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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 052101HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION ORANGE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA 1 Minutes °r ax rh Se The regularly- scheduled meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission was held on Monday, May 21, 2001, at the Government Services Center, in Hillsborough, N.C. 15 The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. by Debbie Kinert, who chaired the meeting. Members Present: Debbie Kinert, Co- Chair, At -Large Rosetta Wash, Co- Chair, IFC - Interfaith Council 20 Robin Barnhill, OCIM - Orange Congregations in Mission Mary Bowe, Board of Social Services Marvin Block, Advisory Board on Aging Mel Hurston, Board of Health Donald David Thompson, Jr., At -Large (came in at 6:45 p.m.) 25 Rebecca A. Young, At -Large MEMBERS ABSENT: Louise Echols, At -Large Hudson Fuller, At -Large 30 Barry Jacobs, Board of County Commissioners Sue Russell, Partnership for Young Children Karen Current, At -Large STAFF PRESENT : 35 Corinthia Barber, Assistant to Albert Kittrell Sharron Hinton, Management Analyst Nancy Paciga, Assistant to the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners STAFF ABSENT: 40 Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager 1. Establishment of Quorum -Chair Kinert announced that there was a quorum. 2. Additions or Changes to the Agenda — There were no additions to the agenda. There 45 was a change in the order of the agenda as follows: Item 5A. "Items for Decision, Topic for the 2001 Human Services Forum," was discussed and acted upon before Items 4A. and 4B. "Reports." 50 Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life — Orange County, North Carolina You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : or (9190 245 -2301 : Fax (919) 644 -3004 EMAIL: n aci a co.oran e.nc.us or cbarber a,co.oran e.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 2 of 7 5 3. Member Comments / Updates on Their Organizations' Activities Rebecca Young spoke at length about the Wake County Foster Children Advocacy movement currently in the news. There is a movement there to make sure that children in foster care get proper care and to cut down on the time that the children stay in foster homes. 10 4. Items for Decision — Minutes A. Minutes of March 19, 2001 were approved as presented. B. Minutes of April 16, 2001 were approved as presented. 5. Reports 15 A. Status on the Staff s Report About Previous Forums and Actions Taken Sharron asked that this be tabled until the July meeting. B. Outcome of Funding for Non - Profits: How Funding Compared with HSAC's February, 2001 Recommendations 20 Sharron said it has not been released to the Board of County Commissioners and that it that will be released Wednesday. She added that we did not cut any but we did not add any, and there was minimal increase in a few agencies. The overall increase was 5 % 6. Items for Decision - 25 A. Topic for the 2001 Human Services Forum Co -Chair Kinert opened discussion. She said that topics that had been mentioned are a. Homelessness, which was discussed at length at the April meeting. b. Housing 1. for the Mentally -Ill 30 2. for Persons in Abusive Households 3. that is Affordable for all c. School Violence* d. Elder Abuse* 35 e. Domestic Violence * These were sent to Staff and copied to all members via email by Ms. Hudson Fuller, who was out of town during this meeting. 40 Discussion ensued. Rebecca asked Rosetta Wash that if the Forum covers homelessness would it take the entire forum time? Rosetta answered that she is in favor of covering the entire scope of housing. She thinks that there is time to address the entire scope of housing including the issue of homelessness. Rosetta added that her concern is that the topic of homelessness doesn't get lost while the greater topic of housing is presented. She said that her concern is that there are people who have totally no housing, not 45 even inadequate housing. Robin Barnhill asked Rosetta if, in her experience, does she see families who bounce around from one homeless shelter to another, especially children. 5 Robin and Rosetta discussed the issue of the age cut -off for a person to live at the shelter without an adult . Rosetta said it is age 18. Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 3 of 7 5 Debbie Kinert brought up the subject of the Olmstead Act which addresses the problem of the mentally ill persons who are housed in more restrictive housing than is necessary because there are not adequate housing facilities available in their local communities. She said that there are such people who are living in places where it is not the best suited for them. They may have a roof over their head but the situation they are living in is not the best place for them. Debbie emphasized that this was her main concern in the 10 discussion of housing. Marvin Block suggested that it may be the best idea to have a major topic and to have these as subtopics. Rosetta said when she brought this up from the homeless shelter angle at the last meeting, that she said 15 that at the shelter they see all types of homeless people: mentally ill homeless, alcoholic homeless, teenage homeless, etc. as well as those who have burned out every resource that may have been available to them. There are also the problem of where do folks go after they receive treatment for substance abuse or mental illness. Do they go to a half -way house? There is an issue that we should have sro's (single room occupancy units) and how do we make that happen? 20 David continued by saying that another issue which he has observed when he takes homeless people to breakfast sometimes, is that they feel completely overwhelmed by the multitude of problems they have. He said it seems like they need someone to act as a case manager for them because they don't know where to start. 