City Council Meeting   5/2/2022

We had a little neighborhood get-together for the 900 block of St.

Charles yesterday.

There's so many new people moving in just to get them.

So it turned out really nice.

It just started raining a little bit after the church.

You saw the house in the corner of your lot, so right there at the intersection of Watson and St.

Yeah, it's the one in St.

Taylor Houston.

Good.

I looked at a database from Keith Smith of 142 houses in Charlottesville.

It sold in the last, in this calendar year.

69 sold for the list price.

Are we ready to go?

All right.

So I will call this meeting with the Charlottesville City Council to order.

We're doing this as a hybrid meeting.

We are here live and in person in City Council chambers, but the 4 o'clock meeting here we will do basically with people just appearing by Zoom.

So

If folks are watching on Zoom, that's as good as it's going to get for a couple hours.

Ms.

Councilor McGill?

Present.

Here.

Is there a motion to approve or to amend the agenda?

So move.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, motion passes.

We have an agenda.

So the meeting will be divided into three main sections.

The first is a work session to hear and discuss presentations.

The second will be followed by a closed meeting to discuss a few matters that mainly legal significance.

Then the City Council business meeting which will start around 630 with limited in-person public seating.

and of course you're welcome to participate by Zoom in any case.

So those are our three pieces here at the four o'clock hour.

The first one is from the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, aka TJAC, and I think we have Executive Director of TJAC, Anthony Harrow, to present to us.

Is that right?

Thank you for having me, councilors and Mr. Mayor.

It's good to be here.

And I wanted to just talk about homelessness in Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.

So I guess I should share my screen if that's okay.

Or you can put the presentation up.

Hi, Anthony.

You should have the ability now.

Oh, there we go.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

Can you see that?

Yep.

Perfect.

Okay.

But again, my name is Anthony Hara.

I'm the director for the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, and we are the COC lead agency on homelessness, which is essentially a HUD term for a continuum of care, which is defined as the community of service providers addressing homelessness in particular communities.

Our COC area or our service area that TJAC covers and works within includes the city of Charlottesville, County of Albemarle,

and also the counties of Louisa, Flavana, Nelson and Greene counties.

So to begin, I wanted to just start off with some baselines, which is that TJAC, we believe everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

We believe it's a human right.

and we also believe that housing is the end to homelessness.

This is a simple math problem that I love to always go back to as a good reminder.

Every time I get an opportunity to talk about homelessness, I think this is important and can't be said enough, but homelessness plus

home or housing equals not homeless any longer.

And so I'll hit upon that a little bit later in the presentation, but that's something that's core to our mission and core to our belief and I'll show in the data how that also manifests as well locally with homelessness.

Another kind of

just foundational thing I wanted to talk about was that the way we see homelessness also locally and nationwide is that it's a part of a system.

It's a part of a greater force in our community.

And this quote, I think, is really impactful for many different

sectors or many different parts of society in our community, but that every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

And so in the context of homelessness, I think this is important for me to think about as the executive director for the coalition leader on homelessness is how do we move forward properly so that our system, both the homeless service system, but also all the systems that we're interconnected with

How can we be aligned and how do we have the right resources to reach our goal?

And so, you know, in the absence of that, basically, it says that we don't have the right resources and supports necessary to reach our goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

And that homelessness is a symptom of a system that doesn't have enough of those different resources or enough of those different avenues for people to move out of homelessness properly and get stabilized.

That's also a core belief of how we approach homelessness locally.

So just as a foundational portion of how we look at homelessness and how we look at solving it.

And I want to talk about local homelessness here in the city.

Recently, we worked on a outreach project called the Point in Time Count.

Some of you might be familiar with that.

I know some counselors have experience working directly in homeless services.

But the point in time count is a nationwide effort to document the size and scope of homelessness.

And we rely on volunteers and also staff in the homeless system of care and also in other human services to go out in the community and actually talk with and interview people experiencing homelessness.

And so we just finished that project in January of this year.

Every year we do it in January.

with the goal of trying to identify folks at a time where we're hoping most people are in sheltered settings because of the weather.

But we go out in January and talk to folks.

And so I wanted to talk about that data here with you.

I know this might be far away from you as councilors.

I'm not sure how well you can see these numbers.

I know they're small and I'm happy to share this with you all afterwards as well.

But this is a representation of the point in time count over the last 12 years, starting in 2010.

We've had pretty consistent methodology with the count and we've documented it as a part of our requirements to HUD.

We've reported on these numbers for the past, since 2010.

And as you can see how it changes over time, but you can see there's been a significant shift lately from 2021 to 2022, the count we just completed in January.

The blue line at the top is the count of people in emergency shelters in our community.

And then there are two lines below that that are a little bit hard to distinguish.

I apologize about the colors.

One of them is orange.

That's the count of people in transitional housing in our community.

We have very limited transitional housing in our community.

And then the last line is yellow, which represents people living unsheltered.

We're not in emergency shelters.

So essentially camping outside, sleeping under bridges or sleeping in their car.

And so to start with real quick, just to give an overview of what this blue line is showing is

You know, definitely some changes over time since 2010.

But again, the most significant shift has just occurred over this past year.

And it's directly related to the pandemic and also things that the pandemic has brought with it, like high housing costs,

and lack of available affordable housing.

And I'll talk a bit more about how it affects that, but we are experiencing quite a unique time in the homeless system of care now, as you can see where this sheltered count is quite high, higher than it's ever been before.

And it's, again, directly related to the pandemic.

As some of you might be familiar, when the pandemic first started in 2020,

We moved from largely a congregate shelter setting to a non-congregate shelter setting, meaning people have their own private rooms in local hotels.

And then we were able to be a part of a really amazing partnership to purchase an old motel and then renovate it into an emergency shelter, non-congregate emergency shelter.

And that data is represented here as well.

We had to extend even beyond that.

And so we had folks also in local hotels on top of that.

And so you can see that we, there were 260 people living in emergency shelters in January, in January 2022.

There was 27 people we identified as sleeping outside and there were five people in transitional housing.

So that was our point in time count.

And the other significant thing I wanted to bring up about homelessness locally is that the unsheltered number, again, the number of people living outside has really remained unchanged in a significant way since 2010, you know, moving between 20 to around 30 people.

And still, again, in 2022, in January, we identified almost the same number of people we've identified over the past 10 years.

And what that says is really, really

important for us as a community and for TJEC to really grapple with.

And basically what it says is there is a group of people living outside in our community that we have not significantly been able to address because those numbers have remained essentially unchanged for years and years, even though the other numbers in our community have changed quite a lot.

As you can see, this unsheltered number, thankfully it isn't growing as far as we can, you know, as far as our point in time count numbers show.

But it is, homelessness is definitely different.

And I'm sure many of you have experienced that as well directly firsthand in your own ways.

So that's the point in time count overview.

This is the point in time count numbers collapsed.

So just all in total.

Could I ask you to go back to the last slide just a second?

Sure.

What is transitional housing?

Great question.

Yeah, so locally transitional housing, the one essential transitional housing program we have is the MACA Hope House.

And it's a relatively small program for families with children.

What transitional housing is defined as for this context is

essentially a place for people to stay for up to two years with support services, but it is not permanent housing.

So it kind of is in between shelter and housing as transitional housing.

So it is something that a family or an individual must move out of eventually.

So is there a distinction set number of days, weeks, months for emergency shelters after which they either have to move into transitional housing or move out?

Locally, we do not support those types of mandates on time frame.

With the funding that we have that we fund emergency shelter programs locally, we

strive for as few barriers as possible to accessing emergency shelter and also for staying sheltered.

And so we do not impose timeframes.

However, case management is always involved in emergency shelter programs.

And as a part of that case management, we are always encouraging and working with clients to help them move on as soon as possible.

I'd also like to point out that in this 2011 to 2016 data during that time the Salvation Army used to run a transitional housing program and MACA's Hope House was significantly larger.

Yeah, the reason those numbers are going down is not because there's not a need.

It's because it's no supply.

No supply.

Exactly.

Thank you.

I guess what's striking to me is the looking at the unsheltered population and you pointed out that it remains remarkably constant over the last 12, 13 years.

Right, there have been changes over time to the resources we have available to address all types of homelessness and chronic or, you know, slash unsheltered homelessness is certainly one of them.

The main tool in our toolbox to address unsheltered homelessness and people living outside, traditionally, most of whom are considered chronically homeless and all, I can define that, I'll find that a little bit later in the presentation, but I have you to talk about it now, but the main tool in our toolbox is permanent supportive housing.

to really address chronic homelessness properly.

And we have had changes in permanent supportive housing available in our community over time.

But since the crossings opened downtown, we haven't had any new injection of permanent supportive housing in a significant way since then.

It's become kind of stagnant as it were in terms of the resources available to really address chronic homelessness.

And the other really key component to address unsheltered homelessness is street outreach programs.

And so we have street outreach through the PATH program at Region 10, which is focused on people living outside with mental health and or substance abuse issues.

There's also some significant, I mean, so I think most people know I worked for Potchum for four years, and I was the, my job is now four people's job, which is pretty awesome.

But a lot of, some of the gentlemen, and I'm using gentlemen in general because

I ran into more unsheltered men than I ran into unsheltered women and so I'm just I'm going to use the male population on this that there were a number of gentlemen some barriers that would come into play would be IDs and there were some people who I tried very hard and I know others were working with very hard to try to bring them in however

Congregate settings for some people are incredibly difficult to be around.

I remember some of our veterans had a very hard time.

Veterans who especially had served in Vietnam or in Afghanistan would have a hard time and the PTSD and being in congregate shelter and chose rather to be outside.

There were a few people who we couldn't get housing for because all of the housing requires some sort of legal ID.

There was a gentleman, we worked for two years to get his ID.

And this was somebody who we actually had living relatives.

And he knew where he was born.

And there were a few people who I worked with who they wouldn't even engage in a governmental system.

to get the paperwork because their mental health issues were so extensive that technically they weren't a threat to themselves or others.

But at the same time, they weren't interested in getting housing because housing meant they needed to get papers and they didn't want to get papers.

These are some of the barriers that I and albeit the biggest barrier is lack of housing and lack of a place and lack of a place and a rental unit that will accept somebody regardless of what criminal history they might have and regardless of what credit check they might have.

This is a very real thing is that landlords legally can run a credit check.

and when you run a credit check, if you've been homeless, I really doubt your credit's good.

Thank you, Councillor.

Those are great points.

The barriers to housing are real.

It's already difficult to identify and move into affordable housing, but it's even more difficult if you've been homeless for a while and don't really have rental history, have a poor credit score, like you mentioned.

So those are really important.

real factors that we face.

Okay, so as you can see, again, just going over the last big count, the significant shift that because of how we're sheltering people and also the numbers of people we're sheltering has increased significantly.

Just a little bit about who this population was, who was homeless during January in 2022.

