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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN HSSSC 2018/02/07 2016-2018 Committee on Human Services and Social Services 7th Session Hawai`i County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai`i February 7, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Human Services and Social Services ORDER: was called to order at 1:33 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile David, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member (came in later) Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of FROM THE business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON , AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 710: REQUEST A PRESENTATION BY PAUL NORMAN OF COMMUNITY ALLIANCE PARTNERS (CAP) REGARDING CAP'S 3-YEAR PLAN TO ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS From Council Member Jen Ruggles, dated January 12, 2018. CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Ms. Ruggles. Motion to Close File: Ms. Ruggles moved to close file on Comm. 710. Seconded by Mr. Kanuha. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Ruggles, go ahead. HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. I'm very happy to have a presentation here from Paul Norman and his team from the Neighborhood Place of Puna. They serve on the Executive Committee of CAP, which is Community Alliance Partners and they are the HUD (Housing and Urban Development), mandated continuum of care. So they're here to present to us their strategic plan to first end homelessness by 2020. Secondly reduce single household homelessness in Hawai`i by 30 percent each year; and reduce recidivism in Hawai`i County below 10 percent by 2020. So if you could come up please. I believe everything is set up for the presentation. (Note: At this time, Executive Director of Neighborhood Place of Puna Paul Norman came forward to address the Members of the Committee.) MR. NORMAN: So I'm Paul Norman, I'm the Executive Director of Neighborhood Place of Puna, I'm also the Vice Chair of the Community Alliance Partners and the individuals who are here, we are actually all part of the Community Alliance Partners which is the HUD Continuum of Care. You gave Neighborhood Place of Puna, way too much credit. Thank you, Jen. So first of all, thank you Jen for making this happen. Thank you to the Council for taking your time. I know its been a crazy week. Appreciate you all listening to our presentation about homelessness and our plans to address homelessness. So let me just introduce who's going to be presenting today. So again, my name is Paul Norman. So we have Brandee Menino, who is the CEO of Hope Services Hawai`i, we have Beth Murph, who is the Hawai`i Community Director of Catholic Charities, and she is the co-chair along with Brandee of the Community Alliance Partners. Sharon Hirota, who stepped out is the Division Manager of the Hawai`i County Office of Housing and Community Development, Existing Housing Division. And basically, what we're going to do in the time that you've allotted us today is we're basically going to tell you what the CAP is, who we are; we're going to tell you what we're doing specifically around addressing homelessness here in the County; and what we need from you. (Note: At this time, Brandee Menino, Elizabeth Murph, and Sharon Hirota came forward and gave a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 710.1) MS. RUGGLES: I'll yield to my colleagues. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Ruggles. And thank you, for that presentation, it's such an eye opener. So now I'm going to go to Ms. Eoff, were you first or was Mr. Richards? Alright, Ms. Eoff. Page 2 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. EOFF: Thank you. Thank you folks a lot for coming here today and opening our eyes again to face this problem. I'm not sure what you're asking as far as a commitment, but I'm very interested in whatever we can do to help. And I have been working with Lance and Councilman Kanuha in our area, Kona. And I know there's several things going on there that are really good. The new affordable housing apartments for seniors and individuals that are coming up right by Kealakehe High School, very affordable, very nice, and very convenient and we need more of that. So anything that we can do to support that we will. And then Lance, I don't have a real current update on the situation with the—I guess you call it Village 9, but I don't know if this is the appropriate place to get it or not, but I would love to hear anything about that because between that and Yt g the Camp Kekaha idea, the micro units, I mean, several initiatives have started in Kona—North Kona, which I'm sure we could say our proving to be effective. It's just that there's not enough. And I really like your goals and that you see that they're reachable. A question I have about that is, are we still seeing an influx of people being either sent here or deciding to come here just because of the weather and the ease of living outside here. MS. MENINO: We have that by annual data, so it is increasing. I think when I first looked at it five years ago, it was actually at below 10 percent and today I had mentioned it's 17 percent. It is increasing but again the majority is local families who have been here for over 10 years. MS. EOFF: So, do you prioritize those then? MS. MENINO: We do prioritize in asking how long that they've been experiencing homelessness on our island. So if someone comes off the plane today,they would be on the lower end of the list, than someone who has reported that they've been here 10 years or more. Yes. MS. EOFF: I see. MS. MENINO: So the length of time is one of the questions that will show that your acuity level is higher than the other. MS. EOFF: I know we had heard a lot of talk about actually Kona being advertised as one