HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 05/17/06 Work Session
M I N U T E S
Eugene City Council
Work Session
McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall
May 17, 2006
Noon
COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, Bonny Bettman, David Kelly, Gary
Papé, George Poling, Chris Pryor.
COUNCILORS ABSENT: Betty Taylor.
A. WORK SESSION: City Council Priority Issue – Develop a Strategy to Help the Homeless in
Eugene
Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She announced that
Public Works Director Kurt Corey was named one of the top ten public works leaders of the year by the
American Public Works Association (APWA).
City Manager Dennis Taylor introduced Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Executive Director
Angel Jones and Urban Services Manager Richie Weinman to present options for assisting the homeless
population and/or addressing the local impacts of homelessness.
Ms. Jones said the presentation would provide information obtained from local service providers, community
stakeholders, the homeless population, and advocates for the homeless and frame a discussion of options for
the council to consider when it provided direction to staff. She said that many of those who participated in
the examination of options were in the audience and available to answer questions.
Mr. Weinman said the City’s staff team and others in the community worked together to develop a strategy
to help the homeless. He used a slide presentation to illustrate the issues, needs, conclusions, and response
options. He hoped to obtain direction from the council in several areas: budget parameters, target
population(s), and preferred response. He said the homeless had many faces and homelessness was the most
acute symptom of poverty. He said there were two categories of homelessness: situational and chronic. He
said that many people experienced situational homelessness because of an unanticipated financial crisis;
situational homelessness was often preventable and people often regained housing. He said those who did
not return to housing became chronically homeless and the chronic population was increasing and the most
expensive to address. He said in Eugene over 1,300 people were assisted by shelters or turned away on any
given night. He said the homeless population included families, youth and children, adults without children
living with them, single, chronically homeless adults, the mentally ill and veterans. He summarized the
conclusions of the work group:
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Homelessness is very costly to the community
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Homelessness will not go away on its own
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If not dealt with now, the problem will continue to affect all of Eugene
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Assets: extraordinary cooperation between the public sector and nonprofit service providers and
opportunities to maximize grants
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Everyone needs a safe and stable home
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Rents are out of reach for many people with fixed or lower incomes
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The American dream used to be home ownership; for an increasingly large number of people it is
simply to have a home
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To succeed in school and in life, children need a safe, stable place to call home
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Homelessness costs the community in terms of public safety, public health, public education, and
parks and recreation, and can destroy families, lead to dangerous and illegal behaviors, rob people
of their dignity, and reflect poorly on the community
Mr. Weinman said that 95 percent of those who received services were rooted in the community and not
coming here from elsewhere. Resolving the problem locally would make a difference. He asserted that the
problem could be solved, but not quickly or inexpensively. He said the most effective response was
prevention, both programmatically and financially. He presented four tiers of response options:
Tier 4 Identify a long-term funding source to subsidize housing and fight homelessness
Tier 3 Identify one or more programs to financially support now: prevention/intervention, emergency
shelter, service-enriched housing, access centers, transportation assistance
Tier 2 November 2005 recommendations: increased library access, internet access at homeless cen-
ters, Safe and Sound funding continuation, utility assistance
Tier 1 Current City activities: Human Services Commission, homeless camping facilitation, Looking
Glass Station 7, White Bird CAHOOTS
Mr. Weinman said that the staff recommended the Tier 4 response option to identify a stable, long-term
funding source. He said an alternative recommendation was to continue Tier 1 and 2 activities and provide
$300,000 to fund the following Tier 3 activities:
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$100,000 – one-time emergency payments to prevent homelessness
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$50,000 – emergency permanent housing for domestic violence victims
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$100,000 – increased hours at access centers
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$50,000 – transportation assistance
Mayor Piercy called on the council for questions and comments.
Ms. Ortiz thanked all those who participated in efforts to address homelessness. She said the City did a lot
but more was needed, particularly to help people break out of the cycle of homelessness. She acknowledged
the cooperation among service providers to ensure there was no duplication of services or “fat” in the
system. She commended those who served the homeless and the work they did in the community.
Mr. Pryor also commended staff for the work done. He said it was an extraordinarily difficult issue not only
because of the financial and population questions but the preconceptions around the issue. He said that
simply moving the problem around the community was not a workable solution and he liked the “best
practices” approach around the key issues of housing, health and livelihood, which were cornerstones of a
successful strategy. He said that misconceptions about whether the problem was imported instead of local
and who constituted the homeless population were stumbling blocks that would need to be addressed through
community education.
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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
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clarified that what was envisioned was that the City would work with the agencies to develop a combination
of resources to provide free tokens to those who were homeless; the City would pay half the cost, and LTD
would pay half the cost. The agencies would provide the tokens to their clients for travel to such events as
doctor’s appointments.
