COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Friday, May 2, 2025 11:05 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMAN JIM HARRITY COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. BILLS: 250195, 250196, 250197, 250198, 250199, 250200, 250201, 250202, 250210, 250211, 250212 RESOLUTION: 250214 - - -
This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 250195, 250196, 250197, 250198, 250199, 250200, 250201, 250202, 250210, 250212 and Resolution No. 250214. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the titles of the resolutions.
Bill No. 17 250195, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1500 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Wage and Net Profits Tax," by revising certain tax rates, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250196, an ordinance adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Bill No. 250197, an ordinance to adopt a Fiscal 2026 Capital Budget. Bill No. 250198, an ordinance to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2026-2031 inclusive. Bill No. 250199, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Tax Code, entitled "Business Income and Receipts Taxes," to revise certain tax rates and end certain exclusions from the tax on receipts, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250200, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-100 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Traffic Code" to revise the fee for the use of parking meters, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250201, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," to provide for an increase in the tax of the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate; and amending Chapter 9 19-1300, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," to establish an equivalent reduction the tax rate for the City real estate tax, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250202, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1806 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax," to eliminate certain exemptions, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250210, an ordinance amending Chapter -- amending Section 10-1001 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Fees of the Commissioner of Records," to increase the portion of fees for the recording of deeds and mortgages in related documents to be used for Housing Trust Fund purposes, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250211, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1400 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Realty Transfer Tax" revising the rate of the tax, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250212, an ordinance to amend Chapter 19-4400 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Development Impact Tax" to end imposition of the tax, under certain terms and conditions. Resolution No. 250214, resolution providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a Revised Five Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2026-2030, and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2025, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the City and the Authority.
Thank you very much. Today, we continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the Clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2026, a Capital Program and a Forward- looking Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2026 through Fiscal Year 2031. This morning we will hear testimony from the Office of Homeless Services and in the afternoon we will hear testimony from the Fire Department and Licenses and Inspections. As we are starting at 11:00 as opposed to 10:00 , we will provide two minutes so members can ask directly their questions and we can have a response so we can get as much work that we can do get done between now and 4:00 p.m. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify.
The first person to testify is Cheryl Hill, Executive Director office of Homeless Services. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good morning. If you could just state your name and title and then you can begin your testimony.
My name is Cheryl Hill, Executive Director of the Office of Homeless Services. Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. Joining me today, our Chief of Staff David Holloman and Deputy Managing Director Crystal Yates-Gale. Our work is made possible by the support of our dedicated Office of Homeless Services colleagues, some of whom are with us in Council chambers today, while others are currently hard at work serving our most vulnerable populations in Philadelphia. I am pleased to provide this testimony for the Office of Homeless Services' proposed Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget. The Office of Homeless Services provides leadership, coordination and planning and mobilization of resources to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring in the city's pursuit of the Mayor's vision for a safer, cleaner and greener city with access to economic opportunity for all. Philadelphia's Homeless Services system consists of more than 75 homeless housing and social service providers, mostly nonprofit, working together with local, state and federal government entities. Since I stepped into the role of Executive Director in September, our team has been focused on strengthening OHS's foundation while setting bold goals for the future. For instance, we launched an agency improvement plan rooted in transparency, equity and performance. We listened to staff at every level of our organization, identified inefficiencies and began laying the groundwork for a culture of continuous improvement, one that supports our employees and better serves our city's most vulnerable residents. One of our first steps towards addressing this is to add more administrative staff to bolster our efficiency efforts agency-wide. Those positions are included in this proposed budget. E. Initiative and Wellness ecosystem. Both programs are critical pathways to ending street homelessness, offering options that meet people where they are, whether through recovery housing, supportive housing or a hybrid model anchored in dignity and tailored to individuals' needs. This will require a shift in how we approach housing referrals, assessments and shelter stays, moving towards a system that reduces time in shelter and increases access to permanent housing with greater speed and equity. Prevention, diversion and intake or PD&I remains the cornerstone of our approach, and we intend to modernize these services by streamlining application processing and leveraging technology to connect people to assistance faster and more efficiently. By collaborating with a wide range of governmental and community partners, OHS aims to reduce the number of individuals and families entering homelessness, ensuring that prevention services are accessible and effective in stabilizing households before crisis situations escalate. The Emergency and Temporary Housing Unit provides immediate shelter and short-term housing for people experiencing homelessness. OHS will work to reduce the length of stay in shelters by piloting initiatives that facilitate faster transitions from shelter to permanent housing, focusing on efficiency and client- centered care. In FY26, we plan to formalize the enhanced Code Blue protocol, piloted this winter, to ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness have access to warming centers and safe- shelter options during the extremely frigid temperatures. We've also implemented a new shelter monitoring process to make sure that every facility we fund offers safe, decent and sanitary environments. Additionally, in FY26 we will complete the assessment of the City Fund Emergency Shelters in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act. Providing permanent, safe and affordable and accessible housing with wraparound services is the best way to resolve homelessness.
We are also requesting the necessary resources to ensure that our nonprofit partners, many of which are on the front lines every day, can meet the City's living wage requirements without compromising the quality of their services. Fair pay for their workforce is not only a matter of equity but essential to building a sustainable homelessness response system. The Fiscal Contracts and Asset Management system or FCAM Division will prioritize equity and accountability in its policies, practices and provider network to ensure fair and inclusive service access. We will continue our review to ensure equitable processes, adherence to our policies or contracts in ?? err of transparency, which I refer to with the team as the Show Your Work model. In addition to the internal process review, we are working with a consulting firm to look at our fiscal practices to see how we can improve establishing key controls in our fiscal operations. Once the risk assessments and recommendations are finalized, the results will be shared with Council. Earlier this year, in collaboration with our colleagues in the Managing Director's Office and Finance, OHS took a proactive look at our fiscal oversight and payment processes to ensure we maintain operations as funded in FY25. 7 million reserve was established to support unanticipated costs in FY25. Funding from the reserve was subsequently earmarked for enhanced Code Blue, wage increases for our service providers and an infusion of homeless prevention assistance dollars and funding for facility maintenance. The proposed Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund budget totals $84,188,038, a decrease of 5,055,830 from the Fiscal Year 2025 estimated obligation levels. This decrease is primarily due to the allocation of one-time funding in FY25 for unanticipated needs and the transition of budget authority to other departments for contracts previously managed by OHS, such as facilities management and security at Philly Home at Girard. However, it does not signify a decrease in the Administration's prioritization and dedication to addressing the homelessness crisis. Instead we are continuing to break down silos and create a holistic strategy. The Wellness budget under the Managing Director's Office includes new funding for wellness vouchers that will be administered by OHS to provide a seamless transition from recovery housing such as Riverview Village to permanent housing using a model similar to Rapid Rehousing. E. Initiative includes strategies to prevent homelessness as well as preserve or build housing units for people at or below 30% AMI. OHS will also continue to partner with PHA, DHCD and PHDC to leverage funding programs such as the Federal Home Investment Partnership Program, HTF, LIHTC set-asides to strengthen our efforts to end homelessness. Our proposed budget allows OHS to continue funding our existing programs with increases to accommodate the city's minimum wage, increase winter and Code Blue services and add fiscal administrative staff to ensure contracts are accurate and completed in a timely manner. This budget strategy was developed by taking into consideration all of our resources, including other funding sources such as grants and strategic public and private partnerships. E. Initiative. OHS will also continue the collaborative review of our continuum care initiatives and application process as we work to safeguard and increase our permanent supportive housing units. Thank you for the opportunity to share how OHS with the ceaseless support of our dedicated team members strive to meet its mission every day and will continue to do more in an effective manner. And before I turn it over and look forward to answering your questions, I do want to just say publicly thank you to Dave Holloman who has been a partner with me even before I joined the City and continues to help with the strategies today. Thank you.
