10-08-18 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Broden went on,And actually,who cares about the report?Relative to actual need of people identified as the most vulnerable and unhoused in our community. I guess I would like to emphasize that putting a coordinator in place, now, and having a placeholder, would enable us to take off some of the pressures that Fire,Police and Code are seeing. We are having entities leave the City of South Bend. Businesses are being challenged and are moving out of certain areas of our City. We also want to be welcoming in certain areas of our City. Then, as Council Members, we are looking for a solution as well and I guess I want to just elevate,either within the department itself which you indicated could happen,or not,but actually plug in some dollars and acknowledge that we don't want the full brunt of it. It should be a public-private partnership but I think if we fail, we will continue to have the same burdens on our health system, public safety officials, and our neighborhood groups if we aren't actively putting someone in place. If other Council Members hadn't received it,this is the letter that was shared by the Coalition on Housing. These are the folks that have been operating in the sphere for years and it is a broad-based group. They are asking for us as Council to consider it. I guess I'm trying to keep the dollar slot there and open because we all feel pressure but we also want to be in the neighborhoods and a part of the solution. It is this scattered site housing that is so critical and I just think we have to do something different than what we've always been doing.And that is not to say that we haven't been moving,I'm just saying it is a critical time now and it is reasonable after two (2) years after the Amnesty Challenge was put out there for Council. I think it is really time to plug something into the budget that is dedicated leadership and coordination and then is strategic in terms of trying to get additional funding. Committee Chair White stated, It is critical to address the homelessness issue and that we have programs in place. As we cannot increase the budget, what we can do is make recommendations and then it is up to the Administration to come back to find out where those dollars would come from. What I would like to suggest is to give an opportunity, a timeframe of the discussion, and to come back to this Council in January 2019 because we have always been able to add additional funding to our budgets. The position is needed and I don't know who all the key partners are as well as what percentage in terms of the financial perspective. I think there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed. We need to have a timeframe and the Administration needs to come back to the Council first (1St)thing next year with all those questions addressed. Dr. Mueller replied, There is a meeting later this week on October 11th,2018 at the Youth Service Bureau. We placed on the agenda the discussion about job description and potential funding sources. This is getting partly into the philosophical question about budget. How mature does an idea have to be to make the budget? I think this one (1), we thought at the time, was a little less mature and we weren't quite clear of where it was coming from, where it would sit and all those things so we didn't include it in the budget but it is certainly a priority of this Administration to actively service this issue.We need to make sure we are getting the right guidance to the continuum of care as well as coordinating our homeless service.We added eighteen(18)permanent supportive housing units this year but we know we have a ways to go and that will require outside funding partners. This is a priority for the Administration so we would be happy to come back when we have a more mature idea of how that would work. Committee Chair White then asked, Do you have a timeframe of when you will be able to come back with a more comprehensive job description and information regarding the funding sources? Dr. Mueller replied, I think after the discussion at Thursday's meeting we will have a better sense of the timing. Right now I can't commit to anything else. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574 235.92211f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov 6