September 6, 2023, The Community Advisory Council on Homelessness

The Community Advisory Council on Homelessness

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

In Person:

• Suburban Alliance to End Homelessness, Hillside, IL
• 4415 Harrison St, Room 355, Hillside, IL 60162

Virtual: WebEx

Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Spotlight on Homelessness in Suburban Cook County

3. CACH Business

   1. Celebrate the Governor's signing of Bill 2831, which codified the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness, Interagency Task Force & Office to Prevent and End Homelessness (OPEH)
      • Discuss opportunity for additional seats on the Advisory Council & Task Force
   2. Work Group Updates
      • Successful Summit!
      • Progress on Steps to Housing
      • Policy Focus
   3. Reminder of CACH training requirements
4. OPEH Updates
   1. New Staff
   2. Home Illinois Plan FY25-26
5. Public Comment Opportunity
6. Advisory Council Recommendations to the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness (Consultant Colleen Mahoney will lead discussion)
7. Next Steps

Minutes:

1. Welcome by Christine Haley
   • Introductions: Community Advisory Council on Homelessness Members Present:
     • Christine Haley, Chief of State Homelessness OPEH
     • Debbie Reznick, Polk Brothers Foundation
     • Jennifer Hill, Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
     • Susan Reyna, Covenant House IL
     • Brenda O'Connell, Lake County
     • Carolyn Ross, All Chicago
     • Nicole Wilson, Heart of Illinois United Way
     • Richard Rowe, Lived Experience/ CSH
     • Tamela Milan Alexander, EverThrive Illinois
     • Niya Kelly, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
     • Ron Lund, Project Now
     • Otha Gaston, Lived Experience
   • Partners/ Guests Present:
     • LaTonya Butt, OPEH
     • Arloa Sutter, IDHS
     • Chris Ohara, Lived Experience
     • Nikita Robinson, OPEH
     • Abigail Stone, Board of Connections for the Homeless & Lived Experience
     • Billy Lau, OPEH
     • Kevin Roth, OPEH
     • Jeri Bond, IDHS
     • Rodney Dolphins, Lived Experience
     • Fred Friedman
     • Doug Bradshaw
     • Sandy Deters, ERBA
     • Bob Palmer, Housing Action Illinois
     • Katie Eighan, Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
     • Genea Moore, Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
     • Colleen Mahoney, Consultant through SHPA
     • Christa Agee, KCC
     • Wayne Zachery
     • Bernadette Ramsden, Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
     • Betsy Benito, High Ground Partners
     • David Esposito, SHPA
     • Susan Day, SHPA
     • Angie Bloomfield, Humility Homes and Services
     • Anqunette Parham, City of Rockford Health & Human Services Dept.
     • Angie Walker, IL 501 Rockford
     • Lisa Cohen
     • Marketta Sims, Lived Experience
2. Spotlight on Homelessness in Suburban Cook County. Presentation from Jennifer Hill, Katie Eighan (on behalf of Genea Moore), and John Ohara
   • Jennifer Hill, Executive Director: Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
   • The Alliance is the lead agency for CoC Planning, HMIS, and Coordinated Entry. The CoC geography includes all 130 suburbs outside the city of Chicago, a population of about 2.5 million people. Any given night around 1,056 individuals are experiencing homelessness based on when we do our point in time count. We have about 13,500 individuals who receive homelessness and housing services last year from 25+ CoC member agencies. About 85% of the CoC identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or person of color.
   • PADS Shelter Model, Pre-pandemic
   • PADS Model was the way we did emergency shelter. It is a rotating, night by night shelter sites hosted by churches and synagogues. It was seasonal, 6 months out of the year. Volunteers lead and organize but professional staff provides the services. Dinner, pad to sleep, breakfast, lunch to go. 350 shelter guest per night. Represented over 70% of our shelter inventory before the pandemic. After the pandemic, we moved people into hotel-based shelter. The rented hotels rooms are being paid for with pandemic recovery money. In the mix of pivoting from congregant shelter.
   • Homelessness Response System.
   • If you built shelter and provide housing it could be a boundless system. We are starting from scratch and viewing this in a system perspective. We need to spend energy to end homelessness and prevention, diversion approach, and permanent housing solutions.
   • Katie Eighan, CoC Planning Director at the Alliance. Want to talk about how we engage people with lived experience in the process planning and decision making. It is core to who we are, what we do, and how we develop solutions.
   • We have two separate bodies, Lived Experience Advisory Council (LEAC) and Youth Action Board (YAB). LEAC - any individual with lived experience of homelessness. YAB - Young adults, ages 18 - 24, with lived experience homelessness who have participated in CoC/YHDP- funded housing interventions.
   • It is a designated decision-making and information sharing spaces for people with lived experience of homelessness. Monthly meetings with compensation for attendance. Youth action boards began in 2018. Lived experience advisory council became formalized this past year.
   • Lived experience advisory council played a strong role in informing the special NOFO for unsheltered homelessness request last year. It was made extremely clear that housing is a solution to homelessness. While we did not receive the award however it still played a big role in how we formed our planning moving forward.
   • The Youth Action Board helped to drive the planning and application for youth homelessness demonstration funds from HUD. The key pillar of the youth's work is the system navigator. Youth Action Board based the navigator system on what they felt they needed when they were out in the systems. The system that helps to connect individuals with long time housing.
