Travis County Commissioners Court
January 10, 2012 (Agenda)
Item 8
>> miss fleming, why don't we call up number 8 since you are here.
Number 8 is consider and take appropriate action on request from ending community homelessness coalition to occupy office space at the palm square building.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, sherri fleming, health and human services and veterans services and joining me is anne howard, the executive director of the ending community homelessness coalition.
we have a request from the coalition to occupy space on what is the first floor of the palm square building located on i-35 on the i-35 frontage road and cesar chavez.
and just a brief history for the court.
as you may recall, a year ago just about, several of the administrative offices of the health and human services department relocated to leased space at the Travis County housing authority, therefore allowing us to move the emergency assistance site located at the palm square build to go the second floor.
we did so to address what had become some air quality issues in terms of the number of people who were coming into the building, not only the staff but just the number of our residents who were frequenting that facility.
so we relocated the services to the second floor, and currently the first floor of the building is being used for a couple things.
the first, we have created a I think greater public access conference room in what used to be the waiting area of that.
so we have actually a place where folks who use our conference space can come in from the street rather than having to weave through our build to go find our conference spaces.
so we have a conference room there.
we are in the process of working with facilities to relocate the urban youth core program which you may recall is a joint program that we do with the city of Austin and that group has been housed at the palm square building for years.
so we are relocating them to the first floor because they primarily use our site as a staging location.
the participants in that program come in in the morning.
they, you know, distribute themselves into work crews and then they go out, and you may recall this program does, you know, lawn care at public facilities as well as graffiti abatement throughout the community.
so we will be relocating that group to a portion of the first floor.
we have also taken a portion of that first floor for hoteling, which is the new word we've learned in facilities.
so that allows space for those administrative personnel who have to come and work at the palm school building to do a little bit of hoteling on the first floor when we need the folks who relocated to the highland mall facility.
so we still have --
>> that doesn't mean they are sleeping there, that means they are working there on a temporary basis.
>> yes.
absolutely.
thank you, Commissioner.
so we do have a little bit of space that is currently unoccupied, and the department to date does not have a specific plan for the use of those offices.
so I guess long story short, the staff is in support of the court's consideration of potentially one year of use by the ending chronic homelessness coalition, and we are in favor of this request because we do find that this coalition is in transition.
they are taking over the management of significant resources for our community.
Travis County through health and human services is becoming more and more of a partner, if you will, in the issue of homelessness and affordable housing.
and so being able to work closely with the coalition during this transition time I think will be of great benefit to our work as well.
so with that, I'll ask ms. Howard if she has any comments.
>> thank you.
we're just real excited about the location and the partnership with sherri in particular in that as she mentioned it's a -- I think sort of growing intensity in the community that we do something about homelessness and really change our ways instead of looking at temporary measures to make their lives better on the street, but to house more individuals that find themselves without.
and so the city, the county, the nonprofits across the community are all working very hard and we think the location at palm square is ideal because of really the centrality and it's sort of a known place where people are getting help and it just makes sense that we be there at the hub of support.
the office spacey think works well for us in that it's got several small offices, and we are inheriting the team of two and hiring a leader that run the database, the homeless management information system.
it's a current contract through h.u.d.
with atcic, but we will echo it's taking on those contracts and those will be the employees that will join me in this new office space.
so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have and we would really look forward to -- to working out of that space.
>> how many persons do you think you'll be able to serve?
will that enhance various opportunities with the additional office space in this particular regard, and if so, what would that number be as far as individuals being served?
I think it's a great thing that you are doing here and I'm really excited about it.
>> Commissioner, the coalition is a group of the homeless serving agents.
and so miss howard's office has more of an administrative convening function for those agencies.
but they are also facilitating the oversight of how many millions of --
>> that's what I was trying to get to.
>> about $5 million from h.u.d.
that echo helps figure out where it should be used in the community and administers that application.
>> right, right, but I'm still -- I didn't get a chance to finish.
>> I'm sorry.
>> that's all right.
in other words, the overall projection of the steps you are providing, there any type of projection as far as the number of persons even from administrative point of view and I understand that, but I'm just saying is the outreach as far as in the community which you stated very eloquently the homeless situation, the homeless population, the affordable housing, all these things are all kind of intertwined.
and my concern is that type of situation, is there any projection even with this facilitated move as far as administratively, any projection of the number of persons that may be able to be assisted and even in this particular effort?
>> I'll tell you that right now -- echo has never had an office, and so this is a very concrete step.
our immediate strategy working on is 350 additional permanent supportive housing bed.
yeah.
