Travis County Commissioners Court
August 29, 2006
Item 3
Number 3 is to consider and take appropriate action on plan and resolution to end chronic homelessness. And should I read the resolution?
>> I will be guided by your direction.
>> did you bring a reader?
>> yes.
>> then let's let the reader read.
>> judge, I come to you as chair of echo, which is the ending chronic homelessness committee. And I'm joined together with my colleagues, donna carter on my right is an architect and is vice-chair of echo. Jo catherine quinn is director of caritas. Helen vard di is part of the organization that runs the arch, the Austin research center for the homeless. And david lurie, who is a part of your staff with Austin Travis County health and human services department. Let me say in the past that Commissioners court through its wise and generous use of its budgeting process has already provided significant resources for issues that deal with chronic homelessness. What I'm here to discuss is a community-wide effort of 40 or so organizations, both public and private, and individuals who have as a central part of their mission and their purpose dealing with the homeless population among us and especially in respect to this situation with the chronic homeless population. This arises out of a national program that the bush administration newted in 2001, and this effort is the Austin component of that national program to deal with the issues related to chronically homeless individuals. Those are individuals that have been either continually homeless for a year or have had continuous episodes of homelessness over the past three years. I have provided to you, I think, a copy of the plan itself and the results of this community wide effort to address these kinds of issues. What we're asking for is not additional money or additional resources, but simply to acknowledge that the community, including Travis County is addressing this serious issue. We had established the goal of ending chronic homelessness within a decade and charged local communities to develop their individual plans for ending chronic homelessness, and whereas the united states department of housing and urban development defines chronically homeless persons as I have just a few minutes ago defined for you. And whereas the united states interagency council on homelessness has been created to develop and implement a comprehensive national approach to end homelessness in the united states, and whereas the plan to end chronic homelessness in Austin-Travis County has been approved by the Austin city council, endorsed by the community action network and implemented by the end chronic homeless organizing committee that has broad community representation, including business leaders, service providers, homeless and formerly homeless persons, local government entities, citizens and representatives of the faith community and whereas it is estimated that the 4,000 homeless persons in Travis County on any given day, nearly 600 can be considered to meet the definition of chronically homeless persons. And whereas the entire community will benefit from ending chronic homelessness and whereas Travis County recognizes that chronic homelessness is a result of poverty, untreated mental illness and substance abuse and whereas Travis County recognizes its responsibility to serve all its citizens now, therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court here by adopt the plan to end chronic homelessness. Judge, that is the resolution which we plead with you that you would be willing to support and endorse. Thank you.
>> I did. I substituted here by endorse and support.
>> the group at this table would be happy to receive that amendment.
>> I move approval of the resolution. This is a national problem, plus certainly locally, and recently we've gotten media attention and I guess as a community we've been wrestling with it for at least the last decade. That is one that won't go away. And I guess in urban areas we seem to have much more problem than we can solve really. But we till should keep working on it.
>> judge, a question. What does erlt endorse or support imply? There's always ask in the plan. At some point whether it's year one or year five or year 10, what's the ask of this government, the hospital district, mhmr? Somebody's got to put some money on the table because the one thing we know is that the federal government isn't fult putting any money on the table. They're asking everybody to come one these planl, and the reason I say that is that when we were in noun the international downtown association and we met with representatives from h.u.d. Sally shipman, and many of us from the downtown Austin alliance said we're already well on the path of doing everything you said we should do, federal government, so what do we get in snrurn and the answer was a completed plan. There was no dollars that were being given back. It is basically with I will more -- it is basically more for the feds to say this is the solution. I hate to sound so cynical after 12 years of doing thrks but what's the ask? Because otherwise it's just another piece of paper. And golly, we've sure got a lot of people. Paper doesn't put people in houses.
>> that's a good question, and there are two immediate responses to that. One is the paper is an abstract representation of the work of 40 public and private entities and individuals who have as a part of their objective to deal with this issue. And the result of that is that there is now a coordinated and carefully it thought through process to eliminate the gaps and eliminate the overlaps among all of the social service providers that deal with this. So there is a benefit that comes to the community as a result of this effort. The other issue that this gives Commissioners court an opportunity to give a voice to the community-wide support for this. And how is that important? Well, it is important to you and me because when Austin-Travis County goes to the federal government about fund fog additional services to deal with this issue, one of the questions which they will -- they always ask is how broad is the community expert. Has the city council adopted it, has the faith community adopted it, have the private social service providers adopted it? And they will ask what is the position of Commissioners court. So your favorable vote today will give us the ammunition that will allow us to deal effectively with the federal government in the funding choices which they have to make.
