You alrighty. Good afternoon everyone. It is 205, and we'll get started. Please, if you would, take time to sign in with the attendance. Sign in, if you would. This is really important to our record keeping. We're so glad to see all of you in this new year 2025, Happy New Year to everyone. Hopefully everyone had great holidays. As I said before we left, marry everything and a happy always is my prayer for each of you. We will have a chance for public comment today at the close of our meeting. So those instructions are before you now, we do ask, wherever possible, that you share your cameras. We'd love to see folks and engage in that way through our video capabilities. But if not, we certainly understand as technology does not often allow that bandwidth, as we are in a remote world these days, also, please keep yourselves muted so that everyone can have an enjoyable meeting experience during this digital time together, we will make sure we continuously post the link for sign in as it does disappear as people sign on, so we'll repetitively send that out throughout the first half hours of the meeting, also in terms of announcements and welcome. We have a pretty full agenda today, so we will take a moment. Well, we'll get about an hour in, and then see how folks feel. If we want to take our break today, if we'd like to charge forward, so be prepared to answer that question at roughly three o'clock or so, right after the Mr. Hchb prioritization discussion. We'll take a pulse check then, and we do see folks signing up for public comment already in the chat. You can do that at any point during the meeting, so please feel free to do that as well, so that Miss Harris can keep track of those who would like to make comment before moving on to the announcements about the board elections. Is there anything else we need to cover in terms of welcome Miss Johnson? Just want to just want to make sure I didn't miss
any notes. No, I think we're on schedule, excellent.
So we can move on to our announcements, which call for listed in your brochure for today the 2025 board elections. We're happy to share those results with everyone today. So congratulations. Are in order for the names that are about to come on screen, and if not, I can read them from do we have them on the slide? Oh, I'm
sorry. No. Okay, no
worries. So we wanted to extend our congratulations to our 2025 board electives for members at large. We have Joanna Underwood and Donna Price. So welcome to the Member at Large positions for our homeless service providers. We have Dr Celia Thomas, Chris hartham and Nina Abu buchari. So welcome to those three who will serve as our homeless service providers, and then our community advocate Regina, hence. So to those six individuals, we welcome you to the board, and thank all who did apply and run and had interest in providing leadership. Every voice is important, but we certainly elevate these six as they will carry the mantle now in these formal positions at member at large, homeless service provider and community advocate, and I will drop those into our chat, since we don't have a slide today, all right, Before our agenda calls for us approving the consent agenda. And before we move on with that, I do want to provide another way, by way of announcement. So when we we know to do better, we do better. And there have been times in the past where we have kind of moved into the consent agenda and other areas of our business without ensuring that the quorum is met. And so we really want, in this new year to make sure that we are clearly demarking by chat and orally when the quorum is met. So it's really important that as you sign into the meeting, that you really do sign the attendance sheet, because we are going to take the posture with this meeting moving forward into 2025 we will not conduct any official business votes until the quorum is met, as opposed to hoping that it's met. So we're going to do a pulse check before I do the consent agenda to see if we actually met our quorum for today. You
I see that there are a few board members that is still joining, but I'm just trying to look at the list right now. Don't worry. Okay, do. You.
So in the interest of time, I will take an executive Liberty here. Are there any announcements that folks would like to share while we confirm the forum? You may not be able to be with us at the end. As we do public comment and announcements together, we will take announcements, no public comment at this point, but announcements about events or things that are happening. Rounded about our COC that would be of interest. I see Ms Bradford, yes, please.
Hi. Good afternoon, everybody and happy new years. My name is Elena Bradford. I work for Homeless Action Network of Detroit. I am your systems coordinator of housing resources. Just wanted to elevate that the wait list in Livonia, Section Eight will be opening on January 13. And just wanted to remind all to if you had resources, let me know, but to definitely sign your people up, or let people know that that wait list is open and that Detroit housing Commission's wait list did close on December 31 and so they will be moving forward to following up. Thank you.
Thank you so much for that vital information. So Lavonia is open and Detroit is closed. Please pass it on to all the providers and our recipients who need that information. Mr. Rosetta, I saw your hand next.
Yeah, I'm happy to announce that our organization, fuel has actually finally made a deal for a brick and mortar office that's going to be large enough to put a drop in shelter in as well as community health center and Resource Center. So we'll have that online in the next three to six months.
Excellent. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations to fuel and all the hard work to you, to brick and mortar presidents. Congratulations. All right. Thank you for those announcements. We certainly welcome Miss Bradford and Mr. Rosetta to share those again at the end, when we take announcements and our public comments, we also thank you for helping us to fill that time. We have officially reached quorum, and so we now will vote officially on the consent agenda. So this vote is for all board members. If you would please launch the vote and we can get consent for today's agenda.
I think we need a motion. Do we already? Well, you go in
and launch it. I was going to take it once it's up for people to see it. The actual question, thank you. So we do need a motion to accept the consent agenda for January 6. Is there a motion to vote the approval of the December 2024 board meeting minutes? Is there a motion?
I motion? Thank
you. Is there a second? I second? Thank you so much. The question that has been moved and seconded appropriately is before you, all board members, please vote I
and We will allow a moment to ensure that we are able to move forward. All right, so we have Lydia Gardner and Tia Turner, who are going to come before us to talk about the COC committee on youth homelessness, and there will be an action vote behind this presentation, so we invite your attuned attention to them. Thank you.
Thanks. Dr, G, good afternoon, everyone. I am Lydia Goddard with community and home supports, and I am the point person in our subcommittee evaluation subcommittee of the Committee on youth homelessness. So we're going to talk today a little bit about an evaluation criteria that we would like to use to evaluate our yhdp, or youth homelessness demonstration program projects that are coming up on two years of implementation this spring. You can go to the next slide, so I guess, or maybe just to start Meredith, if you want to give just a real quick maybe reminder of what yhdp is, a little background, and then I can talk about what we're doing with
it. Sure. Hey, everyone, thanks, Lydia, so yhdp, as was mentioned, stands for the youth homelessness demonstration project, and this is funding that came into our community. Two. Two years ago is officially when it started. These grants went live in April of 2023 but before that, there was a really intensive community planning process that many of you participated in to design these programs. And they were very intentionally, youth led. We've had the Yab involved in every step of the yhdp process, and the result of all of that was a coordinated community plan to end homelessness and the design of these new programs that were funded. And it is hard to believe that we are coming toward the end of that first grant term with these programs, and so as we've introduced new programming, new funding, we want to evaluate it. And so that's what we are sort of here to discuss with you all today.
Thanks. Yeah,
so what we're looking to do is to develop a framework to assess these programs and projects, to guide our funding decisions. It is part of the strategic plan. I think it's action area five, about building upon existing improvement efforts. So while there does already exist evaluation processes within the COC, this is going to just be an additional evaluation, kind of to look into more of the not just the quantitative, but the qualitative, the experiences of the youth who have participated in these programs to inform improvements and program successes. And we're looking to measure the effectiveness of these programs and how well that they we've integrated themes from that coordinated community plan into these projects and just kind of overall assess the impact of this funding in our COC, And you can go to the next slide so the first thing part of the process is going to be looking at the qualitative data, which is going to be kind of the perceptions of youth who've engaged with these programs. So part of that large planning process where we developed the coordinated, coordinated community plan.
We pulled out 12 key
themes which have been integral into kind of the youth came up with this. So the Youth Action Board was a really big part of identifying these themes, and this is what our goal was, is to align with these themes. So what we're going to do is use a Q sort method to gather structured feedback on how well that these themes are being integrated into the programs. So it's asking program participants to rank statements related to these themes based on how much they experienced or observed them in practice, allowing us to kind of quantify their perspectives and evaluate how effectively those themes are reflected in our programs.
Next slide,
and this is included in the board packet as well, if you want to take a look more deeply at what those themes are. But on the quantitative side, using sources of the Homeless Management Information System, Project entry and exit interviews, and also our self reliance and empowerment tool, which is housed in the HMIs, we're going to look at measures like navigation, coordination and services, length of time to housing, program flow, things like life skill development. And additionally, there are some established criteria that we are going to use that have been used in the I forget the name of the actual committee, but in our general valuation of COC programs, you can go to the next slide. So looking at our timeline, over the last I would say two quarters or so we've been working in the subcommittee to come up with this criteria, our evaluators, who are Wayne State University PhD students, who have offered and volunteered to help with this, have met with program firms, performance management analysts at hand to kind of establish these metrics. And we recently in December, did receive a vote, an approved vote from the Committee on youth homelessness, and now we are looking to you all for a vote here in a minute. So this is just a timeline of like where we're going, so over the next two. Year. Over the next spring, we're going to be looking to kind of finalize these metrics, work with the Yab to ensure that everything is in alignment. And over the course of the next year, we'll be gathering that data, doing that analysis, and hopefully by this time next year, we'll be able to present a draft evaluation report to the board for approval. You can go to the next slide should be the last one. So what we're asking today is for an approval of these recommendations for evaluation of these youth programs with decision making powers shared with the Yab, meaning that the Youth Advisory Board input will be used to finalize program evaluation metrics. So they may look a little bit different, but it's going to be based on Yeah, feedback. So I'll pause if anyone has any questions before we move to a vote.
All right, not hearing any thank you for today's presentation. We will move forward for a motion, and if we have a slide, is there a slide? Are we doing this? But I see it spec forms, all right, so the is there a motion to the request, as you see it on your screen, approval of recommendation for evaluation of wage DB programs with decision making power shared with the Yab, meaning that Yap input will be used to finalize program evaluation materials. Is there a motion to that effect? I
I make the motion. Thank you. And is there a second?
