City Council Meeting   6/17/2024

Good evening.

Thomas, will you please call the roll?

Vice Mayor Pinkston.

Here.

Councillor Snook.

Here.

Is that still the case?

I would like to remove item number 10 from the consent agenda and add it to the end of our action items for the regular portion of the meeting.

Is that correct?

It's fun to do it all in that one motion.

Okay, so we have an amended agenda in front of us and I think we need to cast our vote and

And the third will be the city council business meeting, which starts at 6.30 p.m.

Misty Graves and Shayla Washington, who's the executive director of BRAC.

So I'm going to hand it off to the executive director, Shale Washington.

Thank you, Misty.

You can see that there has been a noticeable increase, I'm sorry, since 2023, but the night that we did our point in time count this year was really windy, rainy, muddy, so I think a lot of folks who would normally be out that night were probably finding shelter elsewhere.

It seems as though if we're thinking that the blue line, I guess I'm trying to figure out, is a peak in the blue line a good thing or a bad thing?

We know where some known campsites are, but I think a huge part of that is because we knew where everyone was and we could easily account for them.

How we, what use were supposed to make for these numbers?

For today's date, there are 195 people on the by-name list.

That we can access?

A lot of folks who come in through our system of care are between 30 to 50% AMI, so I really think having affordable housing for folks in that income bracket would be really helpful.

What is the difference between permanent supportive housing and transitional housing?

So if there are no further questions, I'm going to turn it over to Anna Mendes, who is the Executive Director of the Haven.

I think our youth is pacham, pacham, pacham your next.

the one that stands out for me because I do SOAR claims is only about 15% of our clients this year had a disability income compared to around a third right pre-pandemic.

What does SOAR mean?

Thank you.

You reference institution.

They're not, they're not leaving us to jail.

I wanted them to hear that.

But I would also like to let you know that it is your opportunity to make a difference and help us show those that need it the most that hope has a place.

Thank you very much.

Do you guys have any questions?

What is the expected timeline for the project?

It'll take probably 18 months for the building to go up.

So October 25-ish would be the beginning of the destruction of the site that's there, and it would, meanwhile, folks will have moved on a sherry avenue on a temporary basis.

Well, hopefully it'll be before October, but yes.

And then you're thinking 18 months from the date of the initial implosion to the date of opening.

Okay, thank you.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

and wishing to have support services, our case managers could offer them ongoing support and advocacy.

Do you end up involving the police or just depending on the situation, I guess?

Leaving Ken is the most dangerous point of time generally for domestic violence victims so we're very careful to help them with planning what they need to do to get out as safely as possible and if shelter is what they're needing then that's where we work with them to get them into our facility.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

They were not able to be present today, but they do have a McKinney-Vento program at their Charlottesville City Schools that help homeless children.

Is McKinney-Vento a term of art?

But that is considered unstable and McKinney-Vento homeless.

It is, yes.

Sure.

You might be sleeping in your car sometimes, but you could also be just bouncing around between different households.

And that affects how we apply for grants and exactly what counts.

So thank you all for setting up those cooling centers and spreading the word about that as well.

Is that okay?

Yeah, and if I don't know how to answer, I will call in my colleagues.

Is that the,

So, Anthony, if you'd like to chime in, you're welcome to.

I'm Anthony Harrow.

fiction history, credit score, criminal background, those all can be barriers as well just to accessing housing normally.

Yeah.

Well, there is the Housing Navigation Hub at the Financial Opportunity Center, which seems to do something similar to that.

And is that with PHA?

That's correct.

Okay.

Yes.

Wow.

There just simply isn't enough of it to go around.

I mean, say we're 38 or whatever.

I'd have to look it up.

No, I'd have to look it up.

So we're not that far behind them.

So I'm trying to say like in places that have abundant housing, no matter the cost of it, there I'm wondering if there is a correlation between that helping reduce the number of people who are experiencing homelessness.

But it's complicated.

Unit that someone's able to get paired with who has a voucher would be it wouldn't be market rate housing that the market recently constructed it would be Housing that was subsidized part of an affordable housing project would all whatever its benefits the new market housing just is incapable of meeting that specific need Yeah, so what I saw when I was put when I was working on the kind of housing master list project was from 2006 till

The big one for me is these are sex offenders and property management companies are not going to go for that.

