March 7, 2022, The Community Advisory Council on Homelessness

Date/time

March 7, 2022

2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Agenda

  1. Welcome

    1. Christine Haley, Chief, Illinois Office to Prevent & End Homelessness
    2. Sol Flores, Illinois Deputy Governor

  2. Data Informing the IL Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness

    1.  Sean Connelly, Ethan Jantz, Rachel Cabrera, University of Illinois - Institute for Government & Public Affairs

  3. Reaching Functional Zero in Rockford

    1. Jennifer Jaeger, Community Services Director, City of Rockford
    2. Melanie Lewis Dickerson, Portfolio Lead, Community Solutions
  4. Community Advisory Council Member Introductions: What brings you to the CACH and what do you want to see the CACH accomplish?
  5. CACH Infrastructure
  6. Overview of the IL Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness
  7. Public Comment
  8. Closing

Presentation

Meeting Recording

Community Advisory Council on Homelessness-20220307 2000-1 Monday, March 7, 2022 4:39 PM | (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

Play recording (2 hrs 1 mins)

Recording password: (This recording does not require a password.)

Meeting Minutes

2:00pm-4:00pm

Virtual Meeting via WebEx:

Welcome

  1.  Christine Haley, Chief, Illinois Office to Prevent & End Homelessness

  2.  Sol Flores, Illinois Deputy Governor

    • Welcome address, thank you to all who worked to make this possible and the advocacy and pushing for years
    • This is a two- year state plan; A foundational plan to build our state capacity.
    • I also want to thank everyone for all the hard work over the pandemic and how we can move forward- we have the right leadership in place to move forward and this is just the beginning.

Data Informing the IL Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness

  1. Sean Connelly, Ethan Jantz, Rachel Cabrera, University of Illinois - Institute for Government & Public Affairs

    • Sean Connelly presented a data snapshot on homelessness in Illinois; all data is 2020, before the pandemic so it is not influenced by the pandemic; The HUD Point-in-Time Count data is a one-night snapshot. It counts emergency shelters, people living on the street, and living in transition homes. It does not count people doubled up or staying with friends.
    • Since 2016 homeless hovered around 10,500. IL has the lower prevalence when comparing to New York, and California. Illinois is comparable to Michigan.
    • 60% of people experiencing literal homelessness live in Cook County
    • Presentation of population geography and racial and ethnic disparities, black people are 7 times more to make up homeless population
    • Chart presented on subpopulations

  2. Comments:

    • Information is captured by HUD every year in the final nights of January. Counts are done by each CoC.
    • Comment on the mental health and substance data seems low.

Reaching Functional Zero in Rockford

  1. Jennifer Jaeger, Community Services Director, City of Rockford

  2. Melanie Lewis Dickerson, Portfolio Lead, Community Solutions

    • Presentation from the City of Rockford
    • National non- profit organization- Built for Zero
    • 98 communities across the country are participating,14 communities have reached functional zero for at least one population. Within Illinois participating Lake County, McHenry County, Suburban Cook, Rockford, Winnebago, and Boone.
    • The 100,000 homes campaign focused on housing the most chronic and what mattered most was - could we get housing placements. We housed 105,000 chronic individuals. Many great lessons learned through this. In that same time frame, we had 100,000 experiencing homeless, what ended up happening is 20% decrease but did not see the impact we hoped. So, we went to Built for Zero and had to do things differently.
    • We needed a shared goal and definition and a consistent standard for measuring functional Zero.
    • Shared formula. # Of actively homeless < or = to 6-month average housing placement rate.
    • Operating system for Ending Homelessness
    • Shared Measurable Aim
    • Nimble command center team
    • Menu of proven technical strategies
    • Rapid by name feedback loop
    • Flexible housing service resources
    • We want to be able to see over the time who is coming in and who is flowing out to target strategies, can't solve a problem you can't see, it's a shift from program output to system output
    • Racial Equity indicators-are also a factor in this system

  3. Part 2 - Rockford History

    • In 2017 first community to reach functional zero for veterans.
    • Point in time is not always accurate in 2013 we had 788 at that point in time, today 191.
    • Prevention work- we participate in eviction court. Judge does everything he can to get owners to accept funding.
    • One of our greatest cogs in the system is getting mental health services.
    • We also offer incentives to landlords - for repairs
      • Questions:
      • Q: How did you ensure all folks were at the table?
      • A: Veterans were a particular challenge, we worked with feds to get local partners to the table. Overall partners were pretty good about coming to the table and where they weren't we just kept knocking on the door.
      • Q: What was the partnership with Child welfare involvement?
      • A: We have strong relationship with DCFS because of youth aging out of foster care partnership. School districts are on and off but had some changes, but we are starting to move with them. They don't have a follow-up system they do surveys in school for us to identify youth in need. Juvenile justice sits on our youth committee.
      • Q: How did documentation status affect getting resources?
      • A: We apply for foundation funding to service undocumented people.
      • Q: How has interaction been with maternal and child programs?
      • A: We have a relationship with our county program, head start and preschool programs.