25 Debbie asked whether we should appoint a committee to explore these possible topics and come to the next meeting with a recommendation or should we discuss this further tonight and pick a topic. Debbie asked Sharron how much time do we have to decide this topic? Sharron said that her preference 30 would be for the Commission to at least pick a topic this evening. This will allow her office to send out invitations, at least. At the June 18th meeting, the topic can be further defined and a title chosen. 35 Rebecca Young asked whether we want to just address homelessness, or do we want to open it to the broader subject of housing? Debbie asked Rosetta to for a definition of homelessness. Rosetta said that these people have no shelter, no roof over their heads, those who come to the shelter with just a bag. She added that they are of all types of people including substance abusers, mentally -ill, 40 or who, may have some money and may have a job, but do not earn enough to pay the rental prices that are on the market, so they cannot afford to leave the shelter. 45 Rosetta said there are several issues dealing with housing such as appropriate housing, accessible housing, substandard housing, inadequate basics in the housing, and so forth. Debbie called for the Commission to make a decision on whether to have the topic to be just homelessness or homelessness plus other housing problems. The consensus of the Commission was to explore the topic of homelessness plus housing. Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 4 of 7 5 Robin Barnhill suggested that we have one breakout group on homelessness, and another one for affordable housing, and another one on another facet of the housing problem, etc. Sharron suggested that since this topic is coming on the heels of the bond referendum, and since the Board of County Commissioners is now holding meetings on the bond referendum, that she suggests that 10 what the HSAC could do is to be part of the educational component for the bond referendum. Debbie asked if the material that comes from the HSAC Forum is educational for what needs to be on the bond, would that have an impact on what would be put on the bond referendum? 15 Marvin Block spoke saying that there could be different problems with homelessness, such as different needs according to age, according to sex, according to disabilities. A MOTION WAS MADE BY Rebecca Young, AND SECONDED BY Rosetta Wash that the topic for the forum be the whole continuum of housing with special emphasis on homelessness. VOTE: 20 UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. Discussion ensued. Marvin Block asked the group to consider the title for the forum. He was not in favor of the title "Affordable Housing." He said he did not think that was an adequate title. 25 Sharron Hinton pointed out that there are currently three groups at the present time who have or who will have each produced a report on the subject of housing: • The Commissioners' Affordable Housing Task Force • The Capital Needs Advisory Task Force (working on the bond referendum) 30 • The Orange County Continuum of Care Committee (working on housing needs) 35 Mel asked the Commission, "What do we want to accomplish with this forum ?" Rosetta said that the title should be something that would encompass the housing needs in the County. Mel said that what he has heard the members saying is that we would like the Forum to provide education about the magnitude of these issues and to seek input on how to address them. Debbie pointed out that every group she has talked to seems to already know what we don't have. 40 Therefore, she would like the Forum to accomplish a stimulation of development. 45 5 Rosetta concurred with this by saying that she would personally like to see all the pieces of the homelessness and housing topics that all the various groups are talking about to come together. She would like a plan of action to now be developed to deal with issue. Marvin said that maybe there are some health agencies that need to be aware of what homeless people need, and, since the IFC has been carrying a huge burden and cannot absorb any more, other health agencies to become more involved with housing the homeless. Rosetta said Mr. Block's statement was accurate. Mel said that we need to narrow this topic down so that this is manageable because that people tend to give up if it becomes too large. Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 5 of 7 5 Marvin asked who in the County is responsible for housing. Sharron answered that there are several housing initiatives County. The Continuum of Care Committee being overseen by the Interfaith Council is one. The Orange County Housing and Community Development Department is another. This is a Department of Orange County government. Ms. Tara Fikes, Director, has the most knowledge on 10 housing issues, Sharron said. It was the consensus of the commission that we invite Tara Fikes to the next meeting. Rebecca said that said she thinks that we are really already at the second stage - -past the educational 15 piece —and need to now be developing the strategy. Debbie asked Rebecca to repeat what she had said. Rebecca further explained that she meant that we develop implementation plans for dealing with housing issues. 20 Debbie said the way we normally do a forum that the people in the strategy break -out groups do not normally have the expertise to develop actual strategies for solving the issue at hand. Rosetta said that to deal with that, she suggests that the group leaders of the break -out groups be selected as being persons who have the ability or resources to come up with strategies for solving housing problems. 