Travis County Commissioners Court
August 25, 2009,
Item 6
>> now, number 15.
15.
receive update on the joint application for the homeless prevention and rapid re-housing program grant.
>>
>> good morning,.
>> I'm roger jeffreys, executive manager of justice and public safety.
i have with us today, kathy mcclardy from criminal justice planning.
raise your hand when I call your name.
beth attarton from caritas, also filling in for jo kathryn quinn of head of caritas.
matilde hime-flores, from aids services of Austin, lars smith from crime prevention institute.
leah gramm from the wright house.
julie cullen the financial analyst on my staff.
we came to you a couple of months ago and there -- there was an extraordinary collaboration, actually two of them, a pair of them, that were applying for some stimulus moneys to help homelessness, homeless people in Austin.
in Travis County.
the grants were to provide rent and utility assistance.
rapid -- for those at risk of homelessness, rent, rapid rehousing for those who are homeless and case management for these populations.
this group did an extraordinary job putting together this application and it's a coalition of non-profits and city and county agencies, actually there's more to it than just this group.
but they have good news for you this morning.
i'm going to get out of their way and let them tell you.
>> we got it.
>>
>> [laughter]
>> good morning.
>> you betcha.
we are really excited to come to tell you today about the right at home project and the funding that we've received from the state of Texas.
this is a really exciting news that $600,000 is coming to this community.
our pilot project was the top ranked pilot project in the entire state.
>> [ applause ] that's very exciting.
>> [ applause ] this program targets persons with -- with institutional incarceration plus another issue, like chronic, health disease, substance abuse issue, mental illness, some kind of disability.
the partners in this project are caritas of Austin, wright house wellness, aids services of Austin, and crime prevention institute.
and then we have lots of other linking partners, if you will.
we would really like to try to thank the Austin Travis County reentry round table, especially roger jeffreys and his staff, kathy mcclardy and julie cohen.
they gave a significant investment of time and we know the success is in large part due to their assistance and their help.
before we really go into some of the details on this, I want you to know that the development of this program, at the development, we were already thinking about the sustainability at the end of the program.
we are very excited to get the stimulus dollars, but know that after two years there's going to be some -- some continued work that will need to be done.
we know that this is going to prove to be exciting and successful.
we're going to have good outcomes and we're already looking at what those successes can mean to the county and to this area at the end of the next two years.
we think this is going to improve a new way of doing business.
with h.u.d.
and the department of justice, the d.o.j., now having a partnership with some of the information that we know about -- about formally incarcerated folks and the recidivism rate, if they have unstable housing.
that this is really going to prove something very exciting for this community and help us do business a different way with people who are experiencing homelessness with this particular situation.
i think jerry you want to give some more specifics about that.
and --
>> well, roger not only didn't introduce me, he made sure I didn't get a microphone.
>> [laughter] I'm jerry
>> [indiscernible] with Austin Travis County Commissioners court reentry round table.
i give him a hard time because he's really special.
i did promise him that I would not make y'all stand up today.
on April 2nd, just for a brief review, for those of you that may not have been here when we first came to sit before you, the Texas department of housing and community affairs held its first public input session on the homeless intervention and rapid rehousing program.
realizing an opportunity to provide awareness for the housing barriers for the population, these partners that you see before you right now gave testimony and talked about the need for greater case management and support services in order to prevent homelessness and obtain and maintain housing stability.
as a result, Texas was the only state in the nation to carve out hprp moneys to specifically address breaking the cycle of homelessness with special needs populations.
and I want to tell you, being the only state in the nation is something Texas is proud of and proud that this group of people were the ones that really instigated and made that happen.
so we say why did we do this?
why did it matter to us as public public and private stakeholders in Travis County?
because the impact of not targeting this population is both personally and physically devastating to our community.
for our citizens personally, housing stability jeopardizes public safety by increased
>> [indiscernible] and recidivism.
the data is staggering, in Austin Travis County reentry round table's corporation for supportive housing, Texas reentry initiative going on right now, we have a data work group.
that group has been collecting data and determining intersections related to the reentry population who are also homeless and have special needs such as those targeted by the right at home project.
one example, this is just one example, of the data that we have now collected with the result of partnering with the Travis County jail.
in 2008, of the 814 persons identified with mental illness, also homeless and were assessed at the jail's intake, 4,700 times.
>> could you repeat that.
