Travis County Commissioners Court

February 24, 2009,
Item 14

Number 14 is to receive update from Travis County health and human services and veteran services for development process for fiscal year 2009 social services, rfs, request for services, and take appropriate action.

>> > good morning, judge, Commissioner sherry flemming, executive managerer for health and human services and veterans service.
the last time we visited with you regarding this item you asked us to go back and look at, or determine for you some updated information on basic needs services in the community.
and so our back up sort of lays out the information that we have been able to gather about overall an increase in basic needs services requests across our community.
what you have also been handed is sort of considered an option b that we will talk about in just a minute.

>> > sherry, if we can just stop.
this information, is that part of the information we already have in the backup or is it in addition?

>> > it's in addition.

>> > okay, let me suggest this.
in the future, if you possibly can, can you please get this information to us in a more appropriate manner so I won't have to try to compare what I had in the backup that I reviewed and then try to compare what I have now.

>> > yes, sir.

>> > it really would be helpful if we were to do that.
otherwise I'm having to struggle trying to compare notes from what we had last time with what I reviewed and then what you presented us today.

>> > yes, sir.

>> > so if you can just tell me what the differences are if you can go through this, it will help me a heck of a lot.

>> > will do.

>> > thank you very much.

>> > the backup memo that was filed by the department basically goes through first the health and human services programs that are generally, that are funded by the generally fund through health and human services.
and as the backup notes for every month since August of last year, with the exception of November, we have seen a significant upward trend in the number of persons presenting for services and receiving services.
with January being sort of an all-time high at 96 percent increase.
and there's a chart there that shows the number of denials.
so we also have an increase in the number of persons who are presenting who are requesting services but for whatever reason were not eligible.
we also included for you information about state programs, chip in particular or the childrens health insurance program, is reporting an increase in demand at 34 percent.
med al-qaida --medicaid is up five percent over the same period in 2008.
there's also an increase in requests for food stamps.
and you notice there we have a chart that displays sort of a sharp decline fueling in food stamps.
we attribute that, an increase in residents following hurricane ike.
many of those residents had the opportunity to apply for foot stamps.
about December, January we anticipate shows residents came off the food stamp rolls or returned to their area so they are no longer counted within the Travis County number.
but even if you put that number aside, we still are experiencing about a 50 percent increase in the number of persons who are receiving food stamps in our community over January of 2008.
so January of 2009 numbers are about 50 percent over.
as you know, we have reportd to you previously that there is, there has been more interest in our community of doing outreach and having persons to apply for food stamps because that is a state program that ohm costs the state the administrative costs.
and Travis County was one of the counties in the state that had the number of people eligible for the program versus the number of people actually receiving food stamps was significant.
there was a significant gap there.
so there has been activity in our community to sort of close that gap in terms of outreach.
but I think, you know, that may be a small portion of it.
but it's also, I think, an increase in the number of persons who are eligible.
we have also added for your information school enrollment information for the seven scrool district in Travis County.
enrollment has gone up a little over ten percent.
but the number of students who will be classified as economically disadvantaged has grown by 19 percent.
and so that is considered, that growth is outpacing the generally student population growth.
we also included for you, you know we have several contractors who provide services for us.
and in monitoring those contracts and visiting those providers, we often get feedback about what they are seeing at their individual program.
and there are four points that were consistent.
and one is that economic conditions haven carried the client needs so people are not only presenting with whatever the program's mission is for, but they also have additional needs that the agencies are being faced with trying to meet.
the providers are seeing a more diverse population.
certainly an increase in persons who speak a language other than english, but also persons who have not sought assistance before.
an increase in mental health and substance abuse issues are being reported, and also agencies are reporting that their clients are moving out of the Austin area into del valle, Pflugerville and other outlying areas.
my staff would tribute that to the cost of housing that would be contributing to that.
in addition, we were able to speak with a number of significant partners, including the community tax centers which is operated by foundation communities.
they have already competed 30 percent more tax returns this January than they did over last year and have delivered more than 40 percent more returns and refunds since the same period for last year.
the capital area food bank continues to experience an increase in demand.
they report October 2008 being the largest output for the food bank in its 27-year history.
as you know, our foot bank is a regional food bank, but in terms of county number, they deliver to various food banks.
and in terms of the number of people they serve, they are reporting a 500 percent increase.
now, what is significant about care tos, they have a system that allows them to track their phone calls.
and that is something that most of us don't v our program doesn't have that.
a lot of our other partners don't have that.
so we have a lot of confidence in that number because of this system that they use to not only track the clients that they serve but the clients who are attempting to receive services through their program.
the other question that staff was given the last time we were here was about literacy and the empact of literacy on employment.
and so on page 5 of the backup, you will see that according to the national assessment of adult literacy, a person's level of literacy has a direct relationship to their, whether they are in full-time employment, part-time employment, or in the case of this chart that we provided, not in the labor force at all.
so if a person is below basic, the basic literacy level, we will see higher numbers of folks who may not even be seeking employment due to those literacy levels.
but you can see that the higher the literacy the higher opportunity for a person to be employed.
as you know, staff had presented four options to the court in terms of issue areas for funding for a potentially request for services, which would be an opportunity to go out for proposals to provide a list of services.
based on our discussion last time, you expressed an interest in basic needs.
and what has happening in that arena due to the economic down turn.
so what you have just been handed is what would be considered a second option, if you will.
the first option was request for proposals as staff has previously presented in those issue areas or issue areas that the court would identify.
your second option would be to abandon the request for services area and look at increases in the contracts that brought basic needs services.
and we're proposing a ten percent increase to the basic needs contracts.
and you had should have a document--and I should have a document that has a list of contracts that shows which contracts would be impacted by that ten percent increase.
then we would propose an increase to the basic needs coalition of $80,000.
we would encourage your consideration of the literacy coalition recommendation that staff initially made simply because this is a train the trainer model.
so by training a group of 24-30 trainers, we then create an opportunity to increase the number of persons who present, who can train working persons who have limited english proficiency.
we have previously requested when you make new investments that we include an evaluation so that you --component so you will know the impact of the investment you make.
and we also have a recommendation supplement to the dem basic needs assessment due to the increases I described for you.
if we were to continue serving at rate that we served in January, we are projecting the department to exceed its line items related to emergency assistance by $160,000.
as you know, this is a very, a living process, so every week when we serve residents, we recompute what our ending balance will be.
so clearly we are still very early in the budget.
but based on the historical we have already.
we felt obligated to let you know that.
so this division of the resources that are available reflects a response to the numbers that we just presented to you.
it's not the only response, but it is a response.