Thank you. We're glad to see Dave is still here taking care of business since the last time we saw you, Dave. Continue to keep up the good work. Okay?
The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you all very, very much for your testimony and for the work of the entire OHS team. We all have been working really closely over the last year. So I wanted to thank Cheryl Hill and welcome you to your first budget season, also to Dave Holloman for all of your work. And then I want to give a shout-out to Bruce Johnson, who's been helping us place a number of individuals who are unhoused and getting them connected to service, even helped us on a Saturday evening with an elderly woman who was in a car outside of a park. So I just wanted to make sure that I put that on the record because I recognize that this work is not easy work. It's difficult work. It's selfless work. And you're meeting many Philadelphians at their lowest and at that their point of need. And so, I just wanted to thank you all very much for that work. I also wanted to ensure that I put on the record that since 2018 City Council has increased OHS's budget by $41 million. So I think you know the commitment is there from City Council, that we want to fund this work. We want to fund good quality service from our OHS. And then you all know that we've worked together closely over the past several months to ensure we had additional dollars for the Family Intake Shelter, which you all did get up and running in the Northwest in Councilmember Cindy Bass' District. So I'm very, very appreciative of that. You know that I have to ask the tough questions only because we have to get this on the record, but I know that we all collectively care deeply about the quality of service that we're providing to our most vulnerable residents at their point of need. So it's just a few things that I wanted to also mention because we had just received this Pew report last week around the amount of Philadelphians who are experiencing homelessness in recent years. And while we know that we've had a reduction in our city's poverty rate, which is the lowest it's been since 2000, we also know that household incomes, while they may be increasing slightly here, that too many families are cost-burdened, and particularly by the strains that we have relative to housing and also utilities. And so, we recognize that we received a report that homelessness is on the rise in the city of Philadelphia. And that's the reason why I want to continue to have a laser-beam focus on this issue. So I'm going to start off with a few questions. And everything that I ask are things that I really need to just get on the record so that we have a starting point for moving forward. I know that you all have a financial consultant. We were able to see that in the detail as well, and they have completed their review and their analysis of OHS and they've issued recommendations. Have those recommendations been made public? And if you all could share those recommendations with the Council President for dissemination to all members of Council, including our Chair of Housing Councilmember Gauthier before we have the callback; is that possible?
Yes, it's possible. We just met with the consultants this week so we just received the information. They gave us an updated draft this week as well, so we'll be able to share those recommendations with Council.
Okay. And we'll be able to receive that before the callback?
Okay. It's still a draft. Okay. But will you all be able to share anything with us prior to --
I'll call up Crystal Yates-Gale. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Good morning, Majority Leader. Crystal Yates-Gale, Deputy Managing Director, Health and Human Services. The engagement with the fiscal consultant just started so it's going in three phases. The first phase was a risk assessment. The second phase is going to be making recommendations to operationalize their recommendations to us. The third phase will be to implement training for the team. And so, there is a report that is shared with us after each phase, and we have your team specifically but Council as a whole on the books to be invited to that meeting.
Okay. That'll be great. I heard the bell so I'll honor the clock. I just need to get this last question on for this round and I'll come back hopefully for several rounds. On April of last year 19 the Inspector General released a 20 report of preliminary findings 21 around the overspending for OHS. 22 I'm not sure and just please let us know if a final report has been issued, if you all have received a final report from the OIG? And if not, if there's an update regarding that report?
So we've received the draft version and we've met with OIG as well as the consultant that they've been working with, but we haven't received the final report.
Okay. So I'll then ask again once you receive the final report, if we could receive a copy via our Council President for dissemination to all members of Council. And I'll come back on the second round. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. Last year you all provided my office with a list of all the FY23 and '24 contracts. I still have a copy of it here because we had to print it out the long way to go through it and it's been a part of our Bible that we've been using for the last year. But you all were able to give me a list of all the FY23 and '24 contracts, and it had the following information: The date the contract was conformed, the amount encumbered on the date of the contract confirmation, date of all the invoices for the work provided, date of all the payments with the invoice numbers, any funds that were rolled over from a previous contract and the contract number associated so that we can match it up, and any unpaid invoices from the previous contract that were paid under FY25 contract, which is some of the stuff that we could find. And I'll be honest, we've been up all night because we just got this at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So it's very difficult to be able to go through all of this and receive it at 4:00. And I know that's not to any fault of your own, but we have to also have an opportunity to go through it and we had a Budget town hall last night until 8 o'clock. So if you all could provide us with that same information this year, that would be helpful.
Thank you. And on behalf of the team because it was a collaborative effort, we do want to apologize for getting that information to you so late, but we'll be able to give you that updated information.
Okay. And that would be for all the FY25 contracts. And I'm only asking because of all the movement that's happening in the detail. When we did get it, we were still here. I was able to go through from my desk here the contracts that immediately stood out to me relative to the numbers that did not match up. And then I had my team do the research to ensure that what I thought I was reading was an accurate assessment. I'll get this last question on for this round and then I can come back. But I wanted to go under Emergency and Temporary Housing in Class 200, but specifically that portion of the detail on . It shows a decrease in emergency and temporary housing of $4,531,571. That's in Class 250. $641,343 in Class 290. $1,632,710 decrease in 299. So the total decrease will be $6,805,623 in Class 200. Now, when you go back and go down in the further pages at 29, 30 and 31 and you review all the specific spending breakdowns on those pages, the numbers just don't add up. So it could be that it is a typo or that -- that's why we need to see the invoices so we'll be able to match it up. But the difference on those pages in the Class 250 is $4,906,070 and the Class 290 difference is $1,942,290. So essentially the Class 299 difference is correct, but it is also a set-aside around the inflationary needs that you all are stating that you'll need to address, but there are no specifics on what the $2.7 million was spent on last year and then what the $1.1 million appropriation may be spent on for next year. And so for the record, and you all might not be able to do this today but I wanted to get this on the record, if you could explain the movement and around the discrepancy in the totals versus the line item spending in Class 200, and that would be strictly for emergency and temporary housing. And then provide the detail for the inflationary spending for FY25 under that same category. And then specifically for the one-time costs on , if you could provide the detailed information on the $1.9 million, I think that's for the facility needs. And then which vendors that we're going to work with and sort of the timeline and the scope. So I'll start there, emergency and temporary housing.