>> 840 persons identified with mental illness who were homeless were assessed at the county jail 4,700 times.
in other words, they were identified as having a mental illness, that doesn't count ones who fell through the cracks and weren't identified.
the assessment tool which they call a track was run and that showed housing stability.
>> could you -- could you help us out with this.
i think she's having trouble with the mic.
it's not coming in clear.
>> that was done -- that was -- these same 814 people actually were arrested and went to intake and went through intake and assessed 4,700 times.
just this group alone used over 54,000 jail bed days in 2008.
that's the equivalent to 150 years.
these men and women are usually housed in special needs beds which is significantly more expensive to the county than general population units.
but even if you apply the minimum $47 a day, which is the general population rate, the housing of just these 814 people in one year comes -- costs the county taxpayers $2,592,000.
and this does not even include other mental health populations or persons with medical needs like h.i.v.
aids, hepatitis c.
housing stability for the population is this group of partners going to serve has to be addressed.
in an attempt to break this cycle, the 23 right at home collaborating applicant, subcontracting and linking partners tore down the traditional boundaries between criminal justice and human service.
in doing so we discovered the power of partnership, which is now a model of community collaboration and coordination through consensus building, that is maximized the stimulus funding and opened doors of opportunity for all of our citizens to live, work and play safely in Travis County.
although we realize how valuable your time is this morning, each of the remaining collaborating applicants would like to briefly share with you their excitement on how the right at home project will affect their
>> [indiscernible] and the people you all serve.
i now turn this over, excuse the cliche, my partners in crime.
>> [laughter]
>> thank you.
>> my name is laura smith, I'm the executive director of crime prevention institute.
we're a local non-profit here in Austin and we're specializing really in working outs of the travis state jail doing an evidence based pre and post release model out there.
this enhances the services that we are already providing out there that are additionally funded by Travis County health and human services.
our -- we provide comprehensive reentry services to the men leaving that state jail and returning to east Austin.
our role in this particular collaboration is going to be in outreach.
specifically going into the state jail and doing assessments and intakes with individuals who are leaving that -- that place homeless.
which is about 37% of the people leaving that state jail do not know where they're going to sleep the very night that they get out.
which ends up in a major public safety risk in terms of wandering aimlessly without any money.
a place to live kind of leads to other risk factors for further crime.
when we get our group together, the cpi, the guys who volunteer to be in the cpi program, just of that group, about half of those guys are homeless.
so what this does for us is gets us an additional one and a half case managers in outreach individuals to go out and find those individuals and help them to plan for a better release, find them a place to stay and end up getting them rapidly rehoused.
so we will be able to be assisting with case management, but also funneling people into the right caseload that be caritas or aids services of Austin or wright house wellness center depending on their needs.
our strength and partnership is really our relationship with the Texas department of criminal justice and our access inside the facility.
so our goal would be to reduce those numbers.
that 37% that leave homeless, the 50% that are on our caseload that are homeless, to reduce the numbers of those who ends up homeless and also to there be lead to more stability, less recidivism.
our next steps as far as our agency is hiring for these positions and getting with the rest of the partners to create a -- a unanimously agreed upon intake form that we could all degree on how we're going to funnel these guys through our system.
so thank you very much for your time.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> good morning.
i'm leah gramm, I'm the executive director of the wright house wellness center.
scoot up a little bit.
sorry.
the wright house wellness center is going to be working with the reentry population who is also living with hepatitis c.
and I was really excited about the opportunity to be able to provide services to this population because traditional through there haven't been a whole lot of services.
the wright house wellness center has provided h.i.v.
and accept tights c testing and services to the reentry population since 2005 through a grant through the substance abuse and mental health services administration.
over half of the individuals that we test are hepatitis c positive.
but we can't really help them much more than that because there's not a lot of other resources, especially not a chance to find housing.
hepatitis c is the most common blood born ill innocence the united states.
and there are an estimated 368,000 cases in Texas.
and approximately 80% of those are chronic infections.
a lot of individuals are going untreated.
because their disease has not been recognized.
or they are having problems with their treatment regimens, they are uninsured, unable to afford treatment.
they are basically not stabilized.
they pose a risk to the rest of the population.
the world health organization projects that complications of hepatitis c will double in the coming years.
an interesting fact that I've found through the Texas department of criminal justice blood born pathogen program, this is a training manual, is that 30% offenders of carrying the virus, that's compared to 2% in the free world.
so there are a lot of folks coming out of incarceration who are hepatitis c positive.
and what we will do that wright house wellness center, provide case management services.
so our goals are to stabilize these folks in housing, get them into primary medical care, and then also assist them in -- in accessing other resources like food, clothing, medical -- other medical treatment and employment and then also provide them some h.i.v.
and hepatitis c prevention education, so that -- so that it reduces the risk of exposure to others and also reduces their further risk.
and our next steps are about the same, it's to hire for our position and just continue working out the process with all of the partners.