>> > I guess if you look at this overall, it appears that there is an opportunity with some of these services to be situated in sort of a wrap-around approach, meaning that trying to make the person whole, the recipients whole, under the social service, health and human service arena.
but saying all of that, especially if we are going to approach not only the literacy and all these other kind of things, do we have an accurate calculation of what the dropout rate is and how this impacts what we are looking at as far as the dropout rate in our school system?
because apparently when that dropout rate hits, of course, there are circumstances whereby we may be impacted.
so will some of these things also look at the dropout portion of this to look at that population also?

>> > the literacy project that we are reverencing here is designed to--reverencing here is designed to impact persons with limited english proficiency.
that is not to say persons who have limited proficiency because of leaving school could not also participate if they needed those services.
so it's not limited to that population but generally what we think of is work with folks who have limited english proficiency.
but the literacy programs work with any person who has limited capacity to function, you know, with our language.

>> > right.
that's what I'm referring to.

>> > yes.

>> > because literacy occurs in generally.
we can put several things under literacy, not only language and other things, but understanding just the process of employment opportunities.
not understanding the application process.
not, it's a lot involved in that.
i just want to make sure when we go out with these kind of things.
of course I'm looking at a wrap-around approach, but I'm also looking at making persons whole in the community.

>> > and if I can answer the other piece of your question, I don't have the dropout number with me.

>> > it would be good to know.

>> > we can find out.

