AGENDA and Minutes - Pillar 2: Stabilize Homes and Communities, February 2, 2023

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee: Stabilize Homes and Communities

First Quarter Meeting

February 2, 2023

10:00am - 11:00am

Recording

Members

Appointment Member Affiliation
Chair Senator Dale Fowler Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Mark Eichenlaub Regional Superintendent of Schools, St. Clair County Regional Office of Education #50
Commission Member Kimberly A. Lightford Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Pastor Jason McKinnies Senior Pastor, Southern Illinois Worship Center
Commission Member Angela Curran LLM President & CEO, Pillars Community Health
Commission Member Juan Calderon Chief Operating Officer, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center
IWGP Member Dir. Paula Basta Director, Illinois Department on Aging
IWGP Member Marc Staley Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
IWGP Member Amaal Tokars Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
IWGP Member Jason Horwitz Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research , IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
IWGP Member Liz Kersjes Planning and Research Specialist, Illinois Housing Development Authority
Public Member  Elizabeth Vogt Senior Policy Advisor, Illinois Department on Aging
Public Member  Emily Metz Director for Housing Stability and Inclusive Economy Lab, Chicago
Public Member  Felicia Gray Associate Director, Division of Early Childhood, Illinois Department of Human Services
Public Member  Christine Haley Statewide Homelessness Chief; Illinois Department of Human Services
Public Member  Hope Babowice Educator
Public Member  Courtney Groves Illinois Education Association-Government-relations Department
Public Member Diane Owino Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Illinois Education Association; Michigan Madison County Board
Public Member Keesha Readus Communications Associate at Illinois Education Association

 Desired Outcomes:

  • Introduce subcommittee members and structure
  • Review Pillar 2 strategies
  • Discuss intent to develop action plan goals
  • Review Home Illinois Plan
  • Review Department of Mental Health/Substance Use Prevention and Recovery and Reimagine Public Safety Activities
  • Generate Initial Concepts for FY2024 Pillar 2 Action Items
  • Communicate Next Steps to Guide Work Ahead

Agenda:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call (5 mins)
  2. Overview of Subcommittee Purpose and Activities (5 mins)
  3. Public Comment - Open (2 mins)
    • Subject to written comment in advance
  4. Overview of Home Illinois Plan (20 mins)
  5. Overview of DMH/SUPR/Reimagine Initiatives (10 mins)
  6. Overview of Interagency Working Group Report Out (20 mins)
  7. Generate FY2024 Pillar 2 Action Items (15 mins)
  8. Next Steps and Adjournment (3 mins)

MEETING MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Senator Dale Fowler - Subcommittee Chairperson, Poverty Commission member
  2. Dr. Mark Eichenlaub - Poverty Commission member
  3. Kim Tate from the Office of Senator Kimberly Lightford (Poverty Commission member)
  4. Abbey Peterson - Office of Senator Dale Fowler
  5. Dr. Diane Otieno Owino - subcommittee member
  6. Felicia Gray - subcommittee public member
  7. Keesha Readus - subcommittee public member
  8. Abbey Peterson - subcommittee public member
  9. Courtney Groves - subcommittee public member
  10. Meredith Byers - subcommittee public member
  11. Emily Metz she/her - subcommittee public member
  12. Todd Fuller - representative of subcommittee member, Christine Haley, IDHS Statewide Homelessness Chief