>> good morning.
>> thank you.
>> can you hear me okay?
i'm
>> [indiscernible] flores, the deputy director for access programs for aids services of Austin.
we serve people with h.i.v.
and those at risk.
we have comprehensive array of services that we offer from case management to food bank to dental services to financial assistance, legal services and nutrition services as well.
with this particular program, we will be serving 50 individuals with h.i.v., with criminal histories per year.
our next steps are we're going to begin interviews this week.
with the goal of hiring within two weeks.
we're ready to go.
we will also begin collaborating with crime prevention institute, which we have not done in the past.
we will be working with this group and with the hprp group to revise the eligibility screening tool to encourage people with h.i.v.
to reveal their chronic health status.
there's such a stigma with h.i.v.
this is rarely happening, but we're going to revise our tool and hope to find more people.
with the housing case manager, they will work more intensively with housing issues than our current case manager is able to do.
our intent is to build skills and to promote self sufficiency.
this will help us meet the goals of stabilized housing, obtaining and maintaining health care, obtaining and maintaining income and risk reduction, using risk reduction measures to decrease the spread of h.i.v.
as you know, housing and job stability are primary factors that -- that if they are not addressed will result in people being incarcerated once again.
and with h.i.v., I don't have the -- I don't have the data on that, but the cost when you cover the expensive h.i.v.
meds which can cost up to two thousand dollars a month is stiff.
so obviously you want these people housed and not going back.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> finally, I'm beth attarton, the executive director for caritas of Austin.
we are providing the basic safety net beyond the specialists who are here dealing with certain reentry populations with certain significant challenges.
and caritas is the lead and fiscal agent of this project is -- our next steps are to further the coordination of this, along with other solid partners in the community.
life works, safe place, family elder care and then the city of Austin funding for legal services and also for our housing locators, which are also going to be at caritas.
so this web of support for this is significant and we're really excited to know that we can come back to you in six months and give you the performance measures that are required for us, required for us to -- to give to the state, so we will bring you those, as well as our own data that we think will really show some exciting news as well as really good stories that I know will -- will really tell the important message and that is stabilizing folks in this community in their housing so that they can become a part of this community.
>> good news and great collaboration so far.
>> you know, I have a couple of questions that I need to maybe expand on.
is -- are you going to try -- thank you again for all of your support and helping us with the situation.
and then I just think that it's just great for the non-profits for you to come together.
dealing with this very, very, very serious, serious concern in the community.
however, my question is, are you going to be able to check recidivism also?
i would like to check to see how many of these persons that are in this particular situation homeless.
recidivism meaning going back into the incarcerated area, which is a big deal for the taxpayers having to deal with this.
you mentioned $47 a day, I have even heard that varies.
tracking recidivism, but check the statuses as far as veterans are concerned.
it's been going to my attention, a lot of the homeless that we serve, a lot of them are veterans, I wondering if that's being tracked, also.
i understand there have been several citations issued by the law enforcement.
of course those things aren't adhered to, I guess, as far as serving with really dealing with a very unique type of population of persons in the community.
so -- so I understand that you are going to come back in six months to -- to show us some type of performance data, as far as where you are.
but previously, a similar situation, I'm just wondering have those mechanisms, are they being tracked and also the last question is -- is the persons that actually are able to -- that are actually stabilized an don't come back -- and don't come back into the system, there have to be success stories out there, where they have received the assistance from the organization and -- and they haven't come back, they are no longer homeless, they are no longer this, there has to be some success out there in this program.
so will the performance data that you will bring back in about six months, will they indicate the --
>> [indiscernible]
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>> if they don't, we'll track t.
>> track it.
that would be good to know.
>> we have a shared information system and so we're all linked into that same information system.
>> if we do have have hhs, health and human services and also veteran services are attached to that.
we are definitely concerned about all, but of course we would also like to check on our veterans since we do look into the veteran services of Travis County.
>> this is exciting.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> you do have, I believe, Commissioner Eckhardt gave you a little bound book called partnerships.
it shows the process and the consensus building and it's being at now as a national model.
>> thank you.
great collaboration.
>> thank you very much.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:07 PM
