05-514Council File # OS-5
Resolution #
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Presented By
Referred To
Green Sheet # �Q����✓
RESOLUTION
CITY OF SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA 3D
Committee: Date
WHEREAS , in April 1999 the City Council of Saint Paul and the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved
resolutions endorsing the St. PauURamsey County 5-Year Low Income housing and Homeless Services Plan; and
Whereas, Considerable progress has been made in addressing homelessness through the development and coordination
of services and housing throughout the county; and
WI-IEREAS, Homelessness remains a serious social and economic issue in our community; and
WIIEREAS, Our efforts have not been successful in eliminating this situation for many families; and
WHEREAS, There is a growing consensus that homelessness is a solvable problem; and
WI-IEREAS, Nearly 200 cities and regions azound the United States, plus the State of Minnesota have committed
themselves to plans to end long-term homelessness; and
WIIEREAS, With the completion of the City/County Homeless Plan, the Homeless Advisory Boazd is seeking
authorization to develop a new comprehensive, business and fmancing plan to accomplish this goal; Now, Therefore
Be It
Resolved, The City council of St Paul accepts the final report of the St. Paul/Ramsey CounTy 5-Year Low Income
Housing and Aomeless Services Plan; and Be It Further
RESOLVED, the City Council authorizes the St. PauU Ramsey County Homeless Advisory Board to begin Work on
the development of a comprehensive City/County Plan to end Homelessness and bring this back the to the council for
review no later than Mazch 1, 2006.
Plannin & Economic Develo ment
By:
Approved by Financial Services
� Green Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet -� -
PE - P��ning&'EconomicDevelopment
CoMact Person & Pho�:
STEVE RICE
6-6008
reust 6e on Couneil Agenda by
Datelnitiated: � VJ��+
20.MAY-05 � Green Sheet NO: 3026543
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Assign
Number
For
Roufing
Order
0 1 uiu & ono i D elo Garv Pel �er
1 1 nnin & conomic Develo De rtment Director
2 ' Attome P. caWJ. eIi
3 or's �ce Ma or/Assistant
4 o ncil hair La
5 itv Clerk Cti Clerk
:' Total # of SignaWre Pages!_ (Clip qil Locations for Signature)
Action Requested:
I) Accept the Final Report on the St. PauVRamsey County 5-Yeaz Low Income Housing and Homeless Services Plan.
I 2) Authorize the St. PauURawsey County Homeless Advisory Boazd to begin work on the development of a Comgxehensive
City/County Plan to end homelessness and to bring this plan back to the Boazd for review and endorsement no later than March I,
2006.
itlations: Approve (A) or F
Planning Commission
CIB Committee
Civil Service Cammission
Pereonai
the Following
1. Has this person/firm ever worked under a contract for this department?
Yes No
2. Has this persoNfirm ever been a city employee?
Yes No
3. Dces this persoNfirm possess a skill not nortnaliy possessed by any
cur2nt city employee?
Yes No
Expfain atf yes answers on separate sheet and atqch to green sheet
Initiating Problem, Issues, Opportunity (Who, What, When, Where, Why):
Previous acrion of Council File # 99-258
Ativanppes If Approved:
The Council wIll be able to assess progess over the last 5 yeazs on its plan to expand low income housing and homeless services.
OisadvanWpes If Approved:
None.
Disadvantapes If Not Approved:
Opportunities may be missed in taking conshuctive steps to reduce homelessness.
• � .�
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Trensaction:
Fundin57 Source:
Financiat Information:
(Esplain)
Cost/Revenue Budgeted:
Activrty Number:
'i Rese�sch C�nta�
MAY 2�7 20�
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Suimnary, Final Report, and Ne� Steps.
St. Paul / Ramsey County
5-Year Low Income Housing and Homeless Services Plan
EXECUTIVE SUNIMARY: In April 1999, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners and the
St. Paul City Council approved resoluuons endorsing the St. Paul / Ramsey County 5-Year Low
Income Housing and Homeless Services Plan. Attached is the Final Report from the St. Paul /
Ramsey County Homeless Advisory Boazd on the progress and setbacks with this effort.