of the most friendliest places as to be homeless. And we have maybe valid reasons to believe that, that people are being sent here or sent to Kona from other places. I think one year we were in Washington, D.C., and we actually had a presentation there regarding homelessness and some of the initiatives that the—nationwide initiatives that are being supported and I asked the lady, the presenter if that was really true. And of course, she denied it. So I don't know. She said professional service providers do not send people to other states or here to Hawai`i. So I don't know. Page 3 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. MENINO: So like an example actually that we're doing that as a state, there is a fund through I believe its like the tourism, there is funding that our other community partners on other islands—and actually we've done that here last year. Yeah. Right so there is like so Catholic Charities did do that here, we did pilot that. The story that's not being told is that yes, we send them back to wherever they came from. So Hawai`i does it. Like they send people out of our community, but they're returning them to their families and their support system. So that's the story that we're telling. Yeah, so often times, though, that's the story that's left out. So if you flip the story, the State of Arizona can also say the same thing. I don't know every state's issues, but would they be doing something like that? We only hear probably half the story, that they're returning people back into our communities because they're from Hawai`i. Right. So, it's a catch—so people are doing that bit we're just not telling the whole story. MS. EOFF: And I support people being reunited with their families and being able to go home where they may be able to get a little more support, but I'm just saying our own system may be taxed by individuals deciding to just move here and then—I was just wondering how you prioritize who you can deliver your help to. MS. MENINO: And so how we're able to prioritize that is their length of time experiencing homelessness. Yeah. MS. EOFF: Okay. Well, I don't want to take too much time I know we're already running late, but maybe I can just speak to Lance at a later date or get an update about— CHR. DAVID: Excuse me. Would you like him to come up, Karen? Hang on. MS. EOFF: That's okay. CHR. DAVID: Excuse me. Would you just kindly state your name first and then— MR. NIIMI: I'm Lance Niimi, one of the Executive Assistants for Mayor Kim. And also, part of this CAP Executive Board. And we will be sending, and I'll send you an update on Village 9, we've got to change the name, anyway Village 9. And before the end of this month, Roy Takemoto and I are working on the homeless plan that Hawai`i County dovetails off of what CAP is doing. We'll probably arrange something so that we can do that presentation here. MS. EOFF: Okay. MR. NIIMI: And then please support Hospital 2164 Page 4 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. EOFF: Okay. MR. NIIMI: It requests moneys, you know, the budget is so tight that right now, you know, for all the stuff at Camp Kekaha—you know, we hold ourselves to the same budget constraints as everyone else. So that's part of the reason we wrote that bill, we need some funding to help us move forward. And right now, the budget is very tight and even for our office in terms of the homeless. MS. EOFF: Thank you, Lance. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. And thank you Mr. Niimi. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. And again, thanks for the presentation. Couple of questions I have, and I didn't stop while coming forward. Ms. Menino, you talked about return to homelessness, and did I hear four percent or fourteen percent? MS. MENINO: 14.4 percent. MR. RICHARDS: That's right, it's 14 percent. Okay. And then— MS. MENINO: We want to get that to zero. So it's on the PowerPoint. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, that's why but I thought I heard four but of course could be my ears. So and then on your data collection, I like the fact that this is data driven because that's what articulates the problem. And I look at the numbers and when you say Kohala, are you talking North-South Kohala? MS. MENINO: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: And define for me please, the difference between family individuals and family households. MS. MENINO: So family households are just that families; so mom, dad, and two children like a family unit. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. MS. MENINO: That's a family household. And then you're counting them as four which is the individuals in families. So that's why you have two numbers. What is that 42 households. So 42 family households MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Page 5 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. MENINO: And then there's 196 people in that 42 families. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And when you went to count these people did they know you were going to be counting them? MS. MENINO: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: From what I gather the numbers in my district,these are not representative of that. MS. MENINO: Right. So I think what we did this year—I think last year we didn't have a partner from your area, but this year we included Rhonda Bell with The Giving Tree, and she had helped in that area in North Hawaii, in Kohala areas as well as others. MR. RICHARDS: In working with her, these numbers are exceptionally low, so I like the fact that it's a data driven, and I realize counting them is extremely difficult because they're hiding in all different places for the obvious reasons. MS. MENINO: So one thing that you could do to help, like in November and December maybe, we can start to reach out to all of you as our continuum to identify if there are