Affordable Housing and Community Equity Development Commission - Regular Meeting

of the affordable Housing and Community Equity development Commission on March 27th um I'm going to call the meeting to order the first order of business is the roll call uh Elijah harro Blaine here Karen Brittain here Carri Bond here Rich Halverson here and I think that's all we'll have tonight um next item of business is the approval of the minutes from February 27th and I think you all received a copy of the minutes from Kimberly um there it was a good description of what happened and and she hit the high points I think of the AI um that was presented to us last time so is there anyone to have to um provide a motion to approve the minutes from February 27th so approve seconded second is there a second second all those in favor I any opposed minutes from February 27th are approved okay next order of business is a discussion of the homeless policy and home homeless activities here in Annapolis and I've asked Elijah if he would cover this as he's been working closely with them through his actual work that he does with the county or with ads so I've asked him to to lead off this discussion and to cover

the issues that I think we do need to discuss so a lot great thanks Nancy so um appreciate the opportunity to talk with you all tonight just for um purposes of the record uh I am speaking on behalf of myself as a private citizen and not on behalf of rundal Community Development Services where I uh do work as the assistant planning director um having said that obviously all of us are a part of this Commission because we care deeply about housing affordability and uh issues that um kind of roll off of that such as uh homelessness um and we all bring uh our unique experiences to the table um to bring us into focus on what some of the potential Solutions might be um I think I'll just kind of ground myself or ground rather ourselves in a couple of kind of basic elements about um homelessness in um the overall County and um we are um as a county overall um beginning to see uh a disturbing Trend that has been happening but it's accelerating and that is we are back to kind of prepandemic levels of evictions um and we're actually exceeding those eviction rates um and this is coupled with the ongoing year aftere compounding effect of the lack of supply of affordable housing keeping up with the growing level of demand so that less that those Confluence of factors are continuing to exacerbate the overall housing affordability crisis um and that is in spite of um a tremendous amount of

resources being invested in housing uh affordable housing um and in in spite of a variety of tactics being recently put in place through ordinances passed by the county um that seek to improve the ability to develop affordable housing and provide that financing that is needed from a financing perspective we have a an enormous asset here in the county of the affordable housing trust fund which recently in the last about year and a half received a big boost of dedicated revenue from an increase in the D transfer tax um for homes that are uh that are value valed in excess of a million dollars as a result of that uh the county is generating um millions of dollars that is going into the Housing Trust Fund combined with the fact that there was an mpdu a moderately priced dwelling unit um ordinance passed by the county recently which improves density bonuses um and and has requirements for affordability in multif family uh housing that is I believe in excess of 10 units um and has kind of a a tiered uh process going up on that um so we've got money and and like the city anondo county has also gone through a comprehensive resoning or a comprehensive uh planning process uh to look at the zoning ordinances and it it is well understood by the county as it is by the city um about the importance of looking at up zoning and it allowing for not requiring to be very specific not requiring um increased but in allowing for increased density um I think there are two main things that I would offer that we as a um commission um really consider I think first and

foremost um well actually maybe three um there are first and foremost I think what we know is that the shelter uh that is available for families is not adequate we do not have enough shelter beds on any given night there is a weit list to get into shelters and some shelters do not have as low barrier admission policies as others um even though some of their programs might be low barrier um not all of their programs and certainly not all of their beds are um are are low barrier and so consequently um you know for low for uh shelter with low barrier uh we do not have in that kind of area of shelter beds we are very limited um and we are limited in the overall just shelter capacity period um as we all know there's kind of a a a a tug and a pull between investing in shelter when those resources could be invested in housing um but I do think it's important that we acknowledge that there is there is that need for shelter and that is increasing with also of the increased rate of evictions um and so that we need shelter we need prevention we need rapid rehousing we need more more housing in general that leads me to my kind my second Point um so kind of that first point would be that we kind of think about as a commission what we think uh members of the city council as well as the county counil um need to be educated about um in terms of the need and so I would offer one of those would be um an increased need for shelter um low barrier shelter um and shelter overall

um I think the other thing is um speaking for again just my personal experience I had the for Good Fortune of being able to um manage Virginia's emergency rental assistance program during the pandemic and so that billion dollars that we managed um obviously was going to prevent evictions but it was also used in in somewhat of a rapid rehousing fashion as well and that was because of the ability to do direct to tenant payments and so I think there is substantial evidence at this point to demonstrate the effectiveness of direct DET tenant payments direct payments we could call that a variety of things we could call it a guaranteed BAS basic income we could call it a universal basic income we could call it a direct attendant payment um the bottom line is people can't afford housing because housing is expensive and they don't have the money to pay for it if we can't build enough housing then we need to give people the means to afford the housing that's out there and what we do know through research is that when people with lower incomes are provided that additional money they spend it on the things that they need they don't need oversight they don't want to be homeless they don't want their children to be hungry and they don't want their children to be without daycare while they have to go to work those are the three top things that we know that money gets spent on housing Health uh housing food and child care um and so again I would urge the um uh commission to consider a education campaign around the need to support investments in overall affordable housing um while also pushing