Second? Thank
you so much. All right, it's been appropriately moved and seconded. We will call pause again to ask if there are any questions to the motion. If not, please start voting according to the form that has been placed in the chat for us to use. And I concur, the wintry theme was very nice. So thank you for that. All right, let's move right on. We are moving well with our time. Our next presentation comes from Erica George and Kim Conwell Lee, who will talk about a grant amendment, and per charter, major or substantial grant amendments are brought here for review, so we thank them for being present to share that with us today. Hey,
Erica, did you need to share your screen? Yeah, I I,
I was gonna say that, but I can really just talk through it, if that's fine, unless, um, unless you want me to, I can. I can talk through it. I hope this doesn't take too Okay. Um, all right. Uh, good afternoon everyone. Thank you for allowing me this time on the board, just to talk briefly about a change that we are coming to the board to request approval for. Again, my name is Erica George. I'm Deputy Director here at CAST. So just as background knowledge, we have a web street PSH program, which cast has been operating for well over five years now, that program service 13 units or tenants, as far as the services we provided case management to those tenants, and unfortunately, in August, the building location caught fire. It was an internal fire that happened from our third floor, based on a tenant living there, and ultimately and unfortunately affected the rest of the building, which made it inhabitable for folks to live in. We have been working with those tenants ever since we've connected them to Red Cross and we have gotten the majority of those tenants housed, we are still working with three tenants currently to make sure that they are completely housed as we move forward. And as far as our request to the board today, we would like to go to HUD and ultimately change this program from a site based, project based, psh program to scattered site. We are hoping to service 10 units just based on our budget with that. And the idea behind that is to hopefully utilize this, what I want to call it, utilize this model of shared. Live in, excuse me, so we would like to be able to go out turn this into this site and make housing affordable. And potentially,
concept where if single individuals would like for a shared living to maybe bring that cost down of living, then that's kind of the model that we're going for. But first here today, and what we need from the CLC board is the ability to go back to hood and make that change from our project based PSH program that it is currently to a scattered site. So I know that was pretty brief, but I'm happy to take any questions at this time or move forward with
with the motion
I see. I see one hand Yes. Tara,
hi, Erica, will we be able to see the paperwork that the PSH recipients will be receiving for those scattered sites prior to the vote?
The vote today? Yes,
like, What will their lease option look like?
So that is still what we will have to do right? So today, we're just here to take a motion from the board to be able to go back to hood, because if we are not approved, then we don't want to. We didn't. We don't have anything to give you today, because we want to be approved first before we can show you anything
further. Does
that make sense?
Yes,
okay, I saw first and then Terry,
hello. How are you? Thank you for your brief presentation. So when you say it's scattered, the scatter I get the whole purpose of the request. It's understandable, but you say you already secure housing for the ones that was currently in the previous program that you have to make the amendments to, and that you only have like two or three people that you're still working with. And when you say, scatter housing, how will the long term case management be, be this? Is it going to be a certain area, a certain city, or is it going to be or how do that? How do y'all work? If it is Detroit, do y'all work to keep Detroit, or keep or is whatever you'll be able to find housing. So you
kind of broke up a little bit, but I think I hear you clearly, or I think I at least got the gist of what you were saying. So we would look in our area, but in the Detroit area, right? And the other piece, and this is, I guess again too, why we haven't, or why I couldn't really answer this Tara question fully and have documentation, because we would need a approval first to move forward, to really see what other landlords would be interested in, in this, in this concept and project. Now what we do know as a COC scatter site is already in existence, right? So we do know that that happens and that works, so I don't think we would have any issues finding any landlords that would do that with us. But excuse me, but I don't have a certain location to tell you today, but we want to stay, hopefully, within the Detroit area, right? And that's what we have to say to service our folks. So that's what we'll be
okay. Thank you. Thank you. You broke up a little bit, so you're going to make a you can't guarantee, but you're going to make an effort to keep the people in the city of Detroit that that is going to be affected by this change, not necessarily change, but because of the fire. And in moving forward with this program, dealing with the scattered houses, you make, you do as an organization, make an effort to keep people within the jurisdiction of Detroit,
yeah, because that's the population we serve. So we will have to between Detroit Highland Park and ham treatment, right? That's what our COC services,
okay? I just want to specifically talk about Detroit residents, and in that regard, thank you very much. No
problem. Thank you for your question. Sarah, yeah, I just
want to make sure I'm understanding the program model correctly. So it's going to be leasing scattered site, so the resident will have a lease with the landlord that they are renting the unit from, right? It's not master leasing.
Oh. So we would look to go to the the property owners, whoever own the property, do do a leasing with them, and then be able to lease out to the tenant. Oh, see, we
were just talking about Master leasing. So Cass would hold the lease, and then the tenant would have the agreement with Cas, yep. Okay, okay. Is there any reason to think that the lease that they would enter into with the lease agreement that they would enter into cast would be any different than the leases that you currently utilize with your Pfh program. With your other Pfh program,
are you referring to, like current tenants, or just tenants that we have that come on board? I'm
talking about your other Pfh programs. They all have a lease currently. Is there any reason to think that this would need to be any any different, I mean, the majority of the content, right? Basically, the lease would be the same that you have with your other PSH programs, I'm assuming, yep, with the exception of the master leasing component,
right? Yep, which is why we want to do that so that we handle that property deed and then keep the leases the same as we have with the other tenants that we have in our other PSH programs.
Okay? And then one other question. You said that there was two or three folks that you're still working on with those units, with those households then be transferred into like they're still in your web street Pfh program, or would you have 10 new referrals that you would then lease up?
Yeah, so we're looking at hopefully 10 new referrals. But if we get this approved and going and we can move them in and give them that option, then that's definitely a possibility too, okay, and of course, that's that's up to them to accept it, and you know, all that stuff.
Okay, okay, okay, all
right. Candice, I think I saw your hand next
Good afternoon, everyone. Just thank you for the presentation, Eric. I just wanted to try to, kind of like, add some guidance, if I can, or just a little more clarity. I went through this same process last year when I was at cops. So I know Tara had, I mean, Tara had asked a question, we have to stay within the same jurisdiction. We have to get approval from HUD to move to change the project, from either, you know, site to scatter so they have to approve us first before we can move forward and do anything. And for Tara, I know you just asked about the master leasing, it all depends. You have an option, if it's rental or leasing. If it's rental, the lease has to be with the tenant in the landlord. But if it's leasing, it could possibly stay with the organization, and then they, you know, lease out. The benefit of that, that second one is that it helps the tenant. So if the organization is paying 100% of the rent, and then the tenant only has to pay their portion of the rent to cop to cash. So that means that more landlords are apt to participate because they know they're going to get 100% of their rent. So just wanted to throw that out there in case anybody had questions around that area, but totally understand what you're doing. Thank
you so much. Candace for that. Kiana,
you're muted. Oh,
thank you. I just it wasn't necessarily a question. I just wanted it sounded like it was one. I just wanted to be clear around kind of the process you went through, once you know your fire happened, those clients have been, you know, placed, other places you are still working with clients that is not necessarily those are not necessarily the clients that will be serviced in this scatter site, because that the timeline around that, and once everything gets sorted out, they may or may not be those clients. And I just wanted to clarify that, because I didn't want, you know, folks to think like, oh, you know, you're turning it into scatter site to service those exact 13 folks. You're actually asking for this modification so that you can continue to keep that funding in the Detroit CLC and provide, you know, housing to 10 individuals you know that come through the process. Um. Um, I just wanted to clarify that.
Yep, thank you for that. If it wasn't clear, thank you. All right, Miss garlet, I think you were next.
So thank you for your presentation. Very clear. How are you funding the rental assistance for the folks that had to move out of Web? Currently,
we're not all right. So those people were housed through other programs we connected with Yep, to be able to help them. So we're just in that whole process right now, Jane, to really figure out what that would look like moving forward as far as this new scattered site project. But just wanted to get approval and everything from everybody first. So no, we're not providing any rental assistance right now to anybody, just case management. So
the current budget line item in web is rental assistance or leasing.
We we don't do any type of rental assistance in our current PSH project, so we will have to move forward to
so you're going to add a budget line item. Am I correct? We'll have to, so where, where's that going to come from supportive services.
Well, if we can get this approved, right, then, yes, we will look at if we can add it for supportive services, but we still are in that preliminary stage, and which is why we're coming here for the approval.
And what I mean, though, is Is there enough funding in that grant to create another line item Well, and
that's the goal, and that's why we took it down from 13 units to 10 units. And that so that we can restructure it, so that we can have some funding. And if it does get approved, you know, we want some feedback from those that have done it, so that we know what that looks like and what we should be putting in that line item, if that makes sense and answers your question.
And the benefit of leasing, of course, is that there's no match, right?
Yep, that works too, right?
Good luck. Thank you.
There's also a question in the chat that I'll elevate here from Miss Underwood. I have a question, if someone currently living in Detroit and have to be relocated, even though COC services Detroit Highland Park Hamtramck, can someone from Detroit be relocated to Highland Park and traffic and Miss Bradford has already answered yes,
yeah. And I don't know if I was breaking up before, but that's what I was saying, as far as not just Detroit, because as a COC, we service Highland Park and Hamtramck, so we're open to looking at rental properties in those areas, but to stay in that area, or in those three areas. Okay, I didn't see any other hands. I don't know. Dr, G,
yep. So not seeing any other hands that actually. Ms, brown,
yes, I have a question. Will any of this permanent supportive housing funding, or will any of this permanent supportive housing go towards the tiny homes?
No, ma'am. All
right, seeing no other hands and seeing nothing else in the chat, we will now take a motion and second to allow cast community to approach HUD with this grant amendment. Again, that's all it is at this point, is requesting now for their permission, so they can develop the plan and bring that back for sharing. So if we have a vote available, well, I don't know if we're doing this by forms or but that is the motion that's needed. So is someone able to make that motion? And is there a second? I second,
thank you. All right, the form for board members to vote is in. Can you repeat the last thing you said prior to happy to do so. But
can you hear me? Sorry. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, so I guess exact I want to make sure that I have clarity what we're voting for, so we're not voting to suggest whatever it is that they're proposing is just so that they can come up with a game plan and come back and present it to us correct. This
vote is to give them permission to approach HUD for permission to develop their plan, right? And then it would follow the regular COC expectations after that. Okay? Thank you, absolutely. Thank you for raising that question of clarity. Thank. All right, so I trust people are voting in the chat. The link was dropped by Ms Johnson about 45 seconds ago, and thank you again. Ms George, for the presentation. All right, she posted it again for us. Thank you. Ms Johnson, All right, moving right on while that votes. Going forward, we have a missed HCV presentation by Mr. Beth Houser, so if you're ready, we know we're a few minutes early, but hopefully you are available.
Yep, just give me one moment. Here. I was just, oh, go ahead, Chelsea, I
was going to ask, Did you need to share your screen? Yes,
okay.
I and if y'all just give me one moment here, I'm just re learning zoom.