For whatever reason, people coming through your programs can't get a voucher?

And while Region 10 manages hundreds of permanent supportive housing vouchers,

that are systemized and connect voucher opportunities for some of our service providers in the homeless space.

And I think that's another argument for just ongoing case management for folks in housing.

Is that something that's been on the books ever or something that we had created and isn't filled or would that be a new thing or what's the status of city staff?

But we do have, I can't think of the title.

And as you can hear, we have a very broad actually amount of services that are occurring already.

Or is that on the back burner?

It's under consideration and today is a part of what comes next.

And so I'm assuming when we try and hone in on that, we'll have a lot of these folks at the table.

Because we don't know that we need that position.

list of people who are able to offer voucher space to use the vouchers, some kind of like landlord engagement position, which I don't know if that would fall under the same.

Well, that's the question.

Right.

I think that's the point.

And then there, I had another note from what something Lloyd said earlier.

Could I ask a kind of interject?

Yes.

Is your concern, Mr. City Manager, or your thought is how not to duplicate effort and what sort of like makes the most sense in terms of work that the nonprofit sector is doing versus the public sector?

So we'll get through that.

Okay, so there are needs whether or not it comes from the city or perhaps contributions to the existing organizations.

It's already baked in, so that means we can spend it every year, whether it's us spending it or possibly some of the individuals at the time.

What does that process look like?

Unless they're going through a path for outreach or going to a shelter directly, we try to streamline the services through that phone line so they can be screened for an appointment with the haven who manages the coordinated entry system and has homeless services funding for rapid rehousing, homelessness prevention, and they also have a private housing fund.

Okay, and so for a client who their first step is calling the hotline at the Haven, what is the process hopefully to get them to rapid rehousing and how long does that usually take?

But that program can provide up to two years of case management, rental support, and lots of service connection.

Do they still have access to case management without having to start the system over again?

Formally, but I think if they have a good relationship with their case manager, they're welcome to check in for quick little questions here and there, but the formal case management does stop.

What makes someone more eligible for certain help than another?

So we look at that list it's usually about 40 or so clients every time at any given time and we go through the list and we decide as a group of service providers who we would like to prioritize for the next available spots for rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing.

Would you mind adding in for counsel the purpose of that by-name list and kind of the information that helps us also to determine outside of those who are currently homeless?

We would love to house everyone, but unfortunately the funding is just not there.

What is the constraint that you said that rapid rehousing can only take 15 people a year or something?

I missed the first part of your question, sorry.

What is the constraint there?

Just not enough funding to support usually when people are on rapid rehousing They typically use the full two years and so we're trying to budget for paying their rent for a full two years along with case management supports

Is that shared?

And so that's how we share info across agencies as well.

gaps that stand out to you all.

Really filling all the buckets in our continuum of care, I think, because all of them are important.

Question for you.

If that feels too laden, I'll get back to you.

And it would be a much needed improvement.

They can't hear on the Zoom otherwise.

And now it's DMV I think it's 0.06 is that correct for

So it's coming up to the end here.

Michael, do you have any other questions to pose or anyone else?

So are there like two or three things in particular that we should be thinking we're going to try to do at the city level to address that particular problem of the folks just flat out sleeping on the mall?

I don't think there's one quick resolution that we could offer at this point.

Are there a few things in particular that the city should be trying to do, whether it's an organizational, logistical effort on the part of the various nonprofits or things that the city can do to facilitate some of that?

I'm going to call in my colleagues here if you have any suggestions.

Or is that a to be determined?

I would have to think on that one.

Because I haven't had a good answer when the people ask me the questions.

It went from 20 or 30 calls a month to less than five.

So that's just my reaction.

So it's really hard.

The homeless outreach position, is it one position that you need or is it more than one position?

But if I could have a team of two or more, that would be great.

I think you started, but is there anything else you would say as to having two homeless outreach workers available to you will help you do what over what period of time?

But again, with lots of relationship building.

What's your answer to that question?

On top of what we, yeah.

And in what combinations for like family single?

What's the number that is needed for the city of Charlottesville?

I'm going to say 80.

Would you say something different?