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS Chief Policy Officer

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call - Ms. Dana Kelly welcomed everyone and asked to introduce themselves
    1. Senator Dale Fowler of the 59th district in Southern Illinois - Poverty Commission member; will chair the Pillar 2 subcommittee (had to leave early due to a press conference in Carbondale)
    2. Dana Kelly - Chief Policy Officer of IDHS and liaison to the Poverty Commission
    3. Dr. Mark Eichenlaub - Poverty Commission member
    4. Dr. Diane Owino - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Illinois Education Association; Michigan Madison County Board; also part of a non-profit homeless faith-based agency; subcommittee public member
    5. Courtney Groves - Illinois Education Association-Government-relations Department; subcommittee public member
    6. Kim Tate - representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Poverty Commission member
    7. Keesha Readus - Communications Associate at Illinois Education Association; worked previously as a Public Housing Case Worker with the Springfield Housing Authority; subcommittee public member
    8. Todd Fuller - IDHS Statewide Housing and Employment First Coordinator; liaison to IHDA
    9. Dr. Mark Eichenlaub - Regional Superintendent of schools for Sinclair County, Illinois; Poverty Commission member
    10. Meredith Byers - Illinois Education Association; previously a teacher in Galesburg; subcommittee public member
    11. Abby Peterson - Office of Senator Dale Fowler
    12. Emily Metz - Director for Housing Stability and Inclusive Economy Lab, Chicago; subcommittee public member
    13. Felicia Gray - Associate Director, Division of Early Childhood
    14. Anna Merlinna Conant - administrative support to Dana Kelly
    15. Dulce Hernandez - student intern under Dana Kelly
  2. Public Comment - Subject to written comment in advance, none received.
  3. Overview of Subcommittee Purpose and Activities - Dana Kelly
    • The subcommittee is part of the Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security. Membership consists of Commission members, members of the Poverty Commission Inter-Agency Working Group and public members.
    • The subcommittee is for Pillar 2 of the Poverty Commission's strategic plan which is Stabilize Homes and Communities and cover issues related to housing, mental health and community development.
    • The goal of the meeting is to develop 2024 action items that the subcommittee can work on, come up with tactical concepts that it can move forward in the next year with regards to stabilizing homes and communities. The subcommittee will meet quarterly.
    • One of the biggest tasks of the Poverty Commission is to establish a plan meant to address homelessness and meet the goals of the Inter-Generational Poverty Act which has created the Commission. The Act outlines three goals over the next 15 years to reduce deep poverty by half. There's currently about 600,000 individuals who are living in deep poverty in the state of Illinois and the main goal is to cut that in half by 300,000 by 2026. The second goal is to eliminate child poverty by 2031 and the third goal is to eliminate all poverty by 2036.
    • To reach the goals, the Commission came up with pillars and strategies and established subcommittees based on each of the pillars to get the work done. The goal of the subcommittees is to develop action steps to pursue progress for each strategic pillar. The subcommittees will meet quarterly and will report during the bi-annual Commission meetings.
    • Each subcommittee will work to identify 1-3 actions that can be taken under each pillar that can contribute to the 5-year goal this year. The subcommittees have until July 1st to finalize action items that they are going to commit to do for the Fiscal Year 2024.
    • Subcommittees will also need to talk about who will lead, what is the process, how to measure progress and what will be the timeline for the completion. Members are also encouraged to think of what additional information or resources they might need to identify their action items.
    • For Subcommittee on Pillar 2, the following are the strategies
    • Strategy/Tactics State Actions
      1. Reduce Homelessness by Half and Ensure Housing Affordability and Accessibility
      2. Invest in High-Quality, Specialized Supports for Persons Experiencing Mental Health and Substance Use Related Crises
      3. Invest in Interventions that Address Cycles of Trauma and Violence in our Communities
      • $15M in additional funding for homeless prevention.
      • HOME ARPA allotment finalized - to distribute $62m in affordable rental housing and non-congregate shelter building
      • 988 implementation
      • Beginning influx of Opioid Settlement funding
      • Behavioral health workforce investments (SB 3617)
      • Increased funding for mobile crisis response
      • Increased funding for domestic violence services
      • $65M + in community violence interventions and youth development services
      • LIHEAP centralized website and new programming for utility assistance
    • There are two main issues under the pillar - homelessness and housing, and mental health and community development. For homelessness and housing, the subcommittee can figure out which strategies are aligned to the State's Plan to End Homelessness which will be presented by Mr. Todd Fuller.
  4. Overview of Home Illinois Plan - Todd Fuller, Statewide Housing/Employment First Coordinator
    • Gov. Pritzker signed the Executive Order on September 3, 2021 that established the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness along with the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. It also set up the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness under the leadership of Ms. Christine Haley.
    • The goal of the groups was to develop an initial State Plan to prevent and end homelessness that was submitted to the Governor and the Illinois General Assembly on June 1, 2022. The first annual report was submitted on December 1, 2022.
    • The main goals of the Executive Order are as follows:
      1. Address homelessness and achieve functional zero of homelessness which means people don't spend a long time being homeless, homelessness is rare or occurs infrequently, and there are enough interventions in place so that homeless people are able to transition out of homelessness in a timely manner.
      2. Address unnecessary institutionalization
      3. Improve health and human services outcomes for people experiencing homelessness
      4. Strengthening safety nets that contribute to housing stability
      5. Coordinate homeless prevention resources
    • The Interagency Task Force on Homelessness was modeled after the US Interagency Task Force and the Wisconsin, Minnesota and California Interagency Task Force.
    • The Task Force's goals are as follows:
      1. set a strategic direction for ending homelessness
      2. recommend policy, regulatory and resources changes needed to end homelessness
      3. recommend and promote interagency collaboration on related efforts e.g. Poverty Commission, Hunger Commission
      4. Establish sustainability plans for reaching goals
    • Illinois is very comparable with the State of Michigan in terms of resources and number of homeless people and so the Homelessness Office has taken a lot of what Michigan has done and incorporating them to the strategies.