>> > it would be good to know what that number is to see.
when I last saw the number, it was definitely increasing tremendously.
john exactly the percentage--i don't know exactly the percentage, but it's ly moving up and up.
dropout rate.
definitely been an increase, has been brought to my attention.
again, I just think that that may be something that may be a part of this, a person do not return to school and they drop out.
of course, there are extenuating circumstances as you stated earlier.
education is really a key component of what we are trying to deal with here.
so that is just a little portion of the .
i know a lot of folks have a lot to say.
this is a big deal and getting bigger with some of the things we are looking at.
and my last question, is there any opportunity for whatever short comings we see here today that the stimulus package money may be made available depending on contingent, and may not be a part of this, but may be, something may be made available as far as trying to provide some type of of relief in some of these situations.
so I did want to throw that out.
there may be some other opportunities.

>> > we do know there will be health ap human services related dollars coming through the stimulus package.
there will be services through the food stamp program, of course.
there are senior meals programs that have been identified and programs not identified, specifically which agencies at the state level will be disbursing the fund.
i think the most promise, based on what we know today, and as you I know that information is changing daily, our best opportunity to impact specific areas within Travis County will be those, the come at the timetive dollars that will be--competitive dollars that will be released because we will then be able to target those things that we want to specifically impactwith that comment, ap this is--

>> > with that comment, and this is basically what I'm going to focus a lot of attention on, and that is any one-time funding scenarios that we come up will actually have ongoing impact, positive impact on the community.
so if we spend a dollar one time on a situation I'm looking at the multiplier effect of that one dollar we invest one time, to an ongoing process, an ongoing impact.
so, we want to make that fit.

>> > we'll certainly do our best.

>> > judge?

>> > thank you.

>> > go ahead.

>> > Commissioner.

>> > I was about to, I understand that one or two other individuals have come to address the court on this item.
if we can get you to move to the end, sherry.
may be good to hear them anyway and ask questions.
if you have come on this item, this is time to come forward.
we have three more chairs available.
good morning.

>> > yes, good morning, judge Biscoe.
good morning, county Commissioners.
may name is joyce macdonald and I'm the executive director of frame worse community development corporation.
we have had the pleasurer of meeting with all of you to talk with you in detail about our foreclear you're prevention and delink when si counseling program.
not belabor that.
i want to go into our presentation why we believe saving homes there foreclosure will been 239 the county.
rory oh mally is here with us, director of affordable housing will go into more detail about the spreadsheet information we provided to you this morning.
with that being said, forecloshhave increased drastically in the past 18 months.
i brought some articles from both the Austin american statesman as well as the business journal.
foreclosures postings for January were up 58 percent in Travis County.
in March foreclosure postings were up 56 percent.
the postings were at 551.
and it also says in the business journal that in the first quarter Travis County foreclosure postings toppled 1400 for the first time.
the total was 1470, 12 percent hike over the 1321 notices filed in the last quarter of 2008 and 43 percent jump over the number of foreclosure postings for the same quarter last year.
lower income families have been impacted severely because of the usedable rate mortgages sub prime loans and reduction and loss of income through employment.
minority families who have been the target of presented tore lending practices have been hit especially hard by foreclosure crisis.
in the past 12 months frameworks community development corporation has assisted 117 families in Travis County threatened with forb closures who owned homes in the area outside of the city of Austin, from fluger ville to del valle.
benefits to Travis County, burden on the community, families who stay in their homes do in the become burdens on the community through homelessness, mental health vicious, and health concerns.
children's education is not disrupted.
life and deterioration of neighborhoods is avoided.
crime and public safety burdens do not rise as a result of vacant and abandoned home.
property tax revenue.
families retaining homes pay their property taxes.
foreclosures cause property values and tax revenues to drop.
foreclosures lenders avoid paying taxes until the property is resold.
prevention counseling is an effective solution less expensive than families become ago burden on government and social services.
resolution of forb clear through crowncounseling and negotiation lessens the need for legal representation.
frameworks assisted families to avoid the threat of foreclosure through one-on one counseling which includes an in depth assessment of the family circumstances, developing realistic action plans to reserve their housing, negotiate ago workout option with lenders and loan services.
framework counselors have been trade and certified by neighbor works america and the u.s.
department of housing and urban development to provide foreclosure prevention counseling.
we have a frong record of achieve resolution which are feasible to families and acceptable to lenders.
finally, funding from Travis County would match with other sources to effect ly help families the avoid forb closures.
i'm going to have rory speak from here.

