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SR-11-27-2012-9ACity Council Meeting: November 27, 2012 Agenda Item: 9 -A To: Mayor and City Council From: Karen Ginsberg, Director of Community and Cultural Services Andy Agle, Housing and Economic Development Director Jacqueline Seabrooks, Chief of Police Scott Ferguson, Fire Chief Subject: Public Hearing of the Annual Review of the City's Plan for Homeless Services Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council: 1) Hold a public hearing and receive public comment on the Annual Review of the City's Plan for Homeless Services, pursuant to Municipal Code Section 2.69.030. 2) Review and comment on strategies to address homelessness. 3) Direct staff to proceed with next steps. Executive Summary This staff report meets the requirements of the City's Public Safety Initiative by providing the Annual Review of the City's Plan for Homeless Services (Annual Review) for FY 2011 -2012. The public hearing affords the public and the City Council an opportunity to comment on the Annual Review and provide input on strategies to address homelessness. The required Annual Review reports on: (a) local impacts and perceptions of homelessness; (b) local resources and responses; (c) continuing challenges; (d) regional coordination and advocacy; and (e) next steps. Background Public Safetv Initiative In 1994, the City Council adopted the Public Safety Initiative (SMMC Sections 2.69.010 through 2.69.030) calling for the City to adopt a plan for homeless services based on the following goals: • Effectively assist the homeless in returning to a self- sufficient status, • Monitor the progress of individual recipients, • Eliminate unnecessary duplication of services, • Emphasize long -term solutions to homelessness by combining housing, counseling, and job training, • Provide non - housing services for approximately the same number of homeless individuals as can be temporarily sheltered in the City, • Prevent an increase and, wherever feasible, reduce overall City expenditures relating to homeless services, and • Impose reasonable time limits on the provision of services to the same individuals. The City's plan, required by the Public Safety Initiative, is incorporated in the 2011-201.4. Action Plan to Address Homelessness, which reflects and informs current policies and practices and also establishes goals for addressing homelessness in the City. Elements of the Public Safety Initiative are also incorporated into two other City documents —the Q ty's FY201.1_ –_2016 Human Services Grants PI_oararn_ and the C010S.Olfdated Plan for FY 2010-2015 required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Additionally, program guidelines for monitoring and the issuance of Housing Choice Vouchers and Special Programs are delineated in the Santa Monica Housing Authority's FY201.2_ 013 Administrative Plan, required for submission on an annual basis by HUD. 2 The Public Safety Initiative also requires the City Council to conduct an annual review of the City's progress in meeting the goals established by the Initiative and hold a public hearing to assess: • The impact of the City's homeless population on other residents of the City, ® The effectiveness of the delivery of services to the homeless by the City and various social service agencies, • The cost of those services, and • The changes which should be made in the Plan in order to carry out its primary goals and objectives. Notice of a public hearing for November 27, 2012, was placed in the Santa Monica Daily Press and posted on Wn AIuv.surfstintarnoeiica,cor7r and on the City's website. Action Plan to Address Homelessness As noted above, a guiding document designed to direct the City's strategy is the Action Plan to Address Homelessness (Action Plan) adopted by the City Council on r ebruary 26_2068. The Action Plan established a vision statement, guiding principles, and refinements to the City's homeless service system within six project areas: services, housing, evaluation, community education, public policy, and regional collaboration. The Plan was updated in 2009-2010, and this y ear to reflect changing local and federal priorities, goals, and the impact of Assembly Bill (AB) 109, which releases prison inmates back into their communities of origin. In 2010, the format of the Action Plan changed to become a multi -year plan to coincide with the City's Human Services Grant Program (HSGP) funding cycle, providing a longer -term view that emphasizes system changes and improvements. The Action Plan, which spans FY2011 — 2014, was framed upon the federal plan to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, and the goals of the HEARTH Act for which the Federal government is developing regulations. These regulations will be used to further enhance the Action Plan and develop additional benchmarks for measuring success in addressing homelessness as a community. This year, the Action Plan has been updated to reflect strengthening of efforts to address 3 emerging needs and responses for homeless individuals who are newly arrived in the community. Discussion The five sections of this report include: local impacts of homelessness; resources and responses; continuing challenges; regional coordination and advocacy efforts; and steps staff will take in the coming year to continue to advance the goals of the Action Plan. Local Impacts and Perceptions of Homelessness The two main community impacts of homelessness are on the perception of Santa Monica as a safe and enjoyable place to live and visit and the frequent requests for first responder interventions in situations involving homeless persons. Although the 2012 Homeless Count indicated a slight increase in the number of individuals residing in shelters', the City still maintained the 34% reduction in street homelessness documented in 2010, with over 150 fewer people sleeping on city streets since 20092. Data did indicate, however, that homelessness continues to be concentrated in the downtown area. This finding was recently reinforced in concerns voiced by both Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM), and the Chamber of Commerce's Hotel Council. These entities reported that the presence of homeless individuals has a detrimental impact on tourist and customer experiences. These concerns led to the development of a special Downtown Initiative, coordinated by the Human Services Division (HSD) in collaboration with the Santa Monica Police Department's (SMPD) Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Team and DTSM. The initiative harnesses the resources of local City- funded service ' 19 individuals were housed in motels in Santa Monica through a new county -wide Winter Shelter Program for families, operated by Upward Bound House. This program may not appear in the 2013 count if UBH does not utilize Santa Monica motels. 2 For more information, see Attachment 1, Santa Monica Homeless Count. .! partners, SMPD's HLP Team, LA County Department of Mental Health (DMH), and the Housing and Economic Development Department (HED) to engage and house 10 highly visible long -term homeless individuals known to frequent the Third Street Promenade area. The collaborative has created increased accountability among the partners, which has proven effective: since June, five of the 10 (50 %) individuals are either in housing or have a pending housing application; three are no longer in the area; and two are candidates for hospitalization. Homelessness as a public safety issue is also reinforced by the crowds generated by public food distributions. While seven to nine groups are currently in regular operation handing out food in public places, this number is down from 13 last year. To further the City's efforts on this issue, staff is currently working with one of the larger food distributors in Palisades Park to connect the group to OPCC for indoor meal provision at one of the agency's facilities. The City continues to educate the remaining food distributors on the City's approach to addressing homelessness, identify opportunities for moving their services indoors, and stress how their compassion might be more impactful within their own communities. City -wide, the impacts of homelessness are evident in the number of first - responder calls and contacts reported during FYI 1/12. Over 50% of SMPD jail bookings consist of individuals who listed their residence as transient, homeless, none, or provided an address of a known homeless shelter, which is a 5% increase over last year. SMPD's contacts with homeless individuals are up 13% over last year. The Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD) also reported an increase in homeless related calls; however, compared to the total emergency medical calls received, the percentage of those related to homeless individuals remains flat at 15 %. The City Attorney's Office (CAO) reports an 11% decrease in the number of cases received involving arrests and citations in which the subjects involved were primarily homeless person S3. 3 For more information, see Attachment 1, First Responder Calls and Contacts. 5 As part of the unique interdepartmental collaboration between CCS, SMPD, SMFD, and the CAO, frequent users of police and fire services are identified for more intensive engagement, using social service agencies and county resources to connect to appropriate treatment. The vast majority of these contacts are truly transient, coming into town for a month or two, generating a high volume of calls for services then moving on. The City focuses its limited resources on those individuals who are long -term residents with chronic conditions that make them more likely to die on the streets without intervention. To assist individuals who are new to the community, HSD and the HLP Team have been strengthening partnerships with regional providers such as PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), who has sent outreach staff to Santa Monica to re- engage individuals who are on the Hollywood Service Registry. One partnership that is still challenging is with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs West LA Medical Center (WLA VA). Although the WLA VA is implementing improved case management and community outreach programs, there is still a lack of commitment to providing adequate and appropriate permanent housing options for the most chronically homeless veterans. Resources