In terms of gender, about 70%

identified as male, 29% identified as female, 1% identified as transgender.

And because of how we code the data with HUD's data set, and also because the numbers are so small, I don't want to reveal the specific type

of transgender whether it's from male and female because the numbers are too small it could potentially identify and so also there was one percent who identified as no single gender our belief is that those numbers are artificially low because we don't have programs in our area that are specifically tailored for people who are transgender or non-binary and so traditionally a lot of other communities what they've found is that

to really address the needs in that population with homelessness, the programs that are specifically catered to it.

So I would just want to provide that context that that probably is an undercount of the true number of people, the numbers of people who deal with homelessness who identify as transgender or non-binary.

And then in terms of household makeup,

During that point in time, which again was just one day, so it is quite limited, and I'll talk a bit more about that in a second, but on that night, it just so happened that 98% of the people we identified as homeless individuals, where 2% of the people we identified were people and families.

In terms of age ranges,

You can see towards the right 55 to 61 and then 62 and above.

Those were the most populated or above 55 is the most populated age group in the homeless population.

So it is, generally speaking, an aging population dealing with significant health issues, very, very significant health issues.

And I mean that physical health, you know, chronic health conditions, and in addition to mental health issues as well, but physical health issues is really a growing trend that we are seeing along with age.

In terms of race, 52% identified as white and 41% identified as black or African American, significantly overrepresented in the homeless population compared to the general population.

but also compared to the population of folks who are living in poverty too.

41% is significant over-representation.

And then in terms of the other population category, again, those numbers were, the number of people were so small, but it includes people who identified as American Indian, Alaskan native or Pacific Islander.

A little bit more about folks who were homeless during the pit count.

There were 12 veterans experiencing homelessness, which for us is actually quite a bright spot in our efforts to end homelessness in general, but also focus on veteran homelessness.

We used to traditionally have about 20 to 25 veterans who are homeless in our community.

We got as low as six for a while.

We're at 12 right now, but we are making some great progress with veteran homelessness locally, and this is a result of that.

20% of adults reported experiencing domestic violence at some point in their past 32% of adults reported mental health concerns and 57% almost 60% of the population of people we identified as homeless reported a chronic health condition or physical disability.

So again,

on very significant health issues in the homeless population.

Now, these are all self-reported just for context.

So I'm sorry, just a quick point on the previous slide.

I thought that there was significant funding for to house veterans, you know, over the last few administrations.

And I'm just curious, the 57% of adults, you know, having some type of health conditions, a lot of times that is what drives them to homelessness if they, you know, they can't pay their

including the VASH program which is VA supportive housing and also the SSVF program which is supportive services for veteran families and both of those programs have made a huge impact on the veteran homeless population.

A lot of the difficulty that we're experiencing right now even though because money essentially isn't the issue

for veterans.

And it's also not necessarily the issue for lots of other people experiencing homelessness, and I'll talk a bit more about that.

But the issue, as Councilman McGill said, is the biggest barrier is finding places for people to move into and also finding places that people are eligible to.

Even though, because we do, in many, many cases, all these veterans have access to funding to help them move into housing.

And vouchers don't pay first, last,

That's a great point too.

And that can be a barrier for many people.

However, we do have pretty robust programs for veterans to make sure that those are paid.

And we do have also pretty robust programs for other people experiencing homelessness to make sure those are paid as well if someone does get access to a voucher.

So it is a really important barrier, but we've been able to overcome that barrier really

Well, I also know with veterans, I don't know if, again, sometimes we had to work with somebody to get their discharge corrected.

A lot of times a veteran, someone who considers themselves a veteran and in all reality is a veteran,

And so I just want to move into another really important point about homelessness being dynamic.

So I just spoke to you about the numbers of people we identified during the point in time count, but it's very limited, a very important data set.

It's a snapshot in time.

It's the best way to think about it.

But another important aspect of homelessness is that it is dynamic and it changes significantly over time.

This data that I have in front of you shows two lines.

The top line is the number of people who were literally homeless, meaning that they were staying in shelters or we identified that they were living outside over a year.

And so, as you can see, that number has changed quite a bit over the years.

significant increase starting in about 2013 all the way up to a to a height in 2018 of 571 people came through our homeless system of care to receive services in some form or the other who were literally homeless as opposed to the bottom line which is the number of people who are homeless at a point in time and so you can see the difference there right at a point in time it might have been

You know, 188, but over a year, I think it's important to juxtapose that with homelessness dynamic and the numbers over a year are quite different and quite

Mr. Harrow?

Yes.

So the numbers at the top in the blue line, are those cumulative?

So like if you're tracking throughout the year in 2018, they tracked a total of 571 persons who were homeless over the course of the year?

versus the point in time in January of that year.

Yes, that's right.

That's a better way of saying it.

Thank you.

Yes.

So take 2018, 571 people received services in our system of care for shelter or any other program specifically for people living who are homeless, literally homeless, as opposed to the bottom line, which is 165, which is the number of people we identified during the pit count in January.

So just to show how those differ over time.

And one thing I wanted to draw your attention to is that when the orange line doesn't increase, but the blue line is increasing, one way to read that is that our system of care is quite efficient at receiving someone who's in crisis, a housing crisis.

but that those people are not remaining homeless over time because the orange line is not increasing in a significant way.

That's a very positive thing.

That means our system of care was able to help a lot of people but they were able to not stay homeless in our system of care because that orange line is not increasing at the same rate that the blue line is increasing.

One thing I want to draw your attention to is 2019, that number dropped significantly from 563 to 450, and that's when the pandemic hit, right?

And you can see how clearly that had an impact on homelessness, and part of the reason for that is that, you know, there was more terminal evictions, there was stay-at-home orders, everyone kind of just stayed where they were, and many people didn't become homeless as a result, which was a very positive thing, obviously.

but that was a bit of a bubble and you can see that finally in 2021 and then during that pit count,

in January of 2022, we are seeing a lot more effects finally come to bear on the homeless system of care when that number is increasing both for the number of people homeless at a point in time, but also for the numbers of people who have come over a whole year.

So I just wanted to show how that looks and how the pandemic has essentially affected homelessness and how that appears in our data set as well.

Obviously the goal is for that orange line to keep trending downward, and it's trending upward since last year.

Another important aspect about homelessness over time is that most people, and this was true for last year, 68% of people who came through our homeless system of care, so that's the number there, 528 people

68% of those report that it was their first time experiencing homelessness in our community.

And we actually know that because of our database system.

So we actually look back in the database system two years prior to them coming in and 68% of people were not in the database system two years prior.

So what that shows, and this has been pretty consistent in our community, most people experiencing homelessness, it is their first time experiencing homelessness.

Episodic type of thing.

However, 32% had multiple entries or multiple times that they were homeless in our system of care over the last two years.

And so what that means essentially is that there is this relatively small cohort, about 30%, one third of the total homeless population that remains homeless over time.

And that's where we really need to focus a lot of our resources so that those folks can get back into housing

Because most people are able to self-resolve in many ways homelessness.

You know, that's somewhat changing because of the housing market from the end of the pandemic.

A lot more difficult for people to solve their own homelessness than it used to be.

But this is an important story that I think it really catches a lot of people off guard sometimes is that most people, it truly is the first time ever experiencing homelessness.

Something important that I want to share about the data that we saw.

So we saw this very large increase in 2022 point in time count of people in shelters.

It's a big increase.

And a lot of it has to do with limited housing options.

So in 2021, we looked at all the folks who were homeless who left the homeless system of care for some housing

Destination, which is like a positive in our books, right?

They left the shelter for a house situation.

Well, 47, so just about half of all those people who left the programs left for a housing situation that was a motel that they were paying for or living with friends and family.

So half of the people were able to find their own apartment, kind of get their own lease, but

The other half, consequently, were not able to find their own place.

And so I think that's a really important factor to show that a lot of this is driven by the lack of places for people to move to.

And half of everybody who left our program for a house situation did so to not their own living situation.

And that's a trend that's not

encouraging in terms of, you know, we want folks to have a solid, safe place for themselves that they can feel good about.

And so that's only true for about half of people who are leaving our system last year.

Also, the average length of stay in emergency shelter was 136 days, which is significantly higher than it used to be.

Before the pandemic, it was around 40 days, 30 to 40 days in shelter was the average.

And so this average length of stay is also a clear indication of the lack of places for people to move into in our community.

And so people will remain in shelter longer.

And actually that, you know, all those things combine to create a situation where there is not turnover in shelter beds because there's very few places for people to move out of shelter into housing.

And so with a lack of turnover in shelter,

what you get is the need to shelter more and more people because over time people become homeless and if people aren't moving out of shelters properly that means that we need to keep expanding our homeless our emergency shelter capacity to meet the need which is what we did in 2022 over this last year to meet the need during during COVID that's why our our emergency shelter count was so high was because

One of the main factors that was driving that is the lack of turnover.

And you can see that that was true in the length of stay.

So in a healthier system, you have turnover in emergency shelter beds.

People are able to move out of emergency shelter into housing, which leaves an open bed for someone who's becoming homeless to utilize.

And so when you don't have avenues for people to move out of emergency shelter, you don't have that turnover and you don't have open beds for people to move into.

And that's the situation that we've been in over this past year.

Wanted to talk about chronic homelessness, which is a subset of the homeless population relatively smaller, but the needs are quite high and people experiencing chronic homelessness are among some of the most health wise, all the most vulnerable people in our community.

This is the count of chronic homelessness over the past, you know, since 2012.

And you can see that it's changed a lot over time, driven by different factors.

But one of the most interesting stories is

the crossings opening in Charlottesville.

And you can see when the crossings opened in Charlottesville in 2012, and the two years following that, the number of chronically homeless individuals dropped almost basically in half from 76 down to 32, which is incredible.

And it remained pretty consistent.

There was a little bit of an anomaly in 2017, but you can see that chronic homelessness was remainder in the 30s through 2019.

but then started to increase again since then.

And a lot of that was driven by the pandemic as well because we were taking in more people into shelter,

and we were also prioritizing shelter beds for folks who were medically vulnerable because of, you know, from the pandemic, we wanted to prioritize making sure that folks who are medically vulnerable, who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID could get access to shelter.

And so that also allowed us to document chronic homelessness better, but it also meant that more people with compromised health conditions were in shelter.

And so that also led to our increase in chronic homelessness.

But the story here is that, you know, permanent supportive housing programs

You can see how clearly that is in the data that it dropped significantly after the crossings opened.

And we haven't had any increase like that of permanent supportive housing in our community since then.

And so I'm very, very grateful that we do have some on the horizon with Virginia Supportive Housing's development at the Premier Circle site, which is scheduled to break ground in May of 2023.

That will add 80 new units of permanent supportive housing to our community.

So that's really important, but it's, you know, one piece to the puzzle.

We need a lot more resources, a lot more housing specifically and supportive housing to really address the need more properly.

So where does this leave us with next steps?

This is kind of an overview of where we're at, again, or where we've been at.

And again, the pandemic

has had a big impact on homelessness, has had a huge impact on how we provide homeless services because we had to move towards safe non-congregate sheltering.

But the impact on the housing market has had a significant impact on the homeless population as well, and that can be really easily seen in the data.

So where do we need to go?

Well, we need to do both.

We need to do two things in order to reach our goal of functional zero, which is when homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring,

And in order to do that, like I was talking about with shelter, we need to increase shelter capacity year round because we have seasonal shelter through Pacham, but I believe that we really need to increase shelter capacity year round to better address shelter needs in our community.

So that's one thing we're working on and we need to focus on as a system of care.

The other thing we also need to do at the same time is really provide more opportunities for people to move out of shelter because without that key piece to the puzzle, we would keep increasing emergency shelter capacity to keep meeting the need because people continue to fall into homelessness over time.

That is a given and you can guarantee on that, but if we don't provide

the subsequent ways for people to move out of homelessness into housing, like the Permanent Supportive Housing Development with VSH, we will unfortunately see those trend lines continue to increase, which we're seeing signs of over the last year.

That's what allows us to help make sure homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurrent.

So we can't prevent people from falling into homelessness, but we can have the resources in place to help people move out

quickly, and that's our goal.

And so those two areas are really key.

The city has supported affordable housing developments, which are significant and are gonna have a huge impact on homelessness.

I mean, we need more affordable housing in general in our community, and that will affect homeless services, but also we need specific tailored services, supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, like regional supportive housings, permanent supportive housing development.

for it to really get to the severe needs that we are seeing and that a lot of people who are living outside face every day really need special intensive support services plus housing to address that population effectively.

So those are the two areas that we're continuing to work in is more permanent supportive housing opportunities

using existing housing in the community, but also we need new housing developed.

And also we're looking to better meet shelter needs year round.

So thank you again for having me talk about homelessness.

I appreciate this discussion and I'm happy to answer questions.

Yes.

I just have a quick question.

As this came up as a topic, I had a few people to ask me to ask the presenters about the individuals that might be at the intersections and things, you know, asking for money, et cetera.

They're homeless.

They want to know if there's a way to

Have you all, or is there a way to reach out to them to say, yes, here is service?

Because they say these many intersections, they see the same people.

And it concerns them.

Sometimes they seem as dangerous.

And I tell them it's really not anything that we can do.

but that's something that's very visible you know other than you know of course we see them home the unhoused maybe sleeping you know in doorways and things but that's something that a wide range of different areas see and not just in in this community but you know it's everywhere so are you able to speak to that any sir?

You know, people panhandling or asking for help is one of the most common ways that the community members kind of interact with or let's say engage with or identify people experiencing housing insecurity or housing instability or homelessness.

And so it definitely comes up a lot.

I get asked a lot about it.

And it is a complicated, complex issue that doesn't always, you know, overlap 100% with homelessness.

Many people who are panhandling aren't homeless by the technical definition, meaning that they are paying for themselves to stay in a hotel, or they might be staying with friends and family.

And so they're not on the streets or in shelters.

But some people are also in their own housing, and some people are also in housing programs, homeless service housing programs.

People choose to panhandle for many different reasons.

For some people, it's a social interaction activity.

and for other people they are they are paying to stay in a hotel that night and so it varies widely but we do like I said we do have outreach workers that that are familiar with many of those individuals there are new individuals that pop up every now and again and that that I see panhandling but and I you know notify our outreach team to see if they can if they've been aware of those individuals coming through

But we stay as focused as we can in the homeless system of care on individuals experiencing literal homelessness, so they're on the streets, in their car, or in shelters.

And again, paneling doesn't always kind of overlap 100% with that cohort or that population.

But it's obviously a big part to the puzzle.

The interesting thing, like I said before, is that

some folks who are in support of housing still choose to panhandle it and people who are in shelters still choose to panhandle.

And so it's not as clear cut just because you see it to understand the full picture behind it.

I know that sounds a little bit like a non-answer.

No, I understand.

It's a complicated issue.

It is.

Yeah, it is.

Thank you.

Just two quick questions because I know we do have another presentation, but just one.

To clarify, is the numbers you showed us for your full service area that includes all the other counties, or was that just a point in time count within Charlottesville city limits?

Thank you.

Yeah, it is included in that self-reported number.

for substance use issues.

The other question that you had was about the kind of geography or, you know, what do these, I guess, from where do these numbers come from geographically?

And even though our service area includes those counties, the, you know, we actually didn't identify anybody experiencing homelessness in any of the counties outside of Albemarle County in the city of Charlottesville.

Yeah, that's a great question.

So we included a new question as a part of the survey for people living outside so that

and population of folks at 27 people will be identified living outside.

We asked about where someone last had a permanent residence and 40% of those folks said that it was not, you know, it was not in Charlottesville, essentially, even though all those folks we identified were in Charlottesville or the very close urban ring.

So it is definitely, you know,

People move from different areas.

People come to our area for opportunities, for services.

And that is a real thing that happens in the general population.

And, you know, at times it definitely does happen in the homeless population as well.

That was our first foray into trying to better kind of answer that question.

When you say the Charlottesville area, I'm just trying to Sorry, yeah, outside of even our COC.

Okay.

What about the shelter?

The reason I'm asking this is not to say we shouldn't be funding stuff, just to clarify, but that because it's natural for people who are in a rural area who experience an emergency that causes them to lose housing to come to an urban area where they can walk, where there's resources.

And I'm just trying to get a grip on if we are

The things that we are doing to help eviction, prevention, et cetera, is helping.

With most of the people we are sheltering currently, we do not ask that.

But that is something that we can change.

And I think there's been a lot of questions asked about that issue over the past few years, but it's come up a lot.

Anecdotally, it seems that that has been changing.

Anecdotally, it does seem that there is a shift in where people are coming from

And so, yeah, we need to find more about it, but I don't have anything else really to share in terms of hard data at this point.

But to reiterate, the sheltered numbers that you're seeing, sorry, hopefully you can't hear that, but okay, there you go.

The sheltered numbers that we're talking about are all shelters in the city or in the county in terms of the hotel programs that we work with and Premier Circle Emergency Shelter is also located in the county.

So all of those numbers, the 260 people,

The only shelter resources in our whole COC geography are located in the city and in the urban ring area of the county.

Yeah, I think the only other shelter, there's one in Harrisonburg, there's one in Waynesboro, there's one in Fredericksburg in Richmond.

How are the shelters funded?

What's the funding source for that?

Yes.

at least the shelters that TJAC fund.

So to be clear, these numbers do represent people staying at Salvation Army, but we do not fund Salvation Army.

They do all private fundraising.

We fund Pacham Shelter and we fund Families in Crisis, which is hotel, motel vouchers for families with children.

And we also fund the Premier Circle Shelter program, which is operated by Pacham as well.

And we also fund other people to stay in hotels.

in the community to address surges over time.

And so all of those are funded through the State Department of Housing and Community Development Program.

Their Homeless and Special Needs Housing Program is where a lot of our funding for those specific shelter programs come from.

We are also supported by the city and county through the Vibrant Community Fund and the ABRT programs and also through local foundations as well.

But most of the actual like rent

and direct kind of operational support comes from the DHCD program at the state.

And a lot of the funding recently over the past couple years for us to be able to increase our shelter capacity like we have been able to has come from a special program called CHIRP, which is the COVID homeless emergency relief program.

and also from ARPA funding from both the city and county as well has been a huge funding source for our increase over the normal amount of people we've sheltered.

And so those are going away.

The state COVID homeless program funding is kind of ending at the end of this calendar year.

So it does provide a big gap for us to fill in 2023.

And

you asked about the crossings the crossings is a permanent supportive housing development so it's not a shelter people can stay there for as long as they want to and the permanent supportive housing development that you referenced at Premier Circle is breaking ground in May 2023 and that's by Virginia Supportive Housing and that will again break ground in May 2023 it's not shelter it's it's a people can stay there for as long as they want to

It's a best practice in homeless services, Virginia Supportive Housing.

I believe the latest data was larger or higher than 95% of people who come into the program don't go back to homelessness, which is incredible.

So it works, which is great.

And we just need, frankly, we need more of it.

And is that funded by the state, the Virginia Supportive Housing?

Virginia Supportive Housing uses many, many different funding sources for the developments.

They received support from... So something like PHA in terms of how it... We gave them a lot of money.

Yeah, they're an affordable housing developer in their own right.

They just focus on chronic homelessness.

And the unique thing about their program is that they have on-site case management services.

Okay.

21 or 22.

And Albemarle has the other eight or nine.

Not that I know of.

I mean, the Crossings was built back in 2010.

Half of it is dedicated to chronically homeless.

Half is dedicated to those low-income could be working.

I have a question.

How much case management is happening?

Okay.

Okay.

So in the new development,

That's breaking ground in 2023.

It's going to be 80 units total.

Now Virginia Supportive Housing is, you know, well, they would, a lot of it depends on the number of project-based housing choice vouchers they can access.

and I can speak as much as I am able to.

I might be missing some of the details there, but they did receive, I think it was 22 vouchers from the county already towards that project, which is fantastic.

But again, more vouchers are needed for them to reach their goal of 60 total vouchers

at the Premier Circle Permanent Supported Housing Project, which will, again, allow 60 individuals who may not have any income who are experiencing chronic homelessness to move into and live in those units.

Without those project-based vouchers, it's still affordable housing, but it's very difficult to address those deep levels of affordability of zero to 30%.

Do you know offhand how many project-based vouchers we are, I guess, so, you know, we can only project-based a certain percentage of our housing choice vouchers.

That's HUD says we can't do more than that because people have to be allowed to use those to move where they feel like they want to live.

Do we know how many Charlottesville even has?

I'm sure someone does.

I don't know that.

Folks, we have another presentation we've got to get to.

Sorry.

Mr. Harrow, thank you so much.

Thank you.

We know where to find you if we have additional questions and you know where to find us.

We appreciate your coming and we appreciate in particular the depth of the presentation that you gave us.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Happy to help.

Thank you.

The next presentation we have is about the Regional Emergency Communications Center and Marcus Alert 988.

We have Executive Director of the Emergency Communications Center, Sonny Saxton, with us, I think.

Do we have him?

Somebody got him to bring him up?

Hi, Mayor Snook.

Yes.

Great.

Okay.

Great.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

If you give me just a second and I'll also, if you and the counselors would allow me, I have a presentation I'd like to use for some talking points here.

So can we get him the authority to share his presentation?

Okay, thank you.

Mayor Snook, I appreciate that.

So once again, my name is Sunny Saxton.

I'm the executive director of your emergency services communication center.