Considerable progress has been made in addressing the tragedy of homelessness through the
development and coordination of services and housing throughout the county. Nevertheless,
homelessness remains a serious social and economic issue in our community. On the night of
October 23, 2003, the Wilder Reseazch Center administered a statewide survey of persons
without permanent housing. On that night, 1,471 people, including 537 children, were homeless
in Ramsey County. Almost half (47%) of homeless aduits suffer from mental illness and one in
four have a recent diagnosis of alcohol or drug dependency. Cleazly, our efforts have not been
successful in eliminating this situafion for many families.
At the same time, there is a growing consensus that homelessness is a solvable problem. Nearly
200 cities and counties or multi-county regions around the United Stazes have either completed
or have committed themselves to the development of 10-yeaz plans to end homelessness. The
State of Minnesota has developed a business plan to end long-term homelessness that calls for
the creation of 4,000 units of permanent supportive housing, including an estimated 1,000 units
in Ramsey County for the homeless.
With the completion of the City / County Homeless Plan, the Homeless Advisory Board is
seeking the authorization of the Board to develop a new, comprehensive plan to end
homelessness in our community. This plan will establish a step by step process and detailed
business and financing plan to accompiish our goal.
ACTION REQUESTED: 1) Accept the Fina1 Report on the St. Paul / Ramsey County 5-Yeaz
Low Income Housing and Homeless Services Plan.
2) Authorize the St. Paul l Ramsey County Homeless Advisory Board to begin work on the
development of a comprehensive City / County Plan to End Homelessness and to bring this plan
back to the Board for review and endorsement no later than March 1, 2006.
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Saint PauURamsey County 5-Year Low Income Housing
And Homeless Services
Report and Plan
A Final Status Report
May 2005
In April 1499, the Saint Paul City Council and the Ramsey County Boazd of
Commissioners adopted and endorsed the recommendations contained in the Saint
PauURamsey County Five-Year Low Income Housing and Homeless Services Report
and Plan.
5 years and 10 months later, this Final Status Report takes a look at the progress made
toward meeting those recommendations, both as recognition for the work that has been
done and as a forceful reminder of all that remains unfulfilled.
The Five-Yeaz Plan sets forth recommendations that, taken together, seek to make
significant inroads toward:
■ Preventing homelessness
■ Assisting those who are or will become homeless; and
■ Filling the needs for housing and homeless services identified
during the planning process
The recommendations have been grouped under four broad categories:
■ Homeless Prevention
■ Shelter and Housing
■ Homeless Services
■ Funding
This report takes a closer look at those four categories of recommendations. As a guide
to monitoring o� progress, a fairly arbitrary system of zero to four stars will be
employed as follows:
0 Zero Stars = No progress
One Star = Beginning steps; much work to be done
Two Stars = Moderate Progress
Three Stars = Good Progress; not quite finished
Four Stars = Recommendation accomplished
The report begins with an overall evaluation of our progress in each of the four categories
of recommendations before examining each recommendation individually.
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Overall Grade By Category:
Homeless PreveIItion: �� - The commitment of the state to maintain its funding
for the Family Homeless Prevention Program in the face of several steep budget deficits
is encouraging. (In spite of its name, the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance
Program includes housing and services for families, single adults and unaccompanied
youth). However, the cuts to the social service system overall, and particularly the cuts to
outreach and identification of households at risk might mean that more families become
threatened with homelessness.
Federal iniriarives like removing chemical dependency as a disability for purposes of
eligibility for SSI or Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8} and the uncertain future of
voucher funding raise significant concerns about the continued ability to prevent
homelessness tlu�ough affordable housing options.
Shelter and Housing - While not specifically part of the recommendations,
success in expanding emergency shelter for single aduk men and women (and some
families) through the Catholic Charities Dorothy Day Center, has been an undeniable
success even though its need is undeniably tragic. Expansion of adult men's and
women's shelter space wasn't even included in the 5-Year Plan recommendations in
1999, but Dorothy Day is now sheltering an average of nearly 170 per night. It is
difficult to imagine the impact had Catholic Charities not stepped up to the plate to make
that happen.
A singular focus in the 5-Year Plan's recommendations for shelter development was for
homeless youth. The lack of capacity and the crisis of nightly turnaways of homeless
youth from the few such facilities remains as acute today as it was in 1999. With the
exception of the Lutheran Social Services Safe Haven for minor moms and pregnant
teens, efforts to develop additional space for homeless youth haue been been completely
unsuccessful.