 Community Advisory Council Member Introductions: What brings you to the CACH and what do you want to see the CACH accomplish?

  • Niya Kelly, Chicago coalition of homeless. Intersectionality and how in effects community and how does
  • Richard Monocchio, Housing authority Cook County. How do we increase supply of affordable housing?
  • Jennifer Hill, Alliance to end homelessness: this is how we strive to work - to build a consensus and use great data. We make the numbers and partnerships work and how Illinois can step up and become a more central partner.
  • Susan Reyna-Guerrero, Covenant House Illinois. Opportunity to work systemically, emphasis is to develop a responsive model and learn lessons from what other people have done.
  • Nicole Wilson Heart of Illinois United Way Peoria- Overlap what we do, and United Way private and partner funding. Build this council as a vested sounding board for the state- policy decision making and investing strategies. Sounding boards with state.
  • Marvin Lindsey, Behavioral Healthcare Association Illinois. We have 95 members. Professional and personal interest. I feel like the numbers we are seeing are low. I know a lot about MH and substance abuse and my personal experience about being homeless
  • Sandy Deters: Eastern Illinois on board of Illinois 520. We have a different perspective being in a rural area and I hope I can bring that perspective. We need additional support in Mental Health. Our greatest percentage in our areas in white males with mental health issues. Prevention is the ultimate. We have the money for rental assistance, but we can't find and apartment to put people in
  • Ronald Lund Project Now. I service this committee in Iowa we routinely seem a difference in state and local policy especially on border town. Illinois is a little more restrictive than we need to be and would like to see it relax
  • Carolyn Ross- Making homeless history I know how well we do when we can bring things together. Help educate people and keep the messaging on behavioral health. When people can turn their lives around- this part is key. I am a system level thinker and lifelong resident of Illinois; we have to align our thinking and work.
  • Brenda O'Connell- Lake county- we are the entitlement community in working with all the funds and setting up the system. When you are intentional and data driven you can have impact, we hope we can use this for driving state systems. We need housing and systems of care that functions better for prevention.
  • Debbie Reznick- Polk Brothers. Co-chairing the committee. I believe we can end homelessness; housing stability is key. Goals for me- we are the community advisory, and we each bring our experiences and expertise to this work. We don't want to be less than the sum of our parts and contribute in a meaningful way and represent the community.
  • Tamela Milan Alexander- community engagement at Everthrive Illinois. Work with Illinois pediatricians to end childhood homeless. I have experienced displacement and I lived in Henry Horner homes (the projects) experienced inequity even when I had a voucher. The displacement which families find themselves in, harm's way, and the strain of living doubled up.
  • Veronica Reyes- Resurrection project. Affordable housing organization, how can we be a stronger partner in addressing homelessness and create better opportunities and ensure individuals remain in homes.
  • Otha Gaston - Chicago lived experience. We suggest funding for children and families doubled up and those living in hotels and motels. More staff to address the homelessness in Chicago.
  • Jackie Edens (Not a Council Member) Inner voice- the competition for the existing housing stock is fierce - keep our eye on the development.
  • Christine Haley-Looking forward to working with everyone.

CACH Infrastructure

  1. Infrastructure Presentation by Christine Haley

    • We are requesting an extension to May 1 to submit the final plan as the we will have a more comprehensive plan with the budget complete.

Overview of the IL Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness

  1. Building state and community capacity and infrastructure to reach functional zero

  2. Reviewed the plan presented in a PowerPoint. Power Point will be posted to the website.

    • Racial equity roundtable
    • Rural homelessness initiative
    • Homeless capacity building and technical assistance center
    • Funding Sustainability
    • Community Education on Homelessness

  3. Workgroups:

    • Homeless Youth Subcommittee
    • Public Housing Authority work group
    • Homeless Data Analysis and integration work group
    • Securing Housing for Persons with Criminal Legal system Involvement Work Group
    • Health Care and Homelessness Work Group
    • Transit system and Homelessness work Group
  4. March 10 to April 15 public comments

Public Comment

  • Marc Raifman- Many clients are not familiar with DHS benefits available for them and eligibility going forward. We are hoping to partner with this group. Impressed with the great amount of work already presented
  • Chris O'Hara: Will the recording available?
  • Yes, recording will be posted. We must also identify the dates for the meetings. We are required to publicly post the minutes. We will adjust how we can obtain public comments, so we are not rushed.
  • David Esposito- Thank everybody for coming
  • Jennifer Hill - the ARPA fund piece- how to balance the short-term possibilities.
  • When the 16 state agencies were charged with being creative, a number of activities by the agencies, we hoped would get funded. This involves negotiating additional funding for the plan. We understand that budget is being negotiated in the legislature and the governor's office is really pushing for us in this work. That is why we moved back the release of this plan so we could be in better budget alignment when we present the plan.