>> > good morning, judge and members of the Commissioners court.
our volume in terms of families coming to us seeking assistance has increased tremendously since the beginning of the year.
we are seeing 20-25 new families in intake every single week since the beginning of the year.
i handed you a spreadsheet that is for the last three months of 2008 on our intake for families who are in Travis County outside of the city limits of Austin.
if you look at that spreadsheet, what you see, these are families who have not, you know, gone beyond their means.
these are folks who are lower income and low to moderate income.
and in many instances, they have loans which are at interest rates which are sub prime.
they are not really reflective of what, you know, current day rates are.
and if you look at the reasons why the families have gotten behind on their mortgages, you're looking at loss of jobs significant reduction in the number of hours, looking at health issues, looking at family separations, those kinds of concerns are causing families to end up threatened with forb closure and the potential loss of their homes.
what frameworks does is to big in in depth with each of those families and determine what the circumstance is, what is the mowing dedelinquency, the their expenses and other debts.
we work with them to create a reality budget so they can in fact address the mortgage delinquent situation if they want to save their home.
we lay out an action plan of what they need to do and what we can do for them, and contact their lender or servicer and negotiate an agreement, ee either forebearance for several months so the family can catch up, a reduction of the interest rate and payment so it's something that is feasible for the family but still creates a long-term performing loan.
we may in some instances say to the family, it looks like under the circumstances you need to sell your home because that is what you need to do.
and in all instances, what we are trying do is to keep the family whole, keep them in housing, and let them continue to be productive in the community.
when there's a reduction of employment lost of a job, the family is not staying static.
they are out there working really hard to get other employment so that they can maintain their home.
what we're asking is that within the context of basic needs and addressing the down turnin the economy, that it's important that keeping families in their homes be a priority.
and we're asking that basic needs definition be expanded to include working to help families avoid foreclosures.
and in the process of that, we're not asking Travis County to support all of that effort.
we have gone out and working with Texas department of housing and community affairs, we have managed to qualify for some national foreclosure mitigation counseling program funds, which is about $140,000.
we have worked with the Texas state task force on foreclosure prevention to be able to receive funds through that organization .
we have asked the city of Austin for funding.
we are trying to put it together.
we currently have four counselors working on this in english and spanish.
we want to expand that effort to respond to the increasing need, and we're asking that we be able, if there's request for services, to be able to apply for that funding, or if there's direct contracting, that there be funds allocated for foreclosure prevention.
thank you very much.

>> > do you mind if I ask you a question?

>> > sure.

>> > okay.
what is the, I guess, the overall parameters that have been established by president obama and his attempt to reduce foreclosures as they occur, whatever the criteria are, whether sub prime or whatever situation they are, I guess notifying the banks to tell them no, you're not going to foreclose, lean toward not foreclosing on persons under certain conditions.
and I understand that they say you can't --save everybody.
i heard you say some people will have to fail under certain conditions.
but how do you dovetail ap do what the federal attempt is at this time to negotiate with banks to ensure that from the federal point of view downward to the local level, how this may impact what you are trying to to here.
are you directly tide in with the federal government as far as president obama's team that is looking at the foreclosure occurrences all across the nation, but right here I guess locally with us, Travis County, are you tied into that?

>> > president obama's plan announced very recently are great steps forward to try to resolve the foreclosure problem.
the way we participate with that in communicating with the state of text foreclosure prevention task farce and laying out what we see occuring in this community and what we think are priorities and strategies that ought to be undertaken in order to solve the problem.
the multipart plan that president obama laid out in terms of working through freddy mac and fanny may to try to avoid foreclosure, that hits a substantial pokes of mortgages in this country, is a very positive step.
providing incentives for lenders to reduce the interest and payments down to about 38 percent of the family's income, and then the federal program being able to bring it on down to about 31 percent of the family's income is a very positive step.
looking at having bankruptcy judges be able to add just the mortgage rates, again, would be a positive contribution.
as we see it and looking at the plan, those are very very strong forward steps that will help to alleviate foreclosures.
however, it does not do everything that is necessary to work with families, to sit down with them and truly understand their circumstances as modifications in loans are developed.
one of the problems that we have encountered in earlier efforts, if a lender through any , you know, federally dictated program, sends to a family a modification of a loan and says here is our plan for you to be able to solve your problem, if the effort has not been made to do the due diligence to really determine what that family's capacity is, then the likelihood that that modification will be successful is not very high.
and that has happened in a number of instances over the last year.
our concern is, and there will be some monies that will come forward through president obama's plan that will help to support the kind of in depth counseling and negotiation for families.
but it's got to be matched up.
you cannot just be a top-down type of approach that says the lender, kay, you go out and you make an adjustment in this loan if in fact they have not looked in depth and really worked with the family.
that is our concern.
we want the families to be successful on the long term.