Ah, here it is. I
Okay,
I did drop a copy of the interim policy that we'll be talking about today in the chat for folks to reference. And then as soon as I get through these slides, I'll drop a Microsoft forms link in the chat for folks to vote on that interim policy. I want to thank everyone for giving me some time to go through this today, so we're quickly just going to do a brief overview of Mister housing choice vouchers in general, kind of talk about the timeline that's been unfolding since the beginning of December with mishta hcvs and the Detroit COC. Talk about some historical implications of mishta hcvs and the Detroit COC, and then talk about an interim policy for upcoming opportunities with the mishta housing choice vouchers.
Alrighty. So just as a quick level set mishta housing choice vouchers, is a federal program that assists low income families, elderly and households who are experiencing disabilities, to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing on the private market. Mishta, or the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, is our state's wide largest public housing agency, which receives funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide these vouchers to households. So prior to July 1 of 2024 all acute group two and acute group three households were added to the mishta Housing Choice Voucher wait list through a pre application during the pandemic. Ag four households were added to this wait list as well. On July 1 of 2024 Misha closed the Housing Choice Voucher wait list and stopped all read certifications due to our projected budget shortfall. The last voucher pull in our community was in June of 2023 so we went about a year without a voucher pull while adding names to this waiting list. At the time of the closure, there was a lot of community sentiment around making sure that the households that were added to this wait list but never had the opportunity to be pulled from the wait list would be included in any future opportunities. And so that's kind of the context with which we bring this interim policy to the board today. So we were initially notified by Mischa on December 2 of 20. 24 we were given a January one deadline, but that has since been extended, which has allowed us to engage with some other groups and get some more feedback. We had expected a voucher allocation of 56 vouchers. Misha has since provided some clarifying language that they're not entirely sure it will be 56 vouchers, so we are waiting for further clarification on that. Also, Mister is expecting that 10 days from the date of the wait list open notification, we would submit all pre applications, and that the number of pre applications we submit cannot exceed the number of allocations that were being provided. So if we're being allocated, let's say 56 vouchers, that's how many pre applications that we can submit. This interim policy that we are going over today was brought to the cam Governance Committee on December 11 of 2024 and approved there on December 12. We well it was approved with the expectation that we would get some feedback from the Rapid Rehousing work group in regards to individuals that are currently housed through rapid rehousing. And we had planned to get executive committee approval on the 18th, but because the deadline was extended, we were able to bring it here to the general board meeting, and we also between December 26 and january 3, we were able to obtain some virtual feedback from the persons with lived experience of homelessness committees on this interim process. And then that brings us to today, where we're looking for the approval from the board. Here, the deadline was extended to January 31, of 2025, to submit our COC policies in regards to housing choice vouchers. I'll talk about this a little bit later in the presentation. But in addition to developing this interim policy, we're going to have continuing conversations about what the ongoing policy would look like, and I'll explain that a little bit clearer here in the next slides. Just want to highlight some things, some some big differences between Mr. Policies before the closure and what we're looking at now. Initially, the wait list was open. It was constantly accumulating names. We didn't know when allocations would come through, and we didn't know how many allocations would we would receive. Now we're looking at a set number of allocations beforehand. We're expecting those allocations to occur on a quarterly basis because of the extended deadline for the policies and procedures. We're expecting our allocation for the first quarter to come sometime in late February, early March. It could be sooner than that, but that's just what we've heard from mishta so far. And then again, want to highlight that the spots on the wait list are limited to the number of allocations that we've received in that quarter. So this interim policy is the policy that would be inclusive of the well would be reserved for the individuals that were on the wait list prior to July, 1 of 2024 so we're going to go through this policy kind of piece by piece, and then we'll be able to look at some information in terms of how long it would take us to get through this interim policy, and then also feedback from the persons with lived experience of homelessness committees. This is sort of an introductory paragraph here, due to the temporary closure of Mishi Housing Choice Voucher waiting lists on July, 1 of 2024, households on the waiting list were not connected to a long term housing subsidy through the Detroit continuum of care to connect these eligible households to a sustainable. Housing resource the Detroit COC will hopefully approve a policy that would prioritize these households for completion of the mishta Housing Choice Voucher pre application and placement on the mishta Housing Choice Voucher waiting list. So the we do have a wait list provided by Mister for those folks that were on it at the time of its closure on July 120 24 but we need to outline which households on that list are going to be eligible for upcoming opportunities in the Detroit COC. So households that were on this list at the time of closure would need to meet the following criteria to be added to the mishta Housing Choice Voucher waiting list in just 2025 starting in 2025 we don't know exactly which month we're still waiting to hear back on when that quarter one allocation will be so homes on this households on this list would be need to be category one, homeless. This would be verified through an active enrollment and shelter street outreach, transitional housing or rapid rehousing, specifically referring to Rapid Rehousing households that have not yet been housed. I do want to highlight here that permanent supportive housing was not was specifically not included in this section, because permanent supportive housing comes with an ongoing subsidy. So I do want to highlight that here or households are actively category four, fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, and then households leased up through rapid re housing with an urgent need for a housing subsidy, and we'll define what urgent need means in the next slide. So urgent need are and this was based on feedback from the Rapid Rehousing work group. Urgent Need is defined as households reaching the maximum amount of rental assistance within 120 days that need a housing subsidy to maintain their housing. And also individuals currently receiving SSI would be the individuals as defined as urgent need of an ongoing housing subsidy.
If a household meets the eligibility criteria that we just went through, they will be added to the current Mischa Housing Choice Voucher wait list based on their length of time on the previous list, households will be added to the current HCV wait list in order of the longest length of time since being added to the Housing Choice Voucher portal prior to July 1 of 2024 this process will remain in effect until all eligible households on the mishta Housing Choice Voucher wait list at the time of closure on July 1 2024 are added to the most current mishta Housing Choice Voucher wait list. Tara, I want to
okay so specifically under this slide, is that correct? Tara, yeah,
is it and or, or, like, 120 days, we're gonna max out 120 days and they have SSI, or 120 days. Or, okay, thank you. This
would be an or, okay, Julia, you You came from the Rapid Rehousing work group. I'm sorry if I mischaracterized this
and but I can double check my notes, unless Amanda or Kiana is here.
It was an angel, yeah, oh, Eleanor too.
Okay, yeah, so they would need to meet both the reaching that maximum amount of rental assistance within 120 days. And, SSI, okay,
my apologies on that, and I will send out these updated slides as well as an updated PDF as well, to make sure that the. The that language is present and the documents that you're looking at, I will also update the image in the form before I drop it into the chat for a vote. So important thing to highlight that under urgent need. They would need to meet both of these criteria in order to be eligible for this opportunity. So we kind of talked about length of time being the biggest determine, biggest factor in terms of when households are pulled from that list, and the goal is that this process would remain in effect until all eligible households on that mister Housing Choice Voucher waiting list on July 1 of 2024, are added to the most current wait list.
So in terms of potentially eligible households that might come from this list, here is a breakdown of where these households are at Currently, approximately 195 people on those lists are actively enrolled in shelter. 44 of them are actively enrolled in outreach. There's about 10 households currently enrolled in transitional housing and then rapid rehousing. There about 198 households there. I would highlight that, based on the urgent need, the number of households in this category will likely not be 198 this is kind of a rough number to give you an idea of around how many households that are still active within our system from the list at the time of its closure in July of 2024 so approximately 446 households from that previous waiting list would would uh potentially be eligible for this opportunity. I would like to know as well that we do expect the number of eligible households to decrease over time. So as folks get matched to other housing resources, they're going to fall off, fall out of the eligibility criteria. But if we assumed that about 450 households are eligible at the time, it would take us about two years to get through this interim policy through if we assume that we receive 56 vouchers every quarter, again, that number isn't guaranteed. It could go up. It could go down based on what mishta is allocated from HUD and their budget projections. I want to pause here. I see Jane. Your hand is raised.
I think you answered my question, how many vouchers will potentially be available, and what's the frequency of the availability? You said, 50 May, approximately 56 every quarter.
Yeah, so we don't know exactly how many. Initially we were told that it would be 56 vouchers in the first quarter, but there weren't, there wasn't any information provided in terms of what subsequent allocations will look like in future quarters. They also gave an update that, you know, it may not be 56 in the first quarter, so we do expect it to be quarterly, but we don't know exactly how many vouchers, and we'll probably find out a wrap shortly before the upcoming quarter, or, you know, at the start of the next quarter, how many allocations we're going to receive in that period.
All right? Well, we'll see. I mean, just a lot of energy for very little, potentially very little payoff. I mean, affordable housing is affordable housing, but, you know,
yeah, okay,
because if it's 15, you know, I'm you just got to see what. They're what they're going to offer?
Yeah, absolutely. I think we're all hopeful that the the number will be higher, but don't know until they they say for sure. Thank you. Joanna.
All right, I have a question now pertaining to the housing vouchers with this process through the COC so the other housing agencies, are they able to apply for people on their waiting list for vouchers through their own agencies? They don't necessarily have to go through COC, but this is the only vouchers that the COC is going to receive from mister,
correct. Yeah. So these, these vouchers are being allocated directly to hand on behalf of the Detroit COC, and then there are other public housing agencies, like, for example, the Detroit Housing Commission is an example that has Mischa Housing Choice Voucher allocations. We also approved a policy end of November, beginning of December, for how our system would prioritize those opportunities if they were allocated directly to the COC. But there are like housing commissions out there that open up their wait lists on their own, that don't come through the COC, and it's an open wait list that folks can apply to at their discretion. We we do, of course, try and make sure folks in our system know about those opportunities, and agencies know about those opportunities, so that we can try and be some of the first people on the list. But,
yeah, I received that. Thank you for that information, but it's so imperative that this organization had actually get these vouchers, because for my understanding, with the Detroit Housing Commission, they service the whole Wayne County. So when they get their vouchers, they're going to service the whole Wayne County, where COC is only servicing Detroit Highland Park in Hamtramck, so there's no guarantee on whether they were going to be able to have a certain amount of housing choice vouchers allocated for the jurisdiction of the city of Detroit. And so it's so important that we advocate that because ham, because this organization has serviced some of the biggest populations, where Detroit is the biggest population, and also have some of the highest poverty levels in the areas that we're serving, and also the chronic homelessness and the high eviction rates that We should get the if it's 56 we should receive 56 so how can we reach out to our networks, in in advocacy and related to we getting the total 56 and that will be, I believe, four quarters in a month. So is that possible? We be able to do that because we need a total 56 and DHC has site based vouchers and units that they manage on their own. They're going to receive funding regardless. So I stress that it was any way we could specifically advocate for that 56 just let us know what can be done as far as board, so we can start a process now. Thank you.