and Responses to Homelessness Local Investment in Social Services: In addition to unifying the community response to homelessness, the City maintains a high level of direct investment in homeless services, funding six core non - profit agencies with $2.3 million in FY 2011 -2012 through a combination of City General Funds, Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, Federal Supportive Housing Program (SHP) funds, and County Proposition A funds. These six homeless service agencies raised an additional $5.9 million in other public and private funding, providing Santa Monica participants over $3.50 worth of services for every City dollar invested. In addition, another six agencies provide case management, health care, legal assistance, and other support to augment the core homeless services of the continuum. Finally, the City expended $517,874 for Project Homecoming (a reunification project); clinical consultant services for the most chronically homeless vulnerable individuals on the Service Registry; and centralized data management through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). 6 Housing: To successfully address homelessness, services must be tied to housing. Permanent supportive and affordable housing is the most effective method of ending homelessness. The City's Housing Division provides a diversity of housing options, including permanent supportive housing, which includes rental subsidy vouchers and loans to non - profit organizations to develop affordable and supportive housing. The Division's resources also help keep vulnerable populations who are risk of homelessness housed 4. Loss of Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Funding: The 2012 dissolution of California Redevelopment Agencies greatly impacts the City's ability to provide funding for the development of affordable housing by significantly reducing the amount of funds that the Housing Division has available to finance the construction of future supportive housing developments. The Housing and Economic Development Department will continue to investigate alternative funding sources. Data Driven Strategies: The Action Plan functions as a roadmap for targeting resources and evaluating the effectiveness of services. Data is a critical component of the Plan, and the data collected in HMIS shows how well the City is managing limited resources. Data is also used to measure how effective programs are at achieving the goals of the Action Plan, the main goal of which is to secure and maintain permanent housing for the City's Priority participants5. City staff is also working to align resources with programs and activities that best advance the goals of the Action Plan. This includes a possible shift in funding towards services that ensure that high -need individuals can continue to be safely and successfully housed. To this end, City staff is exploring the feasibility of creating hybrid contracts for the 2015 funding cycle that may in part contain outcome- "For more information, see Attachment 1, Housing Resources. s For more information, see Attachment 1, Santa Monica Homeless Individuals That Access Services. 7 based fee - for - service payments for housing placements, In addition, the City operates special initiatives that target resources to address more general needs6. Continuing Challenges Santa Monica is one of 88 cities within a large and populous county. The policies and practices in the region directly impact the number of homeless people in Santa Monica. In addition to the inflow of homeless individuals, changes in Los Angeles City and County policies may also be dislocating individuals from surrounding areas into Santa Monica. Early 2012 saw a closure of the Venice Boardwalk from midnight to 5:00 A.M, which displaced hundreds of homeless individuals. Mapping of individuals during the January 2012 Homeless Count supports the theory that some of Venice's homeless population may have migrated to the southwestern Santa Monica border for the purposes of sleeping in the City. The City is also impacted by regional and state -wide issues that can contribute to homelessness. Last October, AB 109, also known as the Public Safety Realignment Program, went into effect and has resulted in the release of approximately 9,500 individuals from prison to Post - Release Community Supervision (PCS) in Los Angeles County in FY2011 -12. It is estimated that 1,000 to 1,200 of those released are homeless. SMPD is working closely with the County's Public Safety Realignment Team to monitor the impact of AB109 on Santa Monica. At the County level, another policy change has the potential to drive more non -Santa Monica homeless households into the City. In response to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) new mandate to develop "coordinated or centralized intake," the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is piloting regional intake "hubs" that would direct all homeless individuals to single locations in each region. Currently, this "centralized intake" model is being piloted for families and 6 For more information, see Attachment 1, Special Initiatives. 