>> > this is very interesting.
i think what we ought to do is get these two to meet with mr.
davis.
they met with him a --couple of these months ago and me too.

>> > that's true.

>> > and you made significant process since we had that meeting.
why don't we do that though?
because if we did a foreclosure type project, for closure prevention in collaboration with the other governmental entities in this area, that will require some work, some discussion, a written proposal of some sort.

>> > yes.

>> > we're prepared.

>> > I think we ought to do thatyes.

>> > --

>> > yes.
and mr.
davis is here and says he has plenty of time to take up additional responsibility.

>> > not just talking about this.

>> > I do want to add, Commissioner Davis, the plan, I just want to add to what rory indicated regarding the president's plan that the refinancing component of that plan is only for loans that are owned by fanny and freddy.
and you have to have it on time with your payments to be eligible for that.
the second portion is strictly voluntary.
the services and investors do not have to participate.

>> > it would be good.

>> > is that approach okay?

>> > I think it's a good alternative because it's just a terrific prevention program to keep people in their homes, not disrup the children's lives, so they can continue going to school.
and so I think that would be really good, judge.

>> > will you be able to get back with us in two weeks?

>> > yes.

>> > that is giving mr.
davis a written proposal.
i think we'd like to see what other partners are involved.
specifically, how you get the families that you assist.
what assistance you have been providing.

>> > uh-huh.

>> > and how we can help.

>> > and we are able to provide that, judge.

>> > and they are all local residents.
in Travis County, which is great.

>> > yes.

>> > judge, also, I think it would be good to really have exactly those that will be screened in and those that will be screened out.
according to what president obama's plan is.
like I say, he has notified several banks.
i don't know if fanny mae and freddy mac, they also are negotiating.
there should be something there that we can have to see what we are really looking at from where the president is coming from, his proposal, and then what maybe locally that we can do.

>> > we have an executive summary of his plan.

>> > it would be good to share it with mr.
davis.

>> > we will be happy to provide that to you, an analysis of that.

>> > it would be good to share that.

>> > but you want us to help no matter what the federal government does.

>> > absolutely.

>> > yes.

>> > I think we ought to access as much as those funds as we can for our residents but at the same time if there is a need to needs to be addressed by the county the city,state of Texas officials in this area, then I think that ought to be the target.

>> > yes, sir.

>> > from my viewpoint.
then whatever we get from the federal government can be on top of that.

>> > absolutely.

>> > thank very much.

>> > just quickly, I think this is wonderful and you're absolutely ride, foreclosure prevention is very important component.
i'm really looking forward, think the judge's suggestion is dead on, looking for a greater collaboration between the various entities to look at foreclosure prevention as a component of our overall policy in kind of a metro government perspective.
but I wanted to be clear that this particular pot of money we are really particularing in regard to housing toward those who are at the, the absolutely most vulnerable, most likely renters.
and so that is one reason that, although what you do is very important, I don't see it fitting in this pot of money that was identified in the last budget session.
so it would be something, in my opinion, that we would be looking for in the next budget session, which will be ramping up here very quickly.

>> > thank you very much.

>> > appreciate it.

>> > during the budget process we did set aside $450,000 in the event we would need it to address increased social services needs.
we have before us two options.
one is to issue a rfs which takes some time to compete.
based on experience, you are looking at six to ten weeks.
we are not careful, we will be at the end of this fiscal year before we can do something.
if in fact the lines are long, it seems to me we ought to figure out a way to make the funds available to address these needs as soon as possible.
that really means increasing contracts with social services providers already on board.
that was the second option that you laid out.
right?

>> > yes, sir.

>> > have we discussed that option with the providers?