Yep, thanks. Joanna, yeah. Just want to highlight that we would expect, if it's on a quarterly basis, we would expect four rounds of allocations in any given year. So four allocations, in regards to the 56 number, we we are in active contact with mishta and asking questions about process you mentioned. You know, how do we be proactive about things? We're trying to make sure we know what the pre applications look like ahead of time, so that as we're identifying households, we can try and get them get up, get all the information we need for a pre application as soon as possible, and make sure they're ready. When the wait list opens up, I'm going to pass it to Eleanor, who I think might have some more health helpful context for us.
Hi, Zach. Hi, Eleanor Bradford, systems coordinator for housing at hand. I. I just wanted to give some little updates per our meeting with mishta. The reason that it we have the 56 amount, which is one of the higher amounts compared to the other CLCs in Michigan, is because there is a budget shortfall, and not only mister but our other external partners are expecting maybe additional budget short fall, so until the budget is set from the federal administration and are able to allocate the funding to Mischa and the other organizations, they stated to us they couldn't give us concrete numbers, but the hope is that they don't get cut. That is the hope all the way around. But some experience is maybe thinking that we will continue to have a shortfall. So that is the reason Zach was talking about the 56 might not be 56 but nothing will be, you know, concrete until their budget has been set for for this current year. So just wanted to add some of that contact. We do meet with mister on a continuous basis. When they're having their Qualified Allocation Plan meeting, they do open it up for public comment, so I will make sure I give that information to Ms Johnson so she can distribute it to the board members that are interested. So just wanted to add that context with Zach for support, and then just to highlight that Mishna does allocate other vouchers in coordination with the Detroit COC, but these will be the only housing choice vouchers that they will allocate. They do allocate project based, site based vouchers to quite most of our PSH projects that are LIHTC site based, and they allocate veteran vouchers also. So just give me some context, so you all know that, and we do have vouchers coming through the pipeline. With Detroit Housing Commission, they have been working side by side with us in the city of Detroit just to provide some insight, working with us to try to put the people that are experiencing homelessness preferred on some voucher. So we do have some other expectations coming down the pipeline. Just want to add a little contact to our board.
Thanks. Eleanor, so jumping into some feedback, again, we were operating under a pretty tight timeline. We still have that January 31 deadline kind of hanging over our head, but it did allow us some more time to engage with the persons with lived experience of homelessness. Committees about this interim process, generally members of these committees approved of the eligibility criteria. There were two specific recommendations that were made in some of the responses. One of the recommendations was to include HUD and Mrs. Definition, which is the same of category one, homeless, literally homeless in the eligibility requirements language. So when I do release the vote, just to kind of maintain the integrity of the language, there will be a prompt on there asking if we should include this language because it wasn't included initially. I don't foresee any issue with including that language specifically, other than it might look a little bit redundant in the context of our entire policies and procedures, our coordinated entry policies and procedures. But redundancy isn't always bad either. So there will be a prompt in the response to see if folks are okay with including that language. There was also a recommendation to prioritize households with pregnant individuals and minor children on the interim list. So basically, the way this recommendation would look is before we considered length of time on the list, we would first consider whether or not these households have pregnant individuals or minor children in the households. I did want to elevate this recommendation because it was made by an individual on the committees. It's similar to a prioritization process. Process we came up with for Housing Choice Voucher opportunities coming through smaller PHAs like the Detroit housing commission or maybe the Inkster Housing Commission. However, I will, I will note that right the spirit of this, this interim policy was to be inclusive of those folks that were expecting that at one point they would be pulled from this list and then being told that the list was going to close and that they wouldn't have the opportunity to remain on it through the recertification process. I guess I can pause there for a moment and see if anyone has any thoughts about applying this prioritization to the interim process.
I do see a question in the chat for from AJ Johnson, was it unanimous? Which, which approval Are you referring to for the unanimous? I
up, Elsie, I don't know if you can help me see there. Oh, yeah. So we got about five responses. You know, it was a holiday week, so, but they did come from various, various parts of our committees. When I say generally, I would say that all of them approved of the eligibility criteria. However, there were some recommendations to include the additional language and then to prioritize pregnant individuals. Was another recommendation. So it was like a unanimous approval with some added recommendations that you hear see here up On the slide.
Tara,
are you asking us if we should have included or are you incorporating that recommendation into your proposal,
so that because, again, because we kind of had to adapt with the the changing timelines, this is something that would be a separate ask. So it's not part of the interim proposal right now, but it is something I had planned to include in the Microsoft form that's included. So this is a Should we add this to the interim policy that was proposed today? So yeah, asking the board and wondering if anyone has any initial feedback on that to share with the group.
Okay, sorry, just one more follow up question, so asking for feedback, but then you also have us to vote on the adding folks who are pregnant or with minor children on the Google Form vote that you're going to send out
the Microsoft form. Yeah, and it's whether or not we should prioritize those households, right? If they meet the eligibility criteria, they'll be included anyways, but it's whether or not they should go before we consider length of time for prioritization.
Okay, I have one other question, but it's not about this. I'm gonna hold, okay,
I saw Eleanor's hand first, and then we'll jump
to Alan. I'm just trying to understand. So this last part about including the households, the second bullet point prioritizing households with pregnant individuals and minor children on the intern list, they're asking, should that we add these people to the Mr. Wait List also, and I just want to be clear, isn't this one of our points of the other wait list? So I'm just trying to know what's the difference? Because we have a separate policy for the vouchers, and I think we prioritize minor families that have minor children. And also, and so are we saying that for both, for all vouchers coming through the CLC, we should prioritize pregnant individuals? Oh, cool.
There is an open mic. Are we able to?
I was trying to see how
3850, thank you.
Thanks. So So one, one of the things I do want to emphasize is this is in this is applicable to the interim list, right the the folks that were on the list at the time of July, at the July 2024, closure. So, and this will kind of go into our next couple slides about, you know what next steps we need to do to develop an ongoing prioritization for housing choice vouchers, right? Because eventually we're going to run out of folks on this interim list, whether they get housed through this opportunity or another opportunity. We're going to exhaust this list at some point, and then we'll need to have an ongoing process. So I do want to highlight that this would be for the applied only to the interim list, and then in terms of how it compares to the proposal B. Proposal B was for the the local public housing agencies and their housing choice vouchers, opportunities, and yes, that does that's an ongoing process, and that would prioritize households with minor children, kind of on an ongoing basis, as local public housing agencies provide, or as local housing commissions provide us with those opportunities. So I think it's similar, for sure, but the difference is, is that this is a limited by the number of people who are on that previous waiting list, whereas that other policy is an ongoing policy.
Okay? Thank you, Alan,
okay, so I'm just trying to make sure that I understand what we're looking at to vote on. So you're talking about adding this definition for category one and then this household with pregnant individuals. Are we going through the list we've already got and finding those individuals and moving them higher on the list? Or are you talking about adding people to the list that are pregnant I work at my
first one, the first one, Alan, the first basically
reorganizing the list according to these new priorities,
right? So right now we don't have to do a lot of reorganizing the list, right? We, if we simply identify the people who are eligible, they'll already be in the order of longest on the list to shortest time on the list, right? So that that that will kind of happen automatically. The question is, is whether or not we want to add another layer that would move households with pregnant individuals and minor children to the top of that list. So I appreciate you that that's a perfect way to describe that. I appreciate you asking that question? Yeah.
All right, yeah. I just wanted to clarify whether we were talking about adding new people to the list, or if this is the original list that we're the preliminary list that we had already established. Yeah, thank you for clarifying that with me. Zach, appreciate it.
It's a good question. Thanks. Alan. Sarah,
just one more question. So what is the tiebreaker criteria, right? So if you have five people who are all added to the HCV list on the same day, what would be the tiebreaker for those individuals. I'm thinking more so when you get to the bottom right, like, how would you choose who's part of that 56 and who who would not be part of that 56 outside of let's say nobody's pregnant, nobody has minor children. Let's say you have, you know you need to fill the last spot, and you have five people who were all are on who all signed up on the same day? How are you going to determine who gets added?
Yeah, that's an excellent question. Tara i.
I'm not sure that that has been defined, and I don't want to say it has and it hasn't. I don't unless Ed we had that conversation, and I'm I missed it in these slides, but I don't know that we talked about what the tiebreaker would be if individuals
we have, but just think about past tiebreakers we may have. We can look at family, family size, stuff like that, but I don't think we defined and necessary, like time it comes to that, that thing you know As of right now, we may not be at that point, but it's something that will probably come up.
Okay, I think I would just ask that that be kind of discussed in whatever space it needs to be discussed. In case, when you're trying to pull these, these initial 56 or or looking at the dates that people signed up, and if they're all, you know, unique dates, and you don't think that's going to be an issue, but I think having some kind of prioritization, additional prioritization, regardless of the pregnant individuals and minor children get yes or no right, like having, having something on there to to help in those situations, so that you don't have to come back to us and, you know, go through that. Rigmarole, right, like you, you have a process already worked out.
Thanks. Chair. Eleanor,
yeah, just quick question. Zach, just wondering, in the prioritization, are we asking for pregnant individuals and families with minor children to come before DV and come before the Rapid Rehousing group that is timing out
based on the language in the recommendation, I would say yes.
So we're asking for pregnant individuals and minor children to come before people that are experiencing domestic violence and to come before people that might lose their housing within 120 days, that cannot afford it. Yes,
the way, the recommendation was written in the feedback that, okay, thanks. Eleanor, Jane,
I'm looking at my records. Here is, am I correct that the last time there was a HCV poll, it was in 2023
Yes, June of 2023
okay, and those people were put on the waiting list in 2023 and late 20 in 2022 some of them. So are you seeing your Is there a list now?
