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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GOREDC 2022/07/05 2020-2022 Committee on Governmental Operations, Relations, and Economic Development 29th Session Hawai`i County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai`i July 5, 2022 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Operations, Relations, ORDER: and Economic Development was called to order at 2:27 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member (came in later) Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) CHR. KIMBALL: Clerk, could you read in the communication? COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 29.10: HAWAII STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES' MARCH 29 AND APRIL 21, 2022, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES From Council Member Heather Kimball, dated June 6, 2022. Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 29.10. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. KIMBALL: Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of closing file on Communication 29.10. GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 Vote on Comm. 29.10: The motion to close file on Comm. 29.10 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, and Lee Loy—3. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolutions, please. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. Res. 442-22: REQUESTS THE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE A STRATEGIC ROADMAP FOR HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS THAT SETS FORTH PRIORITIES AND INTENTIONS FOR UTILIZATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF PROGRAM APPROPRIATIONS FROM RESIDENTIAL TIER TWO PROPERTY TAX REVENUES Requests that the Office of Housing and Community Development create and submit the plan to the Council by September 2022, and thereafter annually provide a progress report to the Council. Reference: Comm. 842 Intr. by: Ms. Kimball and Ms. Lee Loy CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Before I go ahead and take the motion, let the record reflect that I'm going to pass the Chairmanship of this Committee over to Vice Chair, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Chair relinquished the chair to Vice Chair Kierkiewicz. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Let the record show that I have assumed the Chair position of Governmental Operations, Relations and Economic Development at 2:29 p.m. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend adoption of Res. 442-22. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ladies, seeing as this is your resolution, would you like to lead the discussion? MS. KIMBALL: Council Member Lee Loy just walked into room, so I'll let her get her bearings here. Page 2 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 You know, I think this is probably self-explanatory in many ways, given the conversations that we've had over the last couple months about a variety of things. But you know, for me it kind of boils down to two things. First of all, our responsibility as a legislative body to have fiduciary responsibility over the taxpayers' funds and make sure that we are putting our best effort to make sure that the usages of those funds is transparent and that there is accountability associated with those uses. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it is that, you know, I truly believe foundationally, that you can't improve what you don't measure. And you know, we've appropriated a significant amount of funding through Ordinance 22-26 to end homelessness in our County. And I think all of us were fully on board with making that investment, this five-year investment, very heavy and strategic investment in ending this, you know, real problem for the whole island. And in order to do that, we need to, you know, have a sense of what the metrics are, and what the plans are to address the problem. And so, you know, the conversations we had earlier today about the resolution for the lease. You know, that is kind of an example of why there needs to be this strategic roadmap. And so, we're asking, you know, the Office of Housing and Community Development just to communicate with us, what is their plan and how do they plan to measure their success? So that when we come to two years or even five years from now and there's a different set of individuals here on this bench, we can look back and say, our money was well used. And this project, this effort was successful. So with that introduction, I'll yield Chair. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Thank you to my colleague, Ms. Kimball. And to my colleagues, you know,just really asking for your support. Building off of Ms. Kimball's piece, you know, this is a program that supposed to be just five years. And there's going to be a business decision that needs to be made by future Council. And this was the way to, as she mentioned, measure are we truly achieving the goal that the intent of this piece of legislation was intended to provide? There's been some internal conversations with the Department of Housing or Housing Agency on when to report. How to report? You know, we'll see as a legislative body. We're going to be paying attention to our monthly budget cycles. You know, at the next budget hearing, these are the things that we can kind of use this particular resolution as a backstop to ensure that we are moving the needle in the areas of homelessness and housing. And some of the things that we as a body adopted just a month ago around this funding source. Page 3 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 And so, at the time we were introducing, or Council Member Chung was advancing this piece of legislation, the question was asked, should we write it into the ordinance? And we heard loud and clear, no, let's provide a little bit of flexibility. Personally, I still felt strongly, as Ms. Kimball, that if we can't get it into the ordinance, let's go ahead and at least develop the framework so that year after year, as this money comes in and gets appropriated to this program, we have a backstop to measure it against. And that's what this does. So, if I could please get my colleagues' support,that would be wonderful. Thank you Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ladies. Before I open it up to everyone for questions and discussion, I did want to check in to see if we have anyone from the Office of Housing and Community Development on Zoom. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. KUNZ: Hi Council Members, this is Susan Kunz, Administrator with the Office of Housing and Community Development. And I see Sharon (Hirota) has just logged in as well. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Great. I do hear you, Administrator, and I do see Sharon. I do want to provide you an opportunity to kind of share with us your reaction to this resolution and how your office could be implementing some of the expectations that are set here. MS. KUNZ: Yes, thank you very much for this opportunity, and I really do want to thank Council Member Lee Loy and Kimball for introducing this resolution and working very collaboratively with my office to outline these next steps. You know, I want the community to know and the Council Members to know that we do not take this responsibility to administer these pots of money lightly at all. And I think that it's very important that we do it transparently, and that we do have an outline of what we expect to see and accomplish in the next five years. And the only way that we can do that is by, you know, bringing our stakeholders to the table, including all of you, and putting together this five-year strategic plan. I think it's important that we're all on the same page as to what we think we can accomplish to set these goals and maybe manage a little expectations over the next five years. So that when we come to the end of the five years, there's no surprises, and that hopefully, we'll be able to report back that we've met all of the goals that we set. I also want to let the group know, that we have been engaging with our State and our Federal partners as well on this. We thought that it was very important to include them in this discussion, although this is a Hawai`i County allocation of funds. There is a pretty significant pot of money, of State Page 4 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 and Federal money, that will come down the pipeline to address homelessness as well. I think it's really important that the County, State, and Federal Government are at the table together, so that there's a collaborative effort in how we're going to set up this strategic plan and how we're going to use these different pots of money. We've never seen this kind of money coming through the pipeline before. And so I think the more communication and the more people we bring to the table, the more successful we're going to be. So at this time, I do want to turn it over to Sharon. We've already started some of our planning efforts. We want to make sure to keep you in the loop. And then within the next week or two, you're going to start seeing a lot of communication out of our office. You know, we just got access to these funds, effective as of July 1st, and we have hired staff to help Sharon in the Housing Office as well, to deliver this. So, I'm going to turn it over to Sharon and let her share with you the work that we've been doing. (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Specialist Sharon Hirota came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. HIROTA: Aloha, everyone. Sharon Hirota, Office of Housing and Community Development. So Susan asked that I share. As she indicated, we do take this very seriously in regards to the Administration of the funding that has become available through Ordinance 22-26, and have been working in anticipation of the funds becoming available July 1st In developing or starting to develop for this, what we're calling a strategic roadmap. So, in regards to Resolution 442-22, that's in front of you here today, we have no problem in meeting the requirements. We do want to ensure that we are a measuring and providing timely data to you as we work towards finding solutions to end and prevent homelessness here on Hawaii Island. As the Director mentioned, we are not quite yet ready to announce our final plans. We are in contract negotiations. Hopefully, over the next few days, we'll be able to finalize that. And then communicate out,to not only you, but to the public, as to our plans moving forward in regards to coordinating a workshop, so to speak, to collect information as well as additional community-based focus on meetings within our communities to collect information, so we can develop a plan that will provide us with a guide in moving forward in the dissemination of these funds to appropriate organizations within our community. Thank you. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mahalo nui, Sharon and Administrator Kunz. Going to open it up to question and comments from my colleagues. Anyone? Page 5 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 Okay,just a couple of questions for you ladies. And going through the resolution—and mahalo nui to both of you, Council Members Lee Loy and Kimball, for putting this forward. There's a huge commitment of funding on the County side. Likely between $45, maybe even $50 million over the next five years to tackle the issue of homelessness. And so, fully agree with you that what you're doing right here with this resolution helps to paint the canvas. Put that initial sketch and paint on there that I think with the engagement that Housing is going to be doing over subsequent months, we'll have a clearer picture around what we expect to achieve with this funding between now and the next five years. Ladies, there's a request for a roadmap to be delivered in September. I'm kind of envisioning something that was put forward a few months ago related to a Housing Strategic Roadmap. Are you folks confident that you can meet the deadline with a consultant on board to give us a sketch of what this roadmap could look like? That's a few months away. MS. KUNZ: Okay, I guess I'll take that. Director Kunz. Yes, we will. We are working to meet that September deadline. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Yes can, even if have to burn the midnight oil. We will get it done. And then, Sharon, are you able to share with us, once the roadmap is sort of delivered, the timeframe for having the applications open to community members to access these funds. Is that also within the September timeframe, or are you looking more towards Q4 (fourth quarter) of this year? MS. HIROTA: So, our timeframe is to first start with the Strategic Roadmap, and simultaneously start drafting the RFP (Request for Proposal) so that when the roadmap is completed, we can take parts of the strategic map and move it into the RFP and issue the RFP. So we want to get this RFP out as soon as possible, but we know we need to start with the roadmap before we can do anything else, but we can start prepping the RFP, and then putting in, you know, the outcome space on what we come up with out of the strategic plan. So multiple phases will be happening simultaneously, parallel. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, sounds good. So, we're preparing the roadmap, we're doing the community engagement, we're taking that mana`o to refine the roadmap, something published, then go out with RFP. MS. HIROTA: Correct. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. Okay. The final question I have, this roadmap, will it include—you know, Administrator Kunz mentioned this. A lot Page 6 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 of funding being available from State and Federal partners. Are we going to identify how we best leverage that money here in the State of Hawaii, on Hawai i Island? Because I really see this pot of funding being used to be a little bit more innovative and fill in the gaps where those restrictive State and Federal monies just can't get us there. So just wondering if the roadmap will include that sort of analysis. MS. HIROTA: Yes, it will. Totally in agreement that we need to look at what the Federal—when you're starting to maximize, ensuring that we get the maximum our share of the Federal and State funds to address homelessness. And this fund is to be used, like you said, to leverage; to build capacity here on Hawaii Island. And to fill through innovative and creative mechanisms to help those individuals or households that otherwise will not qualify based on Federal and State eligibility requirements. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Great, thank you, Sharon. Okay, no worries, Council Member Villegas, you have the floor. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you so much. Just a quick question. Thank you for clarifying, Ms. Hirota, about the roadmap and then the RFP's. But earlier you said you guys were in negotiations with someone, and I just wondered who you were in negotiations with. MS. KUNZ: So, we're working with a consultant to help us facilitate and build, create the strategic roadmap. So I can't share the contract information because we're still in the procurement process. As soon as we finalize that contract, we can share. MS. VILLEGAS: So you're procuring the consultant, who I understand is out of Canada. And then once that person and that contract is signed, then they're putting together the roadmap? MS. KUNZ: They will be, in partnership with—he's our consultant in developing the roadmap. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. And then from there, then putting, going out for RFP's. MS. KUNZ: Correct. Yes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. My question then is, will there be a diverse, I guess, thought process and protocol when it comes to, you know, there's a number of different models when it comes to navigating and mitigating people that are experiencing houseless issues. One is Housing First, another is recovery housing. There are a number of different models. Housing First seems to get the lion's share of the funding. But I know from personal experience in my district, it's not Page 7 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 getting the lion's share of the positive outcome. So I'm just hoping for some flexibility and diversity in allocation of resources and identifying different partners based on different paradigms. MS. KUNZ: So Housing First is a model that is used in terms of the method in which the Federal and State Government uses—as a method to distribute their funds. MS. VILLEGAS: Right. MS. KUNZ: But it is not the only method. But prior to this funding, that's what helped the County address homelessness here on Hawaii Island, Federal and State funds. And so, in order for eligible non-profits in the community to apply, they have to follow the Housing First rules. If not they'd be in jeopardy of the funds they receive. And so, the County will not handle restrictions. And so, when we go out getting input for the strategic plan, we will be encouraging our communities to come forward and share their mana`o, so that it can be included as part of what we're working on, on Hawaii Island. MS. VILLEGAS: And when you say communities, is that kind of in reference to different nonprofits that work with this issue or community members, as in like constituents? MS. HIROTA: So, actually, there's going to be two parts to this. The first part is we're convening a number of government and local partners from various sectors beginning with mental health, our community advocates, our faith-based communities; State and Government agencies, business, to come together and start the conversation around the strategic roadmap. And part of our contract is, we're asking our contractor to go out and do our focus group types of meetings in various communities with various focus groups, including having conversations with those (inaudible) those experiencing houselessness; those at risk. So we want a wide variety of input from various sectors on our island. So we're not limited yet to just one,just the homeless providers. We're trying to include the behavior, the mental health;people working with those easing out of incarceration. Just want to make sure we have everyone's input. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, what's the timeline on something like that? I mean are we're a year out? MS. HIROTA: Yeah, our goal is September 2022. MS. VILLEGAS: September. Got it. Sorry about that. Page 8 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 MS. HIROTA: No problem. MS. VILLEGAS: Got ya. Sorry, I missed that part. Thank you for answering those questions and providing a broader understanding of the diversity of organizations that have potential for inclusion and participation. And access, because as you said to this pot of money, I mean I think the organization Going Home Hawaii, which suffers because they can't access State funding because of the semantics of having to be a Housing First model, and they are recovery housing. So I'm very excited for the opportunity for a diverse group of organizations that help mitigate homelessness before those circumstances arise. So, thank you for explaining those things to me. I yield. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, real quick. Administrator Kunz, are you still on the line? MS. KUNZ: Yes I am. MR. INABA: Thank you. Wondering how you see this slightly different resolution, but I feel it's related to a previous resolution that the Council passed regarding the study for the Chapter 11 revisions and where we are there. Because we know that with this discussion of housing, first, we want to see housing; we have services for homelessness, but how do we see these funds being spent on these different studies in a related, or are they just totally separate? How do you see it? MS. KUNZ: I look at this homelessness pot of money as separate from the affordable housing pot of money. I know that one of the amendments that were made to this resolution, right at the end, was to add some language for housing. But I look at housing for homeless individuals slightly different because of the types of required services that would be necessary to support them. And so when we go out to do our RFP's, you know, we're going to be looking for applications, if they are housing related, to provide those kinds of services in some way. I'm not sure if I'm answering your questions directly. I guess I should also talk about, when we talk about strategic roadmap for housing development and homelessness. You know, in this particular resolution, it looks like we've kind of meshed them together. Maybe because of the language that's in this homelessness bill. But the strategic roadmap for affordable housing is something that I've already presented to this group. It was something that was done in collaboration with that consultant, Keyser Marston, who is working on our Chapter 11 revisions. So it is slightly separated from this in my eyes. Page 9 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 MR. INABA: So with that then, is your focus as related to this resolution before us more in line with homelessness services than housing development? MS. KUNZ: Yes. MR. INABA: Because I know it says both and that was the intention of the bill when we passed it, because we added that part into the bill, but I just wanted it on the record then. So we should be seeing through this roadmap more detailed and focused approaches for homelessness services, not housing itself. MS. KUNZ: Correct. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you so much for being with us. Mahalo, Chair. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Council Member Inaba for raising that, but I just want to be clear too,that housing can be a strategy for homelessness. And so, it's not just administering particular services, but housing could be part of that. Is that correct, Administrator? MS. KUNZ: That is correct. You know, I do want to make the statement, that in a lot of studies in training sessions that we've attended, and I think you will all agree as well, the only way to address homelessness or to end homelessness is to house folks, right? So housing, I feel strongly needs to be a part of the picture. But what we are trying to do is focus on a structure of activities, mostly services, right? And I think that if housing is a part of that structure, I think we'll have a very complete program. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. Council Chair David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Kierkiewicz. Aloha, Administrator Kunz. I just have one question, and I think Council Member Inaba touched on it, on the RFP. My question was, could you explain what would be the requirements under the RFP? But now, you said, it's mostly for services, so you will be going out for RFP's for services. And with respect to the housing part of this, would you also include development then of housing as part of these services? MS. KUNZ: I think we have to keep the end goal in mind and who the beneficiaries of that will be. I think that will be key. I think that if I try to outline any further for you, what this program is going to look like, I'm going to start to infringe upon the work that we want to engage the consultant in. I think what we really need to do is hear from the community, hear from the service providers, and all of our stakeholders to hear what they think is necessary in order to support them to do a complete homeless program. So I really want to refrain from trying to be too specific, because I think that's going to be the work Page 10 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 of the consultant in getting all of you and your constituents to the table to participate in those activities. MS. DAVID: Perfect, I understand that part then that you can't really disclose to many details about it, but by September you'll have a better idea when you present to us the roadmap, right? MS. KUNZ: Right. And Council Member, it's not a matter of me exposing it. I really don't know what all the answers are. MS. DAVID: No, I understand that. I just wanted to confirm that it's mostly services, and then generally what the RFP was going to deal with. But, I totally understand that you can't disclose that, because it's not a decision you're making. It's a decision that the consultant will have to kind of develop and then take out to the community. MS. KUNZ: Yes. MS. DAVID: Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for the clarification. Alright bye-bye. ACTING CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you Chair, for the latitude. Yeah, in response to Council Member David and Council Member Inaba's questions, you know,part of the purpose of this resolution is to actually establish what the program will look like. Is it going to be more services? Is it going to be more housing? You know, as Council Member Lee Loy and I talked about it, she and I actually have very different ideas about how to address the houseless program. However, we agree that we should have it be transparent and we should talk about it, and this body should vet it. And that's the whole point of this resolution is, as housing engages with the consultant, engages with stakeholders, that was key to both us. You know, making sure that they're talking to the communities that are impacted by homelessness, the individuals themselves, and us. I encourage everybody in this body to, you know, communicate with Housing and their consultant about what you think in your area the primary issues are. But,the goal of this resolution is for Housing to provide us with, okay, this is what we think will end homelessness in five years with this money that's been given to us. And then, you know, it's not expressly written in here, but with a September deadline, the idea is we have the roadmap prior to the RFP's being delivered. And so, there's still that additional opportunity for vetting and for feedback from Page 11 GOREDC-29 July 5,2022 this body before those RFP's go out. But I hope that clarifies a little bit what the intention is here with this resolution. Thank you, Chair. ACTING CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, anyone else? Thank you, Sharon and Administrator Kunz for joining us today. Council Members we have a motion on the floor to send this resolution to the Council with a positive recommendation. All in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 442-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 442-22, (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: That brings us to the end of our agenda. May I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:57 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: We are adjourned. Approved: a& 7 (2 //2 '` ? Heather L. Kimba 1, Chair (Date) Government Operatio s, Relations, and Economic Development Committee HK/dt Page 12