>> let's go there for a second because the last time I remember, david, you may have been here on that particular one was when we had a super cyclist grant that was being presented to the federal government and it turns out the statistics that were going to put us over the top and really get us that grant were all outside the city of Austin. So the county was being used -- don't make it sound like wait that it sounds -- for the purposes of the statistics, but when it came back to where is the money going to be spent? The answer is not in those areas that were identified as being the problematic things that triggered the need for the grant to begin with. So this is good and planning is good, but in the receipt of all those dollars, are we going to see them come back to county wide without with regard to jurisdiction because homelessness is not a problem limited to just the city of Austin. Soy just happen to think when you put your name on had something it ought to mean something and it ought to mean something when you support and endorse that you're not quietly saying something, you're an advocate, and being an advocate also means that you advocate on behalf of all constituents, not simply ones who live within one jurisdiction who would get the benefit of any federal dollars. And I wasn't seeing in here where anybody outside the sfin might the city of Austin might be the recipient of any effort. It's very Austin 17 trick because that's the most the population is, but the problem goes beyond borders here.
>> Commissioner, that's a fair evaluation. And the answer to which is probably beyond my capacity and detail, and I'm going to can if david might have some more of an appropriate response.
>> thank you, john. Commissioner, I will the reason we're here today is in recognition of the fact that this sprob broader in terms of the jurisdiction, jurisdictions that are impacted. And although we were encouraged by federal officials to develop this plan, part of the thinking at the time was that it was going to be a national priority and there might be some potential to move some money around among federal agencies. We've not seen a lot of that so far as you have clearly noted, but as john has pointed out, I think this has brought together a wide range of stakeholders, interested individuals and groups in the community to work together to develop a clear plan and a clear set of strategies so that as you all are making policy decisions, there are a number of them that the county has been working on, the work of the re-entry round table for example through the district attorney's office, impacts the chronically ally hms. You're looking at a range of issues and needs associated with mental health services in partnership with the health care district and the city, and again what we put together there strategically and invest in directly impacts this issue. Your investments in basic needs and social services in general. So I think the point here is that this plan gives us sort of a road map, some clear strategies that we in the community have consistently supported and endorsed so that as you're making policy decisions, there's some consistency in terms of what we're doing. So I think the real value of this is how it includes our decision making at the local level and what we're doing program matt lickty at the local level. Again, I would say the reason that the committee came to you today is in recognition of the fact that this definitely impacts Travis County in total and is seeking your support in terms of this plan serving as a guide for us.
>> and my last thing I'll say is -- and I agree with you, but I also find that the community action network does the same kind of issues and the issue area papers that we come up with in terms of asession the county needs are what I use as the road map in terms of investments that I make. And so I don't really find a connect hear. And this is not at all to mean that I don't support the effort to end homelessness. Of course we do. But to me this is more about the federal government trying to put a little check mark there and it's not really more about how do we end homelessness here. It's I think we were made to go through a paper exercise that will not result in any more money coming from the federal government and they're the ones who are saying, please do this plan as opposed to, we all rose up and said, we need to do this plan because we're going to solve this ourselves. This to me is an --
>> but should we teach the government a lesson by voting against the resolution?
>> I'm not going to vote against it. I'm going abstain.
>> we've done these things for 17 years and I have never interpreted it as being a budget request by entities sitting out thrvment if we think that these remghtses make owe roamtions make sense, if the federal government does not fund them, then locally we ought to. And that means nonprofit organizations, the city, the county, school district, everybody else kind of pulling together. One of our senators would say pushing the wagon uphill, all of us working together. But what we have today just a simple resolution where we support doing something for the homeless. And we have been doing stuff like this for the last decade at least. Plus we have been funding specific projects to address homelessness. So I didn't see this as being something new, except the plan is a lot more specific than I have seen in awhile. Clearly some of the recommendations make sense and ought to be done. Clearly we ought not sit on our thumbs and wait on the federal government. Clearly we tiewt do what we can. And if we can persuade the feds to provide funding, then we ought to do that. Other communities are trying to do the same thing.
>> and judge frks I can just clarify the structure of thrks the echo committee that john chairs is a subcommittee of our homeless taskforce, which is under the umbrella of the community action network, so it is intended that it is in fact tied into our community-wide planning efforts.
>> this is what we think ought to be done about the homeless people in our community, right?
>> that's correct.
>> this is not what washington, d.c. Ought to do about hltion people there or new york city or los angeles, this is Travis County residents.