   • We have about 40% of our Board of Directors who identify as having lived experience. We do intentional recruitment for our annual NOFO Project review and about a third have lived experience. We also have additional ways that we recruit members from the LEAC and YAB to be involved in the decision-making processes, partnerships, and how we develop trainings, access to conferences, and opportunities for professional development.
   • Chris O'Hara, Past Chair, Alliance Board of Directors. Our point in time count, that happened last year, right before school started which was very helpful instead of it being done in the winter. Some of the coordinated entry work around having accessors throughout the county, they want to make sure that every area had equal access. We assisted with that work. The 3-year strategic planning included insight from persons with lived experience. Shout out to Christine's office also.
   • The Alliance empowers people with lived experience to participate in conferences throughout the state and nationally. The Youth Action Board and Persons of Lived Experience do talk with each other between meetings.
   • While a lot of this work can be daunting, it is truly in the small wins. Would like to lift up that there is an advocacy committee in the CoC which is a huge part of this work. I thought the Home IL Summit at Malcolm X was really powerful. The presentations and elected officials that were at the event was nice.
   • The governor's committee was expanded to individuals with lived experience in the last few years. We have Abigail who fills a designated role for the governor's committee that helps to include persons with lived experience in the day-to-day work.
   • Question: What kind of innovative ways have you found to engage the youth? Any strategies or recommendations?
   • Would recommend Grassroot recommendations as well as getting schools and churches involved. Being flexible on how you engage youths' voices in different ways.
   • We have local youth action boards that are a little more project specific. Project and local levels are facilitated by staff at the organization level. Local and regional levels approach have been pretty helpful also.
   • In Chicago, they have been doing lived experienced consultation for much longer. We became involved in the that because of YAB.
   • The Alliance for South Suburban Cook were involved in those regional meetings. When regions talk and it is helpful. Communication of the various things taking place throughout the areas helps to get them more involved.
   • Youth Action Board members encourage others to participated which is helpful for engagement. Youth Action members also serve in leadership, and they engage through leading meetings, creating agendas and topics of discussion.
3. CACH Business, Christine Haley. Review of the agenda for today's meeting.
   • Celebration of the Governor's signing of Bill 2831, which codified the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness, Interagency Task Force, and the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness (OPEH). We will continue the work at the state level because of your advocacy.
   •  In the new legislation, 4 seats for providers have been added to the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness and 4 seats for legislators to the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness. Please complete the application on the governor's website if you are interested in having a seat on the council.
   • We have 2 legislators that have been named for the Interagency Task Force. Representative Lillian Jimenez and Senator Adrienne Johnson.
   • Also requires that the Community Advisory Council creates a written document to be submitted to the Interagency Task Force by mid-November. We will discuss this in further detail later in this meeting.
   • Reminder of the CACH training requirements for those who sit on commissions. Please make sure to complete the various training requirements as needed.
     • Question: Any guidance on the types of providers for the open seats on the Community Advisory Council?
     • Not certain, it doesn't list specific categories. It is for the homeless services and should provide geographical diversity.
4. Work Group Updates: Summit, Steps to Housing, and Policy.
   • Debbie Reznick: Incredibly successful Summit! Biggest complaint was that it was so many people, and the rooms were too small. Want to compliment and thank all those who participated in the Summit workgroups under the leadership of Betsy Benito. Does anyone want to provide comments on their experience at the Summit?
     • To see the level of enthusiasm, energy, and excitement was insane. It gives me hope. It was great and powerful. We should have one once a month.
     • In one of the planning meetings, we saw that it was a lot of content to be shared. It is reflective of the many things taking place in the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. It was a lot to absorb in a day. We are accomplishing a lot together and we are grateful to see all of that.
     • Had an opportunity to volunteer as greeter and was impressed by the dedication of state leadership and commitment of officials. Felt fantastic that we are going to work together, breakdown silos, and think comprehensively about this issue.
     • Thanks to my planning council team, we worked hard to get things together. Thanks to Mrs. Haley for her leadership. It was nice having Mayor Johnson show up and excited about the work Chicago is going to do moving forward.
     • Many thanks to those who were actively involved in making sure things run smoothly that day.