Today, I just want to take a few minutes and talk a little bit about how do you ensure community access to emergency services, including persons experiencing mental health crisis.

So talk just a little bit about Marcus Alert and 988, if I may.

Certainly stop me if you have questions and I'll be available after as well.

So when we look at the Emergency Communication Center, of course, that's your regionalized 911 center.

I did want to mention that we are a consolidated center for Charlottesville, of course, and as well as Albemarle County and UVA.

They're not all centers in Virginia are consolidated.

So that helps the community by having one phone call they can call for access.

You also have regional coordinated systems.

Josh Powell will speak in just a few minutes about our public safety software system and our public safety radio system.

We also are the presence for the regional emergency management coordination.

And you're probably most familiar with our work as the emergency operations center.

So we were established in 1984 and we've got approximately 54 authorized FTEs with specialized skill sets the picture there in front of you happens to be one of our last completed training or recruit classes and so we're excited to have that but we have those specialized skill sets to include operations and then IT administrative and custodial

And then I think it's important to see some pictures inside of a 911 operation, if you will.

The majority of time we're interacting with the public.

We're doing so, we're just the voice on the phone, right?

and we're providing care until emergency responders can arrive.

So you can see there that we are having some festivities looks like some holiday from holiday pictures.

We also are a triple accredited center, which that means that we are CALEA certified as well as APCO project 33 and Virginia emergency medical dispatch certified.

And I'd like to introduce then Josh Powell.

Thank you, Sonny, and good afternoon, members of council.

As Sonny mentioned, I'm the support services manager here at the ECC.

I've been here for going on three years, and I'd like to just quickly touch on a few of our core services and systems today.

And it's topical because they're all designed to ensure access for our community members to get emergency services and help they may need.

We'll start off with one of the largest, at least visibly, which is our public safety radio system.

You see on your screen one of our towers.

We manage and maintain the regional radio system that houses over 4,000 subscribers.

So not only is that all of our regional public safety partners, but also things like the service authority, the school systems, and the transit systems.

So in short, if you see a vehicle with a brown license plate, there's a very good chance it has some of our radios inside of it.

And we're very excited to announce that we have actually just started some of the final cutover steps for a refresh of the system that will improve coverage, reliability, and functionality throughout the region.

So we're expecting those steps to take a little bit of time, but will be hopefully wrapped up sometime in the fall.

Next slide, please.

We also house and maintain several other regional systems.

As Sonny mentioned, that included our public safety software systems or the computer-aided dispatch that we use here in the center as well as all of the responder partners used in the field.

It includes law enforcement records as well as correction records.

and one of the things that I think is really interesting about that is that it means that we have connection points throughout our community throughout some of the agencies and jurisdictions in our area which makes us sort of uniquely positioned to work with those groups alongside our partners and implementing big and collaborative projects like Marcus Alerts.

Next slide please.

So one of the most important things that you'll need to know about us is how to access us.

Fortunately, that's a very easy thing to know because we have a three-digit number, 911.

Of course, for a long time now, you've been able to call 911, but as of more recently, you are also able to text us if you are unable to call us.

Just a note that calling is the quickest way to get service, so if you are able to call, please do so, but if you can't, you can text.

We do receive around a quarter of a million calls per year here in the Charlottesville, Albemarle Emergency Communication Center.

We are proud to report that we do meet the industry standard of answering at least 90% of those calls, at least of the 911 calls, within 15 seconds.

So some of those quarter million calls are missed dials or hang up.

So on behalf of my colleagues who are answering the phones, I would like to just let everyone know that if you do happen to miss dial 911, please do not hang up.

It is important that you are able to make contact with the communications officer and let them know that there is no emergency because otherwise they're going to keep trying to reach you to confirm that there's not an emergency.

Conversely, some people don't call 911 when they probably should.

So remember, if it is a medical emergency, a fire emergency, or a police emergency, please call 911.

We will help make sure that you get the resources and the assistance that you need.

You're not going to bother us if there really is a problem or an emergency.

Just call.

When in doubt, call.

If you do however have a situation that needs access to the regional public safety services but is definitely not an emergency so this may be something that happened days ago or just a routine report or something like that you can call our non-emergency number that's there on the screen and it will get you to the same dispatch center with the same resources it'll only ring at a lower priority here in the center if the lines are busy

So coming soon, you'll see on the right half of your screen, there is a new three digit emergency number.

So the benefit of this is like 911, it is easy to remember.

That number is 988.

Do note that the mandate for this to be active does not go into effect until July of this year.

So in the meanwhile, we also have the national suicide hotline there on the screen, which is currently active.

But essentially, this is going to be a system that responds specifically for mental health crises.

Similar to 911, you're going to be able to reach it by call or text.

Next slide, please.

So in addition to the community members who are able to contact us, we also initiate outgoing contacts to our community.

We use a reverse 911 system called Code Red and that allows us to send out geo-targeted messages around things like a missing person.

Often those are people that may be experiencing a mental health crisis or disability such as Parkinson's or dementia that result in them being at increased risk.

and so we work closely with our responder partners and using that as a tool to help ensure that every resource available is applied to making sure people are safe and getting the services they need.

UVA also has an alert system to sign up for both of those alerts.

The instructions for that is on your screen.

Next slide, please.

So in 911, just as in much of life, the only constant is change.

We are constantly changing, constantly looking for ways to improve our services and make sure that we are being the best we can for the community.

Some of those you'll see on your screen there include ESI-Net, which is making sure that we're aligned with the state and upgrading our technology and making sure we're prepared for any future technology needs.

You'll see Carbine, which is video calls in the 911 center.

PulsePoint, which is the picture there on the background, which is a really cool free mobile app that allows CPR trained community members, just your average layperson, to get a notification if a active cardiac event is happening in your immediate proximity that requires CPR or AEDs.

So you can respond to the scene perhaps even quicker than the responders are.

Also, priority dispatch, which is an international standard for how we interact with callers and provide care while arranging for the responders to respond as the first first responders, the people who are answering the phone and starting to manage that emergency.

And then, of course, the main topic for today, which is Marcus Alert and 988.

Thank you, Josh.

So what is Marcus Art?

Now, of course, I know that the council has received at least one, but probably more presentations over the last year on this.

But for the members of the community that may be viewing and have not yet known that, I thought it'd be helpful to start with just a quick kind of definition and a highlight, if you will, that the goal of Marcus Lurt, if we were to place a singular goal on it, would be to provide a behavioral health response to behavioral health emergencies.

Now, there's a lot of other things that, from a goal perspective, short and long term, that we hope to gain out of the system.

but essentially Marcus Lurt creates that coordination between the 9-1-1 and the regional crisis centers as well as specialized behavioral health response from law enforcement.

So in Virginia we've got several initiatives that have been underway for quite some time so I and I know oftentimes as we engage in these discussions

We begin to kind of talk about these in shortcuts, if you will.

So STEP Virginia requires nine core services.

The Marcus Alert we're talking about now.

Psychiatric hospital bed census crisis has been ongoing.

So the real question is how do we then respond to that?

And the steps to response have been multiple and have spanned many years.

The DBHDS, Department of Justice, obviously has a key role in this.

Some would say the driving agencies, others would say, well, that driving agency may be DCJS.

Comprehensive crisis continuum, that's the crisis now model that has really been talked about often.

and then the 988 implementation that Josh just talked about.

So from, if you will, imagine a Venn diagram, then, you know, kind of the center point of all of that is where the 911 senator is.

We're working with all of these different partners and have been in many ways to be able to, for our

our component, our small component, if you will, cog in the system to be sure that we're providing the best to access care for everyone.

Interesting to note these slides that I'm using, some of these slides I'm using, they come from a recent presentation.

that I was privileged to be able to moderate just a few weeks ago with most of our 911 directors and supervisors from around Virginia met with and worked with DCGS and Behavioral Health, Department of Baby Health, as well as PRS Crisis Center call lines, which you'll hear me talk about that in a minute.

So I say all that to say

There are a lot of things going on.

Trying to be intentional about the work, understanding that the work is extremely, extremely important.

And so I'll spend just a couple of minutes to kind of tell you a snapshot of where we're at and certainly ask questions in the room.

Just to back up a level here, physical health emergencies, you know, start with, if you will, a person in crisis, call 911, you know, have emergency care, and then perhaps even inpatient unit.

This slide that was courtesy of Fairbanks several years ago

I think really sets the stage for how we want to treat behavioral health emergencies.

We want to be able to identify that person quickly, quickly get them on the line with the crisis call center, deliver a team to their side and or get them if they're mobile to a 23 hour stabilization center and then have short-term stabilization and on from there.

To me what's striking is just a recent headline I pulled just even a couple of weeks ago shows that approximately 10% of American adults

ages 18 and over will suffer from a depressive illness in the next year.

And so that one in 10, if you will, just shows us that the time is long past for us to deal with these behavioral health emergencies effectively and to understand that it can happen to any of us.

So that said, on your screen here is a rather busy graphic that's actually been around for a little while.

This helps set the stage for what we're working with with Marcus Alert.

We're really looking at what we call intercept zero and intercept one.

which is how people access emergency services and that's that coordination between a crisis center, the crisis care continuum, 911 and local law.

And really that's where the meat of the work, if you will, has been happening for the last several months.

So there's many different elements to transforming these systems.

Some of them, as you know, are going to take many years.

today and in my conversation I'm focusing just on the crisis call centers so really kind of reading that in the 9-1-1 discussion if you will understanding that there are many other components to this and I know even some of our people that are in attendance today as well as counselors themselves have experience with this but I would say that when it comes to 988

being the new short code, if you will, to emergency services for mental health crises is really it's that no wrong door approach.

In other words, you can call any of us.

You can call 911.

You can call 988.

You can call the suicide hotline.

And the idea is that you would have a complete continuum of care no matter where you access it.

There is a level of screening that needs to occur, and I'll talk about that in just a second.

The call centers, though, who you're talking to outside of the 911 centers, so this would be the 988 crisis centers, would be staffed by licensed clinicians, peers, and volunteers, and they already are.

I'll talk about that in just a second.

Eight out of ten calls are anticipated to be resolved over the phone.

So really you're talking about 20% that require a mobile crisis team.

So that's that co-responder model.

So in the co-responder model I know we've talked about in the past is really pairing up those resources that may not have been responding together before they were working together but not been responding together before and that would be local law

mental health, behavioral health emergency trained people, as well as perhaps even less.

And so when you put that group together and deploy those into the community, really that can help perhaps begin that emergency care treatment at the person's side and then work on getting them to a crisis stabilization unit and to a hospital or an inpatient care if needed.

Like I mentioned before, there are two call center vendors that currently provide coverage for the state.

One is called Frontier Health, that's not in our region, and PRS is already operating in the regions around us, but not yet for Charlottesville and Wilmer County.