So the list that we're working off of was provided by mishta at the time of its closure. There isn't a current list. We just asked for that list at the time of closure because, like I said earlier, there was a lot of community feedback that, you know, folks were expecting this opportunity to come at some point, though, we didn't know when. And, you know, the carpet was kind of being pulled out from under them,
right? So, so my point is, there are people that list that I don't want to spend too much time on this, but they could potentially be they've been on the list for two years. Like they were put on the list in 20 February of 2023, for example, we better rethink our strategy for how we're housing people up there on the list for two years. I'm just saying we, you know, this is a, this is a concern,
yeah, and I think we could maybe take a look at, like, you know, percentages wise, like, how many folks were kind of meet those certain thresholds. Jane, I don't know how many folks that would be on that list and had been on that list now for, you know, two plus years, two years, yeah, right, and not and and also meet the eligibility criteria. I don't know that we I don't know that Ed has those numbers necessarily.
That's okay, yeah, I don't need though. I just was bringing that up that they're not going to be pregnant. They might be, but not when they were put on the list.
Yeah. So we would need to have a if we chose a. To add another level of prioritization, we would have to come up with a process for verifying whether or not individuals were pregnant or minor children were still a part of the household. That would be something that would have to be worked out. I do want to highlight to Jane, just based on what you said, like we're not excluding any pregnant individuals or minor children. Oh, no, no, yeah.
I mean, yeah, got it. You might want to why would we not just ditch the list that exists and start over?
That's, I mean, that that is a possibility, right? If we wanted to do that. So, and I'll talk about this a little bit here, Jane, this might be a good segue. So future, kind of moving forward, we do need to, we do need to consider that we need an ongoing list, right? Or an ongoing policy for how we would match households to Mr. Housing choice vouchers. So that's something we're going to be continuing to have a conversation about after the conclusion of this meeting. If the interim policy isn't approved, then the executive committee will be voting on the ongoing policy, and we would follow it from there. So that is that is a possibility that folks don't want to move forward with an interim policy. But again, the spirit of bringing this policy forward is to make sure that folks that have been in our system and not match to an ongoing housing subsidy that had the expectation that it might one day become available for them because they were on this Waiting List that had never closed before in recent history, right? I won't say never, hadn't closed in recent history, and so wanted to kind of acknowledge those households and make this opportunity available to them if they're still experiencing homelessness or are in rapid rehousing and and at a high risk of losing their housing and re entering the system. But certainly, you know if, if the board chooses not to approve the interim policy, we would then bring, bring an ongoing policy to the executive committee so that we can submit it to mishta in a timely manner.
All right, I just want to interject here. We're about 13 minutes over on this topic, but it's a very important topic, so fine to continue, but I also want to give Angel read an opportunity who couldn't raise hand. Did you want to add anything else to the conversation before we move forward?
Thank you. I don't know why that's not working properly. Normally does. No. I was just saying. It seems like the list takes individuals who are already on the list that meet certain criteria and then tries to prioritize that criteria by saying pregnant individuals or individuals who have minor children would then go to the top of the already prioritized list that you've already met these requirements. Is
that correct? Yeah,
yeah. So it would be adding another layer, so you have to meet eligibility criteria. And once you've met the eligibility criteria, the way we have it written is it would then be based on your length of time since you are added to the wait list portal, right? So individuals that were added to the wait list portal, let's say on june 30 of 2024, are going to be lower on the list than individuals like Jane was talking about, who were added in February of 2023. There the length of time is going to be the primary determinant on when they would be added to the mishta HCV wait list, but the one of the recommendations from the persons with lived experience of homelessness was that we add that extra layer of prioritization that will be separate from the interim Vote. So I do want to highlight that, that that will be a separate vote on the form, on whether or not we wanted to include that extra level of prioritization.
And then one other question, the platform that's used, it does not time stamp, because I think if I was on the list. It two years ago, and I was dumped and told I need to start over. I don't know how it's still necessarily about I know it's a long list, but it doesn't time stamp. Or no one's keeping track of when someone submitted that form, even if we all came in at the same day, on the same time, because that's likelihood there's a lot of those in here. But the system doesn't time stamp or put something on there that identifies I came in before Zachary came in, even though we came in the same day.
Yeah, and I think that, oh, go ahead. So
on the wait list and mission sent us, they do have date and time that it was submitted, so we could use that. As you know, if it comes down to the same day, what time that was entered into the mission of Portal, that is a possibility. Thank you.
I also want to elevate before we move to a vote. Julissa Vaught, if you'd like to come on. Mike, the question was raised, do y'all consider that trans men have children too? They often aren't housed properly or even considered family, especially trans parents. So I don't know if you wanted to add to that. Jalisa, no,
I don't. Several people responded privately through messaging, and I just know from the advocacy work that I do, that I personally know and have seen that trans men, particularly because when we talk about trans people, the reality is we usually talk about trans women, and particularly trans women of color. So if I'm going to be honest, I myself, am still learning a lot of social determinants of health that trans men go through, because it doesn't affect me. So I have noticed that a lot of them, in my opinion, are not housed properly, are turned away from certain places that cater specifically to women with children, and if we have a logical conversation, because we didn't talk about the trans agenda for so long, there is no place for a trans man that is a single parent that has carried the child to go and feel safe. And though they say that, like, okay, yes, they house anybody with children, you can say it, but does the facility actually feel affirming, feel safe, feel culturally competent? So I just wanted to make sure that that was elevated.
Thank you. And then AJ Johnson just also wrote in the chat before we moved to vote, why would the time stamp data not be part of it. It would make no sense otherwise. So AJ Johnson, did you want to comment further?
Okay, no, all righty, so I'm going to call time on this if we are ready to vote it up or down. That will be determined through the motion and the voting. So just a reminder Robert's Rules, we will call for the motion in the second the motion dies if no one seconds it, if it moves to that point, we will call the question and then put the vote forward. All right, is there a motion to accept this interim policy as presented?
I motion.
All right, thank you. Is there a second? Second? It's been moved and seconded. We are now ready for the vote.
And Dr curly, it will take a minute or two. I just want to make sure I include that rapid rehousing and in the presentation and the final document and the vote, and then I will submit the questions in the chat. Excellent.
Miss Bradford,
yeah, I just had a quick question I want to make sure. Is this the policy that we will be sending to mister to be able to accept the vouchers, because mister has requested that we send a policy by January 31 so is this the policy that we will be sending to mister?
So this would be the first part of the policy. So if the the board here chooses to approve the interim policy. The goal is to still submit an ongoing prioritization policy, which will move through the cam implementing partners, the cam Governance Committee, and then hopefully get executive committee approval at the end of this month. Okay?
All right, so while he works on that, we actually have eaten our break time. So if no one objects, I'm going to have His power forward as we still have about 60 minutes worth of material. And want to get you out as close to 430 as. Possible. So Candice Morgan, if you're ready, we are ready for you. Sorry for the delay. We're about 15 minutes behind, 20 minutes behind, but the mic is yours to talk about the Detroit unsheltered Housing Census. Hey,
Zach, can you stop sharing your screen so I can share mine? Please. Thank you. Okay, share the slides. Good
afternoon, everyone. I appreciate this opportunity that you've given me to present. I promise I won't be for you be before you long. It's gonna be hard because I'm long winded, but I'll do my best. My name is Candice Morgan, and I recently transitioned over to the city of Detroit. Some people may not know that I've made that transition, but that is where I am in the HRD Department. Today I'm going to be talking to you about the unsheltered Housing Census. We're calling it duck. So we're going to run through this presentation really, really quickly so that we could have a couple of minutes for announcements. Chelsea, if you can move forward for me, on January the 29th the city of Detroit will be conducting the Detroit unsheltered homeless census, duck count of people who are homeless and unsheltered in our community. The census is important for a variety of reasons, shelter capacity planning, understanding community needs, advocating for additional resources, new and revised policies, etc. Duck is not the pit. Let me say it again. Duck is not the pit. The pit will take place as mandated by HUD and January of 2026 now I stop right here just to give you a little more information. Mayor Duggan decided that in order for us to continue to make all of the advancements that we've been able to made it make in the homelessness arena, that we needed numbers. We needed updated numbers as continuously as we can get them. And with the pit, we only get it every other year. So he has asked us to try to have a count this year, which is the off year from the pit. So this is the first year that we've had an off count from the pit I think we had one years ago, but the first one is that Detroit is spearheading now. I want to say again, before we move forward, the pit has been conducted for many, many, many years by the COC and the enhanced homosexual network of Detroit. It could not have been possible for me to even move this forward, as far as it has come. Without their guidance, they have been instrumental in helping us move this forward. So today I'm going to kind of walk through very swiftly what we've been able to do thus far so that we can carry out the unsheltered homeless count and on January the 29th now there are going to be a lot of similarities, only because Hannah has done it so great. Why recreate the wheel? So we are trying to stick as close to possible to the methodology that they have actually perfected over the years so we can move forward. There are three areas that we're going to be concentrating in preparation activities, which basically we've been doing now for the last month or so. But it's going to conclude on Monday, January the 27th and then we have the unsheltered street census. Now that, of course, is the canvassing the night that we go out in Canvas our community. And our community is Detroit, chemtram and Highland Park, and then, of course, there are next day interviews. Those are going to happen on Thursday, january 30. Now this is very similar to what we're used to, what our community is used to again, we did not stray too far from what we know. Our next slide will go into exactly what preparation activities are now. Our preparation activities, of course, are all the planning that we've done up until this point. But on the 27th which is two days before the actual canvas thing, the census, we're going to be meeting to kind of put together all of the resources that we've been able to secure our bags, our hand warmers, our feet warmers, our any of the snacks, the lunches, whatever we have, we're not lunches. We're not going to put them together today, currently, but everything else we'll be putting together, and we're going to be doing that at COP. Cops has agreed to allow us to use their community space to meet. They have a parking community, gated parking. I'm sorry that we'll be able to take advantage of as well as open space restrooms and a kitchen area. So we will be using their facility. Be for our command center. The next area of concentrating will be the actual canvassing. That's the next slide. That's when we're actually going to do the census. And that's going to be on that following Wednesday. And we're asking people to register their agency to help participate. I want to stop here and say, in years past, if you are part of the COC and you received HUD funding as a community, we were asked to participate, and we did. And even though this is an off year, we are we are asking humbly for as much as the same participation, or a level of participation as we've been able to get doing our HUD counts so you can register more than one team, and we're asking that. And last year, I think they had up to 25 to 25 teams. So we're going to be really looking for people to sign up teams. You can have more than one team per agency. You don't even have to belong to an agency to have a team. We just want you to have a team. So after we get all the registration information, and I will say that, we'll send all of this out to you, so you will have the registration link after this meeting to sign up for any area that you would like to help and participate in. If you like a certain areas say you just love the east side. We want, we want to try to give you what you are comfortable with that, if at all possible. On the day of the event, we are going to have people sign up on consent forms and all those type of liability things. We'll have you do that before anyone does any work, we'll make sure that we're all covered. So please, when you see that registration, hit your email. Take a look at it for us, and hopefully you will sign up. The next part of a duck will be the next day canvassing. So the next day interviews, I'm sorry that's going to take place the day after the actual canvas, actually hours after so hopefully we'll be able to get some sleep. We're going to have teams, we say no less than two, but you know, if you have a team of three, that's fine as well. So we're going to be visiting known places that we know our unsheltered population attends. So we want to make sure that we're counting everyone, even if we miss someone the night before, we may be able to catch them the next day, doing our next day interviews. Again, we're going to send out the information, and hopefully you will be able to sign up. We appreciate that, and I think I'm almost all done the next slide, please. So other opportunities. One of the things the Homeless Action Network has been absolutely awesome in doing, because they've been doing it so long as they've been great at creating partnerships and donations and things of that nature. Because this is a new endeavor for us. We are asking for if you would like to donate, gloves, hats, whatever. We do want incentives, which is a big part, you know, of what we're trying to do. And we're asking for incentives or gift cards in the amount of $5 and if you are interested in doing that, I would like you to contact me directly, and we can make some we can make some arrangements if you're interested in just attending the planning meeting and working alongside of us that is open to you as well. Just let me know, and I will definitely send you the link so that you can join. So actually, that's really me getting through all of what I had rehearsed to say to you today, and I want to have a couple of minutes to thank you again for allowing us to do this and ask if anyone has any questions. So if you can ask them at this time, the last slide please is simply a slide with my contact information on whereas you can reach me at any time and I will facilitate your questions. You Yes, I don't see any hands. That's a wonderful, wonderful thing. But again, I hope that I hear from some of you, and the links will go out on Lydia.