Thank you. And we'll be able to get you the detail. But I'll add for clarity as we went through this budget in detail we realized that some of the projects were actually in the wrong department, so some of the moves were actually just putting them in the correct area. But we'll be able to get you more detail behind that.
Right, and that was the difference between I thought the original detail we received and then we got an updated detail at 3:58 to try to match it up. But basically, typically what is in the earlier section of the detail and once you get the breakdown on the following pages, typically you're able to add up the numbers and it matches, but in this instance it does not. So I wasn't sure -- do you understand where I'm going with that?
Okay. For the additional increase in prevention support, you shared with our office in one of our many meetings that these funds were to provide additional dollars to those at risk of losing their rental units, and that's after a permanent supportive housing option did not pan out due to the rent costs. So could you please notate where in the detail we can see the original project and how it was budgeted?
Sure. So the original prevention dollars are primarily funded by grants and we can give you the detail behind that. We realize, and we've mentioned it before in other Council meetings, that we had the increase of individuals that experienced prevention. But just to provide clarity, not all of them need the permanent supportive housing dollars. They just need additional help with security deposit or just a few months' rent. So that's why it's a little bit different in that program. But what we found was that we ran through that money pretty quickly because we had about 4000 people ask for assistance. And so, now --
I saw the post. I saw the post. Everybody was sharing it online. I know what you're referring to.
Yes. And so, what we did do in the budget for FY25 was add additional funds to help cover some of those costs because we realized that we were out of the money probably around March. So we've added additional funds to be able to help so that we can provide support for more individuals.
Sure. And I only ask because there was only I think it was $336,000 that was listed under the permanent supportive units for this fiscal year but it's only one time. So if it's something that we need to continue to address, we would want to see it more than once, which is why I had asked about the original detail so that we can understand if it moves somewhere where it is.
Absolutely. And I will add that earlier this year we added an additional 700,000 that you don't see separated out specifically for prevention dollars. But because we awarded that a while ago, it's the only reason that it's not separated out in that funding because that was specifically about using some of the additional reserve dollars, where the 700,000 we were able to allocate all of our original budget.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. I'll come back for another round.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr. Then Chair of Housing Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. And thank you, colleague, for raising this issue several cycles ago to talk about it from a macro point of view and fiscal stability, but I want to approach this from a micro standpoint. The way I look at government sometimes, if I see one pothole, I fix it. If I see several potholes, there's something wrong with the system. And thank you for meeting with me aside to kind of explain that system, and it gave us some insight as to some of the challenges that you have to face. So thank you for that in advance. I did give you some homework, and that homework was to provide a linear view of how people coming through different doors wound up in shelters. Whether you come from a domestic abuse point of view, whether you come from an ex-offender point of view, whether you come from a child who is couch surfing, how do you do intake? And then what are the times associated before someone gets temporary to permanent placement? Did you get a chance to do that?
Good morning, Council, and thank you for that question and thank you again for having the time to meet with us. So just to give a quick synopsis of when someone comes through the door, whether it's from incarceration or coming from the streets and from a hospital, everyone comes to central intake and they get an assessment. And so, you have the option to either have an overnight bed or what we consider to be case management bed, which we have 30 shelters that has case managements in those beds. That path leads to a long-term housing placement or a treatment placement. And so, once you come to the first door, you get a housing assessment. And if you're in there for seven days in that initial placement, you're meeting with case management to determine what type of housing --
I'm going to stop you because I hear that -- did you do the chart?
Yes, we do have a chart and we can turn it over to your offices through Council President.
Will you give that to the President to distribute to members? Because that gives us here's how long it takes and as important, how much does it cost. So for example, and I think you gave me a number before, how many people go through your system a year?
Yeah. On average we have seen anywhere between 15,000 to 19,000 people that come to our intake services. Doesn't mean that all of them get placed for housing, but they come in seeking some type of services.
And if you were to do a pie chart of who they are, tell me the demographic, tell me the circumstance of who your shelter participant is.
Yeah. As we have seen over the last few years in homelessness being up nationwide, we are starting to see more of an older population. That means when we say older, 55 and up -- excuse me, 55 and up. And also, we're starting to see youth, what we consider to be youth is 18 to years of age. But the 23 biggest population of people is in 24 that age between to 45 where we see the majority of people that come to our system. But we can provide in that infograph a breakdown of a pie chart showing who's hitting our system for first times and also repeated people who are coming in.
So as we -- I know I heard the bell. How much does it cost a night?
On average we spend about $55 per night. Depending on the shelter, some of that can range between 55 upwards to 85, depending on the type of services and the type of shelter based on square footage, its location, if it's a recent lease.
So for the next round the question that I want answered is -- and again, the best examples are examples that come through my office. And one of them is someone that is dual diagnosed, that they have several challenges that they have to face. How are you equipped to be able to assess that and then give them the proper placement and care that they need? That'll be ready for round --
I can just address part of that. We do have some mental health specialists in our intake centers, but we are not behavioral health specialists which is why we do partner with the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities to get additional assessments when necessary. But we do keep some available in our intake centers as well.
So since you answered that, I got one more. And, that is, President Johnson and my staffer Lena there went out on Code Blue, and they were out talking to people about coming in. One of the most disturbing things out of the 30 or so people that they contacted was that some of them were reluctant to go into our shelter system out of fear of public safety and they felt safer in jail than they would in a shelter. How are we attacking that?
Thank you. If I can answer that quickly. Our team actually does monitoring of all of our shelters. They monitor for case management, they monitor for the physical qualities and they monitor for making sure that they meet the standards. If the shelter does not pass the assessment, then there is a corrective action plan that they have to implement. We do think to continue to monitor those and those who are not, we would have up to and subject to termination of that contract. But we've done all of them this year. We've also had our inspectors go out and do some physical inspections as well to make sure that people are in shelters that we would want to be able to have to our standard, and the team has heard me talk several much -- several times about the fact that I did have family in our shelters and they told me about the fact that they would rather be on the street and then to be in the shelters. So it is important to me to make sure that the shelters are meeting a certain standard.