I'm thinking about what the Salvation Army is building and I think that even with their expansion, it serves a different part of our system and I do think that 80 would be an accurate number.

and that can comprise families with children as well.

If I could give you control of a certain number of units of housing in those two categories to meet what you've individually identified, how many might that be?

Are you asking how many beds do we have total amongst all these agencies?

How many more?

How many you need?

In those categories.

We need lots, and then this, numbers continuing to grow.

So I'm asking, I'm really asking to help really have you all as the experts diagnose what is the scope of our need.

Would you mind if you can recall what that one is and then your colleagues can add on based on the season?

Please go to the mic while he's walking up I would say roughly 70% of the folks that use our services stay with us for a week or less at a time so I would say around a hundred because that's 30% of the number that we served.

and also building a new shelter will just inevitably attract more people from outside of the community, so we have to account for that as well.

Also what I'm getting at, yes, thank you.

But yes, I would agree with that number.

And do we have an equation as to how much that is per household?

I don't, but I can get that to you.

Do we have any sense of how many people are on that waitlist?

She said there are about 80 bends and then 80 people, roughly the same amount waiting.

And is that overnight storage or just day storage while they're using the facility?

It's kept in a locked office.

Washington, that can be long term storage as well.

Long term meaning?

I mean, if they're staying pretty active in the day shelter, so checking in periodically, I don't know what exactly their parameters are for when they would get rid of somebody's benefit, but if they haven't seen them for quite a while.

How many SOAR certified workers are you in pursuit of?

So the hospital would be a great place for it, the school system, but any kind of social services program where you're engaging with individuals experiencing homelessness.

So that's not additional people, that's just securing the certification, therefore able to deploy that action.

And that's not including back pay.

I'd be interested in how many people are involved.

It's included in our summary.

It's in your numbers?

So we can trade.

If you had that under your control, how many units might that be?

Oh gosh.

What would you say?

Thank you for that.

We really appreciate it.

So both going hand in hand, I don't think they're mutually exclusive and I think we can vocally support additional market rate housing while supporting these causes to get more people in more housing of all types, sizes and income levels.

understand the limitations, but I agree it's not mutually exclusive by any means.

Excellent.

At this point, I think we could have a motion please to go into closed session.

Is there a second?

Second.

Please remember that those joining by Zoom, there is a separate link for the 6.30 meeting.

. . .

Okay, I think we'll go ahead and get started.

Could you please read us back into the open session?

I move that this council certify by recorded vote that to the best of each council member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully accepted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed session were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed session.

Okay.

The mayor is out tonight and I'm here in his stead.

Okay, we will please begin the business meeting with a moment of silence.

Okay, are there any announcements?

And just let the community know that those cooling centers will be available at Key Rec Center, the Central Library, and Tonsler Recreation Center throughout this week.

Thank you for that reminder.

I had the same thing pulled up.

Okay, so we turn now to community matters.

Next, I'm going to try hard.

I invite City Council members and CAT to contact us at C3 to learn more about the specifics from our analysis of occupancy requirements of CAT's intended all diesel fleet expansion.

Okay, next on our list is Clay Bowen.

Thank you.

Yes ma'am, come on up.

Hello.

Please state your name and your topic.

Thanks so much.

Please state your name and your topic.

Thank you so much for all the significant strides you made so far and we encourage you to continue to lead us in the best possible bus route for cleaner transportation.

Please state your name.

I will be talking about the GSB.

Okay.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Cruz.

Thank you.

All right, we will close community matters and we will, there will be another opportunity for public comment at the end of the meeting.

Thomas.

Thomas.

Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

I'll move the option to the consent agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Motion passes four to zero to adopt the consent agenda.

Mr. Sanders, is there a report from the City Manager's Office?

And the goal would be to begin that conversation with you on and what else if there is and what else and anything else that comes up in the form of questions is Marshall.

Did anything in those laundry lists surprise you, but most important, is anything missing?

That's a lot.

Isn't it?

Could you go back to the slide at the beginning where you showed the social determinants of health?

I can.

So each of these that you're reading off here are one of the social determinants of health?

So economic stability is a social determinant of health.

And you're showing the linkage to the work that we already do.

Healthcare system can't fix that.

It's I think a really good way of taking something that feels abstract and making it more concrete with the social determinants of health and then integrating it the way you have here with departments and programs and the strategic plan.