I couldn't find the button faster. I'm sorry, Candace, I just was wondering. I saw that the last slide mentioned looking for incentive donations. Is there any work being done to look at organizations or funders to provide like a larger donation or a donation source beyond just individual people donating the items?
Honestly. Lydia, if you have any ideas, I would appreciate a reach out we have. We're doing a internal collection with within HRD, asking for donations, and so we're flooding all of the known places that we know about. But if there are any other opportunities available, we will pursue them. We were kind of, we didn't get this kind of move forward. And. To a little over a month ago. So we've really been pressing forward with the time that we had. I think there was a question about time. We're going to try to the we're not, we're sticking, of course, to the last Wednesday of the month, which is what our community usually does, and we're going to be hitting the streets about 8pm if you've ever participated in the counts before that we've had previously, some teams can start at eight, and they get a certain canvassing area, and they're, they're done about 10 or 11. You know, it really is going to depend on the team and the area that that you receive, but it's going to be very similar to our previous pit counts when we were out from, I think the time was like eight to two. Now, of course, on that same day, we're going to ask that you come in to pick up all of your supplies, so you may have to come in an hour early for that, and we're going to have some training opportunities as well for everyone who signs up. Lydia, I hope that answered your question. Jalisa,
yes, ma'am. So this comment is for you. I have resources that I can tell you offline, if you would like. I do a trauma program for trans women of color, and a lot of them need, obviously, incentives, one to make them come but because to make their quality of life better. So in the past, I partnered with Bath and Body Works, where they give a whole bunch of anything that's new just as the package is damaged. I partnered with a grocery store that had provided $15 food vouchers for every participant that came. And then I have a sponsor letter, which I can send you, a template that I send to big organizations to basically be able to do what you're trying to do. And for example, CNN has all of their reporters yearly when they go to different hotels, of things that they report on, they save all the toiletry items from hotels, and every year, in November, they send me a big box of all of that for my coat drive so I can connect you to those resources.
Well, I appreciate you, Jalisa, anything that you think that we could take advantage of. We would definitely follow up on it. Thank you so much for that. Any other questions, did I miss anything in the chat? Dr Corelli,
you hit the time question, so I think we're good, awesome,
awesome, awesome, hoping to see your names come across my computer. Have a very well spent day.
Thank you so much. Just want to alert everyone that the voting link for Mr. Bed houses presentation on mister hchb is now available in your check, so please don't forget to vote on that important presentation we have up next our grievance Review Committee, Jeremy COVID Ari and Toya Yancy,
Hey everyone. Good afternoon. Jeremy COVID Ari city, of Detroit, homelessness Solutions division, and Yancy is also here from the same team, and Catherine Izzo is the hand representation on this committee too. First and foremost, we did have a vote. The committee members voted for a new chairperson, and so that is Erica George, who I believe most of you are familiar with. She sits on the board and Secretary within this, on this on the board. So wanted to shout that out. Congratulations to her. You can go to the next slide please. And so we're just doing a general overview of how the committee works, voting things of that nature. And so committee members are responsible for reviewing, deliberating, all of the information that clients provide to us, the city, for any grievances, some situations that happen, and then providers providing a response to that. So committee members review all this information and then have a vote to substantiate or not substantiate the grievance. And this, these substantiated grievances can affect future funding. And so the committee is made up of folks from different sectors, you know, within our COC So, different shelters, different street outreach teams, just to have a diverse perspective and perspective on these grievances. So vacancies, which we will get to in a couple slides, but we announced them here so people can self interest in the seats that are available by different program sites. Like I said, I'll get that in a minute. And so it's just self interest, you can let us know, and then it's confirmed by the board. And then also a side note, if someone retires or is no longer working within the COC, or no longer even on the board, they can still be a part of this committee. With confirmation from the board. So more details, committee members are required to attend 51% of the meeting. This is consistent with other committees within our COC and so Catherine toy and myself, you know, representing the city and representing hand, we do not vote. We are just there to present the information, and committee members are the only people that vote and for grievances that are outside of our funding. So ESP state funding, or even other funders, we send those to the appropriate persons for investigation as that that is not under our jurisdiction, so to speak. And so I believe the next slide is our last slide. It's pretty brief, but I'll leave time for questions, of course. And so we do have four seats open. And so you can see here the different providers, sectors, like I said, whatever you want to call it, of the persons that we're looking for. So cam representation. This could be someone on hand inside Wayne metro or CHS, someone in the mental health field. I know that that inter connects with our, lot of our, you know, our programs as well, but someone that is a little more focused in that sector. We are looking someone from street outreach program and permanent supportive housing programs. So if you are interested, please let us know. We want to fill these seats as as quickly as we can. And so that is it, but I will look to Toya or Catherine if there's anything I may have missed or you just wanted to add, and then we can take time for questions. Sounds
good to me. Jeremy, okay, I'm
not sure if Catherine's on, but if she wants to chime in later, she certainly can. Nope. Nothing else for me. Jeremy, okay, hey, thank you. Any questions from anybody? Hey, Eleanor, yes. So we have the pshc available, and we already have someone sitting on the Rapid Rehousing side of things. So we try to have someone from everywhere, right? We have two shelter persons on on the committee, and so these are just the only ones that are vacant right now. I'm
sorry, Jeremy, I kind of miss misstated that question I was kind of asking, Is this grievance? So can you file a the Grievance Committee is open to all CLC programs, shelters, rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing. So if individuals and clients are having struggles or have a grievance, then they can go through this website or this link to file a grievance on any sector of programming that they're receiving in the quarter in the CLC,
yes, I should have probably detailed that a little bit more. But yes, clients, you know, every program within city funding, and you know, COC funding is required to have internal policy. And then if clients don't want to do that or it, you know, it gets elevated, it comes to us. And so there is a link on Cam's website for clients to submit it there, and then we have the traditional paper copy that we've had for years. So that is another way they can do it. Think that answer your question, right? Eleanor, okay, what other questions, if any? Okay, I'm sorry, private, private message, Yep, yeah, you can reach out to me, either in the chat here, or email me. Direct Message me anyway, is fine.
All right, thank you so much, because we're rolling right into the shelter work group. So perfect.
That will not be me. That'll be Jessica, though, from our team.
Good afternoon. Everyone
trying to get my camera working here. Good afternoon. Everyone just going to take a brief second to go over with you the shelter work group meeting that we have. So we meet every first Tuesday of the month at 9am it's a virtual meeting that happens on teams the city staff that facilitate right now are myself and Jeremy COVID Ari. Attendees for this meeting include city and non Cindy funded shelter providers, navigation teams and outside resources and organizations. So some of the standing agenda items we have each meeting these providers provide updates for present updates or future projects for. Event to all shelter providers. So the city of Detroit provides updates. Ham provides updates, and includes hands Wayne Metro and CHS, the navigation teams and updates from the HMIs team at hand are also given in this space, if applicable. And lastly, we get updates from ESP as well some of the topics that we had last year for our city update. So Wayne resa had a grant that, excuse me, provided $5,000 to all shelters that had school age residents, so that we're able to use that money to enhance their academic spaces. This included Furniture, electronics, books and school supplies, and we were really excited to help facilitate the sites getting that new equipment for their facilities. DPS, CD offered free underwear to students in this past spring, we provided updates about community standards, which are just standards that we like all shelters across the board to kind of uphold, to make sure that everyone is having an equitable experience while in shelter. We shared updates about D wins, mobile crisis resource and Bethel communities youth enrichment program, which offered a lot of resources, like early exposure to STEM activities for students, arts and crafts and dinner and snacks were provided as well. So those are just a few things that we go over in the shelter work groups, the meetings are successful because of all of the great providers that we collaborate with, and we look forward to new partnerships for this coming year.