to the Forefront the need for low barrier shelter and a um a support for for these direct direct payments to individuals so that that would be kind of the the overall sum of of kind of my thoughts on all of that so in Annapolis itself we have the shelter is in Annapolis correct or is it in the county so it is right on the City Line border it is literally yeah it is right on the other side yeah and and and for clarity the shelter that you're referring to is the lighthouse shelter right of course we also have Sarah's house up in the fort me area which is up in the right and then we also ask what other yep and that's up in Glen Bernie now that's not a shelter that's a day a day a day Center there some shelters over there in Crownsville I thought there was a woman's shelter over there um on Crown there is chrysis house right CH is over in the Crownsville complex U they're more focused on uh recovery support yeah we do talk we talk about this a lot that um you know like in wi and S for example we had like six shelters in the area there was a family shelter there was a Men Shelter there was a women shelter there was a low barrier shelter like to funnel everybody into one shelter is impossible you know I mean you say what you want about the lighthouse shelter I mean they just you just can't manage that many people with thousands on that is is it the only one Elijah or is that the only one that's close to Annapolis is lighthous ligh House Shelter apparently is the only one in

the city of Anapolis it is both of those questions is yes yes it is the only one in Annapolis and yes it is the only one do you do you have any statistical data even off the top of your head as to you know how many homeless people we have within the city limits or in I'll say in and around including that an County piece over there yeah okay so since you provide that kind of supplemental Contex to your question um what I can say is that the point in time count um uh in for 2024 was 250 but we know that's an under we know that's an under count sure okay and so that's what you could get account of that's right and so I think there's a couple of factors to kind of think about that can I just ask you is that two what's that 250 number is for the county that's correct for the whole County that's correct okay include in Annapolis that does have is part of the county for the purpos that number is hard to believe the city does not get city does not get an does not get homeless funds we get everything through acds anything that we have for homeless activities in the city go through acds isn't that right or through the state that's correct the only thing I mean cdbg right yeah that's the exception so you got your public service dollars out how many does the lighthouse serve how many can they house uh that's a good question might know yeah no I used to work recesses of your mind but do you remember no but I I mean there's three or four family units

upstairs and then um I want to say maybe 50 or 60 total I I hate saying this on YouTube I'm probably getting it wrong and I I could probably just reach out to my friend that works there Karen is just a guest to so kind of put the numbers together so yeah but the good news is that um so the lighthouse shelter had these properties around town that they would rent out cheap affordable they bought them in the 80s early 90s so one of them just sold for a huge profit and they bought the two houses behind the lighthouse shelter so I think that's how their thought is that they're going to break it up so that they can take more people because they've gotten very strict I went the other day and you know there's police officer at the door checking and said the published numbers are 45 individuals and four families 45 and four okay so yeah and that's I've got a document in front of me and that it Mir exactly what rich just said I was like scanning through rich sorry yeah thank you Rich okay and and and we don't and do we know what kind of turnover there is or is there is a limit on how long they can stay correct month is there is um and I can also say just like for example Sarah's house um it's about six per night 66 wow yeah and so when you kind of combine all of that together you're seeing that we're getting to the like not even 120ish right and then there's the total and so there's the cycle kind of through there's the additional inflow you know so that's kind of gives you the statistical kind of perspective on all of this that I think obviously

underscores the points that I was so what's in North County so in nor County there's a Rundle House of Hope but they are a day Center they not a shelter they also have scattered sight housing um and a couple of other programs but they don't operate a shelter like a traditional shelter so I think Terry that's like I I think the fact that you're immediately your mind is seeing the Geo the geography right and I think that's a a a part of it we also are now having the Stanton Center Prov some additional beds during times of extreme weather yeah right you know what's hard with that too is I don't know if you know but I'm rise and shine Bakery now we're Workforce Development we take warmly homeless incarcerated domestic abuse victims they foster care and teach them baking skills well we have a guy who was in the St Center and then it warmed up so now he's on the streets like we provide transportation to get him there but he's tired when he gets there you know he's exhausted he's been sleeping wherever he can find a place to sleep he's hungry so it's it it's a bummer that they can't keep it open more often if they can open it in the cold weather why couldn't they extend it year and I think the concern about Crownsville is that Crownsville is relatively isolated it is not it's not on a a major bus route I mean it you gotta gotta get to the mall it's gonna be Tak yeah exactly you got to get down General's High way for that seven eight minutes that it's going to take you to get that way when you're driving 60 miles an hour down it to get to the mall and then you might be starting to get in place you know Elijah I I just want to throw this in there I believe that the

