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REGULAR MEETING February 11, 2019
<br /> addressing the issues of poverty and homelessness in the state of Indiana and throughout the United
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<br /> States. Section Three (III) This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from after its adoption
<br /> by the Common Council and approval by the Mayor.
<br /> Councilmember Karen White continued, I would just like to add that this Resolution is really
<br /> asking not only the Common Council but the Administration to start discussions and to look at the
<br /> best practices that we have within our State. I think that we are in an excellent position to have
<br /> such a discussion. I do know we reached out to members of the Administration as well as some of
<br /> the social service providers. We ask for your consideration and approval at this time.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, Prior to that,we would like to hear some comments from our
<br /> attorney, Bob Palmer.
<br /> Bob Palmer, Council Attorney with offices located on the 4th floor of the County-City Building,
<br /> South Bend,IN,stated, I would just like to update you all on the status of the Indianapolis proposal.
<br /> It was given its first (1St)reading at the end of January, was assigned to the Finance Committee of
<br /> the County-City Council of Indianapolis. Last week it passed the Finance Committee and it will
<br /> be heard by the full Council at their meeting next week. The amount earmarked for this pilot
<br /> program in Indianapolis is $150,000.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis then showed a short video as a part of the presentation (which is
<br /> available in the City Clerk's Office).
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, As you can see, that program is based off the one (1) in the
<br /> City of Albuquerque. The program is called `There Is A Better Way.' He then showed the website
<br /> for that program (which is available in the City Clerk's Office). He stated, It began in 2015 and
<br /> what really kicked it off in 2015 is the Supreme Court made a ruling that changed how
<br /> municipalities throughout the country have handled the issue of panhandling, giving us a ruling
<br /> that wasn't anything dealing with panhandling or homelessness, it was a ruling about freedom of
<br /> speech,but it impacted how cities handled anything with speech. Therefore, it impacted how a lot
<br /> of cities had to change their laws on the books regarding the issue of panhandling. Then the issue
<br /> comes up, what do we do in place? So, the Mayor there created this program. He said he saw a
<br /> sign and said we are going to put people to work. Therefore, you see the history of that from 2015
<br /> and the City of Albuquerque. They collect a lot of donations. Phase Two (2) was a van in
<br /> September 2015.They got a van and the initial budget of$50,000 paid nine dollars an hour($9/hr.)
<br /> and they go around and pick up people to help them out. They do this in conjunction with one (1)
<br /> of the local agencies there. So, this isn't just the City doing it by itself, it is working along with its
<br /> local agencies. You'll see right on their City Service website, they have all the information for all
<br /> of their homeless services right there. That is something that we can look at as we put together all
<br /> of our homeless areas because we have done a lot here in the City of South Bend. We can tie all
<br /> of that together that we have been doing, what our City has been doing. We can go through this
<br /> whole thing, you can see Albuquerque, and they have taken this, and Indianapolis is doing it now.
<br /> It was good discussion. Indianapolis deals with this a lot because of all the things going on down
<br /> there and you heard disagreements back and forth because there is not one (1) simple way to
<br /> address panhandlers. It is a variety of ideas you have to put together. So,there is housing-first(1St)
<br /> and other techniques, mental health, as a licensed social worker, I can see these kinds of things
<br /> coming together. So, we are just asking to add another piece. A lot of times people say it won't
<br /> work for everybody. But like I tell people in baseball, if you can bat thirty percent (30%), which
<br /> is .300, that means you struck out seventy percent (70%) of the time, you still make the Hall of
<br /> Fame with a.300 batting average. You're not going to get everybody but if housing-first(1St) gets
<br /> this person, this person gets this group, this idea gets this, the more we can have better ways, we
<br /> can bring all of our ways together and make our City a strong city. That is why we are bringing
<br /> this back to you, to bring us together, to encourage our Administration to work together and take
<br /> us to the next level here in South Bend.
<br /> Councilmember Karen White stated, In working with the Administration, there are a number of
<br /> entities, discussions and recommendations that have come forward. There are a lot of individuals
<br /> who are beginning and have wrapped their programs and service together to serve not only the
<br /> homeless but also some of these issues. Our goal is to add this to the mix and say let's look at this
<br /> as a possibility and another option in addressing some of the critical issues in our community.
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