>> 350?
permanent housing.
go ahead.
I'm just trying to get an assessment.
>> and so that's just one indicator we're looking to fill that with with the city and the county's help across the community.
we know that we're conducting the next homeless count required by h.u.d.
on Sunday, January 22.
last year we identified about 2,000 individuals that are either on the -- 2,000 that are on the street or in shelters on a given night in the community.
and we believe 2,000 is doable, you know, we're looking at it piece by piece.
if that's the area we're headed.
>> that's basically what I was trying to get to is the initiation of your presence there, of course enhancing the impact on what you are having here within Travis County and as far as your relationship as far as dealing with the homeless crisis situation that we have in Travis County.
so I'm really concerned about with that so that's why I kind of tried to get to you give me some numbers, kind of see where we are, where we're going.
that's basically why I posed the question.
>> thank you.
>> thank you for your answer.
I'm really impressed.
>> mr. Mansur, anything in addition?
>> just a couple of questions.
this is going to be leased?
a lease agreement, yes.
>> and we're going to have insurance requirements?
>> we'll have, yes, whatever the -- whatever legal requires normally, yes.
>> and you mentioned indoor air quality issues.
there were some indoor air quality issues that we addressed over several years and it was really do to some staffing overcrowding.
I think the issues have been corrected so if we are talking about limited staffing there should be no problem.
>> backup says four to five employees.
is that still the figure?
>> yes, sir.
that includes myself, and as I mentioned we have two staff currently working on the database and we're hiring sort of their boss.
so the three of them and myself, and we have a part-time woman that we would love to have full time as soon as we can piece together the funding, and she works from -- we all work from home at this point, but --
>> that would add up to five.
>> yes, sir.
>> what about necessary infrastructure improvement?
what's the plan for them?
>> we did have a walk-through with facilities management and in terms of any particular infrastructure, I think the primary question we have outstanding is internet access.
and we have wireless internet already available in the space, but I think miss howard and I have discussed that if they would require more than that, that would be their responsibility.
so other than that, we plan -- we have asked that the facilities management paint the space, but we were going to do that anyway.
and you know, just probably not as quickly as we would should this be approved by the court.
so I think that's the only infrastructure need that we are aware of.
>> okay.
roger, would that cover your answer too?
>> I concur with sherry that and it's only about three office and the total square foot age is about 1250 square feet and they need some paint on the walls.
we're going to do it in-house and some mini blind and that's in-house
>> [indiscernible].
just to let you know, if it's going to be some kind of cost for maintenance or custodial or anything to that effect, it is 500 square feet and maintenance $2.50 depending
>> [indiscernible] so if you want to call it 2.50 per square foot that's annual maintenance and custodial for that particular space.
>> what did you have in minds in terms of custodial?
>> that's the annual cost, about 1,000 --
>> 250.
it's just an estimate, very small.
we're doing it anyway
>> [indiscernible].
>> are you able to maintain that space or would you like to do it for you for a small fee?
>> I've never had help maintaining anything I've lived in or worked out of.
so whatever the best practice would be.
you know, what I understand that saying something like $1,200 a year echo would incur that cost, I'd rather do the maintenance myself.
>> there is a custodian assigned to the building.
so in terms of staff setting their trash out, that's pretty much what our staff does.
and you know, I would assume that's primarily what we would need.
>>
>> [inaudible] clients?
>> there would not be clients going in and out of that particular area.
>> we have very high standards, miss howard.
>> and the cost control, I agree with that as far as what we're dealing with as far as available space other than the office space that you are requiring.
so it appears that we are headed in a good direction on this and I'm very supportive of it.
>> so if we approve this request, when would you like to move in?
>> my college kid are home right now so I would like to put them to work and make it happen as soon as possible.
>> when we would we have the contract ready?
>> that could take a little bit.
a week or two.
>> we're talking a three or four pager, right?
a simple contract.
but there is an insurance requirement, mr. Mansur is that what I heard you suggest?
>> I would recommend it.
>> could we move in before all the paperwork was finished?
>> last time we asked for a million dollar bond, cash bond when with that -- Commissioner Eckhardt.
>> from a legal perspective, they could be invited in essentially as a guest of hhs until the contract, I think.
>> I think that requires some thought.
but I move that we approve the request.
>> second.
>> that we have it on the agenda again next week to figure out logistics.
those two second cover the full motion?
>> uh-huh.
>> discussion on the motion?
let's try to figure out a way to work it out.
>>
>> [inaudible].
>> I don't mind have two second, Commissioner Davis.
>> thank you very much.
>> any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much.
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