stakeholders in your community who can help with the count. So the count is only as good as the body of people who can do the surveys, who can identify where people are congregating then we can improve in the data collection. MR. RICHARDS: And I would like to talk to you more about that later. You talked about—I think you said 110 family beds in West Hawai`i and there's only 10 now, did I remember those numbers, right? MR. NORMAN: So I think I said 105 beds for families. No that's just emergency shelter beds so we need to add 105 emergency shelter beds for families specifically in West Hawai`i, and I think there was a number also for individuals. MR. RICHARD S: Okay. And then you had East Hawai`i. What I didn't hear was North Hawai`i and South Hawai`i meaning Kohala, and then Ka`u District and when I hear, "So yeah, they can just go to Hilo or Kona." You guys know better than I, that doesn't work. And so that has to be a priority. People living in Ka`u don't want to go to Hilo or Kona. And people in Kohala don't want to go Hilo or Kona. Page 6 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MR. NORMAN: Yeah, so you're right. So we're aware of that. I think there is—we have to go through that to see what is there, if it's not specifically addressed. But of course, you know, it's resources. Yeah. CHR. DAVID: Excuse me. Your mic, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. I appreciate its all about resources but if its not being considered no resources are being committed to it. So thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Chung your light was on and then I'm going to go to you, Ms. O'Hara. MR. CHUNG: You know, I don't have any questions, I can always ask you guys later because, you know, we are pressed for time. I'm just going to give some comments. First of all, you know, with regard to coordinated entry, thank you again, Sharon, you're always, you know,just to the point and very clear, as clear as clear can be, right. And Paul, you know, this is the first time I've you know, seen you and I really, really like you know, what you had to say. You know what it's easy to digest this thing about a goal, and that's what we want to see. You know, if we have a goal and you're telling us we want to do this by this point, at least we have something to shoot for, right. So I really, really like that too. Now segue into what Brandee said. How do I put this now? You know, I've been kind of like, you know, in a weird kind of mood, right, lately. But you know, we just had the Super Bowl couple days ago and these guys all, you know, in preparation for the big game, they have their goal, they have their game plan and they have to you know, prepare for contingencies along the way and that's what gets them to become champions. Now, Brandee I think though, trying to single out one champion on this body is not the way to go. And you know, putting us on the spot saying, "You guys should find a champion." It's not going to work out that way, because we all want to help. And I think if, you know, politics being as it is, if one person tries to usurp the other one, you get hard feelings, right? I mean that's how it goes, look at legislature, and other places. It's just how things go. But if everyone can work together for a common goal that would be the best way of going about it. Because I know, Ms. Eoff, Ms. David, Mr. Kanuha, and others have really been devoting a lot of time you know, to homelessness and what we need—you know, you also stated about you know, we should be pushing the Housing Director to develop, you know, for their development plan. You know, just for your information, when the housing Director came on board months ago, we did ask him for a plan. When is that plan is going to come out? When can we expect the plan? And Lance, it was September, right, of last year, right, the plan supposed to come out, but to Lance's credit—and I've got to say Lance, I've seen you really grow a lot, you know, into this role, I mean I like what I see. Page 7 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 And Lance has been reaching out and I told him, "Hey Lance, take your time on this thing. Doesn't have to be September," or anything like that, you know, because this is something that is not easy. Take your time, come up with something good but just know,,that nobody will ever develop the perfect plan. Okay, it's going to be a work in progress. So I see something coming up but now I'm going to draw you know, an analogy to what we had with the Mass Transit Plan,just recently. We just got a Mass Transit Plan from a highly paid consultant, but it was really good. And they explained where we're at, and where we would like to be, and they said what the cost was going to be, and they told us all the different items that needed to be put into place to get from here to there within a certain amount of time. And that is what we need. We've got to get cost estimates and everything so that we can at least see, you know, we cannot have things coming in piecemeal, okay, we got this, you know, like remember the Kona micro units. We don't know where that plays—and that wasn't of course, you know, during this time, but we don't know how that plays into the whole grand scheme of things. We have to be able to have a road map from now to where we're going, or where we want to get to. And of course, we all realize that homelessness will be here forever. I'm under no delusion that we're going to eliminate homelessness in our lifetime. But you know, I like what you said, Paul. I mean you're dealing with families of course, but that's what we want to see. And then it makes it easy for us as decision makers to plan long term, deal with our budget and other things like that, yeah. So just keep that in mind. And one more thing if I could say, and mine are all comments, right, not questions. We can talk later on. Try talking