There has been some progress in the development of new transirional and permanent
supportive housing. From a combined goal of 900 units, only 289 units have been
completed with another 259 either in development or predevelopment work. The failure
to meet the production goals set down in the 5-Year plan is one of the reasons why
Dorothy Day has become an indispensable component of the community's shelter
system.
The Governor's Plan to End I,ong Term Homelessness and the efforts to develop the
finances needed to carry it our aze reasons to hope that the next five years will be more
productive than the past five. However, it will require vigilance that the means of
financrng the State Plan do not reduce access to housing and services for those who do
not meet the definition of long term homeless.
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It is a hazsh reality for anyone in desperate need of housing assistance that the Housing
Choice Voucher Program is the primary federal program for assisting low-income
households with affordable housing options. That is because it is simply not auailable
anymore to more than a handful of applicants. That the lack of availability of vouchers
comes at a time when many landlords would eagerly accept them makes the situation
even worse. The governor's proposal to add �4 million to the Housing Trust Fund is
helpful but there is no way the state can replace the Section 8 program.
The housing recommendations under Low Income Market Rate Housing have been
somewhat successful, led by the City of Saint Paul commitment to the Aousing 5000 Plan
which includes 20% of housing affordable to people at 50 % of the area median income
and 10% affordable to people at 30 % of a.m.i. The pressure to meet these goals has
made the city an eager partner and many times the prime mover in the support of both
private and non-profit developers, including projects to develop supportive housing for
homeless people.
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Supportive Services Throughout the five years inciuded in the Low
Income Housing and Homeless Services Plan, funding for supportive services for
permanent supportive housing projects has been the single most difficult piece of the
funding package for most developers. The strict rules governing the way in which most
governmental service funding can be delivered has not meshed well with permanent
supportive housing's need for site-based service funding commitments. Some project
developers are getting more sophisticated about developing means of accessing those
service dollazs, but the difficulty has cleazly been a drag on our ability to meet our
supportive housing goals.
The Ramsey County Adult Mental Health Program is now managing more than 400
housing subsidies for people with serious and persistent mental illness and combining
that with intensive case management services including the newly developed Assertive
Community Treatment teams for those whose services needs are the most serious.
Improvements can be predicted for the next five years. As mentioned, providers are
getting mare sophisticated by, among other strategies, working with counties to enable
them to qualify as billing agencies for medical assistance services. They are aiso
beginning to work with the county human services departments early in the development
process to ensure that residents of the proj ect, in addition to being homeless, also qualify
for existing county service funding streams.
The state is seeing the need to develop mare flexible funding for services that cover
people that may not be eligible for MA ar other mainstream funding. A prime example is
the governor's budget bill that includes $10 million of flexible funding far the services in
permanent supportive housing for people who meet the definition of long-term homeless.
Both of these trends are hopeful signs. If this report were looking ahead to the next few
years, this section might well merit more than one star, but based on the experience of the
past five years, that is all that is warranted under this section.
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Funding ` ' �
The creation of ttAe funders council has been a singulaz success of the 5-Year Plan.
Though the housing production goals were not met, the picture would undoubtedly been
faz worse had the funders council not been created. With the leadership of the funders
council, financing was achieved for the development of 359 new units of supportive
housing, with 189 additional units in various stages of pre-development. It has been a
valuable place for developers and service providers to come and discuss project ideas and
receive feedback and suggesrions. But even more so has been the opportunity for the
city, county, state and other funding partners to share the issues they aze dealing with and
discover ways to identify common ground and interests that can serve to move
developments along.
The concept has worked so successfully in Ramsey and Hennepin Counties that MESH is
developing plans to create a suburban funders council.
HOMELESS PREVENTION:
Recommendation 1: Establish a Landlord-Tenant Education and Dispute
Resolution Program.
Status: The services envisioned by this recommendation exist. However, they
are not integrated or effectively linked to ensure accessibility or easy referral.