So here's just a patchwork quilt, if you will, of the Marcus Alert pilot programs that are already underway.

and not to discredit or take away from the work that's already in a way that you see this is really a question of where you live.

So a year later, if you happen to live in an area that's already had the implementation round one, you have perhaps you might have better access to emergency care than if you live in one of the other regions.

from where we are today to arrive at a point where all of this is colored in is really quite a long time.

Now, initially in the legislation, I think there is a plan, if you will, or a hope, if you will, to arrive at a full colored map within a short timeframe within just a couple of years.

But really from what we're hearing in the state and we're hearing from our colleagues, that road's traveled is going to take a lot longer.

So what does that planning roadmap look like and where are we at in that?

So you may recall last year for a considerable portion of the year we met routinely with all members of stakeholders including very importantly persons with lived experience and we so we formed that local team we began talking about what are these next steps last time that we presented to the council

We talked really about, you know, the missing component is research is understanding our local community.

We have some state research that was presented and collected about a year and a half or two years ago and then presented last year, but really at some point we need that local research as well.

And then of course we've got to get the community input and then build that plan.

So to focus this on the 9-1-1, 9-8-8 discussion then.

I'm not going to go through this busy slide, but this is an example of triaging those complaints as they come in or concerns that our community members might have about somebody or even that perhaps are calling for themselves.

and and and how then do we go from something that might be routine to something that might be urgent so what what you see here is is an artifact or evidence that this process is being built these are these are kind of fresh hot off the press things that have been built over the last six to nine months we're continuing to tweak them almost daily recently

I was fortunate last week to meet with, so myself and me, my team members, met with some national level liaisons, if you will, and really began to talk about what is the right way to engage somebody that's having a mental health emergency.

In fact, we begin to talk about an international program or protocols, international protocol updates that include things like when you're talking to a caller, make sure that if they are expressing harm, wanting to do harm for themselves, distance them from whatever that might be.

So if they're holding a knife, put the knife down, get them away from it.

And those are things that you would think would be practical advice that you would give somebody.

But understanding that needs to be trained at our communications officer level.

They need to have a clear understanding of that.

They need to be competent in the directions that they're giving to the callers.

That type of interaction

really is a ground up training effort, not just in our emergency centers in Virginia, but throughout the nation.

So really we're looking at this from a national perspective and beginning to redefine what that protocol looks like.

And then as that's very topical now, then how would you dispatch co-responders?

How would you communicate with them?

How do you keep them safe when they're in the field and doing their jobs?

So then just to think a little bit about next steps here.

So as we look at the timeline, and this is probably a slide that you've seen before, this comes from a toolkit that the Department of Behavioral Health Services has given to the localities for planning.

Really, we begin to kind of measure ourselves.

We're looking in the time period of December to July 2022 and going down the list and saying, yes, okay, we're starting to do that.

We're starting to do that.

We know that the state of Virginia or the Commonwealth of Virginia is really looking to implement full implementation, begin second round selections in the next few months.

They might very well do that.

I'm hopeful.

However, it's a long, long road to be able to implement them.

I liken some of these things to when 911 was beginning as a short emergency code that it took many years to develop the technology the training to make sure that it was a ridiculous service that everybody rural in metro had access to it this will be something like that

and the analogy we often hear is that it's building a plane as it's in the air or building as we're driving down the road and

That said, not to trivialize it, but that's said to say we're very intentional about this work and we're making sure it's done right.

Now we do know that 988, excuse me, that the telephone companies have to get that short code set up by July of 2022, so July of this year.

So that will go active, but what we're hearing from some of the national advocacy programs

like SAMHSA and International Cabinet Emergency Dispatch is that the outreach, the program outreach, the public relations, community relations models will be delayed until after the first year.

So I don't think you're going to see a hard press for 988 usage until at least January of 23.

and likely thereafter because they're trying to give some more time and space for these technologies to be worked out.

At the local level, what are we doing locally?

Well, my takeaways are that the protocols for the 911 and 988 are still in development and will be for some time.

Our international standard setting agencies are still trying to get it right and make sure that we do the right thing for the right people at the right time.

The technology coordination I just mentioned is underway.

But my number one takeaway, and I may have already said it, is that these things are going to take time.

The timelines are great to try to look at, but we're many, many months, if not years out from this being completed.

There is new legislation that has worked its way through the state or Commonwealth of Virginia.

Some of that made it to the governor's desk.

I'm not tracking all of it this weekend to go back and see where we are, but that also will

of the Marcus Alert.

And I'll probably just leave it at that.

So with that, I open myself up to questions.

Thank you.

I have a...

Two questions.

I know you said, you know, it's going to take time and it's months if not years out.

But do you have any kind of a sense of a rough estimate of a timeline or a goal for a timeline?

And then connected to that, you know, in the map you showed, there are some regions which have either gotten to step one or step two of implementing the Marcus Alert system.

What factors have led them to be able to be at that point versus us not being at that point?

And are the barriers around

staff capacity, level of investment into it.

Thank you, Councillor.

I'll start in reverse, if I may.

Very well said that there are certainly barriers

I may not have highlighted it well but the the graph that I showed the pilot programs those were actually selected by the state so they are on track of where they want them to be as far as a pilot program our area wasn't Charlottesville and Albemarle County wasn't part of the initial pilot however the region 10 overall is does have some crisis hub

responsibilities that they're working on.

And of course, I'll leave that to them to talk about what they're doing.

But as far as barriers, absolutely.

But I would say that there is no lack of people intentioned about the work.

And that is not the best way to say it.

The staffing constraints are there.

The ability to stand up crisis centers is there.

And just quickly, in the next steps, it mentions the state selecting second round of areas for implementation of the Marcus Alert system.

Is there anything that we can do to best position ourselves to be chosen for that?

So I've asked that question myself.

So I'm working closely with Department of Behavioral Health Services.

We've got, in fact, I was on a call today with them where we were talking about, again, my corner of the work is specific to 9-1-1 and 98 and how do we roll out this communication and this training to our 9-1-1 centers in Virginia.

But I was on a call today where we were talking about building that coalition.

So in the frame set of where we are and how far it's going to take us to get there, consider that in some stages, they're just now building the coalition to train the 911 centers, which are key to that coordinated crisis network, if you will.

And so that's certainly a challenge.

that were just now at that level in the state.

So I don't know when they're gonna select those, but that was a question certainly I asked.

I said, you know, what do we need to do to be ready?

Of course, they referenced the slide, but what specifically can my community do to be able to take a step forward and lean in?

Certainly to say, you know, I definitely want to do everything that we are able to do as City Council to help position ourselves to be chosen sooner rather than later.

And in addition, also position ourselves to enter into the kind of partnership with Region 10 that Albemarle recently entered into.

Well, thank you, Counselor.

If I may, I'll certainly pass along the sentiments to the colleagues that are on the planning team with us.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

Yes, I would second those comments from Counselor Payne.

Would you say that the overall project, I mean, this is a really large project is what it is in essence, is being sort of driven or managed centrally out of DBHDS?

I get that or I take it that it is a partnership in terms of localities stepping up and working or regions stepping up and working.

So there is some give and take, but who has the ultimate sort of driver for this, the sponsor, so to speak?

Thank you, Councillor.

However,

Many of these things are very centric to DCJS.

We can only do as much as we're legally allowed to do in some of these conversations that we get into, of course, right?

So we're immediately looking back to one of our core partners, DCJS, saying, okay, how do we make this happen?

This is what we need to do.

How do we make it not happen?

And I sense some

Discoordination perhaps is too strong of a word, but I sense some work still underway to build those coalitions between the state government agencies that are able to move these.

But you're right, it's a massive project.

But clearly, everyone that I've interacted with, I've not had anybody say don't do it, somebody say they don't get it.

Everybody gets it.

It's a question of who's leading it.

Well, you're right.

I'm not best positioned to answer that.

I would certainly be one of your legislative liaisons.

But I also sympathize or empathize, if you will, with the idea of trying to make what is an extremely complex program and put an analogy to it.

Again, not to trivialize what we're talking about.

But just because there's so many steps in it, we're trying to understand where we're at.

Well, I'd say we're on the rebate.

I guess we're going back in and looking.

It's not a we.

Let me be clear.

It's the legislators in the state or the Commonwealth of Virginia have looked at it again and are continuing to mold that over time.

And that's a sign to me that

that when you take somebody like myself that's very much an operational level person, that's a sign that we've got a lot of steps to go.

Now, that said, of course, we're not sitting still because we're a regional center.

We've got many partners that we're working with.

We've got to be out front.

Any questions?

I just have one question.

I know that this is something that has been on the horizon for a while.

In fact, Mr. Saxton and

Councillor McGill and I were all on a group last year trying to take some first steps towards some of this.

And I know that a lot of folks in the community want very much for there to be as many opportunities as possible for there to be a non-police response to a mental health crisis.

Is there anything that can be done before we would get to the full implementation of the Marcus Alert system?

Any sort of first steps that we can be taking that might just right now with 9-1-1, somebody calls 9-1-1, it's apparent that it's a mental health response, be able to trigger some kind of mental health response from the government?

Thank you, Mayor Snook.

And I do appreciate having your leadership as well as Councilor McGill's on our work, many work meetings last year.

I know at some points it was almost weekly or bi-weekly that we're meeting.

And yes, there is.

And so some things have already happened.

For one, if you do call 911 today within the Charlottesville, Albemarle, UVA region,

The call is answered by a communications officer that has received additional training.

It's not just training, and I know training may seem like that's not necessarily the final to-do, if you will.

But they'll answer the phone using guidance from the National Academy Protocol, so a new standard.

They will do so quickly, get you on the line with somebody that can stay on the line until law enforcement gets there.

They're also trained in how they're going to dispatch the law enforcement, so they're very careful about what information they give over the phone, or sorry, over the radio to set the correct tone.

So that is all training that's underway and that's already happened.

Additionally,

People today can call the 911 center non-emergency line and inform us that they have a mental health care plan.

And so if you tell us, and that's essentially what the Marcus Alert voluntary database is, if you report to us or to Region 10 that you have a mental health care plan,

We can notify law enforcement if for some reason they're on your way.

So imagine for a minute, this is a scenario that we hear within the emergency communication center.

I've also, Mayor Snook will remember that

we heard this as a lived experience that was shared with us during that time last year during our early planning sessions but if for instance you're calling because your family member is experiencing a mental health emergency you're desperately worried about their well-being and you call 9-1-1 again we're going to answer it using international standards we're going to give care over the phone

But if we've been informed ahead of time that you have mental health, that person has a mental health plan, we can then notify the law enforcement officers that that plan exists.

That entry point to that can either come through our non-emergency line

or you could certainly work with Region 10 and they've been doing that for some time.

And I'm sure there are other things that are top of mind, so I apologize.

I probably should have been a little bit more prepared for what we are already doing.

But yeah, you're right.