to our federal people, you know, our congress people. Because this influx and Brandee you talked about before, five years ago it was, you know, 10 percent, now 17 percent. It's not going to go at those increments, you know, it's going to start to peak. No question in my mind, because we have the climate for people to send. I mean, I just spent some time in New York City, who the hell wants to be over there when, you know, 10 degrees. It's cold, it's very difficult. But you come here, consistent climate. People are going to want to come here and people are going to send them, and they are sending them. So I think, you got to talk to our congressional delegation, you know, maybe they can put a stop to it, through some federal legislation. I don't know, because we cannot do it from the County level or the State level, and that's all. But thank you very much for your presentation. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. O'Hara, go ahead. MS. O'HARA: Okay, thank you so much for coming forward with this presentation. As often happens we run short on resources. And I know that Page 8 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 we've made a major effort over in Kona, and Lance you may want to come up because I have a question for you. But I think it was when Lance was just coming into the Mayor's Office probably six months or more ago, and I think it was Irma's farewell luncheon or something, and you made the comment that when you got done in Kona, that you would be tackling Puna and Pahoa. And I know we're not done in Kona yet. And what is the prognosis on maybe doing something in Pahoa. And the reason I ask, guys, is last year this time, Pahoa was in a real funk following the fire. And we had all kinds of homeless and drug use right there on the streets, and the community was very actively trying to recover some sanity for the village. And a gentleman who unfortunately just passed last week, Sean King, was very instrumental in that effort and he brought several homeless people to my office in an honest attempt to try to find them a place to reside. And calling Hope Services, calling the Neighborhood Place of Puna and you don't have offices in Pahoa town, so everything was, "Send the person to Hilo." Well, that's kind of restrictive right there. Many of these people don't have transportation. We know what our Hele On bus service is like. And they just weren't inclined to seek service that far away. They had some kind of safety net going for them in the village. So I want to know when this is going to be extended out to Puna because if you look at the numbers for Kea'au and Pahoa, off of the previous head count of unsheltered homeless, together that's the Puna District, Kea'au, and Pahoa, is over100, 107 individuals. Not far behind Kealakehe at 114 and not far behind Hilo at 154. And so I'm just kind of curious what we plan to do. And Lance, do you have any insights on that? MR. NIIMI: Lance Niimi. Your question about Puna, you are right, we are focusing on Kona right now, and actually after Kona we're going to be focusing on Hilo. And I am aware of the issues in Puna. There's some people that have approached us certain projects that they're interested in to do in Puna. But the extent of it right now is, it's in the exploratory stage. I hear what you're saying, it's a need. Right now, we're asking for funds, so we can do island-wide funding for the homeless issue and it's separated by East Hawai`i and West Hawai`i. So West Hawai`i and East Hawaii, we asked for resources for both areas. But the truth is, we don't have anything specific right now for Puna, and I hear what you're saying. MS. O'HARA: Okay and I was asked to ask you if you could give us the house bill number again. MR. NIIMI: I'm sorry, what was that? MS. O'HARA: Can you give us the house bill number that— MR. NIIMI: 2164. Page 9 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. O'HARA: 2164, okay. MR. NIIMI: And I sent all of you an email— MS. O'HARA: Yeah, I recall reading the email. Thank you, Lance. Yeah, that was it I just wonder if either of you have anything to say to that. MS. MENINO: Can I add, so I think in the chart, the strategic agreements, we know that access is an issue in Pahoa as well as in North Hawai`i. So I think in our plan it actually identifies your communities as locations where we would try to create like a one-stop day center. One of our activities are goals was to make sure that we improve in access. So although we don't have the financial resources to up open an office, we can certainly set up a day, say like at Sacred Heart's p Church where they're already doing food pantry, where we as a community could come on that same day and provide services and like pop-up shop, and then coordinating that with your office so that people coming to access or requesting services cang o to that drop-in center or daycenter, mobile outreach. And I p believe they already have done that since November. So it just started, three months now, January, so we're hoping to continue to do that effort as different service providers. So Project Vision as well as the organizations that are here, and the church. And then the next community was also to go to North Hawai`i and do that as well with the Food Pantry service on that days as well. MS. O'HARA: Well, thank you for that. Have you reached out to Sarah Williams at the Pahoa museum, I know that's always been her thought of doing a— MS. MENINO: I'm talking to Sharon to see if we did now. No not yet. MS. O'HARA: Yeah, she is very active in the drop-in center idea and trying to do it there. So I would suggest that you coordinate with her as also the Roman Catholic Church, the diocese, because she's actively doing that already. MS. MENINO: Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Are you— Oh. MS. O'HARA: Thank you, sorry. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. O'Hara, and Mr. Kanuha go ahead. MR. KANUHA: Thank you, madam Chair. And just to correct a little bit, it was House Bill 2461. No just for everybody—we're all like— Page 10 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MR. NIIMI: Thank you for the correction. I get the numbers mixed up in my head. MR. KANUHA: I know. We just want to be on the same page. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kanuha, for clarifying that. Ms. Ruggles. Oh, are you done. MR. KANUHA: No, can I still go? CHR. DAVID: Sure, I'm sorry. MR. KANUHA: I know it was mentioned in the beginning about the $50 entry or—so CAP members pay a$50 annual membership fee. MS. MURPH: Yes, this is Beth Murph, and that is correct. Fifty dollars, and that allows you to vote on issues that come up for decision by being a member. Anyone can attend and have your input, but when it comes to decision making, only members are voting. MS. MENINO: But the fee can be waived. MS. MURPH: That's true. Oh, that's right, we can have a waiver. MS. MENINO: And there's an associate partner level as well I think$25. Yeah, so fees have been waived for organizations that can't afford the fee. Also for previously homeless persons that want to be a voice, we've waived the fee as well. MR. KANUHA: So CAP institutes certain levels of how you're going to advocate for things or how does the whole structure work? MS. MURPH: So we as an island-wide continuum of care we work together with our major service provider, who is Hope Services, and with others on the island who are providing shelter beds and who are bringing in funding to address homelessness. So we sit at the table and we look at emerging issues, and we problem solve, and we set directives and goals in order to try to, you know, meet particular goals. I think lately most of our goals have been short term but with this action plan that's in front of you, that's a more long term, three-year plan that we have put together in order to try to be more cohesive, more goal driven and just be able to have more of a comprehensive plan that covers all the different needs. But as far as decision making it would be, what kind of decision making do we do; we vet incoming members. We vet especially those who have access to the Page 11 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 HMIS System, which is the Homeless Management Information System. We vet those folks, because the data included in the HMIS includes everything from a person's name, social security number, date of birth, their years of homelessness, very highly confidential data. So we do vet that, that would be a decision making process at a meeting. Did I answer your question or am I dancing around, and I'm not sure? MR. KANUHA: No, definitely. And you know, I can definitely get more information later on from you guys and how it all fits together in the whole scheme of things. And I remember being given the application to be a member and I never understood it. And why the whole $50 and all that stuff But I can maybe ask more questions at a separate time. Also you know, you talk about like adding more affordable housing kind of thing. We always look for unique ideas on how to add affordable housing to our communities. So if you guys go through those types of situations in coming up with those different ideas and recommendations of how we can each work that whole—you know, our different districts in adding affordable housing, or you know,the different levels of housing, you know, please let us know. You know, we're always there to push these ideas, I mean, you know, I get developers sometimes that will come in saying, you know, "I want to build affordable housing," and this thing, but you know, I never see them after that. They probably work out the numbers and it just doesn't work. I'm like well, I tried to push you guys to do it and I would help in certain circumstances, but I haven't seen too much of that lately. And even too, you know, we can talk later about a new bill that we're going to start regulating vacation rentals, but even that one, we would love to see a lot of you guys come out and talk story with the Council on, you know, about the affordability aspect. You have one whole side that says, "We love vacation rentals, we want to do this," but it's not really understanding, you know, that you're taking away a lot of these housing for—yeah, so find that balance. We'll give you guys that. I can't talk about that more because we'll break Sunshine Law. But like that kind stuff, I don't know how the whole Community Alliance Partners, you know, works towards that. You know, if we send you guys a bill or something and we want you guys' comments about it, I don't know how that all works out. MS. MURPH: We would love to be able to support you with testimony. A lot of it is just making sure that we—you know, we're communicating I think. We do meet monthly, and one of the ways to get involved is just to attend a meeting. And then whatever is on your heart, or whatever is pressing on your mind, that would be a wonderful time to bring it up, in that convening. So its once a month, every last Wednesday from 9:00 to 10:30 in Kona. We meet at Mayor's conference room and in Hilo, we meet at 1990 Kino`ole Street at the Office of Page 12 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 Housing Conference room. And we have connection by video conference, so we have both sides of the island convened for that. So we just invite you, you know, maybe before you even consider membership, is come to a meeting. MR. KANUHA: Sorry, can you just say again where the Hilo one is. MS. MURPH: The Hilo one is at 1990 Kino`ole street. Oh no, it's at the same time. And we're connected by video conference. Right, so we're together Hilo and Kona and we have, you know, we have input and discussion from both sides during that meeting. MS. MENINO: So, when I was talking