homeless population in North County isn't being counted so you saying you have 250 people here in where we're at when you look at North County and what affects the neighborhood there is a lot more people people out that that that aren't getting counted so even though we're looking at 250 if we think about that area and what you know you know it's a high hi trffic drug area so you've got more homeless people out there along psico I don't know if that's Baltimore or not but it rolls over into the northern part of the county you know and only place people can really afford to live and I've said this before is Brooklyn and even Brooklyn's getting too high hi right there's a huge encampment up there so we so there's the city limit right that then folds into Brooklyn yeah south of Brooklyn is Brooklyn Park right South Brooklyn Park is Glenn Bernie to then the West is Severn and then you go south down into the Laurel Maryland City russer yeah russet sorry area and all of the Brooklyn Park sever Glen Bernie and now Maryland city are the four areas that we have identified in our Consolidated plan that I came and presented on um a few months ago that's the those are the four areas now it used to be three Brooklyn Park SN and Glenn Bernie and now we've added in Maryland city um can I can I ask a qu I'm sure because it's so hard to count the homeless that in that National Day Count you know we know it's a low count is there a multiplier that people kind of accept that even though we say there's 250 you should really

multiply that by so much to get a better understanding yeah there isn't a statistical kind of multiplier that's put into the point in time count but what we do do is use kind of the known relationships and the known areas that Outreach workers who are a part of the overall Continuum of Care regularly visit um in order to do that I do think though just to kind of pull us back a hot second that you know I recognize there's always an intense need and desire to really get as fine-tuned data as as is possible I would offer though that like ultimately it's not that the data is wrong and that's the problem it might be undercounting it but even the current count is making the point and I guess right the real concern that I have is that there is not a uniform expression of support for the programs that are operated by the county by those on the on the council and so that is of course a natural kind of thing to see is some level of dissent but overall on an issue that is as crosscutting as this no matter where you are in the county I would like to think that with some education we could try and en encourage a more unified support of these programs that cut across it's not just at acds it's also at the Department of Social Services it's also at the partnership for children youth and families it's also at the food bank you know it's all of this stuff we don't have a rapid reh housing program the county hasn't come up with one because I really I really believe that they they're the focal point because they're bigger and the people cross over okay but do they have in any of their legislation

that they passed do they have any kind of Rapid rehousing programs in Inu County so we have a variety of Rapid rehousing programs in the county the big one that we're using right now is our home ARP money and that's gone to a variety of of providers one being the Y another being Sarah's house another being the um bless Tech Ministries uh who is using their home AR money uh to to support their work at the Stanton Center um so while blesson Tex is not around rapid rehousing um uh uh the wise uh AR money the uh Sarah's house home ARP money those are specifically designated as rapid rapid rehousing yeah yeah so I think what's interesting too is rapid reh housing housing first model has been such a model what I'm hearing from people that work in the community it is just potentially a recipe for disaster because you're not providing those services to get people where they need to be before you throw them in housing by themselves and I talked to somebody else who was in a program she's like one I'm worried that we're not going to get anyone's money so I'm not counting on rapid rehousing and two I don't think it works for my clients so maybe if we had better like you're talking Elisha's if we had better better shelter situations where we could really get people stable before we have to throw them out into housing I think that's a better have that skill set Cameron the reality is you know people that are homeless and and transitioning you know you just can't throw them because they have to learn the skills of how to care for themselves in in and and some yeah I've seen a little bit of that in my lifetime so I will on that that that

dhcd has recently modified their qualified allocation plan that guides the distribution of the tax credits it there right with with permanent Supportive Housing recognizing I think Karen the exact point that you making which is yes we need housing but the population that we need housing for doesn't need just housing and those wraparound services and so that's to I think an acknowledgement by at the state level that they recognize that that primary asset that the state has the tax credits should be more used in a in a intentional manner to support permanent Supportive Housing and and it's Elijah because they're just getting on board but when I worked in DC you know five years four or five years ago they had already started those programs so DC is kind of like a model to see how they work and the Supportive Services were being wrapped around some of the communities they were building and you know was just kind of started out like maybe halfway into my time there so I don't know how some of them turned out you know they've go ahead I'm sorry part of senior housing for quite some time the notion of housing with Supportive Services and I think learning from that it's gone into family housing and other populations they they afforded senior housing and some of the developments to be handicapped disabled or elderly and the population of the disabled and handicapped were people that need wrap around services and in my and they different they may need different services from just seniors yeah yeah yeah and so have they provided that in