I appreciate the efforts that you have been taking without just waiting for the direction from the top.

because that's important and our folks need it and they want it.

It's now about 20 of six.

Any last questions for Mr. Saxton?

Thank you, Mayor Snook and counselors.

So the next item on our agenda is to go into a closed session.

Is there anybody who's... You've got the motion?

I have a motion.

Pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia code, I hereby move that the city council close this open meeting and convene within a closed meeting.

Pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A3 for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property within the city for public purpose.

and of the proposed disposition of publicly held property where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the city's bargaining position or negotiation strategy pursuant to Virginia code 2.2-3711A1 for discussion or consideration of the assignment appointment or performance of the city manager and chief of police pursuant of Virginia code section 2.2-3711A7

for consultation with legal counsel regarding Seville case number CL21-610 pending in Charlottesville Circuit Court where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the city pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-37118 for consultation with legal counsel regarding matters related

Second.

Okay.

Let's see.

I guess we need to, we can just do this by voice vote, I guess, if I'm looking at the instructions here.

Any opposed?

Okay, that motion passes.

Council is now in closed session.

We will return to this link for the open meeting at roughly 6.30.

I'm sorry?

There is a separate link, okay.

Separate link then and we'll see folks back at 6.30.

Thank you

Music Music Music

Thank you

All right.

Okay.

All right, so let me call back, call us back to order.

Is there a second?

Second.

Ms.

Thank you.

Proclamations.

First, Older Americans Month.

And I think it's only fair that since I had other folks read things that are most appropriate to them, that I read this one.

Older Americans Month, May 2022.

Whereas Charlottesville includes a growing number of older Americans who contribute their strength, wisdom, and experience to our community.

and whereas communities benefit when people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds are welcomed, included and supported and whereas Charlottesville recognizes our need to create a community that provides the services and supports that older Americans need to thrive and live independently for as long as possible and whereas Charlottesville can build an even better community for our older residents by planning programs that encourage independence

by ensuring activities that are responsive to individual needs and preferences by increasing access to services that support aging in place.

Now, therefore, I, Lloyd Snook, Mayor of the City of Charlottesville, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2022 to be Older Americans Month in the City of Charlottesville.

We urge every resident to recognize the contributions of our older citizens to help create an inclusive society

and to join efforts to support older Americans' choices about how they age in their communities, signed and dated this May 2, 2022.

And Marta Keene, the Java CEO, is going to be providing comments.

So thank you so much, Mayor Snook, Vice Mayor Wade, and Councilors McGill, Payne, and Pinkston for recognizing May as Older Americans Month.

The theme this year for Older Americans Month is Age My Way.

And that is what Java and the Charlottesville Area Alliance like to support.

We're allowing seniors to age in the community.

Java by providing services

and you as a member of the Alliance and AARP Age Friendly Network, having a plan that facilitates it so that we know seniors who bring wisdom and richness can continue to stay in the community.

According to the most updated livability index from AARP, Charlottesville obtains a score of 64 out of 100.

So you're above the mean for the national scores.

and I think that speaks well to a foundation and it offers possibilities for where to go in the future.

We know that the number of seniors has decreased.

We have about 11% now over 65 and that 25% of the population in general, according to the AARP stats are in poverty and housing costs have gone up since 2015.

None of these are surprises to you.

Being AARP age-friendly members this year, they are providing transportation webinar and housing webinar that

your teams will be able to participate in.

So hopefully this age-friendly goals will remain a focus to make it a great community for each person to age their way.

Thank you, Ms.

Keene.

Yes, I'd like to say a quick word about the TomTom Festival.

I just wanted to publicly recognize the TomTom Foundation, Paul Beyer and his team for the great events that happened, I guess, week before last.

I was excited to see the city taking the steps to have the kind of block party and so forth that happened downtown.

It was exciting to see the city coming together.

I'm grateful for

the work that people in the city manager's office, Sam Sanders, Tito Durrett, the acting chief of police, all of the good collegiality and just working together to make that happen.

So I'm grateful for the folks who stuck in there with TomTom over the last couple of years.

I'll just say I went to the community pitch night

which I've often enjoyed and it was really a lot of fun and I just think it's a great idea and a great way to energize the community.

And that Friday night when we had TomTom, we had Fridays After Five going, we had Dogwood Festival, we had so many things going on.

And the weather was beautiful.

And the weather was gorgeous.

People were out.

Yeah, and Paul wanted me to make a point, too, to recognize the hip-hop artists that were there on the Friday night and the work that they did and just to elevate that.

It was a good day.

Yep.

Next item is the consent agenda.

Ms.

Thomas.

I have an announcement.

Oh, you have an announcement.

That's all right.

Mr. Alex Zan is asking for the 2022 My Help List Award winners.

Charlottesville, Virginia, the eighth annual Alex Zan Virginia A. Gatewood My Help List contest winners have been chosen.

The contest is a writing, thinking, reading activity for students K through 12 in Charlottesville and surrounding counties.

Students shared their thoughts on the importance of helping others in five things they have or can do to help someone.

This year's winners are Lucas Dunaway, first grader at Greenbrier Elementary School, Polly Kievel, fifth grader at Village School, Ivy Lechmanski,

from Burley Middle School and the Albemarle Rowing Team.

The winners will be awarded a cash prize of $100 at a gathering on Thursday, May 12th at 6.30 p.m.

at the Ting Pavilion.

All winners, guests, media and sponsors are invited.

Now, consent agenda, Ms.

Content Agenda, three minutes, March 17th, Budget Work Session, March 23rd, Budget Public Forum, March 31st, Budget Work Session, April 1 and 2, Council Retreat.

Four, Ordinance, Amending and Reordaining Chapter 9, Elections, Section 9-31, Central Absentee Voter District to change the location of the Central Absentee Voter Precinct from City Hall to City Space.

Second reading.

Five, ordinance amending the Friendship Court phase one loan agreement, second reading.

Six, resolution appropriating additional funding from the Virginia Department of Social Services for the VIEW program, $38,025, first of two readings.

Seven, resolution appropriating funding from the Virginia Department of Social Services for Child Abuse Prevention Month, $1,000, first of two readings.

eight resolution approving a special use permit at 209 Maury Avenue.

Okay, so we will now take public comment regarding items on the consent agenda that were just read by the clerk.

Each speaker will have up to three minutes.

In the Zoom webinar, you can select the raise hand option to be placed in the speaker queue.

if you have joined by phone and wish to speak on the consent agenda you may press star 9 we will alternate in person and virtual speakers and I just want to emphasize again if you were signing up if you want to talk about other things there will be another opportunity in just a few minutes this is only to speak about the six items that were just read are there any speakers who wish to address the consent agenda items anybody here

Nobody here.

All right.

Move for approval.

Any further questions or comments from Council?

Ms.

Councillor McGill?

Yes.

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Next item on the agenda is to have an update from the City Manager's Office.

A couple of items, Mr. Mayor, counsel.

Mayor Snook, working with UVA law students have identified a path to provide public grants to low and moderate income homeowners within the city without being constrained by the limits of the city charter section 50-7.

To implement this alternative approach, the City Council will need to retool the CHAP program and transform it into a public assistance grant that can help middle class persons in the low and middle income range at or below the 50% AMI.

Commissioner of Revenue, the Treasurer, the Director of Social Services, and the Budget Director are working on details of a proposed program update.

They expect to be in a position to place a proposal on your May 16th agenda for action.

They are in attendance if you have any questions for Mr. Divers or the Treasurer.

but we'll be back on the 16th with the proposal.

Also in February 2022, my deputy managers attended the Winter Conference of the Virginia Local Government Management Association.

One of the presentations focused on collective bargaining and the information presented to us that was only

was that only the governing bodies of counties, cities, and towns have been given authority to implement collective bargaining.

Since elected school boards are a separate type of governing body, we were told that the 2020 legislative changes do not apply to elected school boards.

And this is something I've discussed with the chancellor and we're still following up on.

on that.

Also with respect to collective bargaining, we will make a, we will interview proposers probably next week.

We received two proposals for a consultant to perform that service and we expect to be in contract before the end of the month so that we can get working on shaping an ordinance that we hope to bring to you.

early summer.

And with respect to other items, last week we had extensive discussion at the Council on both the bus stop at Crescent Hall

and on the CBDG program.

Sam Saunders has worked this week on both those issues because we recognize the importance of them.

Yeah, I would like to just make sure that the community hears a little bit more of the discussion.

And we know that counselors, you received a written report.

I just want to make sure that the public hears it as well.

In regards to Crescent Hall specifically, the bus stop move has been paused at this time.

I've already initiated meetings with both CRHA and FAR leadership and that is just to help begin to wrap our arms around are there any potential options and if so how would we go about making sure that people are aware of what those options are I've also started some conversations with Jaunt because of hearing the various complaints about their service I wanted to make sure that I understood a little bit more about what the challenges are

and because the city has a relationship with John where we're paying them for service we want to make sure that service is meeting the needs of our residents in addition to that CAT is also working at looking at options just to see what cadre of variations that we can bring forward to you

but before we do any of that we're going to make sure that we take this back to the residents of Crescent Halls and lay out for them various options and let them weigh in on what it is that is available in the way of options before we actually move back the other thing I wanted to just go ahead and confirm is that there was some concern that if there was a change made that it could delay

Anything happening or of the schedule at Crescent Hall, that concern has been eliminated.

We've made sure that as it relates to the bus stop, if a change were to occur, that would be on CAT and not on CRHA so that everything can continue and the residents can return as scheduled.

So that's the main thing on Crescent Halls.

The other thing that I wanted to highlight was in regards to the conversations about home and CDBG.

There are a number of things that we need to continue to work on and staff is working on that right now to get clarity and a little more details to make sure that we can come back to the public and lay things out for not only council but for them as well.

as to how we will tackle the citizen engagement plan, the task force function and representation, and making sure that we do all of that within the national objectives identified by HUD.

So those things will be coming back to you.

We're going to organize a little bit more on what the various steps are, what changes need to be made, what schedule we need to follow, and make it as crystal clear as we possibly can.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

Specifically wanted to just make sure that the community knows that the Office of Equity and Inclusion is hosting a virtual groundwater session in June.

This session is focused currently on staff, including staff at our libraries.

It's open to our redevelopment and housing authority staff, as well as the CPMT.

and groundwater is a informational approach to thinking about systemic racism.

We are considering holding a second one at some time and if we did there would be spaces open to the community.

In addition from our treasurer the real estate personal property tax bills are being mailed this week.

Beginning with this payment cycle the treasurer's office has eliminated the e-check fee for tax payments made on their new payment website.

so that offers a free payment option for taxpayers who wish to pay electronically.

They also are working with the State Department to resume offering passport applications beginning July 1st of this year.

and our Office of Economic Development.

They continue to implement the recovery roadmap, a plan for business recovery in Charlottesville with an additional round of BRCE grants for small businesses.