>> and where my ang anger tarted is this was not presented to us as endorse and support, it was presented to us as adopting plan. And when you adopt a plan there are sequences to it -- consequences to it. I think there are expectation fz you adopt a plan that you're making a commitment.
>> to have a dollar from this court you need to have -- I changed the word from adopt because it had a problem for another member of the court. We need to do all three. If there are specific projects that come back for homelessness, then we will have to evaluate that particular proposal on its own merit, and if we can afford to do it, we ought to help owvment if not, we ought to get out of the way and pat others on the back while they try to do it. That's what we do about everything that comes here, unfortunately. But that's part of what we do.
>> thank you, judge. Is.
>> Commissioner Davis?
>> thank you, judge. Do we have a figure as far as the number of homeless persons hee within Travis County that are veterans, actually bona fide veterans, served in our military, that are now on the streets for whatever reason, but are homeless? Do we know what the percentage of those persons are within Travis County? A ballpark?
>> Commissioner, that's a fair question, and it may be -- I'm going ask if helen vardy whorks has done some study in this area, has some information?
>> we know from our one day at a time count, we have approximately 3,600 homeless on any given day. I don't know exactly how many of those are 'vets. I have heard a figure between 25 and 30%, but would have to check on that.
>> it would be good for to know. I have heard a pretty high percentage also. I don't recall the exact percentage numbers, but I do know that from the -- that we do have homeless veterans here within Travis County. I'm quite sure they're in other counties across the state and also the nation. And it just appears to me that veterans, is gi's, they are part of the federal government and I just think that the connect that we're doing here in my opinion is very appropriate to connect all entities together to see what we can do, not only for the veterans, but also for those folks out there that really are trying to turn their lives around and how we can help do that. That's what we're in the business of doing. And in my opinion. So I'd like to look at this and I think it's an appropriate instrument to move forward so that we can have some relief factors in turning folks' lives around. That includes our veterans and all the other persons because really I saw a newscast the other day when a person was homeless at one time, one of the local channels, and they were no longer homeless. And I think the person was making quilts. I don't remember what state it was, but they were quilt making. And this person would make quilts and they would give quilts to persons that were in the community in the wintertime. And because they were once homeless. And I just think it's something that we can do to at least return folks to some type of way of not becoming -- not being homeless. And that includes our veterans. Thank you.
>> thank you, Commissioner.
>> all in favor of the motion? Show Commissioners Davis, Gomez, Davis, dawr tirks yours truly voting in favor. Abstaining Commissioner Sonleitner.
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> I had set aside five minutes for this, we took 20. Come forward, mr. Pena.
>> okay. My name is gus pena. You want to talk about homeless issues and what's not being done, I think Commissioner Davis you had a very good point. How about homeless persons and their families. There is no transitional house fog homeless family. The amount and number of homeless people at any given time was incorrect. You want to try close to 7 to 8,000 homeless people here in Austin-Travis County? I think -- we're not trying to minimize the amount of homeless people and the statistical data, but let's see if we can find some help for the homeless people. You go and ask for help have you to go through a maze of red tape. I hear talk in the background over thrrks you want to hear the statistical data, get the homeless people to testify, not the usual people you have at the city council. You go for help, you have to go for this. Did you have an incident that occurred recently? We can help u if not, go to this entity. Caritas and salvation army will not help you if you're in motels. They will not help u h.u.d. Came out with a new ruling of homelessness back in December of 2004 that stated specifically if you're in a motel you're not considered homeless. That's a slap in the face, especially to veterans who served this country. That's slap in the face. I would hope -- I served on the homeless taskforce also at the school district, but I had enough of talk and at that time kel data that is not correct. Tiewk the homeless people out there. We had a lady, ms. Carol, who is a homeless veteran. . To you three months ago. They got a street counselor out there, that's what we need, street counselors, so gather information and data about the true, blue statistical data of how many people are homeless out there. Veterans, let's try 45%? That other garbage about 25 to 30% is incorrect. I'm a veteran. Do you want to fwawk those statistical data is incorrect? 45 percent or higher. We don't deserve to be on the treats. Think about that. I know there's a concerted effort of the city council here, but it's just not good enough. A lot of agencies claim to help homeless people and families, bull, they don't. I work with these people day in and day out. I've been there and done that. You better get the true, correct information before you make a decision. That's all I have to say because -- thank you, Commissioner Davis. There are a lot of military veterans on the treats. Sometimes nobody gives a darn about them. You do. Thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:28 PM