9 will be administered for the Westside by St. Joseph Center in Venice. However, this LAHSA model may be expanded to include all homeless persons in the near future. A Westside "hub," were it to be located in the City, would be contrary to the goals of the Action Plan. In response to the regional challenges beyond Santa Monica's direct control, the City's interdepartmental and interagency approach is strong. This includes tight oversight of the allocation of the 331 emergency and transitional housing units operating in the City. The majority of clients utilizing those beds come from outside of the City limits and funding for most programs come from a range of county, state, federal and private sources. Additionally, City staff carefully reviews requests from agencies for letters of support and certifications for consistency with local priorities and declines support for those that do not align with the City's goals. The City is also reviewing lease agreements to ensure capital resources are prioritized for local needs. Regional Coordination and Advocac The City continues to expand its role as a regional stakeholder. FY 2011 -2012 brought new opportunities and challenges including: ® Veterans: The lack of permanent housing for veterans continues to be a challenge. The lawsuit brought against the VA in June 2011 for failing to commit adequate resources to house homeless veterans is moving forward and, although Congress appropriated approximately $20 million for the rehabilitation of one building, no work has been done to date, and there are no plans for the appropriation of funds for two additional buildings. ® United Way of Greater LA's Home for Good: This regional initiative recently integrated city and county resources with over $5 million in private donations to help local agencies permanently house chronically homeless individuals in the coming year. The City is exploring the possibility of aligning a portion of existing funding to be part of a future Request for Proposal. ® Federal Policy & Funding Changes: As the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC) prepares to implement the 2012 HUD interim rules, LAHSA has developed a tool to evaluate existing HUD program grants. The tool includes a measure for geographic need that will deduct points and reduce funding for all projects in Service Planning Area (SPA) 5, which includes the Westside, in order to 9 redistribute funding more evenly across the County. City staff will continue to advocate against taking funding away from high performing areas and monitor these CoC policy developments. • Santa Monica's Affordable Housing: The City's affordable housing development program, including supportive housing for homeless persons, is presently funded with CDBG, HOME, Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers, and Redevelopment funds. In FY 2011 -2012, CDBG and HOME funds were cut by 20% and 29 %, respectively, and the State of California dissolved Redevelopment Agencies, which will impede the development of new affordable and special needs housing. Next Steps City staff is working on several fronts to ensure that resources are available to support the growing number of formerly homeless people in permanent housing. These include: • Refine, monitor and share the Action Plan, with funders (Federal, regional, public, private) to determine how their funding of local agencies might better support the Plan; • Collaborating with local agencies as they apply for new resources to develop requests that advance the goals of the Plan; • Working with agencies to redirect non -Santa Monica participants to other regional resources in order to target locally designated funding to local priority populations; • Focusing City resources on permanent supportive housing placement activities and the intensive and long -term services needed to keep people housed; and • Continuing to advocate for a fair share of VA resources for the Westside with a focus on the creation of more permanent supportive housing. • Incorporate lessons learned from the Downtown Initiative to add greater accountability to HSGP funding and targeting resources to high impact areas. • Work with the community to establish measurable benchmarks consistent with the Action Plan and the federal plan, Opening Doors, as well as the HEARTH Act and begin collecting data for a baseline in FY13 /14. • Analyze options and continue discussions with local service providers and others regarding the City's participation in the LA Continuum of Care. • Provide periodic updates to the City Council. 