Thank you so much. Miss Blackman, are there any questions or comments for the committee? All right, you got some parts and likes out there. So thank you for this update. Thank you all right, Miss Eleanor Bradford and Lauren Licata. Psh, review committee.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Eleanor Bradford. I am the systems coordinator for housing resources at Homeless Action Network of Detroit. I myself and Lauren will be presenting today, speaking about the PSH review CLC committee, commonly called just saying, letter of support committee, next slide. So I'm just want to give you a brief history on why this committee started it, and some history on the work that we do so low income housing tax credit program. It was established in 8019 86 it was an investment in the private sector to build affordable housing for low income people. It's overseen by the IRS. They give tax credits to our State Housing Authority, which is Mister and it's designated for as the Housing Credit Agency and allocates and administers the tax credits for the entire state of Michigan. So it's $1 for dollar tax liability for the investor or the owner. Low Income Housing Tax Credits, they play a crucial role in financing for affordable housing projects and covering the portion of the development costs. Congress in that same year, the Tax Reform Act set aside these two major credits, which are 9% and 4% the maximum amount. These are the maximum amount of tax credits that the authority can and the project can receive. And this is where the investors purchase these credits and to provide the equity for the building to be affordable housing, the two primary ones that we focus on a lot in our COC are the four and the 9% which are suited to different types of construction. In mishta, in Michigan, Misha holds the two funding rounds, which are for the 9% tax credit award twice a year, which is in April and October. Just want to give some fun facts that about 3.6 5 million has been allocated. Is the number for affordable housing units that light Tech has led for creation of units from 1987 to 2022 this is the data from HUD and in Detroit, specifically from 87 to 2015 317 projects have been added. 15,257 of them, one. Units total, and we are working with the data currently working with the city of Detroit, because we do want to give you a more updated of currently, but there's been so much funding that has been allocated through ARPA, through HOME dollars, through light tech, having increasing funding that the data has not been updated yet. When that data does get updated, we will come back to you next slide, please. And then my colleague Lauren is going to go next
thanks. Eleanor, hi everyone. I am going to be talking about some of the meeting requirements if you have a project that or that folks who are developing will need a lawyer support for so there are two different meetings that are required for attendance for developers, it is the threshold webinar meeting, and then the LIHTC presentation meeting. We'll talk a little bit more about those in the next slide. Thank you. So for threshold requirements in order to do the letter of support to develop LIHTC, or permanent supportive housing in the city of Detroit or in the Detroit COC, we're going to talk about the as outlined in the qualified Action Plan, which is will be referred to as the Q, A, P, mission requires a preliminary meeting with the Detroit Continuum Care at least 120 days prior to the LIHTC submission date. So a lot of what you will see us talking about here in terms of the policy for this committee is mostly going to come from policies that mishta has created. So in order to meet this requirement, the COC requests that PSH developers submit a letter of intent, and we'll talk about what's in that letter of intent next, the letter should be submitted to the COC coordinator, which is Eleanor and will be shared with the PSH review committee members. The threshold webinar must be viewed within 10 days of submitting your letter of intent. Next slide, so your letter of intent, or the letter of intent for developers, must address the following items intend to apply in the upcoming live tech round. It just whatever, sharing their speed, just switch. Oh, okay, perfect. So it says live tech here, but this can also be in an upcoming home for the city of Detroit, home funding, whatever application you're applying for that requires a letter of support, your intent to apply to that what you're applying for. So it's like 4% or 9% a project contact person, name, role, organization, email address, phone number, project development team members. So we're looking specifically for developers, property managers, and then you're a supportive service provider, the targeted population for the PSH development. And we would like to see the data behind that justification for choosing that target population, an overview of the project, including project name, location, number of PSH units. If there are units that aren't TSH. We want to know about those as well. And then the bedroom breakdown of the units, project experience, or project partner experience, with developing and operating TSH. Explanation on why development team is developing the PSH project experience working with Continuum repairs or coordinated entry systems, not just necessarily here in Detroit, but maybe in a different state or throughout the state of Michigan, and expected operation date of the project. So we're looking for a timeline as well. I will pass it back to Eleanor.
Next slide, please. So we're going to go into our April 2025 funding round, next please, and just talk about what that entails. So and this directly comes from our mission the website, just to let you know, in case there are any upcoming developers or and to inform the board that the initial meeting with the COC deadline for PSH projects is January 31, 2025, so being that the PSH review committee meets once a month, you have to schedule that meeting on the 17th. Think we're the third Wednesday at two, at one o'clock? Is it one o'clock? One o'clock, I'm sorry, at one o'clock. Just want to give you some contact of the information. Next slide please. Our PSH review board presentations and meeting materials that is due, we ask that when you. Presents that there is a cover letter in the form of an email from the developer or the executive director of the lead agency that you provide your self score calculation that comes from mister. You can find that on your quality Qualified Allocation Plan, the current one for mister and updated project description with the contact person, your role, organization, email address and phone number, we ask for the entire team. That entire team will be the developer, the lead service agency, the property manager, and possibly owner or and or investor. As you see, we ask for the rest of the information, and then at the end the expected operation date of the project. Next slide, please, Lauren.
Thank you. All right. So continuing on the board, presentation, meeting materials is addendum three. So if you are familiar with mishta and their live tech process at all, you know about addendum three that is specific to permanent supportive housing. So a completed addendum three checklist, application and application signature page signed by the applicant parties for the hara and COC. So a Hara here is camp and it will be that will need to be presented upon committees approval. The committee is particularly interested in your tenant selection plan and service coordination plan. One thing that we always tell developers is that you should be putting as much time into these items as you are putting into the actual hard cost of development as well. So and then next is the PSH development team, MOU. And so this will need to be signed again by cam and the COC, and it needs to align with Misha s preference for highly vulnerable individuals on the project's wait list, as verified by the hara specifically here in the Detroit COC, your referral of all PSH projects that come through the letter support committee and get a letter of support have to take all of their referrals from cam. They have to agree to enter data into HMIs. The project will report to the CO state coordinator, which I apologize Eleanor, I that position itself like is open in an ongoing manner to about updates to the project. The project will utilize minimum funder screening criteria, which is on Michigan's website, so not looking for anything above what they do for their tenants, the project will align with COC, wide written standards for permanent supportive housing, and during the initial lease up process, the PSH Project will work closely with the COC and Cam
Oh. Okay.
So other items that are due is the housing first certification, project budgets, capital, operating and service budgets, including the amount sources and uses and if funding is confirmed or requested, we are really looking at our committee is really looking at how you are funding services. It's often an overlooked part, and we want to make sure that you are going to be able to support the tenants that are living in your project and a sample of letter support for the project. You can give that to us. We have our own template as well, but we will give you, or if you need your letter of support to say specific things, we need to notify as well. Next slide. So the meeting delighted meeting is focused on details of the project. The PSH review committee will meet with PSH projects intending to submit a LIHTC application under the PSH category within 45 days of the application due date, prior to January 31 development teams must submit the materials outlined below via email to the COC coordinator like Eleanor just said, I believe that our meeting, our next meeting is on. When did we say it was? Oh, the 15th. So if you happen to be on here and be a developer and you're a developer looking to apply, get that email in soon. Please. Next slide, and okay, that's my lesson. So please include the following items in your presentation. So in your second meeting, you're going to actually present to the committee members. We would love to see an actual presentation from folks. We get a lot of cool materials draw up markets. So anything that developers can include. To us a brief project description, including any details about the scope funding, target population, number of units, that sort of stuff, why they are developing a permanent supportive housing project. The project team's knowledge and our commitment to housing first and harm reduction, an explanation of the permanent supportive housing service plans and funding for those services, how the projects will screen applicants for tenancy and the details of the development team, with any other details that the development team would like the review committee to know about the process, and I'm going to turn it back over to Eleanor.
Next slide, please. So just wanted to highlight for currently, this, this last quarter, this CLC, psh, review committee did supply a letter of support to an upcoming project. The developer is John Stanley development, and the lead service agency is neighborhood Legal Services of Michigan. Next slide please. That project is called Carly square project. It is at 9645 Shoemaker on Detroit's east side. It will provide 30 units of affordable housing that will be for permanent, supportive housing serving individuals experiencing homelessness. There will be 30. They haven't quite decided, but they definitely there will be 32 to three bedrooms, so they will already start at two bedroom units. The project is in the area near amenities on the east side of Detroit, and will offer residents many opportunities for shopping, transportation and other services. Next slide please. October, notice of the funding is to come. As you know, they're in the middle of changing over. So as soon as we get the notification from mister, we will come back to the board and let you all know Next slide, please. Just wanted to give some recap to just let you know some positive a lot of times we know we give a lot of administration, but wanted you to know these are the upcoming PSH LIHTC project based voucher units that will be coming through the pipeline, as you see, my side, formerly known as southwest counseling solution. Campbell street, they will be providing to the CLC 20 units, but they have a total of 40 affordable units. I think my side is on the call. Congratulations. My side, they also will be opening Hubbard farms project, which is 60 units. It has 30 COC units that will come through coordinated entry again. Thank you. My side upcoming, literally right now, we are starting a lease up meeting with Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan. Their project name is st Matthews, and they will be providing the CLC with 2525 units, and that is as of current, right now, also ccih and Neighborhood legal, along with the VA Benjamin Davis veteran village, another 25 units that will be currently ramping up lighthouse, which is a project commonly called Lynwood, they have been given a letter of support and funding, and so their projected ramp up is the first quarter of 2026 Next slide, please, just to continue and let you know also, neighborhood legal is also the service provider for the project named Brewster. This is 40 units of PSH looking to open up that project towards the end of this year. Veterans of America have St Mary's project, looking to open that project the first of 2026 that is 61 units. And again my side, which is the Western apartments, will be opening up. Quarter four, projected. Quarter four of 2026, and no, these are all projections. Construction happens, timelines happens. Things change. So the dates are not definite. Also NOAA at Central they have will be providing us 39 PSH units, projecting to come in the year of 2027, I don't think I added, but just wanted, because we were talking about upcoming, we did want to go next slide, please. Sorry. I mean, Chelsea, just wanted to highlight that we did take time and wanted to highlight one of our previous projects that have just ramped up this year. This month, mariners in anchor project was a 44 unit, as you. Know mariners in transition their SRO, psh to now Psh, light tech project based voucher. So they have now. They now have, instead of 32 units, they have given us an additional 12 units. So they have given us 44 units of permanent supportive housing. And in addition, they housed, along with the navigators and our outreach team the entire CLC coming together, we were able to house 40 individuals in one day on december 23 before the holiday season. And so just want to elevate the work that comes out of this. And sometimes we don't get to see the final output. And so that is one of the final outputs. And just want to highlight and thank the entire continuum that's participated in this work, and looking forward for more work to come, if you want to join the LIHTC Review Committee. The Detroit COC board has created a PSA review committee that meets monthly, third Wednesday, at one o'clock to review the Low Income Tax Credit projects that are seeking a letter of support. Currently, the policy is that you must be a board member. If you are interested, please contact myself or Lauren. Our emails are listed, and then also just listing the purpose of the PSH review committee. And I next slide, I
I think that's Yep, that was the end of our slide. So just wanted to thank you for letting us present and see. Are there any questions?