Recommendation 2: Improve coordination of youth services in Ramsey County
Status: Services for homeless youth in Ramsey County haue benefited from
increased dialogue between community-based organizations and county personnel. A
new intake procedure for youth emergency shelter was put into place a little over a year
ago. Youth shelters in Ramsey and Hennepin County published a shelter booklet to help
ease shelter intake procedures for youth in crisis. Shelters communicated open bed
spaces to the StreetWorks Cotlaborative, which posted the daily reports to their team of
street outreach workers, local drop-in centers, and their nightly voice message. This
unpmved coordination of services helped identify closed versus open shelters (due to
availability of shelter beds) and increased communicarion and planning between
agencies.
However, state budget decisions have raised concems over Ramsey County's ability to
maintain shelter, housing, and services to unaccompanied youth. Specifically, the State's
decision to diminish grants to nonprofit organizations serving homeless youth coupled
with an approximate 18% reducrion in state block grants to counties resulted in the
temporary closing of an emergency shelter (Lutheran Social Service's Safe House) for 6
months. Fortunately, Ramsey County became the only county in the state to replace at
least a portion of the lost state funding for homeless youth programs by initiating a
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contract with Lutheran Social Services that enabled SafeHouse to reopen in July 2004.
20 youth shelter beds were lost to the region when the Avenues shelter in Hennepin
County was forced to close due to insufficient funding.
In January 2005, responding to a report on homeless youth, the Ramsey County Boazd of
Commissioners unauimously passed a resolution calling for:
• The appointment of a homeless youth representative to the St.
PauURamsey County Aomeless Advisory Boazd (Stacy Husebo, Director
of SafeZone has been added to the Board)
• In parinership with the St. PaullRamsey County Homeless Advisory
Board, establish a working committee of community stakeholders,
homeless youth service and shelter providers, organizations invested in
positive youth development, and county administrators to provide a report
to the Homeless Advisory Board, the Ramsey County Board of
Commissioners, and the St. Paul City Council.
• Invite community youth service providers to a series of dialogues with
county administrators to discuss greater coordination of services and
recommendations for system change in county child welfare services to
address and enhance support for homeless, unaccompanied youth,
including homeless youth with infants and young children as a household.
The basic continuum of care for homeless, runaway, and at-risk older adolescents
remains hampered by lack of financial support for services and a lack of concerted
planning and coordination between county systems offering intervention (child
protection, youth aging out of foster care, children's mental health, and youth chemical
depe:.u�ncy cr atca ioiisrri �Eatment) and community-based organizations. Most
community advocates find county systems difficult to access and few county services
tailored for life skills training, family reunification, conflict resolution, housing support,
crisis intervention, or emergency shelter. If "improved coordination of youth services in
Ramsey County" is to remain a high priority, a group ar entity must take the lead in
facilitating further planz�ing, data sharing, and coordination of intervention services and
supports.
Recommendation 3: Reduce disparities in housing and homeless services provided
to people of color.
Status: Some progress has been made increasing access to transitional housing and
permanent supportive housing far people of color, but the incidence of homelessness far
people of color remains unacceptably high and points to services, housing and social
inequity throughout society. The Ramsey County Human Services Department has
begun to address this issue on a system-wide basis through a careful assessment of the
cultural diversity and cultural competency of its service delivery system.
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Recommendarion 4: Urge the Legislature to Establish a Statewide Homeless
Prevention Planning Council.
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Status: � Although a separate Homeless Prevention Planning Council that
includes local provider agencies has not been established, the State Interagency Task
Force on Homelessness consisting of statewide representatives from 10 state agencies has
effectively adu�iuistered the statewide Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance
Program (FHPAP) and advised the Governor and Legislature on best pzactices to prevent
homelessness.
With the Govemor's commitment to end long term homelessness and a business plan
created to point the way, careful vigilance will be needed that resources to accomplish
that laudable goal do not come from programs that serve to keep people in their housing.
SHELTER AND AOUSING:
Recommendation 5: The County should facilitate the provision of emergency shelter
for homeless youth focused on family reunification.
Status: O Stars— Not only has there been no new development of shelter space for
homeless youth focused on family reunification, Ramsey County temporarily lost 6 of its
22 youth shelter beds as a result of the loss of direct funding from the state for that
purpose.
Recommendation 6: Expanded shelter space for homeless youth where family
reunification is not an option.
Status: 0 Stars — As described above, the community has tnanaged to maintain or
restore the youth shelter beds we have. There has been no expansion, except as described
under the next recommendation.