some of the building oh absolutely absolutely yeah because it's a hard population to to help but they deserve to be treated humanely and helped as much as we can help them that's yeah yeah I think just to like kind of put a very fine point on like this whole discussion is we're in budget season we've got and like I think we can we could talk for a long time about the implications at the federal level and what that's going to mean oh God we be but at the end at the end of the conversation we're going to be no closer to identifying something that we can control and so for me as I'm thinking about this new environment that we're operating in it's focusing in a very intentional way on what are those things very specifically that we can control and what we can control as a commission is any recommendations or actions that the city council should make and County Council I would offer that because in the regard of homelessness the County's resources are applying to the city that then the city's structures like this commission have a role play in the as a voice for these needs and as I mentioned um earlier there has not been a unified show of support in the LA in in in the past on this and so I think it's really focusing on identifying who has not supported in the past and figuring out what we can do

to get them to come come alongside those have that have supported it yeah Elijah quick question with your understanding of the mechanisms of the county in particular what two or three Avenues of support from the city would be most impactful or achievable great fles really appreciate that question rich I think I'm like over here first and foremost it would be an existing structure that could be used for shelter on either a seasonal basis or an on ideally an ongoing basis because we just to I mean we all know there are so few lots and just the development process we could it would take us seven years before we and that's if everything went smoothly you know but but I have a question that that you know the City although it's half County half City the shelter we have was really Annapolis based it was the churches that came together a lot of faith I and we and we hear a lot from the city council people about the fact well why not in the county the county AB buts the city you know the county has more land than the city yeah I actually think maybe we should be talking about in the region the Anapolis region you know finding a site in the county that could serve disagree with that what I would I would not disagree with that but that said I do think unless the city initiates that conversation by identifying at a minimum

the fact that they are willing to be a part of some solution not pushing it to the county and saying well why aren't you all doing more on this rather than saying we feel like we could bring this to the table we believe this is the need what can we work with you County to do to address this and so to be very specific are there operating dollars that the city could bring to the table to help support a shelter somewhere else recognizing that that shelter may not be in Annapolis and in fact Terry to the point you've already previously made may actually be located in the northern part of the county I don't know if the city would do that that's the sort I don't think so right because because the thing is it's not it's not even a it's not even a thing of do we want to it's a limited budget where the city's already stretched you know it doesn't have you know one maybe there's other things it could do like provide you know work with some of the the the organizations in Annapolis that provide services maybe they could provide services yes hello Karen um there too maybe it's that collaboration sharing what resources we have in terms of um programs and organizations that do things and providing that to help support the shelter but the county has a lot more resources than the city does in terms of operating dollars I mean I just I don't I I can't imagine I just especially now we can't ignore the fact that we're we're probably going to be losing federal dollars I mean for sure everybody is though yeah but I think you

make a great point because what you know we do is we we take people all these backgrounds we teach them a work skill for three months but it's also soft skills it's also case management it's also therapy it's also you know stress man agement it's you know all this stuff that we're taking that off of the shelter so it would be nice if the shelter could just kind of focus on just being a shelter so to worry about so much funding to provide all these Services it kind of like Outsource it to organizations like ours so I I wonder if this is sort of different but the fact is we got a big County how many of these organizations and and also look to the faith community everybody looks to the faith community but um how maybe it's and and you know you guys are much more in the trenches than I am I'm just thinking off the top of my head but is there true collaboration among the different groups and even expanding that to other groups um to to provide the to provide the support and maybe the impetus for a new shelter mid part of the county somewhere you know that that can serve serve more people I I don't know you know we do I'm so sorry I'll just say it's really quick um we get a lot of people from around here but the only place we could find a bake or teach is in Odenton in this Masonic Lodge so we have a driver that goes and picks everybody up and brings them up there and drops them all back off but that's that's an affordable place I would think for shelters programs stuff like that other than the city so yeah you're right sorry Janice you go ahead oh no I wasn't I'm just I'm just listening to everybody's ideas and it just you know gives me all of these thoughts you know I was sitting here and you know I'm like look at Mary Station Mall the place is empty to a nice shelter town you know