I see one question here Eleanor about joining, which you just went over, but I just want to reiterate that it is for current COC board members only, and we can plug our email addresses in the chat.
Thank you. Have a great day, and Happy New Year's, everybody.
Happy New Year, and thank you both for the presentation today. All right, powering on. Where we are almost there, everyone. Thank you, everyone for your commitment. We are at the point of public comment. So Ms, Harrison, I'll hand it off to you. I know we have some who have signed up already, so take it away.
You. Thank you. If you could bring that
slide back up.
All right, make sure the timer was on.
No problem. All right, so we're going to start a public comment. We ask that the public comment be limited to three minutes per person, and the rest of the rules are here on the screen. I will not read them verbatim to you, but please review them if you are coming up for public comment today.
All right, so Gerald, you said there were some that already signed up,
yes at the top of the meeting. Miss Tara Brown, public comment. Okay?
Anyone else, if you could please just message me directly, or you can raise your hand after ms, brown, if you also have public comment today, Tara, you can go ahead.
Thank you. Kiana, I just wanted to say after the last meeting, it takes a lot of courage for somebody that is unhoused to come in here and ask us for help, and we need to be better prepared for that and simply brushing them off into a breakout room only for them like a boomerang to rebound and come right back at the next meeting. And I understand there's not help for everybody. And I also understand that some don't necessarily feel like this is a place where people should be coming to ask for help, but it is the place to come ask for help, because by the time you get in this space, something has broken down in front that has made you believe that this is the space that you need to be in. And maybe there are things that you need to convey that the people in this space need to hear we need to figure out a better way to deal with them when they come in here, than to tell them we don't want them here, or to make them feel like we don't want them here, and dealing with them on a serious level. You know, a blanket is nice. Snacks are nice. You. But that was stuff that our parents gave us when we camped out and played in the yard. We need to have a real solution to this homeless problem here in Detroit. And again, I can't say it enough. If something is happening on the front end that is not leading people to a resolution, then we need to fix that there before they get here, if this is not the place that we want them, the other thing I wanted to respond to is someone who works for the city pointed out that maybe we should do public comment in this space the way that they do at the city. We should not be doing anything like that, because 60 seconds in front of your city council to address your issue is not enough time. And it also speaks to the fact that nobody wants to hear from you. I can't speak for anybody else here, but when unhoused people come in this space, I definitely want to hear from them. I want to hear from them because I get to hear from all the people that make policies, some of which I think are BS, some of which the people in here think are BS, but we have to listen to it, and we have to be respectful. So we should give homeless people when they come into this space, and people living in shelters when they have complaints coming into this space, that same respect. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. Joanna Underwood, you are next.
I just want to say thank you to the board for all, to all the current members that voted in support of me representing as a new member at large, I appreciate it, and thank you for your consideration. I am happy to add my experience and skill sets to help advance that this organization represent, and I definitely looking forward to doing the work, and I just want to say thank you to all the members and all your efforts in advocating for people that are homeless experience and all kinds of housing problems In the city of Detroit and elsewhere. I appreciate you, and I value your service. And I just say, I just want to say, thank you again. So much. God bless
Thank you, Miss Underwood. Next I had Adam Rosetta, you put your hand down, but I see that you have come back to the chat. You were actually next for your public comment.
Yeah, first I want to say congratulations to this Underwood. Some of us did vote for her. Obviously, she made it to the board. And I also want to agree with Miss Brown's comments. There's definitely some things going on that are slowing the system down and not allowing things to happen in a timely manner the way that they should. I also can give an update, a generic update, about the individual that was being spoke about. They did receive housing on january 23 apparently one of the 40 that were housed on that day, and but there were some some roadblocks put up that had to be broken down in a rather quick manner in order to for to attain that housing. And I can't comment right now because it is a particular client's case, but there are some things that definitely need to be changed in order to move things along faster so that we can decrease this number instead of allowing it to continue to increase, I yield the rest of my time.
Thank you, Mr. Rosetta. Next up we had Tamara. Tamara, are you still wanting public comment.
Give me one second. Okay.
Thank you. Applause.
All right, Tamara, while you're waiting, I'm going to move on to Lydia, and then I'll circle back to you. Lydia, you're up next.
Thanks. Yeah. I just wanted to, I guess, offer. My two cents of things I've noticed in regard to the comments that were previously made about this space and what its purpose is, and what to do when folks are having issues, I think that's something we've been discussing for quite some time, looking for what is the best pathway, or what is the best place for folks to report those things outside of the traditional grievance procedure that we do have. And I know recently we've had conversations. I think this meeting here, we did adjust just a bit with some of the language around public comment. And in my opinion, I think the breakout rooms is a good solution. It offers that one on one space for someone to not necessarily have to share all of that private information in such a public space. I do understand that sometimes that's, you know, the that's what they would like to do, but also offering them that space where things can be addressed one on one. And then also, if we're looking to keep our system equitable, I just It's tricky, because I definitely value hearing those experiences and doing whatever we can to resolve those things. But I think, I don't know, I think equitably, we wouldn't want anyone to feel like if they come to a board meeting and say something, they got quicker treatment or they got access to something somebody else wouldn't have if they didn't know to come to a board meeting. So in my opinion, I think continuing to do this work of finding the best solution for grievances outside of the traditional grievance procedure is something to look at and continue to tweak until we get it right. But, yeah, I guess that's all I really had to say, was that I think we're working towards it. We're getting closer. I don't think it's perfect yet, but I do see a little bit of danger in making this space, the space where anyone can come to to present grievances, and that's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there any other public comment today?
I put a note in the chat, I think, just to the comments that have been made about the individual being able to speak, I think allowing the three minutes is time, even if we can't give a resolution at that time, because where else can they go and do they know who's telling them when they get turned away four or five times at a shelter who they can talk to to help them. So they need an avenue, and a board is here to help with that. I don't know a board that isn't there to help with those things that they're trying to rectify in a space. So they need to have the ability, yes, offering them so that they're not sharing personal information if they want it they don't want to share that. Hey, we can pull you to the side. Have one of the representatives talk to you a little bit further. We still can't guarantee that you would get a resolution today, because I do agree. There are a lot of people who to be equitable. There are a lot of people who are needing help. However, if you have made it to this meeting and stayed on for the meeting, then you should be heard, because maybe we haven't heard you, and it's our way to be able to improve what we're setting out to do every single day, because that every time we meet, we're seeking to make it a better experience for those who are going through something traumatic in their life and possibly their children's lives, something that they'll never forget, and to be the helping hand that was in a city that helped them will last generation, and for someone to come on here and feel like they can get some type of resolution, even if it's someone taking their hand and step by step, working with them. No, we won't be able to do it for everybody, but we should definitely note it and follow up with them and get some form of contact, because these are unique situations. They may not have another ability to talk to you on the phone again, this might be the last couple of minutes on the phone, so just being realistic to the time that they're taking to come and tell us we do need to try to address it then and then. That gives us the alert of the board to say, hey, something else is going on, that multiple people are coming on here and telling us they're not getting help, so then we can then try to help them in that capacity. Thank you. Thank you.
Next up,
I have. Eleanor,
Hey, I just kind of, I kind of dropped it in the chat just for clarity, because I think a lot of times Knowledge is power in the projects and then everything. So just want to elevate that if the client did get housed, I was not here to understand what happened. So I don't want to speak on someone's personal but if the client did get housed this prior in those 40 that mean the client was assessed. That mean the client was acknowledged and was placed on our permanent supportive housing prioritization list. And so that means they were Next up on the list to provide housing, and so that mean when we when the agencies report their vacancies and say that they have vacancies, then that's when we're able to house an individual that's on our PSH list. So I just want to elevate that there was still fairness done in the process, because we don't want people to say that, yes, we will take time and address your needs. But that doesn't mean, because you come to the board meeting, we will provide instantaneous housing. So I just want to elevate that that did not happen, that the person was already on the list, and through our process, that's in place that's approved by you all, that is how the person obtained housing.
Thank you. Eleanor Allen, I think your hand has come back up. Would you like to do another comment, yeah,
just agreeing with with what Eleanor is saying, and a little clarification he did not get it through through the PSH program. So it wasn't your 40 but it was that same day. So at least 41 people housed that day, there that that particular person didn't just show up to the meeting. He was someone that had entered the cam system multiple times this year and was not helped. And she came not once, but twice, to meetings to voice her frustrations and being someone that she was actually my client, I myself have a few frustrations with the system that hopefully being on the board, I can make some proposals that will alleviate those problems that we came across and I also want to, wanted to say, well, I've got a couple of minutes left that this particular forum here, the public comment section, is one of our most important portions of the meeting, because that's where we get the affirmations of things that have gotten done, and that's also where we get the problems that we didn't know we needed to focus on. That's also where I would introduce myself to the COC, and was eventually able to make it all the way to becoming a board member, while strengthening my organization that we finally found brick and mortar building for without this public comment section, those kinds of things wouldn't be realized. So it's one of the most important sections in our in the COC meetings, I believe, and think we need to keep it yield to the rest of the time.
All right, thank you again, Mr. Rosetta, for your public comment. Are there any other public comments today? I
I am simply, oh, type in the chat or just raise your hand.
We appreciate all of the public comments that have been lifted up today. We will continue to have public comment as part of this platform is an integral part of the work that we do for the Detroit CLC board. So with that being said, I am going to turn it back over to Dr G and close out public comment for January the sixth, 2025 Thank you.
Thank you Miss Harrison, and thank you all for commenting. Certainly, it's through our collective voice that we find our way forward. We are over time, so I won't prolong our time, but we thank everyone. It was a robust agenda. We didn't have a break today, but I feel like we had. Some very important conversations. We will give you five minutes back at some point in the future. Have a wonderful 2025 and we will see you February 3. If you have not just a reminder to everyone, please make sure that you sign in through the attendance link. If you didn't have a chance to do that, Miss Johnson has posted that again. Also that you all those who are eligible to vote. There were several votes today that came at different points during the chat. So before we end this call, I'll just linger around with Miss Johnson maybe another minute so people can scroll through scroll through the chat and make sure they voted on all of the items that were listed with voting links. Thank you again. And a wonderful evening to everyone you.