     • The experience was phenomenal. It was important to share authentically, and it was impactful in playing a huge role in how this work moves forward. It is a critical part of the planning forward. It was the synergy in the room that made it very appealing for me and so worth it. Was grateful for that.
     • The lived experience panel was the highlight of the Summit. When we talk with Colleen and think about generating recommendations, we should be thinking about doing more of the compelling story sharing telling.
     • I was incredibility energize by the day. It was wonderful for us to all be in the same space. Incredibility grateful for the closing speaker, Dwight Ford. All of this would not have happened without the work of SHPA, and the technical assistant center that we created. Many thanks to Betsy & David Esposito and their team who put in significant work to help the day flow. Shout out to Nikita Robinson and Christine Hammond who also put in significant work to make sure that the day flowed.
       • We are planning to do this again next year and make this an annual event. We would appreciate feedback on location spaces for next year. We are thinking Bloomington or Springfield for next year. The intent is to have it in Chicago every other year.
         • The Summit was wonderful and was a heightened focus on the Bill that was signed to solidify all of this work. My vote would be Springfield. Even though we have a lot of state representation there, I am hopeful of having more state legislators show up. It was a great opportunity, and everyone should be proud of it.
         • An important factor would be to think of more non-car ways to access the Summit so we can get people from all over.
         • Would need to do it earlier if it will be held in Springfield because many of the general assembly members leave by June. We would need to push it up if that is a primary driver.
         • We want to start planning earlier, so please let us know if you are interested in participating in the summit planning again. We did receive feedback on having it as a two summit and CoC leads participate.
         • Certainly, had enough content just from the work of the office to be shared over two days.
   • Brenda O'Connell, presentation on the Progress on Steps to Housing: Led a small group of folks on steps to housing. Reminder that the idea of this workgroup was from the perspective of someone experiencing homelessness. What is the experience of homelessness to being housed though the Statewide Referral Network? The Statewide Referral Network is a strategy by which some units are set aside for the purposes of being filled through a different mechanism, which is the Referral Network. It includes priorities for consent decree populations and other populations who have services attached as well as homeless populations. We were thinking about process improvement for all.
     • Key Findings of the Steps to Housing review. A few buckets of the process.
       • Awareness, online pre-application, referral, and site application. When we looked at the different steps, we identified some barriers in each step.
     • Data of persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) in FY22 statewide. At the time of application, we had 2,939 enrolled with pre-application. 865 PEH enrolled. 743 total referrals to properties to fill 236 vacancies. 251 PEH referred and 136 applicants declined the unit; 35 were rejected by the property. About 91 PEH housed through the Referral Network. Not even geographic distribution in all counties and the housing market is different across the state.
     • The scale of the pool includes people who are enrolled now and those who indicated that they were still interested. There was 6,770 enrolled and 2700 units. It is look for new housing to be built or turnover in the units. On average households were on the application list for 12 to 18 months. From the time of pre-application to housing was on average 336 days for housing. Total of 79 days was the time from completing a lease from referral. How do we leverage this process in our efforts to achieve the success of people experiencing homelessness only for 30 days or less?
     • Examples of process improvements to be more person-centered. Create an access point for potential applicants to request assistant with receiving a referral. Create universal housing application and documentation requirements, and post eligibility requirements earlier in the process. Increase the amount of visibility through pictures of properties by region. Initiate referrals in anticipation of vacancies.
     • Next steps are to work on idea generation to improve partnership with SRN for people experiencing homelessness. Using data to look more regionally. Thinking about new services how that will look. Recommendations make look different for rural. Considering how SRN is used with the homeless system priorities to increase opportunities for low and moderate need households. The scale of the solution differs from the scale of the problem.
     • Will send out an invite for our continued recommendation process. Any questions or comments?
       • Yes, thank you for sharing that. Curious on the navigators, would hope that you would pick someone who doesn't have to have a masters but does have experience in housing instability. When thinking of getting people in the services I think it would be great to create a waitlist. It's a lot of misinformation that you have to have a caseworker the whole time that you are in SRN, but you only need it to navigate through it. If someone wants to participate in this work, how would they connect?
         • This is a workgroup of the Advisory Council Committee. I can put you on the list for our meetings.
     • Having a virtual tour of the space would be a nice thing to do. It should be an easy fix.