that's a very good point you know I I just I just I'm sitting here and I'm saying where you know when you started talking about finding a building we're finding a place right you've got all of this square footage half of it's already cut up it's got places where you can cook it would it would be a shelter Town well that might be a much a bit Denise but I know but I was I was thinking big shelter toel page on the news tomorrow Denise recommended I'm already on cable TV talking about shelter town but but but I'm thinking that that would be like just amazing if something like that could happen you know and it could really address heck they can make little apartments in the mall so when I was doing my housing project in North Carolina I built it off of Lowe's and fishes tiny homes teaching people skills it's self-supportive and I think it's a great model yeah it is has anybody heard what are there any PL is there anybody taking over that mall are there any plans for the mall right now it's just kind of sitting with a Macy's and a JC Penny and very nothing on the inside of the mall JC peny is not closing ours closed theirs is still open ours is still open well you know and um it's just I was because I'd hate to see them knock it down and build housing without considering the less fortunate population but that but that's the thing there could be some incentives me audio I'm sorry I better get off because my dogs are making too much noise oh it's so cute and question um especially with with all the ideas that centered around coordinating programs and uh

coordinating with the county who would be or is the you who would carry the water for the city right we are meeting frequency right now nobody so so is that a tangible step we could take to draft some notes and approach well Al go ahead so it's the Continuum of Care the Continuum of Care covers covers Human Service committee should be something that we could bring in because they address those well they address housing issues so that's part of show us they address both sides Health and Human Services I mean housing human services so yeah but I I'm I at this moment we've got few things to contend with one is the obvious strains on the budget that may be even greater yeah in the immediate future and secondly we've got elections coming up and that's gonna mean that's change too yeah that yeah that's that's kind of looming out there I but I do I do think that the commission as an entity could put our we could put our thoughts together on how we would like to collaborate with the county who has the real responsibility for the Continuum of Care and for homelessness um so we could figure out a way to to work more closely with them on the Continuum of Care even though we don't have the dollars at this moment to put in and maybe the commission could figure out a way to to put that together and and propose it approach the council and the mayor

currently and well Can I some of our thoughts let me add that 250 count how much of it was in Annapolis I think knows sure about that yeah I don't think we you need you need data to support trying to get the city to be a big of this and you know I mean yeah yeah as I said earlier we have a shelter we're doing our part we put this towards that I mean um well but to be very specific I mean how much does the city support the lighthouse well we give them block rent monies we give them we actually we have in the past we have in the past but we don't have that much to give out I mean it's that's not I'm not denying that what I'm trying to elevate is you know the lighthouse is predominantly driven by private money yeah right right and so the what I I think the point I would offer is that outside of periodic Public Service grants to the lighthouse what money controlled by the city of Annapolis is put into the issue of homelessness and to by extension what is put into these activities that we have said are needed because of the level and type of homelessness that we are seeing not only in the city but also the county and I think what we will find when we answer that question is that it is a a relatively nominal amount even when looked in proportion to the number of people experiencing homelessness in proportion to the rest of the county that's the overall kind of spirit

that I think you might hear the Continuum of Care is that there is not this presence from a financial perspective that is that is needed one we don't have the we don't have the financial wherewithal in the city so I to to make those kinds of contributions and I think that's what Terry is saying just don't it I think the I mean you're looking for money from the the governmental entities and you know everybody complains about their taxes everybody complains about paying too much and then we comp you know schools aren't getting I mean everybody's looking for a piece of the pie I'm just thinking the only way to maybe really improve those homeless Services is a larger effort with the faith sector with the nonprofit sector some and maybe maybe some and even foundations I I think that it's limited how much like es we use our blockr money and that's probably going to go down I mean where where is it going to come from when we're all competing for the same monies I don't get it so I wonder about bonding like is there some way that we could identify a funding source that could be paid on a bond but putting that to the side for a second I just want to come back to the whole Marley Station kind of thing um I would I would offer that we are not likely the first people to think about that I'm sure that's true and I would maybe just let that sit what's happened it's definitely out there are aware my mind as I was sitting here I'm saying where would be a good place to put a show yeah oh so you're saying people have thought about

it and we're like no thanks I think didn't say that oh yeah but I mean I've I've heard about that notion for a while actually people have talked about what to do with Marley Station I think the conversation is also now increasingly looking potentially at Annapolis for for what I'm sorry Anapolis innapolis mall area bapis mall innapolis mall has got a lot yeah yeah's my understanding is that between those two there is a recognition that there is land that could potentially be used I think Nancy the difference from previous conversations is that we now have more money um in the county because of the Housing Trust Fund yeah so what I'm thinking is that there could be Redevelopment plans for Marley Station and and and whether you know whether and part of that could be incentive to put development on part of it and some public use on another part of it you know um a public private partnership right yeah I don't think the mall the way it is now probably is that great for housing but but that site is and there's a lot land there that mall is on the bus line and right at the highway well that but that's the site that's the site Denise I mean you can use that site for this kind of development just not necessarily that particular building you know so or maybe parts of it I don't know it sure could have helped a whole lot of people who been sitting empty at least the ma actually great it's a great location building yeah yeah you just so to get back to our