I'll save the rest of my questions for Round 2. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Chair of Housing Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. Thanks to you both for being here and thanks to you and your whole team for the critical work that you do every day. We really appreciate working with you. As the Majority Leader alluded to, the most recent point-in-time count released in September 2024 reflected a near 40% increase in unhoused individuals. At the same time, the proposed OHS budget is 6% less than the previous year. I've been in conversation with you all about this seeming decrease and have some follow-up questions that I wanted to get on the record: The Administration provided my office with a memo explaining that the reduction was not programmatic but a line item called "funding for unanticipated needs." Can you expound on the intended purpose of this reserve, and doesn't a drastic increase in homelessness count as an unanticipated need? Next, although you said there are no programmatic reductions, I do see an overall $1.3 million reduction in the area of prevention, diversion and intake. Why does it seem like we're cutting programs while homelessness is going up in the city by really large amounts? Finally, the memo stated that an additional $3.65 million was added to MDO for wellness vouchers and that would offset any decrease to the OHS budget. Even if we were to consider that money and offset, it's still $1.4 million less than what was available in FY25. And so, I want to close this series of questions in the same way that I started. Why are we reducing the OHS budget while homelessness is going up in very concerning ways?
Thank you for that question. So to address the first part of it, as I mentioned in my opening testimony while the OHS budget did decrease, the services for people experiencing homelessness has increased. As I mentioned the vouchers and you mentioned the same vouchers are through the Managing Director's Office, but those will be administered by the Office of Homeless Services. In addition, there were funds that were originally part of the Philly Home at Girard budget that we transitioned and will now be managed by the Managing Director's Office. So we have not cut any services in the Office of Homeless Services. Everything that we set out to do has been funded this year.
Respectfully, we've gone over this a lot, in meetings, over email. I still do not understand from a pure math and numbers perspective how this is not a cut. Nothing that we've been shown shows that this is not a cut. And at the same time, we have real evidence of homelessness going up. I need to understand this and I think that all of us need to understand how we're meeting the needs of unhoused individuals while at the same time having less money in the actual budget.
Thank you. So our needs have gone up and actually our new count is even higher. So I do agree with you that there is a bigger need. However, I will say that I'm seeing a level of collaboration that I did not see when I was a service provider nor did I see when I first came in. And I will say the Community Wellness Office as well as the H.O.M.E. Initiative I think are two initiatives that will benefit those experiencing homelessness. The Riverview Wellness Center, to enter that one right now are people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, as well as some of the initiatives under the DBHIDS portfolio as well. They've added additional beds too.
If we could pause for just a moment. These are wonderful new programs. They're also very specific. They're for a very specific population. And we all know that to get into Riverview, one has to go to a 30-, 60-, 90-day program to even be referred to that site. So I don't understand how adding these programs that are very specific to a particular population helps us overall to deal with a 40% increase of people on the street. And I would ask that you follow up with the detail that shows in whatever department you all want to point to and whatever project you want to point to, how are we going to serve 40% more people on the street with kind of these adjustments that we've made in our budget and in our services?
We can follow up in writing. But I will add lastly that the Philly Home at Girard, while that is not an OHS project, that was 180 new beds that are for people directly off the street. There are no preconditions for entering. That is a safe haven. It's funded through DBHIDS, but it's solely for people who are coming directly off the street.
I would love to see this comprehensively and to understand not only the numbers but the full picture of services that are going to get us to where we need to be and allow us to support our people. Thank you so much. Thank you, Council President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity, Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming down.
Can you tell me or tell us what specific populations are being prioritized in the budget? Are there targeted initiatives for veterans, women with children, individuals with disabilities? And then secondly, many individuals, especially women with children, flee abusive situations and they find themselves homeless without affordable housing options. Do we have specific programs for these individuals? And if so, can you explain how these individuals connect to these housing opportunities?
Thank you for that question. So we do have some targeted initiatives. For example, we are trying to ramp up a specific Violence Against Women Act transfer process, so those who may be experiencing some domestic violence issues who need to move quickly and are already experiencing services through us, they'll be able to transfer and relocate to someplace safe. We also fund some programs through Women Against Abuse currently that are specifically for individuals who are experiencing domestic violence. We have shelters that are family- specific as well. As well as when we look at some of our prevention and permanent housing support, there are units of all sizes, including those for families.
Okay. How about -- just on a follow-up how about some of the homeless people who have animals? What's the policy when it comes to that because something like that could keep them actually out there? I've actually been out there when they were talking to somebody who had a dog and he wasn't able to take his dog. And he said, well, if I can't take the dog, I'm not going nowhere, you know what I mean. So are there any housing opportunities like that?
Yes. So our recent -- I will speak specifically to our shelter. Our recent RFP that we put out indicated that we are prioritizing shelter, you know, in responses that take in pets because we do recognize that that is a barrier. All of our sites are required to bring in anyone who has been animal deemed, an assist animal or service animal, but we are trying to expand the level of shelters that will allow individuals who bring in pets. So that was our new initiative under the RFP that we just put out.
Yeah, that's interesting. How do they go about getting the animal listed as a worker animal, for lack of better word?
To have the animal qualified, it just takes a qualified professional. It doesn't have to necessarily be a medical professional. It's just someone who's deemed qualified to say whatever the service animal is providing that, that animal is able to do that or that there's a need for it. So they make the nexus between whatever the disability or emotional support is to the individual. That isn't something that we do. It is a qualified professional that does that for the animal. However, anyone who comes in can request a reasonable accommodation either to the shelter or the intake center that they come into. If they are denied for any reason, we actually have an appeals process that comes directly to our office, so we're not leaving that at the service provider level. The appeals comes to our office for review. And we put up flyers at all of our sites to make sure that individuals know that they can request that appeal.
Well, since I'm not -- can you tell me how many shelter beds are available now and what is our goal for the number of beds for 2026?
So I would have to look up right now our shelter beds, but we have roughly about 90% utilization in our shelters and we have approximately 3000 shelter beds. And so, on any given day it averages 90% to 95% occupied on our shelters. But we take a census every day so that changes every day, because people either may not return or discharge or they're placed in permanent housing. But we can provide today's census in writing.
Yeah, that brings up another question. How many people are sitting on waiting lists?
If you're only at 90%, so that would be 10% of the people are, right?
So it's not that there's a waiting list. We have beds available. It's just that we have more beds available than people who have come in to ask for the beds.
