DEPARTMENT: Human Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Melody Woosley
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City-Wide
SUBJECT:
Mayor's Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness and the Zero: 2016 Initiative
SUMMARY:
This ordinance ratifies a Memorandum of Agreement between the City of San Antonio, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), the San Antonio Housing Authority, the Housing Authority of Bexar County, and Haven for Hope as the administrator of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to participate in the Zero: 2016 initiative with the goal of significantly reducing/ending veteran homeless in 2015/2016. This ordinance authorizes a budget of $150,000 with a personnel complement of one position in the Department of Human Services (DHS) funded from unspent FY2014 carry forward available in the General Fund.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In June 2014, 77 mayors and city officials from across the United States, including the City of San Antonio, pledged their commitment to the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. This call to action, championed by the White House, asked mayors to seek a way to solidify partnerships and secure commitments to end veteran homelessness in their cities by 2015. Target goals include ensuring that no veterans sleep on the streets, that every veteran has access to permanent housing, and veterans at-risk of becoming homeless are able to quickly achieve housing stability. Former Mayor Julián Castro initially committed to this goal on behalf of the City of San Antonio and Mayor Ivy Taylor recommitted to this effort in October 2014.
To further support this effort, San Antonio was invited to apply for membership in Zero: 2016, a national initiative organized by Community Solutions, to help communities that have pledged to end veteran homelessness by 2015 and chronic homelessness by 2016. The Zero: 2016 initiative offers training, support, and system integration around best practices with support from high level officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).
The City of San Antonio submitted the Zero: 2016 application on October 31, in partnership with the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA), Housing Authority of Bexar County (BAHC) and Haven for Hope, as the administrator of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). San Antonio was notified of its acceptance on November 6, 2014.
ISSUE:
This ordinance requests authorization to reallocate unspent Fiscal Year 2014 General Fund carry forward in the amount of $150,000.00 to the Department of Human Services to create a budget and personnel complement of one position for the Zero 2016 & Mayor's Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness Initiatives. In addition to the Senior Management Coordinator position, the budget will support public awareness, stakeholder participation, data tracking, and reporting. This ordinance also ratifies a Memorandum of Agreement between the City of San Antonio, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), the San Antonio Housing Authority, the Housing Authority of Bexar County, and Haven for Hope as administrator of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to participate in the Zero: 2016 Initiative with the goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015.
Zero: 2016 complements the Mayor's Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness and other national initiatives helping communities end homelessness including the 25 Cities Initiative led by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This initiative, launching in January 2015, will foster shared accountability and community partners will use both the commitment to the Mayors Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness and Zero: 2016 to drive measurable progress in San Antonio.
DHS will serve as the lead agency for the project. Participation in Zero: 2016 will provide San Antonio access to a learning community of high performing peers nationwide, and customized data and performance management tools. Community partners will collaborate to establish monthly goals for reducing homelessness; integrate a common assessment tool that that triages households into recommended housing intervention categories, and report monthly on aggregate housing placements of all veteran and chronically homeless individuals monthly.
Community Solutions will work intensively with San Antonio and participating communities to meet the federal goals set by President Obama to end veteran homelessness by December 2015 and chronic homelessness by December 2016. Participating communities are expected to accelerate housing efforts through four key areas of work: closing the research-to-practice gap, real-time data and performance management, local systems redesign and local leadership development. Community Solutions will provide hands-on coaching and data tools, and will curate a national peer-to-peer learning network to accelerate innovation across communities.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should this ordinance not be approved, San Antonio would not benefit from technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning network as resources in significantly reducing/ending veteran homelessness.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance authorizes the creation of a budget for education, outreach, and personnel complement of one position in the amount of $150,000 in the Department of Human Services in connection with the Zero: 2016 initiative. Funds are authorized to be reallocated from unspent Fiscal Year 2014 General Fund carry forward.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of a reallocation of unspent Fiscal Year 2014 General Fund carry forward in the amount of $150,000.00 to the Department of Human Services to create a budget for education, outreach, and personnel complement of one position to coordinate communication, public awareness, stakeholder participation, data and reporting. Staff also recommends a ratification of the Memorandum of Agreement between the City of San Antonio, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), the San Antonio Housing Authority, the Housing Authority of Bexar County, and Haven for Hope as the administrator of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to participate in the Zero: 2016 Initiative with the goal of significantly reducing/ending veteran homelessness.