11K Financial Impacts & Budget Actions There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the recommended actions. Staff will return to Council if specific budget actions are required in the future. Prepared by: Setareh Yavari, Acting Human Services Manager Approved: Forwarded to Council: Karen Ginsberg Director Community and Cultural S Rod Gould City Manager Attachment I: Summary of Homeless Data FY2011 -12 11 Attachment 1 Annual Homeless Review Supplemental Data for FY2011 -12 timv., ,Haniaa' This attachment contains data collected by the following City of Santa Monica Divisions and Departments: Community and Cultural Services Department's Human Services Division, the Housing and Economic Development Department, the Police Department, the Fire Department and the City Attorney's Office. Santa Monica Homeless Count Santa Monica's street census remained flat in 2012, and the significant reduction first observed in 2010 was maintained: 0 2009 total = 915 (Street Count = 480 /Sheltered Count = 435) 0 2010 total = 742 (Street Count = 319 /Sheltered Count = 423) 0 2011 total = 740 (Street Count = 314 /Sheltered Count = 426) The 2012 point -in -time homeless count is 769. This number consists of a point -in -time street homeless population of 264, a shelter and institution population of 453 individuals, and 52 cars /encampments. The shelter /institution count increased by 6% over 2011, due primarily to a new temporary Upward Bound House Winter Shelter Program for homeless families. First Responder Calls and Contacts First - responder calls and contacts reported during FYI 1/12: ® In FY 2011 -12, SMPD conducted 3,798 jail bookings, of which 1,941 (51 %) listed their residence as transient, homeless, none, or provided an address of a known homeless shelters Beginning in FY 2012 -2013, SMPD implemented a more comprehensive examination of arrest booking data. Using the refined search method, the department then reexamined the booking data for FY 2010 -11. Out of the 3,726 bookings conducted, the corrected number where the person listed themselves as transient was 1,730 (46 %).2 These numbers reflect number of bookings, not number of persons booked; a portion of this number includes persons with two or more arrests. 2 The previous data in this category for FY 2010/11 was 1,540 bookings of persons listed as homeless out of 3,726 total bookings. • SMPD's HLP team made 3,018 duplicated contacts with homeless individuals and approximately 1,759 periodic checks on property and open space, representing a 13% increase in contacts and a 28% decrease of periodic checks in FY 2011 -12. In order to free the HLP team to place greater focus on community livability operations, response to specific homeless related calls for service, and other more directed strategies in FY 2011 -12, the department expanded the focus on homelessness to include the Patrol Division. Patrol officers conducted 206 periodic checks in FY 2011 -12, which brought the total number for the fiscal year to 1,965. Although this is a 20% decrease in the overall number of periodic checks compared to the previous year, the focus adjustment enabled the HLP team to increase the time spent on in- person contacts with homeless persons. • SM Fire Department's paramedics responded to 10,295 incidents, 1,612 of these incidents (15 %) were to homeless persons needing assistance. The number of homeless - related calls as a percentage of overall SMFD calls has remained flat since FY 2010 -11. • The City Attorney's Office received 1,950 cases involving arrests and citations in which the subjects involved were primarily homeless persons. The number of cases decreased 11 % compared to FY 2010 -11.3 Housing Resources During FY2011 -12: • $17.2 million in Federal and local funds administered by the Santa Monica Housing Authority (SMHA) were spent on approximately 1,400 active housing vouchers, inclusive of Section 8, Special Needs Programs, HOME and RDA (Redevelopment Agency) vouchers. • $5.4 million in loans were committed to Step Up on Colorado to finance the construction of 34 new units for homeless and disabled individuals along with an additional $234,000 in Administrative Grant funds to maintain clinical and support staff at Step Up on Second. • Six HUD permanent supportive housing grants continue to be administered (since 2006). SMAH was awarded approximately $3.1 million in Federal funds to provide permanent housing rental subsidies to approximately 230 formerly homeless and disabled individuals and families under the Shelter Plus Care and Serial Inebriate Programs. Supportive services are delivered by OPCC, St. Joseph Center, and Step Up On Second. Of those served, an average of 3 The number of cases received reported by the CAO is based on a small set of specific municipal code violations which have a high rate of homeless offenders. This number should not be compared to the number of jail bookings reported by SMPD, which encompasses violations of all municipal codes. 2 more than 94% of program participants remained in permanent housing for at least six months, which exceeds HUD's performance standard requirement. Utilization of funds averages 98% across all programs. • SMHA also administers the HOME Program, a tenant -based rental assistance (TBRA) program designed for individuals and families who are disabled and /or homeless. In FY 2011 -2012, approximately 25 households received rental subsidies through the HOME program. • Recognizing the need for a program to assist homeless adults who are 55 years of age and older, the SMHA administered the RDA Homeless Prevention and Rental Subsidy program. Part of this program previously provided a one -time grant of up to $2,000 to Santa Monica residents who were at risk of eviction for non - payment of rent due to a financial hardship. The rental subsidy component of the RDA program provided rental assistance to applicants who were homeless and part of the City's