Thank you. Councilmember Rue Landau, then Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad and Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you. Thanks so much. Thank you both so much for being here. We appreciate you so much and really appreciate the collaboration that you're doing and feel like we're on the right trajectory. It feels awesome. I wanted to follow up a little bit on the budget cut, what we're seeing as a budget cut first and the demand. And my first question is -- well, let me say that I did a panel the other night with former State Rep. Donna Johnson Bullock who's now running Project HOME, and she said to this entire room of small landlords that in Philadelphia we are basically lucky for having only about 1000 unhoused people on the street, that similarly situated cities have thousands and thousands more. And it was that moment that gave me a little bit of hope we could tackle this problem. And I also have concern that our numbers are starting to rise. So I wanted to know what strategies you're utilizing to ensure that we keep our numbers down. And also want to underscore when we talk about the budget that it would be very helpful for us to see a comprehensive chart that not only explains an individual and family going through the shelter process, but also where we're funding other initiatives in the city that are also helping homeless people. For us, we just see this budget being cut. What we want to see is if they put more money in another area to help folks with vouchers or something like that, that it's all inclusive and that we want to also know who is overseeing all of that. Are you guys basically the project manager regardless of where that money is or is it spread out in a bunch of ways? So I want to hear a bit about that. I also wanted to ask as somebody who worked at the City of Philadelphia before for many, many years, whether if I had a magic wand and gave you million more 6 dollars right now, would you accept 7 it or would you put it in a 8 different department? 9
Oh, that's a 10 dangerous question that I think I 11 will pause on for a minute. 12 However, I will say that I do agree 13 homelessness is on the rise and it 14 is on the rise everywhere. And 15 what we do is we track comparable 16 cities but also some of the larger 17 cities like New York has 140,000 18 people experiencing homelessness 19 right now. So our numbers pale in 20 comparison. However, we are looking to find strategies which is why we partner with other city departments. Not all of the vouchers are administered by us, but some directly earmark them for the people experiencing homelessness. We also partner with PHA who has units that are identified just for individuals who are experiencing homelessness. So it does look different when you're looking specifically just at our budget to your point, which is why similar to the Majority Leader, we can give you details on how that money is spent and where we see that other departments are supporting it. But I think ultimately to end homelessness we need more housing, if I'm just going to be straight with it. There are between our shelters and our --
Point of information right along the lines of your exact statement. So in terms of the Mayor's housing initiative, what's the targeted number of units dedicated to OHS to address the issue of homelessness? We know there's 30,000 units, the goal is, the focus -- well, that's a combination of preservation and built units. But is there a target for specifically those who are in need of housing, who are homeless a part of that plan? Now, I rest the time back to Councilmember Landau.
So thank you for that question. So we have been working with Director Lawrence and Angela Brooks as well to come up with what is the strategy for addressing homelessness. As many of you know, Angela Brooks comes from a supportive housing background so we've already started having some of those conversations, but the exact number hasn't been identified yet. But what I will say is any housing that's earmarked for people who are 0% to 30% of AMI would ultimately benefit individuals in our population because that is the typical Area Median Income that our population falls in. But I will add to that, if you don't mind, that as we work with PHA one of the things that we have realized is that they have some units, again as I mentioned, that they want to target for individuals experiencing homelessness. What they've said is they need some wraparound support and dollars for that. So we've looked at our budget and said, well, while we can't financially sustain a rental subsidy into perpetuity like PHA can, we can look at some of our dollars and be able to provide the support services for those units. So that is some of the models that we're currently looking at where they're providing the subsidy and then we are adding some service dollars to that.
I just think it kind of boggles my mind that if we're in the process of borrowing $1 billion, $1 billion, and we see there's a housing crisis but yet we don't have a targeted number in partnership with the Office of Housing Services specifically to produce more units for housing is something we have to take a look at prior to this budget being passed. Councilmember Landau.
Just to follow up on this line of questioning, it's really who or what entity is overseeing all of this for the City of Philadelphia? It seems that we don't have a housing plan. We don't have a plan that starts with how do we start --
We do have a plan. We have a plan in front of us. Could you clarify that, Councilmember Landau?
We have a funding plan, but we need to have an actual plan that goes in every city single avenue. It starts with how to eradicate homelessness, how to give supportive housing, how to give transitional housing, how to get people into independent home ownership with services if they need it, how to give them all of the services they need and then leave them in a place where between job readiness and whatnot, they can actually be on their own. But there's the funding system and there is no plan. I'm very concerned about the thought that we have put pockets of money and pockets of vouchers and things in different departments and units and there is no driving plan of who is overseeing it and making sure it all goes together.
Thank you. If I could add that again in partnership with Angela Brooks, we are working with them and discussing how to prevent and end homelessness. It is early on my part to say what the numbers are because I know that she's still working on the plan. I don't know what day it is that she's been here now, but I am excited that she's here and I do think she'll be able to come up with a plan that will support ultimately our goal to end street homelessness.
Excellent. We are equally excited that she is here and want to work with her and you and everyone, but this is something that the money has to come with the blueprint and we will be happy to see that when it's done.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, Councilmember Lozada and Councilmember O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. And thank you all for being here and doing this really critical work for our most vulnerable community members. The National Foster Youth Institute reports that child welfare system is sometimes described as a highway to homelessness with an estimated 20% of young adults who are in care becoming homeless the minute they age out of the system. I wanted to know how you have specifically targeted that population. Do you know what that number is? Do we have a plan in the budget to address that? Because if we can arrest it at that point, we can really go a long way in making sure they never experience homelessness and they are set up for life to prosper.
Thank you for the question. So, yes, we do have some programs that are specifically for young adults experiencing homelessness. We have a Youth Homeless Demonstration program that was funded from HUD where we provided funding to providers that are specifically engaged with young individuals. But in addition, we have staff within our school system that's working with individuals, not just those who are aging out of foster care but those who may be in families that are experiencing homelessness as well. Our point-in-time count in 2024 showed approximately 355 people who between the ages of youth and young adults that were experiencing homelessness. So we want to come up with strategies, which is why the Demonstration program was so important. And we are also looking at that funding and seeing how we can be able to expand some of the services that we are providing specifically to youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.
So to Council President's point, we are allocating $2 billion. So you still don't have numbers for this small group of people how they're going -- where do they fit in the plan, what are the numbers around it, what is the money being allocated. In our CCP Community College testimony we heard that PHA has -- they have a relationship with PHA for units only, right. 12 That makes no sense. So I want to 13 know that who is in charge, just 14 like my colleague Rue Landau was 15 saying, who is the central 16 clearinghouse to say, for this specific population what is the number, what is the money, when do we need to see it, how are we following them, what are the wraparound services because this could save us so much money if we invested now? I just want a plan. And I want a plan with actionable data that tells us this is how we can follow it. So one year out you should be able to come back and say all of these things, this is where we are, this is what we did, this is how much money we invested, and this is the outcome. In all of this stuff you give us there's none of that. Very frustrating I have to tell you.
So if I can clarify, our young adult program is separate from our general fund. We do have some grant funding that we received specifically for young adults. In FY23 just the third quarter alone, we were able to place six young adults in permanent supportive housing, in Rapid 21 Rehousing. We had approximately 110 exit shelter. We have some that are receiving services. So we are tracking specifically young adults, again separate from the rest of our programs. And with the access points, we also have access points in centers that are just for people who are age to 24. They can 7 still go to our other centers, but 8 we do have a plan that we are 9 working with and we work with the 10 service providers that are working 11 with young adults to make sure that 12 there is a plan targeted just for 13 young adults. 14
So 15 we really should be able to handle 16 this completely. There should be 17 no young adult who's in the foster 18 care system, particularly those aging out, who should have this issue at all. The number is small. It's not massive. In fact, the homeless number is only 1000 point- in-count. That's a very manageable number. We are spending so much overhead to solve this problem. I want to really understand why is it such an intractable issue when we really should be -- when we look at the money spent and the actual target problem, why are we having this issue, why are we not able to crack this nut?
