of 53 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. folks that we have been able to accommodate, but we are accommodating them in our facilities that are also housing adults and others.
What is the phenomena that you can attribute to the increase in this demographic?
I think it's a variety of things. We are aware that there is an increased number of youth who are aging out of the foster care system. We are aware that there are a number of youth who are having parental issues at home and so they run away from home. There are youth who are having issues with their sexual identity and may not feel comfortable, and so they are also leaving home. And so those are groups of folks who are seeking other housing opportunities, and oftentimes we are either aware of them or they may be made known to us, but they typically are being housed in our partnerships with some of our other providers in other areas. 54 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
The second demographic I'd like you to draw a little light on is the male or people over 50. Is that an increasing or decreasing demographic?
It's an increasing. First, the homeless population as a whole is aging and so we have a larger proportion of homeless people who are over the age of 45. Certainly for males, because they are the larger number of single persons in our system, there is certainly an increase in older homeless males.
In terms of comparison between male and female, we have more males in our system than females.
Finally, I couldn't help but see the sign back there, victims of domestic violence. What is that demographic? Going up, 55 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. going down? And are they often refused shelter? I got that directly off the sign.
The percentage of folks are increasing, and the issue is always one of capacity. And so while we have not decreased our funding to Women Against Abuse, there's also the issue of being able to address the demand, and the demand exceeds the current capacity.
My colleague Councilman Greenlee has been a champion in this regard, so whatever resources that we might be able to aid you with, we're for. He has been all on top of this issue, and if there is a particular reason why they cannot get emergency housing, we'd like you to address that.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes 56 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. I just have a couple of questions. How many family shelters -- do we have a count of all the shelters and the categories, family, children -- I mean, family, male and female, single male, single female?
And while you're looking, what are we doing with prevention? For example, I've been hearing a lot that there's a lot of services going to be directed to veterans because of their particular issues, and also over the years we've always heard that children coming out of foster care, many of them become homeless. So is there something going on? Not that your agency has to do in particular, but in coordination with someone else in terms of prevention, particularly with foster 57 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. children?
In regards to veterans, there certainly is an increase in the number of homeless veterans, and we've been benefited by the additional assistance that the VA Administration and HUD has made available through the vouchers, which is providing opportunities for permanent housing, with the VA providing the supportive services and the case management. There's been an increase of single female-headed households who are veterans who are in need of assistance. We currently work with one of the premier veteran organizations in the City who works with both single and families, and they have reported an increase in the number of female head of households.
The Veterans Multi-Service Center. In regards to the number of 58 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. facilities we have, we have family facilities and 13 single facilities, emergency housing facilities. And in terms of beds, we have 1,669 beds for families and 1,185 beds for singles.
So if 8 you're not going to do any new beds -- I 9 thought I heard you say that earlier. 10
We are not seeking 14 to increase the number of existing 15 shelter beds because we believe we can utilize the Homeless Prevention funding to be able to divert people from homelessness. The issue is, folks come to intake asking for placement, because they don't believe there are any other options. We're providing them with alternative options, and many folks would rather be housed back into the community rather than coming into shelter in the first place. 59 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
So with this rapid rehousing that you're doing -- and I think that's what you were just talking about.
-- how are you managing that? Are people going to live with relatives? Are those relatives being paid to house those folks? I mean, what actually happens?
No. Actually, what we're looking at are folks who are in our emergency and transitional housing programs and have not been able to move out because they may have arrearages that they owe to utility companies and until they pay their arrearages, they can't get a new place and have utilities turned on, or they may have credit issues that precludes that. What the Rapid Rehousing program allows us to do is to work with the utility company to address a repayment plan of the arrearages so that the person could find housing, private 60 4/7/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. housing, in the community and be able to have utilities turned on, if that's the case. So the Rapid Rehousing program is identifying, through the providers that we contract with, one, identifying what the person would need to be able to live independently. The program can provide them with a security deposit, first month's rent. The provider helps identify a unit for them. They make a selection, they move in, and then depending upon their individual circumstance, the program might also be able to provide them with a limited monthly subsidy to help cover the cost of the rent until they can get on their feet and be able to absorb a hundred percent of the costs.
Okay. In our budget book, do you have a list of where those shelters are located?