This one was a busy slide, but we do a lot in this area.

Yeah.

Somewhere on the website in an easily findable place so people can learn about what does the city government do and where is this linked and I'm sure this the website probably already does that in some context, but This in particular is kind of would be a good landing page to have yeah, I agree absolutely my goal it was to hear any feedback that you all may have Then hear feedback from the city manager and

and incorporate that the Office of Social Equity does not yet have a page but it is for this reason of wanting to make sure when we launch I had everything that someone may need or have questions about not that I can't add later but to make it as robust as possible and by launch so that is part of my plan and I'm glad to hear you that it would be helpful.

I think too when we update the strategic plan which I guess we should revisit

Yeah, I don't know if I'd say it's like

And you had never happened?

Please don't wish that on me.

And how do you measure that as something else that came to mind?

They are not, for example, unfortunately part of a new number for our unsheltered individuals, so I think we'll be able to do that.

How do we make sure we're always kind of putting it in that context?

On average, I believe when there is a two adult household with both adults working and one child, they need to earn at least, I believe it was $24 an hour, both parents.

Collectively or each?

Each.

Okay.

And some of that, the reason why it depends on your household, because if you are a single adult, of course, I don't have to add in the cost of things like childcare, which is very, very high.

And they're generally considered right to be the standard for having the most accurate date on the actual cost of living in each locality?

We don't necessarily have a like program for individuals that could be from other marginalized communities.

So you're saying these, particularly the things on the right, is sort of your kind of initial take of places where we've got holes?

Yes, sir.

I don't know if there's anything, any additional feedback tonight?

And if not, could it be more so, more evident?

But I absolutely believe that that can be a critical part of both the education frame as well as your economic mobility frame.

Because obviously part of the problem is we've got to get more $30 an hour jobs.

And the Downtown Job Center works very closely with UVAs Pipelines and Pathways program that will help train individuals to be EMTs or phlebotomists, for example, to help them learn that skill to then get the job at UVA Health.

Okay, great.

I made this.

It was part of the work I did to try and find a frame that I thought would help us to, again, kind of normalize this work as well as see it in a different way.

But also just because this will provide that for the future as a benchmark and just kind of lets us get a handle on all the things we have going.

We're always interested in going somewhere else and the question before us is to really take stock of where are we first so that we can then define where it is that we want to go from here.

Okay, so we will now move on to the action items.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, sir

Is there an issue, does anyone see an issue with that, Lloyd?

You could just frame it and then just open and close each public hearing.

We'll let you give the presentation for both, then we'll do the public hearing for the first and close it, vote and then do the second.

So three different things happening in that last section.

Okay.

And happy to take any questions from y'all on those two items.

Any clarifying questions on either one of those?

So just to reiterate, there's no substantive change in terms of the power and authority of our local regulations.

No change in the standards that apply.

And I think June 30th was the deadline to get this result.

So one of the things we are requesting is that council consider waiving the second reading on these items.

Yeah, I think we can.

And we do that with four yeses.

Okay, so we need to do public hearings.

And that change will be made once it's certified.

Is there anyone here who would like to speak on this item?

I think it might be number 16.

Could I please have a motion for approval of this item?

And in waive the second reading.

Is there a second to that motion?

Second.

Could I please have a motion on this matter?

Again, with a waving of the second reading.

May I have a second, please?

Second.

All right Excellent.

So now we're moving on to the next item on the agenda item 19 a resolution authorizing the adoption of the transit strategic plan Mr. Garland Williams will present

So we're asking for your authorization to adopt this resolution with signals to them that you have seen it and are authorizing us to submit the plan because you authorized us to do so.

Does anyone on council have any clarifying questions?

Great.

I understand it's really, really important for me to go to Illinois this fall.

We have you, you're a spot reserve.

Is there a second?

Second.

Yeah.

Mr. Warren, you're going to present

Award, no awards will change in terms of who's receiving the money, they'll all receive a proportionate increase and this reflects the full 438,600 something award from HUD.

So what was the original amount, what is the difference I guess between what we proved originally and now in terms of the total?

6.8% of the, 6.8% increase in the total allocation and each individual funding award.

Okay, so it basically distributes across those?