continuum of care for the chronically homeless for at least one year prior to receiving assistance. In FY 2011 -2012, approximately 80 households received rental assistance. As a result of the dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies, the 80 RDA households are now at -risk. The SMHA is pursuing alternate sources of funding, including the transfer of eligible RDA voucher holders to the Section 8 voucher program in FY 2012 -2013, in order to continue housing assistance. Santa Monica Homeless Individuals That Access Services ® Total Active Clients: Based on data from the City's HMIS, agencies provided some level of assistance to 4,334° persons identified as homeless during FY 2011 -2012. Further analysis of this data has helped to better understand where individuals originated prior to accessing services in Santa Monica. Of those individuals served this year who identified a "last permanent address," 11% reported living in Santa Monica. Twenty -five percent of these individuals are of unknown origin, and the remaining 64% reported becoming homeless outside of Santa Monica: ® 22% originated from Los Angeles City 18% originated from Los Angeles County (non -LA City) ® 9% originated outside Los Angeles County, within California ® 15% originated outside of the State of California ° Assistance may have been one -time or ongoing, including intake, basic services, case management, and temporary and permanent housing, addiction recovery, mental health services, and employment assistance. While the 3,609 persons in HMIS represent individuals who received an intake or services from a City- funded agency, these individuals may or may not have become homeless in Santa Monica and may have only received one service and never returned. The significant decrease of over 52% from the total number of clients served during the FY 2010 -2011 is a result of improved data quality efforts that were started in FY 2011- 2012. 3 ® Santa Monica Priority Population: Within the 4,334 Total Active Clients identified in the HMIS, 1,246 (29 %) meet the City's definition of Priority Population. The effectiveness of programs is measured by their success in targeting resources to this population. Of these: ® 193 permanent housing placements were made. ® 320 emergency or transitional housing placements were made. Within the Priority Population, there are 346 individuals that comprise the Service Registry: ® 242 of the 346 are ranked as vulnerable. Of these individuals, 41 are vulnerable veterans. Although the Registry is expanding, the number of veterans has remained stable. ® 213 individuals (62 %) of the 346 are now in permanent housing. Of these, 164 were ranked as vulnerable. This is a 20% increase over last year. ® Of the 213 individuals in permanent housing, 30 are vulnerable veterans, including 16 that were housed in FY2011 -12. Special Initiatives ® Homeless Community Court (HCC): Since the program began: ® 236 chronic offenders have participated in the program ® 153 (65 %) have successfully completed the court's requirements and had their cases successfully adjudicated • 97 (63 %) have moved into permanent housing utilizing Shelter + Care, HOME Chronic Homeless Program, RDA, and Support Intensive Program (SIP) vouchers. ® Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re- Housing Program (HPRP): The City received $553,576 in Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds from HUD for the City's Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re- Housing Program, Eviction Prevention and Rehousing Assistance (EPRA) in 2009. The program expended all funds and ceased services in March 2012. 0 990 individuals (652 households) applied for assistance and were screened for eligibility. Of those: 2 ➢ 147 individuals (74 households) were eligible for and received financial assistance and case management services. ➢ Approximately 75 additional households met the basic eligibility criteria but, due to limited funds, were not able to be enrolled in the program. These households were connected to non- financial assistance such as case management and food services to support their basic needs and promote household stability. ➢ 93% of participants remained in stable permanent housing for at least six months after their last financial assistance. ® Project Homecominq: For individuals who do not meet the priority participant definition, the City provides opportunities for households to reconnect to housing and services in their community of origin. In FY 2011 -2012 this program assisted 272 individuals to relocate and reunite with family or friends in their community of origin at an average cost of $230 per participant. The destinations for the participants are as follows: o33% in the South o20% in the Mid -West o21% in the West (excluding California) 015% in the Northeast 0 9% California o2% outside of the United States ® West Coast Care: This outreach team partnered with the Santa Monica Police Department's HLP Team, making 2,010 duplicated contacts, and assisting 353 individuals to reunite with family and friends. While 129 of those utilized the City's Project Homecoming program, 224 people were housed through resources provided by loved ones. b7