And I think homelessness is a complex issue, period. And when you add the complication of aging out of foster care I certainly understand, which is why we do partner with DHS. We have both the family unification vouchers and then the fostering youth independence vouchers that we are able to issue to make sure that those that we issue those vouchers who do not enter into homelessness. But could there be more? Absolutely. But we are partnering with the providers like DHS or the departments like DHS to make sure that we have some comprehensive plans to address this issue.
I would love to get a report sent to you to say what is that comprehensive plan, what does it look like, what is the timing, what is the money and how are we going to follow outcomes. I would really appreciate that. Thank you.
Yeah. And we can also provide some of the things that we are funding today to you in writing just so you can have that. Thank you.
Thank you. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you for being with us this morning. My questions are similar or along the same lines as some of my colleagues. I recognize that one of your FY26 strategic goals is to strengthen your collaborative partnerships with providers and others. How many providers or do you know how many providers you have in the Kensington community or the 7th Council District? And of those providers, how has the progress been or how has the P3 division tracked their progress?
So thank you for the question. We'd have to respond in writing to the question about how many specific providers are in Kensington. And then are you asking about tracking progress of the providers --
So I can give you some of the monitoring that I spoke of about the shelters and some of those providers that applies to all of our providers. However, I do want to clarify that our providers are primarily shelter providers. And so, we will be able to give you that and I can give you the monitoring in writing of what we have for those specific shelters that are in Kensington.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning to the entire OHS team. I'd like to start by thanking you for the crucial life-sustaining work that you all do. I want to ask about the federal Continuum of Care funding for permanent supportive housing, which provides long-term subsidized housing for people with disabilities for the listening public. A few weeks ago our office heard that a number of long- term providers in this space were not receiving renewals for their contracts under this funding stream. We also heard that this was due to an administrative error on the City's part. So my staff took the question to y'all itself and we're told to the contrary that certain Tier 2 contracts were not renewed at HUD's discretion. So I'm seeking clarity within that realm. In these exchanges, my team learned that around $3 million of funding impacting 250 housing units was lost due to this particular shift. This means that hundreds of Philadelphians with disabilities will no longer have permanent supportive housing beginning the 1st of July, more than there are already currently without shelter on the streets now. So here's what I'd like to know and I imagine we'll probably need to get some of this in writing to submit to the President, but I'd like to get them on the record now. Can you please explain how it's possible to all of a sudden lose permanent supportive housing funding like this? It doesn't make sense to me that the money can just evaporate because of a ranking system.
Thank you for that question. So OHS is the collaborative applicant for the entire City of Philadelphia's Continuum of Care application. During the local application we are required, as all cities are, to rank the applications 1 to whatever the last application is. There is a certain dollar amount that HUD says is, I hate to say guaranteed in this Administration, but in essence there's a cut or there's a dollar amount that they fund and then everything else is part of a national application. So anything that falls below that Tier 2 is subject to the national application or the national competition. So we send in our application, and then we were awarded up to, right, I think about our Tier 2 level. So there was those that fell below the Tier 2 were cut as well as there were some new applications that we tried to get in that were not funded. However, I will add that I recognize and the team recognizes that there are some ways that we can strengthen our application, because that is part of it, because we are being ranked with other cities and we want to make sure that we strengthen our application in the future. So that's what we're working on for FY27 because that's when the next application will come in. But in the meantime, what we did for our FY26 funding is we submitted an RFP for those who did lose funding to make sure that no one was put out on the streets July 1st, as long as the provider itself was deemed that there was no 22 other deficiencies in their program. So that application or that RFP just went out. And again, that is to bridge that program. But I'll also add we have a permanent supportive housing RFP out too that providers can apply to with the intention of being able to expand our permanent supportive housing. So between the two of those, our goals are not to make sure that no one's held harmless in a unit where the program itself is meeting the standards, but also we're still trying to expand our permanent supportive housing. This is a little bit complicated in the fact that these were not City-managed contracts. So even through this application, they are HUD direct, which means they get their funding directly from HUD after the application and the award is announced from HUD. Those are not managed by OHS at all. That's all direct with HUD.
On the RFP point, I did hear about the RFP that you had out to mitigate the impact of loss of funding. Will that RFP be enough to provide housing to all Philadelphians who are losing housing?
Yes. Within that realm, yes. Will that RFP be enough to provide housing to all Philadelphians who are losing housing?
It is enough to cover the permanent housing dollars for the programs that again were meeting the acceptable standards, so they weren't at the bottom for any issues with the actual housing. And if they applied and they meet all the criteria in the RFP, then the team will make the assessment at the time. But because it just closed, it's a little challenging to address what's happening in the scoring system currently. But I will say we put enough funding in there so that if everyone applied and they meet the criteria, it would cover the housing, short answer I guess.
There may be (inaudible). I heard the bell so I'll pass it on, but I'd like to request a list of all providers that would be impacted by all of this shortfall, those that aren't fully funded and those seeing their contract terminated, if that's the case, including the number of Philadelphians served by each provider in the District that each provider operates in. I think that would be super helpful for us to know. If there's another round, I'll come back. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. Councilmember Brooks, Councilmember Phillips and Councilmember Young and we'll officially be in our second round.
Thank you, Council President. I have one clarifying question. You mentioned the Philly Home at Girard and it's straight from the street. Is that because of the sweeps or is it just when someone goes through -- because I'm so -- how it was set up and how it's running I'm very confused as to what exactly the Philadelphia Home of Girard is. So if we can get -- you don't have to explain it now, but if I can have a written explanation that kind of go to Council President because I'm kind of confused exactly what's happening at Philly Home at Girard. And then my other question was about we've seen a number of encampments over the past year. How many of the people experiencing homelessness that were impacted by the suites and how many of them are currently in permanent supportive housing?
Thank you for that question again, Councilmember Brooks. In terms of encampments and service coordination, from July 1st of 2024 to April 1st of 2025 we had 1176 service connections with two encampments which consist of 30-day posting. And in that, that was at 30th Street Station where individuals along with pets were placed into shelters, and the other one that was in the Councilmember's 7th District where it was at PennDOT at the end of Aramingo where people were placed. 8 We don't consider them 9 sweeps. We look at this as a 10 deeper engagement because there's multiple service providers that are out there that are providing a wide range of services. And to go back to that question when you mentioned about 2100 Girard, this was an opportunity for outreach teams, housing issues people who do service connection to have a direct referral right into those sites and they were designed for individuals who are living on the street without any prerecords. As long as they said yes, they were able to go right in.