Recommendation 7: Development of 10 bed shelter for minor parents and their
children.
Status: Lutheran Social Services has been able, through a generous
parinership with a church congregation and the U. S. Department of Health and Human
Services, to open a new 6-unit shelter, LifeHaven, for teen moms and their children, the
first of its kind in Ramsey County.
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Recommendation 8& 9: Development of:
■ 300 units of transitional or permanent supportive housing
for families with children
■ 500 units of transitional or permanent supportive housing
for single adults
■ 100 units uf transitional or permanent supportive housing
for youth
Status: �� Since the adoption of the plan in April 1999, housing units brought on-
line or currently in development include:
413 total units of supportive housing either in use ar currently under construction, of
which:
201 units fox single adults
180 units for families with children
32 units for youth
In addition, there are a total of 269 units of supportive housing that are currently in
various stages of predevelopment. These are projects that do not yet have the funding
required to break ground.
(See appendix A for a complete listing of units)
The Funders Council, formed to oversee the implementation of the recommendations
contained in the 5-Year Plan, has identified these recommendations calling for the
development of new housing affordable to people with very low income and integrated
with services for the disabled, to be the most important task.
The Funders Council feels the delineation of transitional and permanent supportive
housing to be far less meaningful in measuring progress tl�an achieving the combined
development goals called for in Recommendations 8 and 9. Therefare, the two
recommendations have been combined into one set of development goals.
The current ambitious Saint Paul Housing Plan promoted by the Mayor to build 5000
nni of housing in four years is an important partner to the development goals in the 5-
Year Plan.
The State Commissioners of DHS, MI-IFA, and Conections co-chaired a State Working
Group aimed at ending Long Term Homelessness by 2010. A Report and Business Plan
on how to accompiish this, primarily through the development of 4,000 units
(approximately 1,000 of which would be in Ramsey County) of permanent supportive
housing has been developed. A Directar of Ending Long Term Homelessness has been
appointed. A bonding bill to provide $20 million in capital for supportive housing was
not passed in 2004 but has been reintroduced in 2005.
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Recommendation 10: Snpport continued legislative funding dedicated to the
preservation of existing federally subsidized low income
honsing.
5tatus: �� '/z The State Legislature has allocated a total of $77,992,000
(including $18,546,000 allocated for the current biennium) for the preservation of
federally subsidized housing units. This program has been enormously successful. To
date, $84,000,000 of state funding has been committed, which has preserved nearly
$414,000,000 in federal subsidies and leveraged an additional $175,000,000 in other
funding for this purpose. Altogether, over 7,500 units of affordable housing have been
preserved for 16,875 people statewide.
The City of Saint Paul the City has a policy and significant priority to preserve existing
publicly-assisted affordable housing. During the period 1999-2004, more than $41
million has been invested in the preservation and stabilization of approximately 1,600
low income affordable housing units.
Recommendation 11: County and municipalities should establish a joint policy on
preservation of existing nonsubsidized low-income housing
stock.
Status: While agreement on a specific preservation policy has not been reached,
preservation of existing housing stock is much more likely to be a part of County and
municipality housing pracfice than has been the case in the past. Housing rehabilitation
including low income housing is a key strategy in the city's housing policy plan . The
city's plan for 5000 units in four years includes clear recognition of the need for
preservation of existing stock through substantial rehab at the same time we maintain
efforts at new development. Advocacy, unit by unit, will continue to be needed to
promote preservation.
The City of Saint Paul has provided funds to do rehabilitation of the existing housing
stock far many yeazs. This rehab primarily assists low and moderate income
households. During the period 1999-2004, $31,242,000 of City public home
improvement funds have been invested for this purpose.
Recommendation 12: Create an Affordable Housing Owners Advisory Group
Status: There has been considerable progress from the County, municipalities, and
large non-profit developers and technical assistance agencies in developing information
on sources of funding and regulatory requirements for developers. However, there has
been no progress made in convening an Advisory Group to provide input and guidance to
cities on impediments to development and recommended solutions. Aiso, the
information that is availabie is scattered and largely uncoordinated.