The building resilience among Charlottesville entrepreneurs helps businesses gain resilience and adapt in response to the threat of the current business environment.

An additional 51 grants were delivered to city-based businesses and organizations during this round of funding

and each $2,500 grant was targeted to a business that demonstrated the ability to adapt to the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

The minority business program has recently launched another Go Startup cohort and Go Startup is a free entry level program for entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses.

The participants will have an opportunity to test a business concept through hands-on project development and management skills in a low risk environment.

and finally please note that this week May 1st through 7th is National Small Business Week so please take some time to appreciate all the small businesses that are in your life.

Finally with our Department of Human Services I just wanted to make sure the community knew that the biennial Virginia Juvenile Crime Control Act funding contract has been completed and submitted in partnership with the Charlottesville and Albemarle CPMT chairs, the 16th District Court Services Unit and local juvenile judges.

The new proposal includes over $65,000 of funding for prevention programming and services to youth not currently involved in the juvenile system so more youth have access to supports towards success.

and finally the West Haven Nursing Clinic Coordinator will be stepping down from her position as of July 1st, 2022.

Thank you, Ashley.

And counsel, I'd also like to report that last week we had a very robust discussion with the neighborhood associations.

They had submitted questions in advance.

We responded in advance of the meeting and had about a two hour dialogue on a number of

issues that were on their mind and we look forward to those continuing dialogue into the summer and to the next quarter.

We will circulate the questions and the answers to you so that you're informed of what we discussed.

And that's it.

Thank you.

And Mr. Rogers, let me just say that I really appreciate the fact that you and your staff have put together a detail like 20, 30 page compendium of

what's going on in city government including department by department what's happening first of all because it's just very informative second because it is the first time that I've been able to look at something and say if somebody wants to know what's going on in city government they should go look at the agenda and the packet for this meeting because you will see pages upon pages of what the city government has been up to

and I think that people too often think that whatever happens is happening behind a screen and nobody's seeing it and we don't know what it is that here's an opportunity for folks to really see what's happening and that there is in fact progress being made on some important things and that's great.

Thank you.

In that case, it's time to move on to community matters.

We have one preregistered speaker leaving 15 slots for additional speakers on community matters.

Each speaker will have up to three minutes to speak.

There will be an additional public comment section at the end of the meeting.

So we'll first open the floor to preregistered speakers.

to our one.

Others wishing to speak may select the raise hand option in the Zoom webinar to be placed in the speaker queue.

If you have joined by phone and wish to speak during community matters, you may press star nine.

In-person attendees may raise your hands to be recognized.

We will alternate virtual speaker, in-house speaker, back and forth.

I'm looking for the online person first.

Amanda Nelson?

Ah, okay.

That's theirs.

Good evening.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, and counselors.

I am Amanda Nelson.

I live on Stribbling in Charlottesville, and I want to thank you for your time tonight.

I have walked with my students at UVA, from UVA, with many other students here tonight, and Kendall, Brooke, Maddie, and Dream, and Johnny and I are here to share with you a piece that we think is really important and hope

Hope you enjoy.

I also have a card.

Is it all right if I give one to each of you?

And then it will help inform the discussion.

Thank you, Professor Nelson.

Mr. Mayor and City Council members, I am here with my fellow UVA students enrolled in Right Climate, Art and Engagement, a class focused on environmental engagement and awareness through public art.

We represent some 600 members of our beloved community who share concerns about the lack of action surrounding the climate crisis.

The mural we hold depicts a Charlottesville landscape against a backdrop of the average temperature anomalies between 1880 and 2022.

From the blue at the left to a shocking red at the right, our mural visibly depicts the warming of our climate.

On the other side, each postcard, individually sewn together, expresses a community member's feelings towards the climate crisis, a place they care greatly about, and our community members express feelings of anger, fear, anxiety, frustration, and sadness, but above all, they express the need for change.

Council members we ask you use your position and influence to propose and support a strong climate action policy to reduce our carbon footprint to strengthen our collective resilience

We need a bold new climate action plan for the city that centers on climate justice, resilience, and regeneration.

Now is the time to act.

We can lead a way towards a more equitable, sustainable future for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That is stark to see it over.

in the course of time.

1880 on the left.

And you can see it gradually becomes much redder towards the right.

And that's where we are now.

So starting with 1880, this is where we're getting around like the age of industrialization.

1940-ish in the middle there.

Nate.

Thank you.

So what are y'all planning to do?

Are you going to hang it up?

What school is this class in?

University of Virginia.

Oh, this is the Environmental Thought and Practice class.

Yeah, it's an interesting class.

It's a combination of art and environmental science.

But yeah, any more questions?

Great.

Thank you all very much.

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Is there anyone else here who would like to speak?

and the Community Matters time.

So this special unit permit request is from William Chapman, who is applicant and contract purchaser.

He is requesting a special use permit to allow for a hotel use on the subject property at 207 14th Street Northwest.

The subject property is currently developed with a 21 unit multifamily condominium use and the applicant wishes to renovate the existing building to accommodate a 19 unit hotel with one residential apartment.

The subject property is currently zoned B1 business.

Under the B1 zoning district, hotel uses with 100 or fewer rooms are allowed with an approved special use permit while multifamily residential units are allowed by right with density up to 21 dwelling units per acre.

The current condominium use is legal non-conforming with a DUA of 84 and the conversion from apartments to a hotel would reduce the DUA on site to four.

Surrounding area is a mix of residential apartments, single family detached dwelling units and hotel uses predominantly serving as student housing and lodging for the nearby University of Virginia, along with commercial retail and restaurant uses.

The staff does find that the proposed use is harmonious with the existing patterns of use within the neighborhood.

The recently adopted 2021 future land use map designates the subject property for higher intensity residential

This is described as multi-unit housing with 1304 more units per lot along with limited ground floor commercial uses with building form and height determined by historic and neighborhood context.

Affordability and increased intensity in this district are emphasized to meet affordable housing plan goals.

The proposed redevelopment does meet some of the 2021 comprehensive plans goals regarding sustainable reuse of existing buildings, protecting the existing identity of city neighborhoods and retaining successful businesses and jobs.

The proposed new residential density does not easily fit within the future land use category of higher intensity residential, which is geared towards multifamily apartments and mixed use.

The proposed change of use to hotel would also result in a reduction of available rental housing within the city.

However, the existing apartment use is nonconforming and located in an area of dense residential apartments geared towards short term student housing.

Subject property currently has 15 off street parking spaces, which does not meet the current zoning requirement of 21 spaces.

The applicant is proposing to remove six off street parking spaces fronting 14th street and replacing them with a drop off loading area along with valet parking provided by the nearby 14th street parking garage.

and review of the application shows that the applicant can provide the required 20 parking spaces given our code for allowance for off-street parking space with an accommodation of the remaining parking spaces plus valley parking.

Overall, staff believes that the change of use would be appropriate for a transitional B1 district and would eliminate an existing nonconformity for the established department use.

They recommended a request for the hotel use could be approved with the following admissions.

One, that the applicant shall submit an amended site plan depicting parking, landscaping, and utility line changes.

Two, that automatic fire sprinklers, alarms, and appropriate means of egress be provided within the building in accordance with the applicable requirements of the Virginia Building Code.

And three, that the applicant shall submit a signed lease agreement verifying offsite parking to NDS prior to site plan approval.

And the Planning Commission didn't consider this application after April 12th meeting.

They did recommend denial by a vote of four to two.

With that, I'll be happy to take any questions.

Counselors have questions?

Yes, and you may have said this in the content of what you just spoke through, but I wanted to bring up a comment that was in the Planning Commission packet and make sure I am understanding this right.

So the developer believes that a buy right use would be 15 in

in quotation marks around it, rooms rented nightly and five apartments rented for a period of longer than 30 days.

However, a pure hotel use is a better reflection of our plan, so we're going through this entitlement process.

I guess that's from the developer.

Is the sense from staff that

A buy right use would allow an inn, I guess the distinction between an inn and a hotel, I'm not sure exactly what that distinction amounts to, but does staff feel like that the buy right option here, if the developer were to develop it in that way, does fit along the line of an inn?

Could the owner do that

Yes, the applicant submitted a request to the zoning administrator a couple weeks ago asking if he could proceed with an in use along with several apartments in that building.

Okay, so the thing, the choice we're facing here is not really, and you all help me here if you disagree, but I think that the choice is not doing this versus having affordable housing or housing units.

It's allowing this to happen or letting that property become an in.

Is that, am I characterizing that right?

Okay.

Right.

Presumably the developer is here tonight.

At the planning commission meeting, I know one of the planning commissioners mentioned that they had been outside the property trying to observe it and observed that there appeared to be some folks who were living there who were UVA employees, not students.

I assume it's true that the developer or staff have not done a census of this property.

That's correct.

Okay.

And the average current rent there, which my understanding, there's no subsidy, but the average rent is around $700 a month currently.

And what would the median rent be for like similar units of this type in the city?

It might be a fair assessment, yes.

It would probably be dependent on a number of factors.

Okay.

And then the final question, you mentioned it, but I just want to confirm.

So in our adopted future land use map, this site calls for higher intensity residential.

Correct.

Okay.

The nonconformity is simply the number of welling units in the building currently.

It's a quarter acre lot.

The view way is by maximum by right is 24.

Okay.

I was curious because I was just looking at it and saying, okay, B1, you can have multifamily residential, and a B1, this is multifamily residential, what's the problem?

You're telling me that the problem is simply that it is more dense than we would allow under current ordinance?

Right.

Okay.

All right.

That's the only clarifying question I have at this point.

Thanks for having me.

It's Bill Chapman.

Yes, sir.

The current owner of this property brought it to City Council 10 years ago to turn it back into a hotel.

This building was built as a hotel in 1964.

It's got some nice period, mid-century modern hotel details on it.

I'm not sure when exactly it was converted to apartments, but the current owner was here a decade ago and got an approval from Council to turn it into a hotel, and I think they were going to add two stories to it as well, so I think it was about twice the size of what I'm

envisioning.

I believe their partner, their operating partner backed out so they never pursued it.

My idea is to do 19 hotel rooms in one apartment so it's a mixed use scheme.

I've done two hospitality projects in the past and both times there were a mix of apartments that were furnished and hotel rooms so I have some experience with that.

In this case I came up with a 19 to 1 ratio just because one of the units here is a lot bigger and has a kitchen

and 19 of them are 290 square feet.

So they strike me as hotel rooms.

We decided to apply for an SCP for the change of use.

We had some community meetings that Mr. O'Connell and I attended.

No one else attended the meeting.

And we got no feedback in writing from the public.

So it seemed sort of non-controversial at that time.

City staff did recommend approval.

The Planning Commission at their hearing got into a big discussion about net loss of affordable housing.

And there's a big debate about whether this housing was going to be around long.