So how many of those folks that you talked about ended up in permanent supportive housing?
How many people ended up in permanent supportive housing?
We can get that number directly to you. I don't want to put out a number that's not accurate.
Okay. And my next question is about we understand that folks who relapse while at Riverview are being discharged. Has OHS encountered any of these individuals on the streets of Philadelphia who were part of the Wellness ecosystem, but they were discharged? And if you have, how have you handled those cases?
We can get back to you on numbers of people that's coming out of treatment. But just for the record, we work with all service providers and anybody who goes into any type of housing, whether that's shelter, whether that's treatment, we make sure that our outreach teams or case management team have that relationship so that they can directly go back to them if there's any issues there.
Well, I think the question is trying to get to while people are in the ecosystem, when they come back in the ecosystem are we tracking them because the likelihood is they can be back in the system again? We're trying to make sure if people have a transition plan if they're coming back in our system again, once they're discharged from relapsing after the 90-day treatment, then once you're on the street, you're considered homeless again. They get picked back up, what do we do. I just was trying to understand what the process is.
Thank you, Councilmember Brooks, for the question. Crystal Yates-Gale, Deputy Managing Director Health and Human Services. I will make the answer as clear and succinct as I can. Because multiple departments touch the Wellness ecosystem, our Executive Director of the Community Wellness and Recovery position does have all of that data. So it is monitored. I don't want to use the word tracked these days. But people are monitored from beginning of the system to end and connections after they leave the system for whatever reason that is. And we can get you some of that data returned in writing from the Managing Director's Office through Council President.
Okay. And one other question. How many outreaches do you have and do you intend on having more as we continue to track these systems and as the homeless numbers are, outreach workers?
So outreach is actually managed through the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities. However, we do have our housing team that is on the streets and there are two different teams as well as we have the encampment resolution team that we contract with that works with them. But the actual outreach teams are part of DBHIDS.
Ma'am, if I can add that in DBHIDS's budget, which they'll be here on Monday, they have requested additional dollars to add outreach workers to their teams also.
Okay. I'm just trying to figure out this housing plan around ecosystem. Everyone's using these different words. And, Dave, you know I've been doing this housing thing for a long time so I'm just trying to understand what's the system because I don't understand it anymore. I'm kind of out of the reach on what exactly is happening, who's going where, who's tracking the data, how does people end up in the system. Because I've worked with you before in finding a missing person and it took you like three days to find somebody, he was sleeping at the airport. So I'm just trying to get to understand what is our current system and model to deal with homelessness and how are we tracking or whatever the word we want to use? How are we keeping in touch with our houseless individuals, whether they're going through treatment or going into supportive housing or just living on the street? If you can give it to me in writing, that would be helpful.
An additional point of information, because I do have a working group on homelessness, right. I think even some of your team or some representative may be at the table -- but, no, actually not at this moment, this is mainly stakeholders, right. But my direct line of questioning is piggybacking off on what Member Brooks just mentioned. In terms of the system, from my understanding we don't have a system to share information amongst the various different service providers but other states do, and I think we established it's the HIPAA law that prevents us. But I'm trying to understand because other states, one agency can talk to another agency in terms of tracking and making sure services are provided in a comprehensive way. So could you elaborate on the actual system off of what was just asked as well?
Sure. So the system that we use to track the services that are provided is called HMIS is what is referred to, the Homeless Management Information System. All of the providers that contract with us utilize that system. I do agree one of the challenges with our current model of HMIS is that it is kind of sheltered provider-by-provider so it's not shared across, so we are looking at how we can expand that system so that multiple providers can see what's happening with one person. Because similar to you, I've seen other models where the data is shared. We currently have an RFP out for that as well to change our system so that it can be more comprehensive and bring it into a new way of tracking everyone who comes in. We are not a HIPAA- covered entity. That's the distinction. So our services is not bound by that same restriction. However, we still want to make sure the information is protected which is why we're trying to bring in a new software system so that we can monitor and see what actual services someone's providing from the moment they enter the shelter system to the moment that they're placed in permanent housing.
I just need it in writing because like I said, I'm not clear and I don't want to have you just talk to me in circles. I'd rather look at it and then I can ask my questions more directly. Because I've been involved -- you helped us find people before so I'm not understanding what's the new system, is it a new system or why we can't figure out this information. So I look forward to having a deeper conversation so we can kind of be on the same page. Because I'm --
Yeah, we can provide that to you in writing. And we can also share the information that's in our current RFP so you can see what type of technical specs we're asking for from the service provider.
Perfect. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips and Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for attending today. OHS plans to reduce the length of stay and shelters by piloting new initiatives. What specific barriers currently prevent faster transitions to permanent housing and how will these new pilots address them differently than past approaches?
Thank you for that. So one of the things that we realize is that we're using an old assessment system. You may have heard it referred to as the VI-SPDAT, and that is an old system that tracks and assesses and prioritizes individuals who need housing. So we are looking to change that model to make sure we are addressing everyone who's in the shelter system because under that model, individuals are given a score. And so, someone who just came in may actually get prioritized over someone who's been there for a long time. So we want to look at that and come up with a system that is specific to Philadelphia and addressing the needs that are in Philadelphia. The other thing that we want to do is just make sure that we're monitoring all of the available options for housing that we have that. You know, we have the set-asides that we get from the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. We have other providers that are providing permanent supportive housing. So we want to make sure that our list is comprehensive, not just from those that we fund but also those who may have other funding sources so that when they need someone to go into the unit, that we are also looking at being able to provide those units quickly. Also, we are looking at the fact that there are units that get turned down. And so, we want to make sure that we're understanding why those units get turned down, so they actually sit vacant for quite an amount of time. And so, is there a way that we can make sure that we know what the participants want so that we're not referring them to units that they are eventually going to turn down that, then stay vacant for a long time.
Okay. Thank you. And then I want to ask you this: Philadelphia has one of the highest rates of student homelessness in the state. How is OHS working with the School District to identify and support students experiencing homelessness? And what portion of the FY26 budget is allocated towards youth and students-focused homeless -- housing intervention, excuse me, housing intervention.?
Thank you for that question. So we have a staff member that works very closely with the School District along with us working with DHS to work collaboratively for tracking those students. It is very unique with students that are unaccompanied because as you know, most young people under the age of really don't identify as being 8 homeless because of the things that 9 are stereotyped that are with that. 10 And so, we're working 11 collaboratively with that. 12 We have someone who's at 13 our intake site that works closely 14 with families that have children 15 under the age -- I mean, yeah, 16 children under the age of 18 that 17 helps track with the School 18 District, but we work closely with Kimberly Ali at DHS to try and understand that population even more. But again, we can be better in that. What we do with our youth homelessness, which is called Young Adult Leadership Academy, they go out work with Valley Youth House, Covenant House and all of them to do outreach to potential kids that are under the age of 18. But we have to get better in that system of tracking and identifying them.