initial discussion though is is how how could this commission play a role in planting a seed or for the future really on how the city and the county collaborate more closely on addressing the problems of homelessness maybe maybe it's just stating that sending a letter you know saying you know to wh what the problem well to the city council and maybe maybe I don't know maybe now and after elections I don't know I mean I think ter for me that's kind of it right is as we as a commission ask the city to a acknowledge this reality and B acknowledge the fact that there are known solutions that still need consensus around about pragmatically how to do it and that those if the city agrees with all of that then there needs to be a very intentional conversation with the county around how to do that and what what the city can bring to the table to to help do that the the it it's one thing to say it it's another thing to say what you're G to bring to the table to help address it and I think that's the big thing that I think has been missing in the conversation and I think the Health and Human Services committee should be part of that pushing that the other the other thought I just got is we could tout and I don't know if this is true or not our success with the lighthous shelter how we worked with the the community and the faith to to support that and I don't know if the zoning I mean I'm sure there was a lot the city did to help make that happen maybe not financially but maybe a little

bit financially but that's the kind of the partnership the collaboration and focusing on the problem to find to find a solution Elijah you act like the cities takes up 50% of the county it's only 11 square miles in you don't have no I I was trying to just think of you know any buildings in and around the city you know and nothing comes to my mind I know that there's not a whole lot of vacant land over there um yeah you know there's really what what I see is there's nowhere to build in the city and I don't know that there's any factories old factory buildings that could be converted cuz you know my my wheels are turning down the road well the the other thing is the other thing is that the the comp plan has just been or whatever might get Consolidated plan and comp plan confused but the city's new the city's new plan refer to it I mean they have a huge discussion about multiple uses of various sites and I know from our discussions with Eric they've looked at various currently underutilized sites or potential changes in in use of of various sites um Etc so I mean that it's not that it's been out but homelessness addressing homelessness has never really been part of their their considerations but providing affordable housing has been right right um and that's part of the solution too yeah yeah because the homeless population is out of the shelter in three months I mean there's got to be a place for those folks to go the other thing is there's not a lot one of the things and and it

may have been because of development proposed on West Street there's not a lot of industrial zoning in the city no and so it's not like we could we need to use that for you know that kind of use and not change you know it's the it's the commercial over commercialized that land has has more potential I think for housing than our industrial areas yeah so Elijah I know that you are not busy at all and and therefore I would I would suggest and hope that you could sort of draft something for us to send to the I think the best shot is the the city council committee Health whatever they're called housing and human whatever they're called Health and Human Services I think Health and Human Services committee um maybe that's our first point of contact because at this point I mean I wouldn't suggest writing to the mayor at this point because he's he's yeah he's the lame Dock and I'm sure he's not going to be necessarily interested the other thing obviously you know we have to watch what goes on coming up for the election but that would be kind of maybe a first step I think the first step is to kind of coordinate the ideas of everything that we've talked about here well yeah I mean that's what I'm hoping that that Elijah can kind of put together some of our thoughts and ideas because I know he has nothing to do I can work with you on that El if you are able to carve out some time on that um and I think part of this in addition to the ideas that we've

we've been discussing was to be a little forward-looking we we've think we' mentioned a couple times about potential reduction in federal funding or shifts and programs I think that there's also some macroeconomic trends that suggest um increased economic pressure on a greater percentage of the population and um I think it's I mean if we if we all just took a quick straw poll do we expect there to be more unhoused folks next year than there are this year I would say yes right so at least discussing with them not the hard numbers but what are they going to commit to measure um to begin to monitor for signs that they're the Solutions in place are reaching a Breaking Point or kind of what what can we at least map out in terms of how we continue to monitor the problem so that we can more quickly Corral support for interventions in the future should they become necessary that's a great Point Rich that's stuff so rich rich I appreciate the offer to work with me on that I will definitely take you up on that I've got your email um draft something up and bounce it over to Nancy uh to take a look um and on just a letter to kind of the health and human Services committee trying to get them to maybe then co-sign on another letter that would go to like the council maybe or something like that right right so um I I do think they'll be that they would be our best Advocates because I also think that there'll be continuity there the three members of that committee will probably in all likelihood I don't think Brooks got I don't know that they signed him he was looking to get