In my mind, it's kind of a terminal thing where it needs renovation at some point.

A lot of housing around UVA is like that.

It just goes down and downhill until someone buys it and sort of changes it.

That's kind of the business I'm in.

I had mentioned in my narrative that Mr. Pinkston picked up on that I can start a lodging business here, 15 units by right, and I would have five apartments.

So instead of 19 and one, it would be 15 and five.

I think that's a little bit of a weirder animal.

I'd rather have 19 and one, but I can do 15 and five.

and I'll do that if I don't get the permit tonight.

The city zoning administrator who sent me the zoning determination letter today thinks it should be 15 and 4 ironically because he says the end use takes up one apartment somehow maybe because it needs a resident manager so ironically he wants to do one less apartment than I was thinking.

Anyway I

I'm guessing that the Planning Commission was thinking maybe if they denied it, that the property would sort of stay in the owner's hands, not be renovated, not be changed, and the people would continue living there.

The background is that the family that owns it is selling all their property right now around the city.

They're not going to be holding on to this one.

If I don't buy it, someone else will buy it.

And they've been acting accordingly and

One of the tenants has already moved out.

Four of the tenants are moving out this month, and that sort of happens throughout the summer.

So the tenants are vacating, preparing for this pending renovation.

I didn't do a tax, because I didn't know it was going to be controversial, I didn't do a tax analysis of the project, but I know that's sometimes appropriate.

For City Council, I did have this here if you want to see copies of it.

The incremental taxes of this change, incremental tax benefit is going to be about $10,000 a month.

The current tax bill on this property is around $32,000.

And if I change it to this 19-room hotel, it'll be around $158,000.

That's mostly through lodging tax.

It's also some food and beverage tax, higher property value, et cetera.

10,000 a month might seem like a small number in the scale of what you all do, but if I did the math correctly, it's the same tax impact as building a $16 million apartment building.

so this little quarter acre site can generate a lot of taxes for the city and I'd like to think that we could take the $10,000 a month and put it towards affordable housing and not just try to hold on to these 290 square foot unrenovated units because they can't really stay that way for long it's good it's at some point people need to move out needs to be renovated and the only way I know how to do that is to invest a lot of money and they're probably not going to be $750 apartments after that

anyway I think it's a cool little mid-century modern renovation historic renovation project that's the business I'm in you don't see a lot of that kind of architecture in Charlottesville and it's a highly walkable site you know block from the corner and I hope you'll support my hotel use I have the freedom to do as many hotel rooms

as appropriate there.

It's an incredibly hard thing for the city to police on how many nights a room is rented.

That's kind of what's led to the whole Airbnb thing around town.

It's like they'd have to subpoena my record to know exactly whether I was using one in an apartment or a hotel room or whatever.

So I'd rather avoid creating such a strange animal, but it's doable.

Yeah, I'm an owner-operator.

I started the Oakhurst Inn when I bought the first buildings there back in 2007.

So I've been in the business for a while.

Yeah.

I don't think I have any other questions for Mr. Chapman.

I did have some more questions just about the zoning in general.

Okay.

We're not sure what the new zoning map would look like.

I don't think we have draft prepared yet.

Right.

It's the future land.

So it's okay.

I mean depending on how we craft our specific zoning code.

But my interpretation would be that the goal would be residential in that area.

That's my interpretation of the land use map in our intention.

OK.

Got it.

Got it.

OK, thank you.

So this is just, I guess, kind of for staff.

One of the things I look at in these type of scenarios is, like, if we didn't approve this, what would happen?

And it sounds like it would

I plan to purchase the property, do a historic renovation, and turn it into a mixed-use property that's primarily lodging.

So the only difference would be the unit mix between nightly rooms and rooms that need to be rented at least 30 days at a time.

And in my previous two projects, I've had a mix of those.

I don't want four.

I'd rather have one apartment.

But it would look and feel the same to the public, I think.

Other questions?

Thank you, Mr. Chapman.

Thanks.

I guess some discussion, you know, my thoughts are I don't think we should limit ourselves to making a decision based on what is being threatened.

I certainly think, you know, what can be built by right is their prerogative.

I don't think that transitioning away from residential uses would be in the best interest of the city, but certainly that's their prerogative and their right.

But I would say even in that case, you know, having

I think three or four more additional units is better than nothing.

And I think, you know, we got in our affordable housing update several weeks ago an estimate of the dollar amount of subsidy that has to go into each affordable unit.

And I think if you look at that number and you look at what the rents in this property are, even with the increased revenue, we wouldn't even be making up that gap in terms of the net loss of units at around $700 a month.

and furthermore I would just say I think that this proposal my concern is the residents who live there if they're students will be pushed out into 10th and Page neighborhood and will take up that housing stock and for those who live in that property who are not students will probably be displaced from the entire community because I don't know if they're going to find $700 a month rent without subsidy

and I think that this project is in opposition to both our adopted future land use map.

It's not harmonious with our comprehensive plan and it's completely against the intention of our affordable housing strategy and the updates we've been making to our comprehensive plan and the goals to have that missing middle housing.

I think this is that exact kind of naturally occurring more affordable missing middle housing and certainly if

Their prerogative is to reduce the number of units to either five or four rather than one by right.

We can't stop that, but I don't think we should be signaling our support, and I think it is still more beneficial to at least have five units rather than one.

Yeah, I hear you, Counselor Payne.

I don't view it as

Yeah.

I can't, personally, my input is I

can't and good conscious while we were looking at such a huge housing crisis.

Vote to reduce housing stock.

I mean, I understand it's going to change no matter what, but they will

I guess I'm inclined to vote for it because I think that even though you know three or four units or three or four units in terms of the the overall context of the amount of units that we have in the city and

The impact this has is not even on the edge.

It's not even a rounding error in terms of the available units in the city.

And I think it seems like a solid project.

It seems like that is what you want in that area.

I mean, if you're going to do some development in that area, this is the sort of project to do.

Gosh, yeah, this is a difficult one.

At this point, I'm inclined to support it.

because of the potential economic impact that we can get from that, this and the funding can be used for the housing funds, you know, so that we can have more funds for that.

But this is a first reading.

I want to just, I don't quite understand it.

I'm still kind of learning.

First of one reading.

First of one, yeah.

Yeah.

Or we can defer.

My thoughts on it, first of all, it's important to me, perhaps more than it ought to be, but it's important to me that the Comprehensive Plan has designated this for multi-family residential.

That's something that we're supposed to give weight to.

It's not just a throwaway item.

It's not just a different color on a map.

I'm also conscious of the fact that a special use permit ought to be granted when the city is receiving a real benefit from it.

when it offers something that the city doesn't otherwise have.

And the only benefit that's been suggested is that, well, if we do this, we can have more tax revenue, which is not insignificant.

But on the other hand, virtually every decision that we make could come down to tax revenue.

Over the last few years, we've had a lot of discussions about affordable housing and about how there are a lot of little projects where there are a couple of affordable housing units here or there.

And I remember thinking and listening to then, I guess, Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy saying, in essence, making the same point that others have made tonight,

that it may only be one or two units, but to one or two families that's all that matters.

And we're not going to solve the affordable housing problem in Charlottesville by only waiting for 150 units at a time.

We're going to solve it, if we solve it at all, by as many little things as we can do whenever we can do them.

So partly my response to this project is the legalistic response of for it to be a special use permit, it ought to give the city something that I don't feel we're getting.

It may be impossible for it to meet that test given what's being proposed.

I'm inclined to vote against it.

Well, if there's not further discussion, I would move to deny the special use permit requested within zoning application number SP22-00003.

Is there discussion of that motion?

Any further discussion?

Ms.

Councillor McGill?

No.

The motion passes three to two to deny.

Thank you, Mr. Chapman.

Any other business items for consideration?

We will have, we expect to award the contract before the end of the month, and then with the consultant craft an ordinance that we hope to bring to you maybe late summer.

All right.

And what did you mention, Mr. Rogers, about the school board?

Well, it's the question of whether the state law permitting collective bargaining that applied to cities, towns, and counties is applicable to school boards.

It did not specifically mention elected school boards.

and I think that this bears some further discussion with the superintendent because in our conversation he thinks that they may move forward with something and I just want to make sure that we're in sync and whether they are under an ordinance that is adopted by the council

Now the school board would, we would define in the ordinance how

All of that would play out.

Yeah.

They would still have to do their bargaining with the school board.

Yeah.

So we're now final speaking opportunity for members of the public.

I don't see it.

I see a member of the public.

You have up to three minutes.

Shhh

Well, I just wanted to talk about the item that you all just denied.

I think that was good.

Good idea.

Every unit does count.

I've run the housing authority in Charlottesville.

I'm telling you, we need every unit that's on the market plus thousands of more units.

So taking off units does not get us to that end goal of making sure that everyone that works in Charlottesville has a house that they can afford in Charlottesville.

Yeah, so I appreciated Amanda Nelson's brief presentation to you earlier.

I thought it was really nice.

I actually heard about that just yesterday when I was down at Live Arts for an event.

And I know you all were quite appreciative of what she and her students presented to you there.

After she made her presentation, you commented about how

the interim city manager giving you a nice report of activities done by the different departments all the activities and so I hesitated to make a comment earlier because I wanted to go and take a look at that particularly in regards to sustainability action by the city and so I went down and I looked at you know environmental sustainability and there certainly are a number of items there that have been acted upon in the last number of weeks but they're

reports, there's adding pages to the website, okay, getting surveys out, that's good, generating an annual report on energy and water performance, some technical audits are underway, but there's no actual action on climate change.

And over six months ago, one of you reached out to me in email and asked for some suggestions on low hanging fruit.

And I gave a couple of suggestions.

I also gave those same suggestions two weeks ago.

And it is if the city stopped subsidizing fossil fuels.

And that means getting rid of paying for free gas lines and stop incentivizing people, giving people money to install

We have gas water heaters in the city.

So I just find it ironic that you're very appreciative of the beautiful art.

And I think what she and her students have done is wonderful.

And it was all feel good there earlier today.

But at the end of the day, we have to do something.

And I've given you, over the last six months, a couple of low hanging fruit suggestions.

and particularly when I sent it, not only said it, but sent it to you two weeks ago, I got radio silence.

So I have to say I'm a bit skeptical.

You nod your head and say we need to do the right thing.

Month after month, nothing happens.

So I really would love for you to get busy and do the right thing and do it now.

The clock's ticking on climate change.

Thank you, Mr. Groves.

Mayor Snook, I see no additional raised hands.

Oh, we have Don Gathers.

You just raised his hand.

For the vote that you just had.

I'm not going to say a whole lot.

I'm just going to wait for the personal property taxes to come out and then I'm certain that I'll have some comments, especially if they are raised to the projections that I've been hearing so far.

So just expect me back.

Thank you, Mr. Gathers.

Okay, so there being nothing further to be done, we're adjourned.