And if I can just add, as I mentioned earlier we have access points and intake that's specifically for individuals who are under the age of so that 14 we can make sure that they are 15 getting services that they need, 16 that are targeted for them as well. 17
18 Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm just 19 looking forward to seeing more of 20 that. And also, just in general I 21 know that a lot of people are 22 curious about what you're going to 23 be doing with people who are on the 24 streets not only in Center City, but also throughout the city of Philadelphia and how you engage them to get housed. We're curious about what that looks like, especially with some of our Center City businesses. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. And good afternoon. Just a couple questions just for some clarity or some definitions. Do you guys differentiate between what is someone experiencing homelessness versus someone who is unhoused? Is that a distinction that is made between OHS? Or if not, can you define for us what is your definition essentially of homelessness and who creates that definition?
So we use the HUD definition of homelessness, which has several different categories of individuals that are experiencing homelessness. But I think the distinction that you sometimes hear, especially for unhoused, is because someone in the shelter is still someone who is experiencing homelessness but they are not in a place that they can lay their head at night. So a lot of times you hear individuals say unhoused. I use them interchangeably. Sheltered, unsheltered, housed, unhoused. But unhoused usually includes a lot of individuals. But ultimately, when we are making our definitions, because we want to make sure we're always using the correct ones, we use HUD's definition of homelessness as well as the qualified populations that are there. And usually it's people who do not have a permanent location to lay their head at night as well as individuals who may be at risk of homelessness is a category and then formally homeless as a category, which are people who do not have a permanent location to sleep at night.
I ask that because to access your shelter services, right, you don't allow folks who are couch surfing to have access to those systems -- to have access to the housing resources to get transitional housing and things like that. You have to go through the shelter system is what I'm being told. And so, if you have a definition that includes those people who are couch surfing who don't have a permanent place to live, how come they don't have access to the same level of services that someone who is living on the street does?
So there are different types of services. We have prevention services that are there for people to prevent them from being homeless and that could qualify for someone --
Well, no, they're couch surfing, right. They are homeless. They don't have a permanent place to live, right. So that's the population that I'm talking about. What is --
So we don't turn around anyone from our services. Let me say that clearly first. However, there are certain populations that qualify for different housing depending on what their current homeless status is or their current status is. Couch surfing by HUD's definition is not considered homeless. Especially when we are providing housing that is funded by HUD, we have to use HUD's definitions of homeless. However, there are some housing models. And unfortunately, I don't have them in front of me. And perhaps we can find the ones -- I don't know if I can find the ones that are not funded by the City. However, I want to say that some funding is for people who are at risk of homelessness. And couch surfing is one of those categories that are considered at risk of homeless. However, someone having a place to go while it may not be the house that they own, in HUD's eyes they consider that a different category than someone who is but for the shelter would be on the street that night.
If you don't mind if you can share with us those definitions specifically from HUD. Because in one instance you said someone that lacks permanent housing is homeless. And if I'm couch surfing, I lack permanent housing. But then you say, well, I don't qualify. They don't meet the definition under HUD's standards. So I'm just trying to get clarity on what is considered to be someone who is homeless. So as constituents call us, I know how to direct them to the appropriate resources that they may be eligible for or not eligible for.
And thank you. I just had a question in terms of the leadership team. How often do you go out yourselves and inspect our shelter facilities, not sending out an inspector? And I'm asking this question to follow up with Member Jones' line of questioning and statements that when we did a point-in-time, it was super freezing cold. And so, I don't even know why I voted to manage the (inaudible) ski masks because it was very cold that night and I could have used it appropriately for what it was supposed to be used for because it was that cold, right. And in talking to different individuals and we did -- like myself I met a couple of different individuals who talked about they prefer to stay outside, right, than to be inside some of the shelters. And some talked about staff as well as individuals who are being housed here, right. And so, I just want to get an idea how often do you as a team go out and inspect the facilities. And then also, when it comes to health do we provide health-related support staff, nurses, nurses assistants on the sites for those who may be in need?
Thank you. So for the first question, I think I'm in Month 8. I'm not sure what month I am. But however, I've been out to several of the shelters as well as Dave goes out to the shelters. Sometimes our staff goes out announced. Sometimes it goes out unannounced. Because as we know, an announced visit everybody shines the silver, right. So our goal is to make sure that we are visiting the shelters. I've been out to several of them so far and I plan to go out to all of them. They all know that that I plan to visit as well as Dave and the housing team goes out on a regular basis to visit as well. When we get complaints, we do unannounced visits because we want to see again what the participants see at the moment that they are concerned about something. So part of our monitoring is to make sure that not only the direct monitoring staff goes out but eventually all of us go out as well.
Chair recognizes Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson.
Please don't take me out of the queue because I've been patiently waiting. I'll --
I think I was No. 1 for Round 2 so I'll just put that on the record. No, you just mentioned the complaints. When you receive complaints, you do unannounced visits?
Okay. I just wanted to make that clarification. And I only said that because of the boots on the ground, which I love that name because it's all the rave line dance, with the corrective action plans. So as a part of that you all were supposed to be improving the monitoring and evaluation of the emergency shelter providers. So if you could to Council President's question, I just wanted to put it on the record that you all are doing proactive inspections, but you're also doing complaint-driven, what we would call reactive inspections. And I would say to Council President's question, if you could just give a layout of the corrective action plan like the boots on the ground program?
Sure. And they go out without their fans unfortunately, so they can't do that part of boots on the ground. But this year our team has gone out to 28 sites. They go out twice a year is their goal. That's separate from the unannounced visits. They're looking at case management. They're just doing a general site visit and then they're looking at the standards, especially if it has different funding sources. We went out to all of them. We have the data on which ones passed, which ones failed, which ones are pending. If they fail, they have to come up with a corrective action plan. Now, depending on the severity of why they failed, some of those corrections need to happen a lot faster than others. We then will send out an additional team or the team will go back and follow up. In some cases, we sent out our inspectors that normally do our housing quality inspections to go look at the physical building to see what is missing or what needs to be repaired in those buildings and then they will do a follow-up as well. But in the cases of the complaints, that is when the team will go out and do an unannounced visit and they'll see whatever staff is currently there and be able to ask questions and address things, including sometimes the fact that the staff that was supposed to be there may not be there. And so, then they're addressing that directly with the provider.
Okay. And I'll probably do -- well, two small brief questions. One, you talked about piloting new initiatives to accelerate transition from shelter to permanent housing. So I just want you to give an idea the details of the pilot programs, which I think is great helping individuals become homeowners or have permanent housing. I think that's excellent. And then also, what are we doing around addressing housing for those who have disabilities?