Mr. Papé also thanked staff for the presentation. He favored one-time payments to prevent homelessness
and said if a target population was identified it should be youth. He asked if a central source of information
easily accessible to people in trouble was being developed and tested with the homeless population. Ms.
Jones said that was part of the access to library services and internet access at service provider locations
initiative.
Mr. Papé asked how many people were assisted and how many were turned away on any given evening.
Ms. Wolfe replied that the County’s snapshot one-night shelter count indicated that 1,100 people received
shelter and 200 were turned away.
Mr. Papé noted that approximately 95 percent of the homeless were local citizens and a strong community
awareness campaign would help the public understand it was a local problem.
Ms. Solomon asked how the school districts were addressing the problem of homeless youth. Kasey White,
4J School District homeless liaison, said the district received a federal grant to provide transportation
assistance in the form of bus passes, although transportation was a critical issue and she often exceeded her
budget. She also assisted homeless families with enrollment, documentation, immunization, and other
logistics of school attendance.
Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to support a strategy to establish a stable
funding source to address prevention, intervention and treatment of homelessness in Eugene
by appointing a multijurisdictional (public/non-profit) committee and charging the commit-
tee with the task of identifying a funding source, a revenue goal and an allocation process.
Mr. Kelly said there was no broad community awareness or commitment on homeless issues and one way
that people could be encouraged to help was if there was something they could do as individuals. He was
interested in a program similar to the one in Portland that would allow someone to hand out a voucher for
services instead of spare change when approached on the street. He asked if staff considered such a
program. Mr. Weinman said that providers considered such a campaign and while the Portland campaign
was showy, it was not as effective as it sounded in terms of actually connecting people with services and
having a significant impact on the issues. He noted that Portland and other large cities had different issues
than smaller communities and in Portland there was a gross receipts tax on downtown business to help get
people off the streets.
Mr. Kelly challenged the staff team to develop ways in which individuals could make a difference.
Mr. Kelly, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to amend the motion to provide $150,000 to be
divided among one-time emergency payments, additional hours for access centers, and
transportation assistance.
In response to a question from Ms. Solomon, Mr. Weinman said that one-time emergency housing payments
were typically provided directly to the landlord.
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Ms. Solomon emphasized the importance of not reducing the funds available for emergency housing and
transportation assistance by using any of the allocation for administrative costs.
Ms. Ortiz noted that there were mechanisms in place to administer those programs and there would be no
additional costs. She asked if LTD was willing to be flexible with its bus tokens program. Mr. Weinman
related that in his discussions with LTD staff they had indicated a willingness to be flexible with current
policies and look for more opportunities.
Mr. Poling thanked those who had worked on the issue of homelessness. He agreed with Ms. Solomon’s
point regarding use of funds for administrative purposes. He asked if there were mechanisms in place to
ensure that services were provided to those in need and eliminated abuse of the system. Mr. Weinman said
that all of the organizations who worked with the homeless tracked services to ensure there was no
duplication of service or system abuse; however, many individuals required assistance several times before
they were successful, while others only needed one-time help.
Mr. Papé said he would support Mr. Kelly’s amendment although he would prefer to concentrate on
prevention and youth.
Mr. Papé offered a friendly amendment to require an annual report on short- and long-term
goals. Mr. Kelly accepted the friendly amendment.
Ms. Bettman said that the single-tiered approach of funding human services and affordable housing was in
the context of drastic budget cuts, but the City now could afford to transform its approach. She appreciated
Mr. Kelly’s proposal of $150,000 and while she did not think it was adequate, it was unlikely there would
be support for a larger amount. She pointed out that $38,000 was being spent for Working City and that
was a perfect venue for educating the public about an issue like homelessness.
Mr. Papé suggested that neighborhood newsletters, supported through the City’s budget, should be required
to include a section periodically that presented information on the homelessness issue.
The motion to amend passed unanimously, 7:0.
Ms. Bettman said that while investments could be made in prevention and treatment services, there would
always be a component of the population that required emergency shelter. She noted efforts to clean up the
river and abolish campsites and expressed concern about sanitation and dignity. She emphasized the need
for shelters for the chronically homeless and asked if emergency shelter should be added to the motion as a
discreet component. Mr. Weinman agreed with Ms. Bettman’s points. He said the challenge of emergency
shelter was that it was extraordinarily expensive and not an effective long-term solution to homelessness.
Ms. Bettman said she was referring to a campsite with sanitary facilities and supervision, not a building.
Mr. Weinman replied that such a proposal would require more study and review to determine whether it was
feasible, estimated costs, location and how it could be operated.
Ms. Bettman asked that the multijurisdictional task force include a possible campsite in their consideration
of solutions. She asked if a motion was necessary. Mayor Piercy did not think a motion was needed. City
Manager Taylor believed the concept was contained within the original motion.