about champions, so previously,the previous Council Member in Puna had her staff person I think was Sarah Mathews who came to this meeting, who then was the communicator back to the Council and vice versa. So she would raise like, this is probably a bill that CAP can support. And then we'll bring it up to the General Membership like okay, "Do you want to agree as a Continuum of Care to support this bill or submit testimony," and we'll agree on that. So even the slate of bills for the State Legislature. So Paul will create a slate of like these are all the things that we can support. "Hey, you membership, do you all agree on that?" And if yes, then during—because we know that bills and hearings are like crazy times, like at least we know these are the ones that we're all going to agree to and that individual organizations or persons can submit testimony as themselves, but also we would submit one as the Continuum of Care. MR. KANUHA: Oh, thank you. And so CAP is—because I know we've had over the years, you know, different groups and different organizations that, you know, years ago I think it was CHIRP (Chronic Homeless Interagency Resource Partnerships), and then another one and then—so this is the main— MS. MENINO: This is the HUD mandated one its always been in existence since I've been 10 maybe about. So but it's the leaders changed. So previously other leaderships were like Patrick Hurney who's with Habitat now or Rita Palma who's with Hawai`i Island Home for Recovery. So leadership, like there's this executive committee so our term is for one year, and then the general membership votes for the leaders for that year. But most of the time we're just"voluntold," to be the leaders. MR. KANUHA: So I don't want to like go one group and try to advocate for a position or something and then I was like, oh I missed, you know, going to that group and then I've got to do it all over again, or you know, I just don't want to— previous right, so that's not there anymore. So this is the one that we need to be— Page 13 HS S SC-7 February 7, 2017 MS. MURPH: This is the one. Now from my understanding CHIRP does sometimes meet after CAP, but whatever is shared at CAP can then be just disseminated to CHIRP. Because CHIRP has included CAP members with a few extras that come in. MR. KANUHA: Got you. MS. MURPH: Yeah, they're just Kona based. MR. KANUHA: And I don't know if it's still CHIRP anymore. MS. MURPH: It is, I think. MR. KANUHA: Okay. MS. MURPH: Yeah, I think, and that's the one that Clarisse was working on. MR. KANUHA: Yeah. MS. MURPH: Yeah, but Clarisse was always a part of CAP too. So what we did in the, you know, when the mayoral change happened and the transition happened is we made a decision, we talked among CAP and we decided to become one group, because being fractured wasn't working. You know, we don't need two meetings when we can have one. MR. KANUHA: Yeah. MS. MURPH: Yeah. MR. KANUHA: Makes total sense. And real quick you know, how long does the process take you know, when an individual family or whoever, let's say a father and a mother and three kids, they call, we send them to Neighborhood Place of Kona or wherever, the access point, how long is that process between, you know, getting that initial call, sending it to Neighborhood Place, going through the process of figuring out who they are, what's their situation until we actually—I know that there's different situations for every single family or every individual, but how long, basically, can we expect a family to go through that? You know, like let's say their high on the priority list, or maybe 10 down or something. I don't know. MS. MENINO: I think if I summarized the time frame, we just came from another meeting just talking about that. What are our standards? So like for emergency shelter, we know that when we have someone who needs the emergency shelter, and there's vacancies as having the vacancies resources available. So the standard with the organization is like within 24 hours. If we can Page 14 HS S SC-7 February 7, 2017 find them. Again, right, is to be able—we can only hold the bed for 24 hours. Then we go to the next person. MR. KANUHA: Got you. MS. MENINO: Transitional housing the provider said 48 hours max that we can wait, then we're going to go to the next person. When we get referred to help a certain family from another access point, we would do that within 48 hours, and then help the family. So like that could be like a week if you kind of sum all of that up. But again, our data is showing that particular family is experiencing homelessness for about 112 days before they even get housed, and we're trying to shorten that. Our goal is 30 days, rare and brief, no more than 30 days. MR. KANUHA: And really, you know, I'm just here to thank you guys for everything that you guys do. Because I know like, especially—I know I can't speak for everybody else—but I've tried to make this like a high priority for my district. Because you know, we're dealing with people, yeah, and there are a lot of our families on the streets. So definitely a high priority for myself and I appreciate the Mayor making it a real top priority for his administration as well. It's just working towards that goal of what you guys did here. I really appreciate that. And I also want to thank you guys for taking all my calls for that family, I was the Council Member maybe that called everybody possible to try to get that family off the beach. So I know, I probably bugged the hell out of each and everyone of you way too many times but I appreciate all the work that you guys did in trying to help the families. Because that's, you know, who I felt really, really passionate about yeah. Hard to see the kids in the bushes, you know. We took down tents for them because it was raining outside, you know. And so it was something that I was like, I need to help as much as possible, so thank you guys. MS. MURPH: Thank you. If I could add one more thing, that's why House Bill 2461 is so important, because for the first time we have moneys allocated for Kona, for a family assessment center and for shelter and what could eventually become permanent housing. First time we're seeing money up in the Leg for that, so as much as you folks can, please monitor. If it's okay, we'll send you notices when hearings are coming up because we have prayed and waited way too long for that to happen in Kona. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kanuha. Ms. Ruggles, go ahead. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. Thank you for the very thorough detailed yet in succinct to presentation. I have a question about—the length of time that people experience homelessness is 112 days, and its also on the same page that the exit rate is 48.5 percent. I couldn't read the rest of it, because it's kind of blacked out. Page 15 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 Could you explain more what that means? Is that the exit rate for the 112 days, 48.5 percent of them actually permanently escaped homelessness? MS. MENINO: Yes. So those are the data metrics that I explained earlier of like how is our system performing. So all of the organizations that enter data into the HMIS, they collect all of that data and averaged and come up with this result. So collectively as a community it takes 112 days for all of us to house this certain household. Not just an organization, yeah. MS. RUGGLES: So that was 48.5 percent? MS. MENINO: So our exit rate means if their exiting our system because we're closing their cases, only 48.5 percent is moving into permanent housing, the rest are either going into emergency shelter or transitional housing or we no longer can find them. Or going back to jail or in a hospital, but there's other destinations, other than permanent housing. So permanent housing is the rental market. MS. RUGGLES: Okay. Thank you. MS. MENINO: So, we want that to increase. MS. RUGGLES: Right. You also mentioned that previously there was a fund to send people back to their home. What is the name of that fund? MS. MURPH: That was a fund that was—I actually applied for a small grant from Councilman Kanuha, and we took those moneys along with moneys that our board and staff earned at charity walk, and we started a program called Flying Home. And so, with Flying Home, we were able to send home—it was 21 individuals of which 19 were children and we sent them home to a family member who would take care of them and help them to get on their feet again. So we wouldn't send anybody unless they had a receiving person or household waiting for them on the other side. So it took really intensive case management, its not a cheap program because of the case management. It takes a full-time person to really run that program. MS. RUGGLES: Okay. And how much was the grant for that? MS. MURPH: I had $5,000 from Councilman Kanuha, and we took$6,000 from our charity walk funds, for a total of$11,000. MS. RUGGLES: Okay, so it cost $11,000 to send home 21. MS. MURPH: $11,000 to send home 21. Some were going to California, we sent one family to Puerto Rico because that was going to grandmothers. A single Page 16 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 mother and her son went to the grandmother who was the nearest of kin, closest kin. Most of the others were either—I think the farthest away was Missouri, one went to Denver, quite a few to California, Washington, Oregon area. MS. RUGGLES: I think that is a very cost-effective way to deal with them. MS. MURPH: I don't think it works for everyone. I don't think its necessarily appropriate for everybody but there are some families that, that is the best answer for them. Because they do have support some place else. They have support and they have a household that can take them in and care for them and help them get on their feet, you know, help with childcare until they can work. So for some families that's the best way and it would be wonderful if we could have a program like that again. MS. RUGGLES: Right, yeah, I've spoken to homelessness individuals that were just seeking a plane ticket and so that's important. MS. MURPH: Thank you. MS. RUGGLES: Other questions, oh Paul, you mentioned that you need Community Alliance Partners, so you can address gaps and have the knowledge and resources to help end homelessness. Could you describe some of those gaps? MR. NORMAN: Sure. So one of the gaps we—I think well, I think I was reflecting mostly on our Community Alliance Partners itself, so one of the gaps we identified in our own organization is that, lots of great nonprofits are doing awesome nonprofit work, but we totally lack skilled trainers,job trainers, you know, we need to fill in those people. As well as, like Council Member Chung was talking about, we need those people who can sit in, who can take the big picture and you know, map out. Okay, what is the actual cost to get us to here in 10 years. You know, those people who are looking at the problem of homelessness from different perspectives and bring different skills. So we don't have, you know, none of our representatives from our local financial institutions are at the table. They should be at the table. You know, they're definitely organizations, nonprofits and for profits should be at the table. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. Now that I'm thinking about it I recently, actually about a year ago, I attended a homelessness talk in Washington, D.C., and they mentioned in some states that the Department of Health actually will pay for permanent housing because it costs the State less in the long run to provide permanent housing along with the case management than it cost for all of the other factors of homelessness including emergency services, police, ambulance and all the social services and jail as well. So its definitely in the long term, its worth it to invest in permanent housing. And I was also curious, you said—how many low-barrier shelter beds did you say you needed? Page 17 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 MR. NORMAN: So for individuals I think I said 60 low-barrier shelter beds. MS. RUGGLES: Okay, and then 60 specialized? MR. NORMAN: Yes. MS. RUGGLES: Okay. What is the cost for one bed? MR. NORMAN: Brandee probably has a better idea on the low-barrier bed, she probably knows—okay, or maybe not. I don't want to throw her under the bus. I think that's a good question. MS. MENINO: That's a good question. I don't have those numbers in front of me, but I can certainly send that to you. I have it like more as a facility, how much that cost. So I still have to figure out how much is it per bed. MS. RUGGLES: Yeah, that would be great. Like Mr. Chung said, those details would be really helpful for us in being able to figure out how we can support you. And my last question is HB 1240, you mentioned that Paul, but what does that bill do? MR. NORMAN: So maybe Brandee will help jog my memory a little bit, but I think almost two years ago now the governor declared a state of emergency and he released, I forgot what the total amount was, but for us, it was a little bit over a million dollars for our County, it that right? And that money was used to do prevention. So your family, your house, you might be paying too much for rent, but basically you've been paying rent and even managed to keep yourself housed. Something happened car breaks, child gets sick, you have the medical emergency and you have to make some hard choices, and you fall behind. And so that allowed us to make a one-time payment to get you back up to where your sustainable. So basically, obviously it's not good for the governor or the mayor or anybody to keep declaring states of emergency to deal with funding issues. So that bill which HB 1240 basically puts it into Leg, let's the state actually allocate funding across the state to do just that. To do the prevention fund, to have a fund to draw on to help families who are normally, their financials are basically fine as far as staying housed, but something's happened so they had some kind of crisis. MS. RUGGLES: Great. I know that Lance mentioned he sent us the bill that he would like us to provide testimony for. It would be great if you could send us the same and even include the highlights of the bill, so it would be quick for us to be able to submit testimony for you. Page 18 HS S SC-7 February 7, 2017 MR. NORMAN: Absolutely, I can do that. MS. RUGGLES: Great. And I also just wanted to say I just learned from a recent Alice Report that 50 percent of our residents on Hawai`i Island are living pay check to pay check. So that means that 50 percent of our island is vulnerable to becoming homeless. So it's a critical issue. And I also wanted mention that we recently, Council Member Chung and I—I think maybe Council Member Lee Loy also,just provided a grant to Going Home Hawai`i to help them with their Pu Pu'uhonua to reduce recidivism. And so we are doing small things like that in combining our grant resources just like you said. And to wrap up if you ever need anything you can always come to me. And thank you again for doing this presentation and all you do. MR. NORMAN: Thank you very much for inviting us to be here. MS. RUGGLES: Your welcome. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Ruggles. And Ms. O'Hara, I just wanted to make a note that we are now almost 45 minutes into Environmental Management. MS. O'HARA: I'm well aware of that. CHR. DAVID: And thank you for your patience Director Kucharski. So, if you could please wrap this up. MS. O'HARA: I am going to. I just wanted to mention I brought up Sarah Williams at the Pahoa Museum before and you brought up Sarah Mathews who worked for the previous Councilman who has a real passion for the homelessness issue. She is the office manager at PCMC now, Puna Community Medical Center, so she's still in the community and still working on—well, right now in getting medical services to the homeless. So you mentioned that she was helpful in tracking bills and things like that. If she's available, she might still be interested in helping you guys. Okay, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Ms. O'Hara. And if anyone else doesn't have any questions, then I will close by saying Mahalo Nui for all that you folks do for our communities, and I really appreciate the fact that I know in South Kona and Ka`u just the thought that a satellite area or a satellite church or a satellite medical center would really help. So that would be my only food for thought, and try to get your valuable services more out to the rural communities. So thanks a lot you folks for coming and the presentation. Very, very informative. Mahalo. Alright Council Members, all those in favor of filing Comm. 710,please say "aye." Page 19 HSSSC-7 February 7, 2017 Vote on Comm. 710: The motion to close file on Comm. 710 was carried (Filed) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Eoff, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair David—6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, Kanuha, and Lee Loy—3. Excused: None. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, at 3:14 p.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to adjourn II the meeting. Seconded by Ms. O'Hara and was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Eoff, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair David—6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, Kanuha, and Lee Loy—3. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Meeting adjourned. Approved: 1PP -,.4.41M 16A 41111101. t, -!4, void' Ms. Mafte David, Chair (Date) Human Services and Social Services Committee MD/vc Page 20