>> > we have not had an opportunity to discuss it with the providers.
what we did was we identified those basic needs in housing continuum providers as they spoke to the specific needs that we heard the court articulate.
so I think it's important for me to emphasize this is not the full depth and breadth of the persons you contract.
it is specifically those persons who would be concerned with food, utility assistance, and housing, which would be rental assistance of some for me fashion.

>> > what we call basic needs.

>> > exactly.

>> > that makes more sense to me than issue ago rf s.
maybe the question is whether ms.
flemming ought to try to get with those entities and get their input.
when I add these numbers up, you're not using a full $450,000.
right?

>> > no.
well--

>> > you are using some for your department.

>> > not for the external agencies, no.

>> > but lines are goge at Travis County too.

>> > that's correct.

>> > you can use some of this to address that increased need.

>> > exactly.
it's almost half or a little bit more than half outside and a little less than half inside the county programs.

>> > any other ideas?

>> > I think we ought to go with option two right away and get into the conversations with those outside agencies as well as the internal.

>> > do you think we ought to discuss --

>> > I think we ought to go ahead and give her direction which option we are going to use and she can have her conversations with the outside agencies as quickly as possible.
people are hurting out there.
i don't think they can wait a whole bunch longer.

>> > my guess is if we contact the agencies and say we are looking to increase your allocation by ten percent, they would be on board with that.

>> > I think so.

>> > how much additional need can you address if we were to make an additional blank amount of funding available.

>> > kay.

>> > is a better way to put your question.

>> > are you going to call them?

>> > we can certainly get that information.
and we're talking about the agencies we have identified on this list.

>> > right.

>> > yes, we certainly can make contact with them.
and make sure that their work statements are updated.

>> > Commissioner Eckhardt.

>> > I agree that number two is the way to go considering the changes in the recent developments in the economy.
a much more rapid deployment.
i do have a continuing interest in the comprehensive service model laid out when we were thinking of going out for request for services.
only because I am interested in getting out there into the unincorporated area and making sure our allegations are appropriate--allocation s are appropriate through a case study kind of approach.
and I'm wondering if the portion that is set aside for basic needs for in-house services, associate portion of that could be utilized for a continuation of that program to make sure that our basic needs allocations are appropriate.

>> > yes.

>> > and what Commissioner Eckhardt is reverencing is a $65 000 investment that you made with community development block grant money which allowed us to hire a social worker who right now is focusing on del valle and maynor, both together, very large areas with lots of need as we well know.
but that one social worker is actually working in the community, visiting folks in their homes, has the appropriate equipment to access our computer system in the home, to connect folks not only with our programs but also other partners programs.
what we are finding is that folks are not even aware that they exist.

>> > yeah.

>> > I think that broker component is something that could vastly, well you tell me.
could it improve our distribution of basic needs in the outlying areas where we are seeing people move, chasing affordability?

>> > certainly if we are finding folks who are not even aware that our services exist, I think we have robust programs in all the community centers but yet finding residents not aware of even what the county offers, and so that is, you know, certainly an a-ha moment for us.
with the expansion of that moment, we can certainly base someone in the maynor area, which would allow them to pick up a portion of Pflugerville and dell vail could be the center for the south, for example.

>> > but that --put that in writing for us, the Eckhardt component.

>> > can do.

>> > give chance to contact the agencies indicating our inclination to proceed with option two.
show us the amounts they would ends up, additional case worker, the impact we think they would have.
you may want to look around at your departmental budget and look at the nonbasic needs area and see if there are line items projected for surplus that we may be able to tap to implement some of this innovative stuff.
how is that?

>> > works for me, judge.
thank you.

>> > thanks so much.

>> > we'll have it back on next week.
different wording.

>> > thank very much.

>> > we don't need to approve today?

>> > I think the numbers that continually increase as far as the need is concerned, I don't know how you can do that to do that on a quarterly basis, but it would be good if we can continue to track the needs.

>> > let me restate that to be sure I understand the request asking for update fairly, you know every few months or so.

>> > yes.

>> > on the demand.

>> > exactly.

>> > we certainly can do that.

>> > that would be good to know.

>> > we can include that as part of our report back next week.

>> > that will be good to know.

>> > thank you.

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Last Modified: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:17 PM

February 24, 2009, Item 14

February 24, 2009,
Item 14