Closing

N/A

Attendance:

Community Advisory Council on Homelessness Members Present:

  • Brenda O'Connell - Lake County Government
  • Carolyn Ross - All Chicago Making Homelessness History
  • Christine Haley - IL Office to Prevent & End Homelessness (IOPEH)
  • Debbie Reznick - Polk Bros. Foundation
  • Jennifer Hill - Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
  • Marvin Lindsey - Community Behavioral Healthcare Association of Illinois
  • Nicole Wilson - Heart of Illinois United Way
  • Niya Kelly - Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
  • Otha Gaston - Lived Experience
  • Richard Monocchio - Housing Authority of Cook County
  • Ron Lund - Project NOW
  • Sandy Deters- Embarras River Basin Agency (ERBA)
  • Susan Reyna-Guerrero - Covenant House Illinois
  • Tamela Milan Alexander - EverThrive IL/Collaboration on Child Homelessness Illinois
  • Veronica Reyes - The Resurrection Project

Partners/Guests Present:

  • Alexis Rhoades - Advocates for Access
  • Alyssa Cooper - IGPA, University of Illinois System
  • Alyssa Williams
  • Ana Popa - Center of Concern
  • Anna Merlinna Conant - IDHS
  • Ashley Velez
  • Angela Campo - IDHS, Homeless Services
  • Arielle Weston
  • Audrey Thomas - Deborah's Place
  • Bailey O'Connor - Advocates for Access.
  • Chris O'Hara
  • Christi Wessel
  • Christie Plotzke
  • Christine Hammond - IDHS
  • Christine Kahl - Phoenix Community Development Services
  • David Esposito - Supportive Housing Providers Association
  • Doug Bradshaw - South Suburban PADS
  • Dr. Sanja Rickette Stinson - Matthew House
  • Emily Orenstein
  • Emily Krisciunas - Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness
  • Eileen Setti - Phoenix Community Development Services
  • Ethan Jantz - University of Illinois
  • Foluke Akanni - Housing Action Illinois
  • Gregory Jackson - 5th Street Renaissance, SOAR Case Manager
  • Gwyinne Mashon
  • Jennifer Jaeger - City of Rockford
  • Jodi Scott - Advocates for Access
  • Jennifer Miller Rehfeldt
  • Jackie Edens - Inner Voice
  • Jamey Dunn-Thomason
  • Jess Lynch - Illinois Public Health Institute
  • Jesse Silva
  • Jessica Leek
  • John Egan - DCFS
  • Karen Green
  • King Harris - Board Chair, IHDA
  • Laura Bass - Facing Forward to End Homelessness
  • Lore Baker - AID
  • Laura Davis - Helping Hands of Springfield
  • Lisa Cohen - IDHS
  • Lisa Snipes - DuPage County CoC IL-514
  • Liz Kersjes -IHDA
  • Lucas Robison - LWA -14, Western Illinois Works, Career Planner
  • Lynda Schueler - Housing Forward
  • Mary Elsner - IL Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Maggie Miller - National Youth Advocate Program
  • Marc Raifman - Legal Aid Chicago
  • Mary McGavin - Guardian Angel Community Services
  • Matt Mettler - University of Illinois
  • Melanie Lewis Dickerson - Community Solutions
  • Merridith Montgomery - Supportive Housing Provers Association
  • Michael Banghart - Renaissance Social Services
  • Nicole Hunt - PADS Lake County
  • Rachel
  • Richard Ducatenzeiler - Franciscan Outreach
  • Robin Fretwell Wilson - IGPA
  • Robret Simpson - Franciscan Outreach
  • Robert Kenyon
  • Ron Clewer - Gorman & Company
  • Sarah Torres - IHDA
  • Sean Connelly - IGPA/UIC Voorhees Center
  • Shan Johnson - Director of Family Services Carpenter's Place
  • Sherri Allen-Reeves - Matthew House Chicago
  • Sherri Angel
  • Sol Flores - Deputy Governor
  • S Rahman
  • Starr Stone
  • Stephanie Frank - IDHS
  • Susan Day - Supportive Housing Providers Association
  • Sydney Edmond - IPHI
  • Todd Fuller - IDHS