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Recommendation 13: Encourage development of private market low income
housing by:
■ Adopting a mized use, mixed income policy
■ Bring resources and expertise of business community to
integrate more homeless people into the workforce
■ Strengthen the Incentives in the Livable Communities Act
■ Support Habitat for Humanity in doubling its producfion
capacity locally.
Status: There has been some success in getting municipalities to adopt mixed
use, mixed income housing. The City of Saint Paul, through Housing 5000, is meeting its
affordability goals of producing 20% of its new housing affordable to people at 50% or
less of the area median income (a.m.i.), with half of that total affordable to peopie at 30%
or less of the a.m.i.
Habitat for Humanity continues to significanfly increase its area quotas of new housing.
The commitment amongst political leaders in suburban communities to looking at ways
of increasing the supply of affordable housing is growing as the link between the
auailability of workforce housing and economic growth becomes ever clearer.
Homeless Services
Recommendation 14: Increase capacity of agencies to deliver basic services to
homeless people.
Status: 1/2 It is undeniable that many agencies, beyond those whose missions are
focused on the homeless, have become mare sensitive and aware of the unique service
needs of people who are homeless or at-risk. Nevertheless, as the shortage of housing
�,nits affordable to very low income families and individuals continues to intensify, more
low income families and individuals become at serious risk of homelessness while
homeless prevention dollazs haue remained relatively static. The net result is that the
demand for emergency shelter, transitional housing and basic services to combat
homelessness and to develop or idenrify housing options for people threatens to
overwhelm our service capacity to respond.
The Governor has included $10 million in has DHS budget specifically for supportive
housing services for the long tercn homeless. There is no question that funding of the
supportive services to support the plan to end long term homelessness is critically needed.
There are efforts to get more federal dollars directed at supportive services for the
homeless, but progress toward passage of several bills that would do so remains in limbo.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, HUD continues to give strong messages that it wants to
move more of its McKinney-Vento homeless assistance dollars into housing and out of
services.
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At the county level, the Metropolitan Interfaith Council for Affordable Housing
(MICAI� has been working with the Ramsey County Boazd of Commissioners to
redevelop the housing endowment fund with a focus on supportive service funding.
Although this effort has not yet been accomplished, the undeniable success of the original
County Housing Endowment Fund providing gap funding for capital needs for affordable
housing projects makes it cleaz that county involvement in the financing of projects can
make a significant difference.
Recommendation 15: More intensive case management, counseling, and financial
management services
Status: Agencies serving people who are homeless and those at risk of
homelessness have done very good work expanding the menu of available services. The
networks created through the Fanuly Homeless Prevention Providers and the Ramsey
County Continuum of Care have promoted tunely and effective referrals between
agencies to get people in need of services to the agencies which provide them. The
Ramsey County Supportive Housing and Managed Care Pilot has made intensive case
management combined with housing a centerpiece of their work, helping 85 homeless
individuals and 52 families with chronic chemical dependency, mental illness or
HIV/AIDS since its inception in 2001.
Ramsey County Adult Mental Health has been very active in expanding housing
opportunities for homeless people experiencing serious and persistent mental illness,
managing more than 400 housing subsidies through the Shelter Plus Care, Bridges and
State Housing Trust Fund programs. With the development of its Assertive Community
Treahnent program, the county's capacity to provide intensive, team-based case
management services for its mental health clients has significantly expanded. This
combination of stable housing and intensive supportive services holds great promise for
our efforts to end homelessness
As with many of the recommendarions in the Five-Year Plan, much work needs to be
done, particularly expanding capacity to meet the expanding need. Specifically, the on-
going shuggle to integrate existing service dollars with supportive housing developments
has been complex and challenging.
Recommendation 16: Improve linkages between property owners and social services
providers.
Status: In response to the shortage of rental housing that is affordable to very
low income tenants, scattered site transitional housing providers and housing placement
programs, several of which are funded through the Ramsey County Continuum of Care
and the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program, have made supportive
services to the landlords a crirical piece of their overall service menu. By treating
landlords as customers and developing strong and positive relationships with the
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landlords, these agencies are giving their client families and individuais with less than
stellar histories a chance at housing for which they might not otherwise be considered.
Much more needs to be done to expand the linkage beriveen landlords and social services
providers, but a good start has been made.