     • The Statewide Referral Network, we do have a large number of units listed but only so many are available per month. When the units come up and we filter for those who may get the best benefit from what the unit offers we have a lot of issues with the case manager. We like for them to stay connected with the client throughout the application process. IHDA doesn't have properties in every county, but they still have listed of how many people are interested in certain areas that we do not have units in yet. We send out the referral to the case managers in the order that we receive them. A link is included that shows what the unit offers. Sometimes people do get frustrated because it may be several referrals before we get to them. Sometimes the case managers don't respond or take other routes. Background checks can be an issue. If in the first round doesn't work, then a second round happens. A waiver can happen if the property has not been filled within 30 days.
     • We did look at the data around the steps to fill a unit in the process. We looked to see why the process is not working out in that process. We did not have data on why the waiver was not sought. It has gone down on why the waiver has gone down.
     • We understand from the paperwork what the process is, but we wanted to look at it from a person-centered viewpoint. What ideas and partnership that we want to better engage and improve the process. The final slide was initial ideas on what we want to continue to add to and open up the conversation. Advanced conversations around process Improvements and overall better investment of service dollars.
   • Niya Kelly, Policy Focus work group: We discussed the agencies that are doing the work in Home IL to give presentations on the work they are doing. We had the opportunity for IDHA to present for us. You should have received from Nikita the invite, and a follow up email that has the power point, recordings, and handout. They discussed a qualified allocation plan that was released on August 23rd. They have another meeting taking place tomorrow that you can join and they are accepting public comment until Friday. They have been working on providing rental assistance through the dual program with the landlord and the tenants; in addition to new tenants looking for housing opportunities. They discussed work that they are doing with Legal Aid. It was a really great conversation. We will make sure to provide the invitation to everyone in the future since we think that the conversations would be beneficial for others.
     • Veto session is coming up. It is where the general assembly comes together for 6 days and things that were vetoed or didn't get across the finish line at the end of May will have an opportunity to be revisited at that time.
   • Debbie Reznick: When I heard from you when the CACH was first formed and continue to hear from you is a desire to be able to provide input. We continue to hear three things, housing progress intersectionality insights that you want to share. One about policy. And the third is about input for the interagency council. Want to highlight that because I am excited about the relationships that are being built with staff at the state. Wanted to make client centered impactful work together. Really excited about where we have come and the work that will be processed in the year to come.
   • Please indicate in the chat if you are interested in public comment.
5. OPEH Updates by Christine Haley
   • New Staff at OPEH which includes LaTonya Butts, Communication Specialist; Kylon Hooks, Deputy Chief Homelessness Officer; Billy Lau, Technical Assistant; Kevin Roth, Data Analyst; Anna Spreitzer, Special Projects Coordinator.
     • Anticipating partnerships with Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness who are in a process of raising funding for Home Illinois Fellows. To be created at IHDA, HFS, IDOC, and IDPH.
6. OPEH Events: CACH recommendations due November 15 and the Annual Report due December 1.
   • We have a meeting next week, for shelter and immigrant serving organizations to have a meet and greet to help form partnerships. RFP has been released from the city of Chicago for management of the migrant shelters. We will work together to have one integrated system. Hosted with Chicago Funders Together. If interested in attending, please email us at home.office@illis.gov to RSVP.
   • Home Illinois Plan FY25-26. We are already halfway through the plan. We attended the SHPA conference, and it was suggested that persons with lived experience lead some of the listening sessions. Any volunteers to cohost the listening sessions, we are interested in that.
   • Racial Equity Roundtables Black Homelessness & Latino Homelessness. Working closely with the University of Illinois Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy on a Black Homelessness Report that will be released in February. Any suggestions on outreach on who we should engage for the Racial Equity Roundtable on Lantie Homelessness?
   • Medical Respite Capacity Building. Round 2 was funded and applications were closed last week. Last year we had 11 communities participate in the capacity building initiative. Opportunity for agencies to bring more medical respite to their community.
   • Quality Data Cohort with Community Solutions. Working with Community Solutions and we have 3 CoC who are engaged in that work. If interested in joining, please reach out.
   • Evicted Exhibit. With Betsy Benito and SHPA we are bringing the Evicted Exhibit to Illinois. When we have identified location spaces, 3 or 4, we will start that rotation.
   • Summit 2024
7. Any feedback on those events.
   •  How large is the exhibit?
     • 1400 sq feet and 10-to-12-foot ceilings are needed. Please let us know if you are interested in hosting the exhibit. If you are interested or have location suggestions, please reach out and we can connect you with Betsy.
   • Email address to send feedback or any information is homeless@illinois.gov
   • We are doing another 100-day challenge with a focus on unsheltered homelessness with a recruitment date in October.
