HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/03/2018 05B Council Healthy Communities and Neighborhood Building Committee Report and RecommendationsBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
1
Item No. 5.B.
For Meeting of: April 3, 2018
ITEM TITLE: Council Healthy Communities & Neighborhood Building Committee
report & recommendations regarding 1) preparing a letter to
YVCOG regarding the RFP process, homeless services and
homeless administration and 2) scheduling a Council study session
on homeless services and homeless administration
SUBMITTED BY: Cliff Moore, City Manager
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
At the March 15, 2018 meeting, it was Committee consensus to ask for Council consideration to
prepare a letter to YVCOG regarding concerns with the RFP process, homeless services and
homeless administration. Also, the Committee is recommending a study session to discuss
homeless services and homeless administration.
ITEM BUDGETED:
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Accept Committee recommendations.
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
April 4, 2018
Yakima Valley Conference of Governments
Executive Committee Members
311 N. 4th Street, Suite 204
Yakima, WA 98901
Dear Executive Committee Members:
Distributed at the&
Meeting
D AFT
Homelessness is a complex problem, affecting an increasing population across the
United States. Government agencies within the City of Yakima and Yakima County
are entrusted with public money with the goal of alleviating homelessness, making it
BRIEF and RARE.
Homeless people are diverse, including individuals with physical disability, developmental
disability, chronic health conditions, HIV, mental health problems, substance -abuse problems,
etc. They have diverse needs which require multifaceted services. Measuring the success of
homeless programs requires an objective assessment of complex data and program endpoints.
Fortunately, best practices for public programs have been standardized to require these
assessments.
All federal and state homeless programs are required to comply with the Homeless
Management Information System (HMIS), an electronic data archive. The Yakima
Valley Conference of Governments, and their contracted provider agencies are
required to collect and enter HMIS data.
Despite multiple requests, YVCOG has failed to provide outcomes data for Camp
Hope (Transform Yakima Together) since the inception of this program in March 2017.
Without review of this data, the fitness of this agency to receive further award of public
funds is called into question, as is the fitness of YVCOG to manage these funds.
We view with concern YVCOG's recent withdrawal from the HUD "Collaborative Applicant" role,
as this increases the risk of loss of federal funding for our community. We are also concerned
about the unilateral suspension of HPPC meetings.
The YVCOG Request for Proposal for 2018-2020 appears tailored to fund Camp Hope, a
permanent "emergency" shelter which has no time limits on how long a homeless person can
stay. This is not consistent with a goal of transitioning into permanent, affordable housing.
Moreover, TYT has already violated their Tiny Homes contract. Their contractually required data
is not available, and they created chaos last September when they submitted an application for
a 24-hour shelter without having a building. If approved by YVCOG, their project will receive
$950,000 or nearly 60 percent of the 2163 funds over the two-year cycle, and the majority of
that money comes from the City of Yakima.
We fail in our public duty if we continue to passively watch misuse of public funds. We request
that YVCOG provide the HMIS data collected in 2017, and delay further funding to any program
which has not proven contract compliance.
Sincerely,
XXXXXX