25 Debbie asked if she meant that the group leader of, say, the homelessness break -out group would be an expert on that subject? Rosetta agreed. Rebecca said that she likes that idea. Robin said she thinks we may have bitten off more than we can chew; that we may need to narrow this down. Also, we need to come up with a definition of homelessness. Rosetta said that the problem is that 30 there is no one definition of homelessness. Different agencies have different definitions. Marvin said that the definition is a person or persons who do not have a place to live. David added that some people live with friends one week and in the shelter another week. He asked if 35 those persons would be considered "homeless ?" Marvin said that it is also confusing to see panhandlers on the street and to wonder if they are really homeless. 40 Mel asked Rosetta what her idea of the topic for homelessness is. She answered that when people come to the Shelter from anywhere, whether they come from somewhere else in Orange County, or from another county, or from another state – that once a person comes to the shelter they belong to us. Mel said we want to educate people about the issues and then to address these issues. He said that these 45 issues that Hudson brought up in her message are real but may dilute our efforts. Mel said he would prefer to focus on what we can most have an impact on. Rosetta said that she of course does have her bias and that she would like to see a plan to solve the entire issue of homelessness. 5. Mel said he thinks that the title of homelessness is the right title but that we can say what issues or what the reasons are for the homelessness. 5 Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 6 of 7 Debbie said that her interest is especially in addressing the people who are still institutionalized and who shouldn't be but must stay in the institutions because the type of housing they need is not available in Orange County. 10 David said that not everybody in Orange County is going to have the same solution to this problem as we will. Rosetta agreed that there are many agencies working on their own agendas in regard to housing issues, but that it would be a starting point to bring people together at the Forum. Debbie asked staff to send the two documents from the Affordable Housing Task Force and the Orange 15 County Continuum of Care Committee to the Commission well before the next regular meeting so that the Commission members will have time to review the reports. 20 25 30 Mary Bowe said that she would like clarification that the HSAC was now back in the discussion about whether we will have the Forum about Housing or Housing plus Homelessness. Mary Bowe said that she thought that we had already voted on the topic for the Forum and that, to her, it sounded like the topic is being changed during this discussion. Mary said and asked for clarification that the Commission was back in the discussion about whether we will have the topic be just homelessness or homelessness plus housing. She pointed out that the Commission had voted on a choice of topic before discussion was held. She pointed out that this was not proper procedure. Ms. Bowe made a motion to strike the vote on the motion for choosing the topic. By consensus the members decided that the topic needed to be discussed before a vote could be taken. Further discussion ensued with Debbie and Mary saying that they are in favor of including the issues surrounding the Olmstead Act "because Orange County doesn't realize the big impact that the Olmstead Act is going to have on the County." 35 Sharron said she would like to advise an amendment to the motion to the effect that we keep this intact until we get further information that we will then use to fine tune the topic at the June meeting. Rebecca's said there are two issues 40 A MOTION WAS MADE BY Debbie Kinert, , AND SECONDED BY Rosetta Wash that the topic be Housin! with an emphasis on Homelessness. Ayes were Marvin Block, Rosetta Wash, Rebecca Young, and Debbie Kinert; the Nays were David Thompson, Mel Hurston and Robin Barnhill; with Mary Bowe abstaining. The motion carried. 45 Rosetta handed out "The Continuum of Care Vision Statement and Goals." Rebecca asked if we will decide on the format and the content at the June meeting. Rosetta asked the Commission members to email ideas to staff before the June meeting. Human Services Advisory Commission - Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 7 of 7 5 Sharron will email to the Commission members the information on all the non - profits, i.e., what they requested and what they have been funded, and will included a column to remind HSAC members what our input was. Rebecca asked that the people we invite the to the forum be primarily County agency folks. Sharron 10 clarified that they are not County Department, but agencies in the County. Rebecca would like to see that all the stake holders are included in the Forum. 15 20 25 Staff was directed to ask in an email message to the HSAC members: "Who are the stakeholders ?" and ask the HSAC members to respond. As a part of this email Corinthia can provide the list of agencies. Sharron then spoke about the Forum 2000 Report. She said that the date for the proposed Task Force was left out on the recommendation and that it needs to be added. Robin asked when the BOCC has its Goal- Setting Retreat. Sharron answered that it is in December. Robin asked when we could present it to the BOCC and do we just hand it to them or what is the usual procedure. Sharron said we could do that or we could have Commissioner Barry Jacobs bring it up at the beginning of the meeting during the "Board Comments" portion of the meeting. She added that he may ask for one of the Commission members to be there also. Staff was instructed that as a part of the email to the members, that these questions be shared and also get Barry's input as to what he would prefer. Rebecca said that it was her understanding that the Forum Report on the Hispanic issues has not come out yet. 30 Adjournment was at 7:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 35 Nancy Paciga Assistant to the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners