CC Minutes - 05/17/06 Work Session

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Ms. Piercy agreed that it was important to have a strategic plan for moving forward. She said that community awareness and ownership of the problem was critical. She found all of the issues compelling but particularly compelling was the plight of homeless children with no one to care for them. She was concerned that even with temporary shelter available, youth had to leave in the morning and had no place to go until the evening. She said there was State-level interest in the problem and urged that the City have a legislative plan to ask the State to partner in efforts to resolve homelessness. Mr. Kelly stated it was immoral that such a level of homelessness existed in a wealthy country and community and while it cost money to address, it was also expensive in emotional, psychological and financial terms to not do something. He preferred an approach that mixed prevention services and services to the currently homeless and sought a long-term funding source while providing funds for services now. He would leave it to the professionals to identify a target population and asked if there were alternatives to the General Fund for shorter term funding of services. Ms. Jones indicated that the Telecom Fund was used for internet access services but everything else was through the General Fund. Mr. Kelly referred to his proposed motion for the upcoming Budget Committee meeting and said he intended to double his request and ask for one-time funding of $150,000 to provide $50,000 each to one-time emergency payments, day access centers, and transportation. He indicated the next year could then be spent seeking long-term, stable funding. Ms. Bettman thanked staff and providers for their recommendations and continued work on the issue. She asked for clarification of the proposed motion. Ms. Jones replied that a motion could incorporate one or more of the tiers set forth in the presentation and that would provide direction for staff to proceed. City Manager Taylor added that developing a long-term, stable funding source was predicated on the idea that homelessness was a high-level, long-term community issue and, while it was appropriate for the City to provide leadership, it would require collaboration with partners in a multijurisdictional, public/private initiative to develop a long-term strategy in the region. Ms. Bettman asked how the recommendations correlated with the Lane County homelessness report. Mr. Weinman said the report outlined a strategy for the future but did not provide funding beyond State and federal funds that were currently diminishing. Pearl Wolfe, Lane County Human Services Commission, said the draft plan would be available for public comment during the summer and she hoped the Board of County Commissioners would adopt it shortly after the first of the year. She said the plan identified service and funding gaps and while federal dollars could fill some of those, more resources were needed and local long- term multijurisdictional planning was essential. Ms. Bettman said she was unclear about the multijurisdictional aspect and was concerned because she felt that other partners who were not as passionate about the issue had contributed to its lack of progress for so many years. She supported a multi-tiered approach but did not think that homelessness could be solved because it was a societal reality, would always be present and required an ongoing commitment to address. She was interested in the Tier 3 approach and preventing homelessness among children was a high priority for her. Ms. Bettman said that transportation assistance helped people but she questioned if the amount proposed was adequate. Mr. Weinman said that service providers had reported an enormous unmet need for rides and staff selected a figure that could have been higher or lower. He believed all the money would be spent. Ms. Bettman asked about the potential of providing free bus rides for those who qualified. Mr. Weinman MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 17, 2006 Page 3 Work Session