the the new legislative seat or the legislative seat to replace Shena Shen Shena I don't think he got it or I don't know have they decided that yet I no I don't believe he did I don't believe he did either so they'll be he he said if he didn't get that he would continue on as a councilman so that and we know that although we don't know about dwan I don't know I mean we've heard rumors about him for so long I'm not sure but that there'll be there'll be continuity there and and regardless of what happens most well not regardless of it's likely not to change with the election in November so if we could get some of them if we could get them to be interested in in thinking about this and thinking about the future that would be helpful I think I'd like to ideas you know what are their ideas what are they thinking yeah well what the heck yeah yeah I do think also like I recognize we've got a limited pot of Public Service dollars but and I think as Denise is going to tell us we're not going to use them for public service we're not going to be using them this year public services are they all going to go to Capital this year yes yeah definitely but they did offer I want to say another partt of money but don't ask me to name that partt of money where they could have applied on the city Side City through other programs that don't really come through me to get money for services and that was something Teresa had had actually been saying should be what we do so right and so I don't I

can't there was cuz has been working with us and one of the things that you know when that decision was made that there was some other money within the city and um they were directed to apply there so how many applied I don't know cuz that's not money that I have anything to do have any control over yeah right so why don't we before we get into that why don't we agree that Elijah and Rich are going to work on a letter to the the commit to the committee and we'll move on from there yeah that sound good to everybody yeah sounds good just as a point of clarity on my part so I I had heard from a grand te about their not being Public Service dollars and I wasn't aware of that I didn't feel like when was that decision made but the thing is what what Teresa said has told me is the fact they that now they have to apply they always appli to this it's city funding it's money that has it forget the source they always have to make two applications and she say it's a waste of time you know they could make one application to this other funding source and probably still get similar amounts of money because they don't we don't have a lot we spread it thinly so there just won't be block the block Brand's not a good source for that kind of money that's what Teresa has felt for a long time right yeah and and the amounts were so small and in in any event that they would be getting from us it's always been the same grantees year in and year out and the pot of the money has gone down as well

as so it so I'm sorry Nancy so I think that that they decided that it made more sense at least this year to not give out any public services dollars well no they didn't decide not to give out Public Service dollars out of cdbg out of cdbg right out of cdbg but they had the opportunity to apply through another program within look at the look on Elijah's face after he found that out so I guess I got a couple of questions one I recognize we've it's been said a couple of times that folks aren't aware of what pot of money that is so naturally my question is what pot of money is that I believe it might be csbg Community Services block grant so that would be helpful Denise can could could a request from commission be for information about what that funding source elah you could email Teresa and she'll tell you Teresa knows it recommend is that okay Denise I mean yeah or Denise could you know you either you could directly ask Teresa or or Denise ask her whether it's Teresa or I one of us will provide you with the information we just I just cannot recall right now I was in a meeting today we talked about it I just cannot recall the pot of money I just I don't know if it's the trust fund and so n f there's a lot of alphabets soup with this stuff that I get so totally get that I think it might be the community services block grant money so that would be helpful to know that would be helpful to know and then I guess I'm just gonna be the guy in the

room that says it who is the they that made the decision they made the decision who's they the city some the city the people above me Elijah so are we saying the Council made this decision it was no I don't think so okay so I guess that's where I'm starting to get lost because we've got Denise we've got the council there's only a few people well there's Chris in between there there's Chris and it may have been I would say it was City management that's how I'm going to word it and it involved multiple people and and I and Elijah to be fair Teresa has talked about this before she has knew she's not I really don't think she's trying to to lessen the money that's available although we are having less money it's the best way to serve these groups that have to serve all these applications and they only get a little bit here and then she's oftentimes told people well we'll fund you this way instead of that way so it's a clean in no way casting dispersions or or or or or or questioning people's motives that is not my intent whatsoever I know we're all here for the same good reasons for me it's just kind of a Clarity of process to really then be able to as be as much help as possible so that I can have my head in the same kind of line of thinking as everyone else so that I can be contributing as to the fullest extent I'm able that's the sole reason for for my questions right um but thank you well I would have provided with that when we got to the cdb GP I would have given you that information because I have it all written here I just don't know of the source of where they go to apply for

funding but I know it was on the government website and I was trying to like jump off so I could give you an answer because you got me all stressed out Elijah put me on the spot but I was trying I just cannot recall at this at this particular moment where the source of that money is coming from not a problem not a problem I'm sure that's that's a tomorrow not a problem if it happens Monday Tuesday Wednesday next week that's fine too I S right send Teresa an email right now I'm blaming it on her Teresa they're yelling at me on the meeting no I'm just kidding but they gave them an option and the reason they did this is to slow you know because of the cdbg money and some some of the points that were made here and since we had another source of funds we thought that it would be kind of like I don't know what their thought was because you know I'm just I just work there so understood understood thank you I know kind of simplify the process of giving out the same funding source okay so you guys Elijah and and Rich are going to work on a a letter um and we'll all take a look at it when when the draft is there and there's a is that a cat or a dog the dog oh yeah hello little dog um so why don't we move on to Denise's report on where we are on cdbg yeah great yeah Denise wait Denise Denise wait a sec thank you Elijah for bringing this subject to our attention and you know trying to find a creative role for us to play in this because I think we should be playing it this was a great