    • The Illinois Task Force members consist of directors from different State agencies while the Community Advisory Council consists of people with lived experience on homelessness, Continuum of Cares, service providers, organizations that provide grants and funding to end homelessness, and others. There are also subcommittees and working groups.
    • On the other hand, the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness consists of the Homelessness Chief, five staff and the IDHS Statewide Housing Coordinator. The Office is working across State agencies to implement the Plan and guide policy recommendations and pilots with all of the State agencies.
    • Listening sessions were conducted before the Task Force and the Community Advisory Council were convened and before any decisions were made on structures and what to be included on the plan.
    • The plan is a foundational plan meant to be a living document and the first reach is only through June 2024. The Homelessness Office worked closely during the first year with the HUD TA provider home-based to complete the housing projections for reaching functional zero in plan year one. Another goal is to uncover systemic levers that cause homelessness, racial inequity and housing market instability.
    • More than 100 homelessness-related activities were committed by different agencies to follow through on and about half are with IDHS.
    • The Plan framework starts with building affordable and permanent supportive housing, bolster safety nets, secure financial stability and close mortality gap such as deaths during winter and loss of limbs, finger and toes due to the freezing weather.
    • Plan activities include:
      1. Convene a Public Housing Authority and Homelessness Work Group to help implement and align housing resources.
      2. Launch a Racial Equity Roundtable on black homelessness and rural homelessness initiative.
      3. Monitor capital development pipeline for non-congregate shelter development to request additional funding support within the IDHS budget for increased operating and services costs.
      4. Creation of a medical respite benefit within Medicaid.
      5. Implementation of a guaranteed income pilot for families experiencing homelessness.
      6. Policy work groups to focus on housing authority and homeless partnerships, housing for returning citizens with multiple barriers to housing, police responses to encampments, health care investment in housing development.
    • Total State investment in homelessness is $564,804,975 for FY 2023.
    • On policy, the Homelessness Office is advocating for more federal and state funding to develop permanent, supportive housing and maintain the current funding structure through FY 2023 and FY 2024 under IHDA's qualified allocation plan. One of the key things done by IHDA was adding persons experiencing homelessness to the FY 19 Section 811 program which is dedicated for persons with disabilities.
    • IHDA also committed to partner closely with State agency and community stakeholders to develop detailed analysis of housing needs in addition to their blueprint and the Homelessness Office's Annual Comprehensive Plan.
    • IHDA is also providing technical assistance and training to property managers on increasing accessibility to units and changing some of the tenant selection plans to be more inclusive and reduce even more barriers to folks entering housing opportunities that are supported and funded through IHDA's programs.
    • IHDA is also partnering with the Corporation Support for Housing (CSH) and all the CoCs coordinated entry systems to strengthen the referral processes for persons experiencing homelessness or accessing the Statewide Referral Network.
    • IHDA will be releasing a special round of permanent support of housing on acquisition, new construction or rehab in the annual tax credit application round.
    • IHDA is also doing a 10% set aside for the Statewide Referral Network for everybody who is applying for 9% tax credits for the low-income housing tax credits. This was up from 5% set aside before folks can get competitive points for setting aside more but now, IHDA is requiring it.
    • Through partnership with CSH, IHDA is also delivering the Supportive Housing Development Institute which pairs together providers, developers, local government, and others into teams to maximize the success and the likelihood that people will get applications approved and be able to move forward with affordable housing developments.
    • IHDA is also putting the HOME ARPA money, taking $62 million which is going to include creating new rental units and a portion will also go to creating non-congregate shelter for homeless households.
    • IHDA will also support the rental housing support program and they are going to continue with the entry demonstration program with the Department of Corrections.
    • Administrator Kelly asked what could the subcommittee backed up or work on among all the initiatives mentioned in the Homelessness Plan or is there a gap that the subcommittee could work on? 
    • Mr. Fuller mentioned a lot of outreach and encouraging people to participate in things like the Supportive Housing Development Institute that IHDA is supporting, they would like more providers to be part of the Institute; identifying organizations, especially poverty fighting organizations that might be working in any types of community development or taking an active role in owning projects that IHDA could support with technical assistance, knowledge and expertise that these organizations might need to move beyond thinking to being actually ready to move things forward.
  5. Overview of DMH/SUPR/Reimagine Initiatives - could not be discussed due to lack of time
  6. Overview of Interagency Working Group Report Out - could not be discussed due to lack of time
  7. Generate FY2024 Pillar 2 Action Items - due to lack of time, Administrator Kelly only asked for ideas in relation to housing
    • Administrator Kelly asked what are most needed or gaps in relation to housing that members are seeing in their work or in their advocacy. She presented the general summary of the Homelessness Plan:
      • Potential Tactic: Reduce homelessness by half and ensure housing affordability and accessibility
        1. Increase permanent supportive housing stock and access to subsidies
        2. Continue to invest in rental assistance and eviction supports
        3. Invest in homelessness prevention and crisis housing
    • Ideas:
      1. Dr. Diane Owino - Give awareness and put resources towards homelessness for students and possibly faculty at the adjunct level
      2. Dr. Diane Owino - Address the issue on decriminalization of people with mental health issues who are confined in the penal system
      3. Keesha Readus - address simple issues on housing application don't get through because people didn't have access to their personal documents, could not afford a birth certificate, issues with background checks not coming back for a year
  8. Next Steps and Adjournment (3 mins)
    1. Administrator Kelly will try and get more ideas from members thru email
    2. Another meeting will be needed before any action goals for 2024 will be finalized to discuss other issues on the agenda such as mental health substance use and violence prevention and come up something final that can be presented to the Commission
    3. Next meeting targeted in March 4. Meeting was adjourned at 10:58 am.