06-10-19 Health and Public Safety

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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Skibins replied,Yes and that is a work in progress.We do post on the website all the addresses that have passed inspections. We again want to be sure we are promoting that, so we know where there is safe housing in the City of South Bend. I would like Ann from St. Vincent de Paul to speak to you because, again, this is grey. It is very much needed but we also need more help from the community and I think she is going to speak to that piece. Ann Watson, Executive Director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in St. Joseph County with offices located at 520 Crescent Avenue, stated, We have been hearing anecdotal complaints from people for as long as we have been giving financial assistance. We give out between $3,500 and $4,500 in rental assistance each year and we've been hearing complaints of living conditions like this for years. So, when Code Enforcement came to us and said we would like to try this program, we were absolutely on board with that. Our interaction with them has been great because when they get someone in this situation, the process that we've had set up was with Code Enforcement going to the Notre Dame Law Clinic directly and they legally represent the tenant right away which is very important because that can be a big hurdle for the people we are serving. They are then coming to us and we are either helping them, like the one (1) gentleman that Shelby mentioned or putting them in temporary housing. We've established a partnership with Suburban Suites where we can put people in temporary housing.You can fit a whole family in one(1)particular room and we set up a direct billing process to make it easier. Aubrey is our point of contact within the Society for doing that. The biggest problem there is that the funds are limited and there aren't those safe and affordable places for people to go yet. So, after they have exhausted their resources through this program, we are struggling to find permanent housing. The last thing we want to do is help someone get out of a bad situation,be good for a couple of weeks,then be on the streets again. So, I think that is one (1) of the biggest challenges we have. If we could make a developable list of alternative housing or temporary housing for some of these people, that would be wonderful, as well as a list of landlords that are good and have,maybe, some spaces available. Otherwise, we've been very amazed with how this has worked. It helps us so much to know that we can help someone get out of a situation like this because they are they are there, and this happens all the time. Thank you, very much. Committee Chair Broden asked,To that need for additional housing stock that is readily available, has there been any outreach to the rental organizations or the realtor associations? Anything like that? Ms. Skibins stated, No, that needs to happen. I have not made that contact. Committee Chair Broden asked, Are there any other updates to stakeholder groups? Or is this the first (1st) update? Jamie Morgan, Project Manager for the Mayor of the City of South Bend with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, replied, We wanted to check in with Council first (1St) and move forward with the other groups that were really a part of this process. Councilmember Scott asked, Has Human Rights been involved with any of these cases? Ms. Skibins replied, Human Rights has been in contact with us and they ask us to supply them with information. We do,but then after that, I don't know what happens after that point. We have a relationship and they are a partner with us, as well. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION 1 EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 1574.235.9173 I 11)574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 9