conversation yeah yeah so thank you I have to say I think thank you all for the opportunity yeah we talk a lot but I feel like this is the closest conversation to yes we're gonna get stuff done I think we've had an a while and and I'm sorry to be negative about funding it's just I just everything we do doesn't have to doesn't always have to be funding we know we don't have it yeah we know we don't have it you're right Terry so but you know what are we going to do we don't have it and you know we don't even have We're Not Gonna we probably aren't going to have the services dollars either given what they're going to do to to HHS now get rid of Sam you know like a few few other things crazy um getting rid of all the experimentation of Housing and supportive services that that CMS was doing that gotten rid of that office of innovation for Medicaid dollars that's the proposal that just came out today so it's not looking good it's not looking good but to the extent that we can do something we should be trying so thank you elij okay Denise your turn I'm here where we are on cdbg I'm scared to even say anything about cdbg Elijah getting me back from the last meeting K Elijah so as you now know they the city decided to do capital projects with the cdbg funds um and so we put the uh we accepted four we received four applications um Let me let me interrupt for one

second um can you tell us exactly how much money we're going to get or what you think we're gonna get got to that point Nancy is all okay told Okie do I'll wait hold on a minute hold on wait okay thank you so of course did Teresa send you guys an email showing you where the applications were in the Google jop you got the email okay and you know you'll have like a month to review because we will bring pick up that on 424 we'll discuss the recommendations there at our next meeting which I believe is April 24th and we're still working on the Consolidated plan and action plan with cdbg um and working with her uh we don't know what the allocation is yet so we're basing it on last year's budget um and we can't have a public meeting to discuss it until uh we get the official notification from HUD so that's where we are we're behind on this and we're trying to play catch up now do we have program income again though in the amounts that we've had it before no program inome to no program okay all right and I have been working on that budget and that's what we've come up up with and she's made a couple of changes and I don't really want to put it out there to try to put more money into the pot for you know last year we got 267,000 yeah we added program income which and we had probably last year maybe 10 10 11 applicants there and so that's all I have so I hope I answered your questions Miss Nancy

so no no program income four applications what applications and we don't know yet the amount of money that we're going to have we don't know what we okay and do we think we're going to know by our April meeting not so not sure certain we're not yeah I wouldn't put any bets on a timeline I guess the thing that I would offer that I guess the way I'm thinking about it is we are on a on a CR now yeah so that money that's what we discussed today so I mean the fact get the same money but there's no guarantee of that right right it's more the distribution from from the agency now more than an issue than it is of the appropriation from Congress yeah right and and there have been sometimes the appropriation doesn't really mean much right now so right it could be problematic we don't know what they're going to do um they've already done and you just just just look and see what's happening and while we all stand by here and let it happen because we control that's inject a su if you will of uh optimism um yeah the Continuum of Care uh programs are being honored okay good they are getting their money um good right right um has the you guys that work with the Baltimore office Hut office have they been hit by Cuts not that I'm aware of a couple of people retired that serviced us okay uh

Susan left and then they we have a girl named ingred and then I think the financial person also left Diamond Miss Diamond I believe diamond is still there I thought I read something where she left okay there's another woman working in the uh um you well lady ingred that was assigned to us ingred ing's still there ingred reports to Poma per we got um it it my understanding is that there's a new field office direct yeah Diamond sent an email on March 6 I'm sorry I pulled it up saying that um she was leaving oh okay on March the 6 she said that was her last day oh okay and it doesn't say that she was going anywhere else and that's so she's definitely I knew I read something and Susan Taylor retired so um and we have a young lady by the name I think of ingred that took s Susan trailer's Place Susan Taylor's place [Music] all right because that that could have an impact on how things get done as well so Murphy um isn't that the plan to impact how everything is done in this country I'm sorry all righty well thank you Denise um so that sort of brings us up to date and we know we're going to

have discussion of that on the 24th of April when our next meeting is so um is there anything any new business that we want to address anything that anyone wants to bring forward do we have a new member no that person next to Nancy that's not a new member of the commission oh yeah but he doesn't talk he just works and he looks he wants to be seen so we'll just yeah he's here he's here to contribute yeah Rich I'll be in touch in the coming week all right I got got a daughtering upstairs thank you moved second second it all those in agreement hios thank you all you okay