8. Public Comment Opportunity
   • Fred Friedman: Thank you for this opportunity and your service. I define myself as being homeless, but I am not unsheltered, but I am at risk of being unsheltered. Where I am living now will be sold and I will come across difficulties in finding housing. I have been very active over the last 23 years but have withdrawn over the years due to difficulty in
   • being in large spaces. I define those who are homeless as my chosen family. I haven't found homeless systems to be very helpful due to problems I have or problems the system has. If you are only providing housing to 75 people, then you are not helping homelessness. The way to end homelessness is to provide homes. Need to provide many more units not necessarily just spending more money.
   • Marketta Sims: I am a person of lived experience. I think that couch surfing should be included in the definition of unsheltered definition. I have encountered that experience of being on eggshells of being put out. If that person is tired of having, you in their home then they can put me out any given time. I am still unsheltered and do not have the capacity to grow in that space. The homeowner places responsibilities on me because I am staying there. It is hard out here and people are living check to check with family priorities trying to survive. Utilities are so high; you have to have roommates to just survive. People keep excluding couch surfers, but they need to be included because they don't have necessities to be housed and stable. They easily end up on the streets trying to survive.
   • Tamela Milan-Alexander: Want to hear us discuss the doubled-up crisis and income discrimination a lot more.
   • For the December meeting, an option could be that we can discuss doubled up crisis and income discrimination situations.
9. Advisory Council Recommendations to the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness, Consultant Colleen Mahoney.
   • Debbie Reznick: The Governor's Office sign into law the Office to Prevent & End Homelessness, the Community Advisory Council, and The Interagency Task Force which codifies the work we have been doing. One of our roles is to advise the work for the Interagency Advisory Council. Christine had a lot of relationship building during the first year of this work. We have not yet worked directly with the Advisory Council. Of the 3 themes I have been hearing, 1 is how do we meaningfully inform the Interagency Task Force around persons experiencing homelessness. As we think together on the type of recommendations, we want to provide it would be great to keep in mind what we have been doing but also to provide recommendation, which can include relationship building. We have been able to bring on Colleen Mahoney to help with these recommendations. Colleen was recently working for the City of Chicago, who has contributed to a lot of systems of change. She just graduated from law school. Anyone who is interested in having input in this conversation we welcome your input.
   • Colleen Mahoney presentation. Excited to be working with you all and supporting an important task. It is a lot of flexibility in what content the council want to prioritize. We want them to be clear, focused, and implementable. I will support the council's work by holding working sessions, prep, and taking the lead on writing for the council. Would love to hear next steps on recommendation. Any thoughts around that?
     • Would you do workgroups to help form this?
     • That is the question, since it is due before our next CACH meeting. We welcome doing a workgroup.
       • I would prefer that. More opportunity for idea generation through workgroups.
   • I can send around some scheduling of maybe 3 meetings between now and October 15. Will send out a poll to the entire group. Please provide your email address in the chat or contact me directly.
     • If you can't participate in meetings, then you can reach out to Debbie Reznick or Colleen directly. We will be sure to provide more information to everyone after each meeting.
   • The process planning for the next plan will also be taking place, so could our recommendations to the Task Force as include recommendations for the formation of the plan? Or would it be separate?
     • If you would like to include comments around the development of the plan, then you can reach out directly to Christine Haley. You are really thinking in terms of speaking directly to the agency directors and what would you like for them to do.
     • We will get to transformative change when we develop a plan that is across the various silos of state government so that relates to both of those ideas to me. How are cooking the next plan together should be our goal in all of our recommendations. How do we align this to get to this desired result.
   • We think that it could be aligned and a part of that.
   • I would like to make sure that I, Chris, Markita, & Abigail would like to be included.
     • We will make sure to send it to each of you.
   •  You can also stay connected through our listserv as well. All of the meeting materials and notes will be posted. We are also looking to do a quarterly newsletter and add your email to that as well.
   • Looking forward to being in touch and working with everyone.
10. Next Steps
    • Continue to feel empowered with the work we are doing together. This feels like we have been finding our place and thinking of ways to continue to use your expertise. Always excited to learn about your feedback and input. We value it and find it to be super helpful. Thanks to those who spoke and your time. Welcome to the new staff. Thank you to Suburban Cook for hosting.
    • We will see you December 6th, 2023.
    • Meeting adjourned.

Presentations:

Community Advisory Council on Homelessness Quarterly Meeting

Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County

Meeting Recording:

Recording