Recommendation 17: Low income, transitional and permanent supportive housing
developers should seek partnerships with veteran's services
organizations.
Status: � 3/4 Veterans continue to make up a disproportionately large share of our
homeless single adults (31% of homeless aduit men). Some programs like the Dorothy
Day Center, Listening House, and Access have traditionally maintained close and
effective relationships with veterans' organizations. The success of the MN Assistance
Council for Veterans to obtain over $16 million in state bonding money for the
construction of over 230 units of new permanent supportive housing on the grounds of
the VA Medical Centers in St. Cloud and Minneapolis with the active support of all 13
state Continuuxns of Care indicates significant progress.
Recommendation 18: Increase the hours of youth drop-in centers.
Status: 0 Stars — There has been no progress in developing the addifional resources that
would be required to increase youth drop-in center hours. As discussed earlier, state
resources for homeless youth have been dramatically cut. This has resulted in a
significant decrease in the hours that SafeZone is able to be open.
Recommendation 19: Create a centralized system of intake, assessment and record
keeping.
Status: Under the impetus of a congressional mandate maldng continued
eligibility for Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance funding (McKinney-Vento)
contingent on the development of a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
by 2004, MHFA, the Family Housing Fund, the Greater MN Housing Fund and others
have provided the funding to establish a statewide HMIS. This holds enormous promise
for the ability to accurately measure our homeless population and more effectively
measure what interventions work. Ramsey County was chosen as one of two Continuum
of Care regions in the state to pilot the new statewide HMIS in 2003 and training is
currently underway for agencies throughout the state.
Recommendation 20: Cuitural competency training is provided to service
providers.
Status: For years, The African American Working Group, consisting of African
American homeless services providers conducted cultural competence training for other
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provider agencies throughout the Twin Cities metro area. That goup has disbanded, but
the emphasis on cultural competency and responsiveness has permeated state, local and
private funding agencies and is now staudazd language in Ramsey County Requests for
Proposals. There has been an increase in the number of African American and other
culturally competent providers entering the service system in Ramsey County.
Changing for Face of Housing is a joint initiative of the Corporation for Supportive
Housing, the Family Housing Fund, and the Twin Cities I.ocal Iniriatives Support
Corparation (LISC. It was created to support local housing, planning, and community
development organizations in their efforts to recnut and maintain diverse boazds of
directors and to recruit, hire, and retain diverse staff. The itinitiative has undertaken a
comprehensive effort to collect and analyze data on the racial and ethnic make-up of the
agencies anvolved in fmancing, building, and managing the housing and services industry
in the Twin Cities. This and other efforts to eliminate dramatic outcome disparities along
racial and ethnic lines through greater management and staff diversity offer an
encouraging promise to an otherwise discouraging picture.
This will continue to be a significant need in Ramsey County for a long time to come.
Dramatic disparities in intervention and services outcomes for different racial groups
evidence the fact that a lot more work needs to be done.
Recommendation 21: Ensure needed technical and financial resources are provided
to agencies of color.
Status: Given the limited resources auailable to expand the provider community,
progress has been slow in distributing more resources to agencies of color. It continues
to be very important that this goal become an important part of funding deliberations by
government, philanthropy, and business.
Funding
Recommendarion 22: Create a Funders Council
Status: The Five-Yeaz Plan Funders Council consisting of
virivally all the housing and homeless services funding entities in Ramsey County has
been meeting monthly since May 2000. The Funders Council has focused its efforts on
monitoring the production goals of this plan, with a specific emphasis on organizing
funding far supportive housing development.
12
os 5��
University - Dale
Crane Ordway
UniYs in
Single Adults:
Project Name
St. Anthony
Delancey Aparhnents
5R0 II
Inc Safe Haven
Central community
Housine Trust
Catholic Charities
Guild, Inc. / Project for
Pride in Living
Wilder Foundation
Wilder Foundation
10
14
24
Number of Units
60
20
�
.1
m
Total Units in Pre-Develoument for sin�le adults 220
14
Projects in Development
Total Units In Development 94
Projects in Pre-Development
Families:
05-5��{
om anied Youth:
t Nam S onsor
Brown II Salvation
Total Units in
for
Total Units in Pre-Development
Number of Units
14
14
269
Total Units Completed, in Development,
or Pre-Development
.
is