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Mr. Kelly said his purpose in proposing one-time funding was that it was coming at the end of the budget
process but his expectation was that the exploration of long-term funding would include planning for FY08
and a continuation of FY07 services.
Mr. Pryor said he would not be able to attend the upcoming Budget Committee meeting but strongly
encouraged support for Mr. Kelly’s proposal.
The main motion as amended passed unanimously, 7:0.
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B. WORK SESSION: Payday Loan Reform Ordinance
City Manager Taylor commented that the work session was requested by the council and introduced
Intergovernmental Relations Manager Jason Heuser to present the issue.
Mr. Heuser said he had been tracking activity on the issue at both the local and State level. He introduced
Laurie Trieger of FOOD for Lane County, and an advocate for payday loan reform who was available to
answer questions. He said that the payday loan industry was used by a growing segment of the population
who lived from paycheck to paycheck as they were part of the lower wage service sector economy. He said
that payday loans were short-term, high-interest rate loans used by people who were cash insecure, lacked
credit, and were “unbanked.” He said many people used payday loans as an alternative to banking and the
average customer took out 11 loans per year. Only two percent of customers were one-time users. He said
that roughly eight percent of American families held no financial assets such as bank accounts, retirement
accounts, or life insurance and they missed out on the long-term convenience, security and efficiency,
counseling and wealth-building opportunities that banks and credit unions could offer to consumers. Payday
lending practices placed borrowers at risk of greater indebtedness and long-term credit problems, although
they do meet a certain need. He related that a survey of borrowers revealed that 74 percent were unable to
repay loans when they came due. He said that banks and credit unions had been unwilling to enter into the
payday loan business and offer loans at lower rates.
Mr. Heuser said there was a long-term strategy to address the problem that included new or improved
services from traditional banks and credit unions and publicizing those services to low-income individuals.
Until that strategy was implemented, governments were beginning to take action to balance consumer health
with industry profitability. He said that Oregon lagged behind the rest of the country in regulating payday
loans and only four cities—Portland, Gresham, Troutdale and Beaverton—had taken steps to bring the
industry closer to more mainstream financial services by enacting local ordinances requiring a 25 percent
pay down of principle as requisite for each loan renewal, establishing payment plan options and allowing a
loan to be canceled within 24 hours (buyer’s remorse). He said that in April 2006 the Oregon Legislature
capped high interest rate down to 153 percent APR (annual percentage rate) over a specified minimum loan
term of 31 days, but did not address any of the other issues contained in local ordinances.
Mayor Piercy called on the council for questions.
Ms. Solomon asked why Portland had not included a cap on the interest rate in its local ordinance. Mr.
Heuser said that State law prohibited local governments from exercising that authority.
Mr. Kelly thought that payday loan practices were immoral and Eugene should move forward with a local
ordinance similar to those enacted by other cities. He noted that the Portland ordinance required a $1,500
annual permit fee per storefront and asked if other local ordinances imposed something similar. He also
asked how the permit fee was used. Mr. Heuser said he would research the issue and provide a response
when the issue was again considered by the council.
Mr. Papé was in favor of taking whatever local action was necessary to prohibit usury and expressed
disappointment in the legislature’s failure to effectively address the issue. He said if the State took
reasonable and timely action to regulate the industry, the City should back away from local ordinances and
let State law prevail.
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Ms. Ortiz thanked the council for moving quickly on the issue. She asked if there was any type of regulation
currently on the payday loan industry. Mr. Heuser said there was some oversight by the Oregon Department
of Consumer and Business Services and there were licensing requirements and certain conditions placed on
specifying loan terms and the number of renewals allowed.
Ms. Ortiz said that consumers reported that loan terms and interest rates were generally not well displayed
in storefronts and asked Mr. Heuser to check into the effectiveness of enforcement of those requirements.
Mr. Poling asked if the ordinances enacted by other cities were essentially the same. Mr. Heuser said they
were almost identical except for language variations to comply with local codes. He said that was done
intentionally to ensure a homogenous statewide approach would make it easier for the industry to comply.
He said Eugene’s proposed ordinance would be based on that model.
Mr. Poling joined in Mr. Kelly’s request for more information about the $1,500 annual permit fee.
Referring to Mr. Papé’s suggestion to remove the local ordinance if the State enacted regulations, he asked if
it would be to the City’s advantage to pursue violations through Municipal Court instead of the State courts
and would that be possible if there was no ordinance. City Attorney Glenn Klein said if there was a
violation of State statute, it would be cited into State court, but most provisions established the violation as
civil rather than criminal. He said the City of Eugene had typically dealt with civil violations through an
administrative process because it was less expensive than using Municipal Court.
Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to direct the City Manager to prepare a draft
ordinance consistent with the model ordinance adopted by other Oregon cities for City
Council consideration. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0.
The meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis M. Taylor
City Manager
(Recorded by Lynn Taylor)
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