AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 2 Subcommittee Meeting February 14, 2024

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 2: Stabilize Homes and Communities

Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 1:00-2:00 PM

Recording

Subcommittee members:

Appointment Member Affiliation
Commission Member, Subcommittee 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 Pastor Jason McKinnies Senior Pastor, Southern Illinois Worship Center
Commission Member Juan Calderon Chief Operating Officer, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Commission Member Senator Kimberly Lightford Illinois State Senator
IWGP Member Dir. Paula Basta Director, Department on Aging
IWGP Member Marc Staley Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
IWGP Member Dr. Janice Phillips Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
IWGP Member Jason Horwitz Deputy Director for Policy Development Planning and Research, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
IWGP Member Emily Mueller AD of Policy and Research
Public Member Elizabeth Vogt Senior Policy Advisor, Department on Aging
Public Member Emily Metz Director for Housing Stability and Inclusive Economy Lab, Chicago
Public Member Hope Babowice President, Mundelein High School Education Support Association
Public Member Courtney Groves Illinois Education Association-Government-Relations Department
Public Member Keesha Readus Communications Associate at Illinois Education Association
Public Member Kimberly Mercer-Schleider Director, Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities
Public Member/IDHS SME Felicia Gray Associate Director, Division of Early Childhood, Illinois Department of Human Services
Public Member/IDHS SME Christine Haley Statewide Homelessness Chief; Illinois Department of Human Services
Public Member/IDHS SME Amanda Lake Senior Policy Advisor, Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery
Public Member/IDHS SME Ryan Rollinson Chief of Staff, Division of Mental Health
Public Member/IDHS SME Quiwana Bell Assistant Secretary, Office of Firearm Violence Prevention

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Guests/Facilitators:

  1. Matthew Rodriguez - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
  2. Ni'Shele Jackson - IRRPP
  3. Nancy Toure - IRRPP

Agenda:

  1. I. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
    • Introduction of new members
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: September 29, 2023 and November 21, 2023
  4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
  5. Discussion and breakout session - workgroups discuss accomplishments and updates on gaps
    1. Workgroup 1/Goal 1
    2. Workgroup 2/Goal 2
    3. Workgroup 3/Goal 3 - no workgroup members yet
    4. Workgroup 4/Goal 4
    5. Workgroup 5/Goal 5
  6. Report Back
  7. Next Steps
  8. Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Senator Dale Fowler - Subcommittee chairman; Commission member
  2. Kimberly Tate - representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
  3. Juan Calderon - Commission member
  4. Dr. Janice Phillips - IWGP member
  5. Marc Staley - IWGP member
  6. Kimberly Mercer-Schleider - public member
  7. Kylon Hooks - IDHS SME/Public Member
  8. Quiwana Bell - IDHS SME/Public Member
  9. Jonathan Hoyt - IDHS SME/Public Member

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Guests/Facilitators:

  1. Matthew Rodriguez - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
  2. Nancy Toure - IRRPP

Minutes

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
    • 8 out of 20 members were present, quorum was not attained.
    • Introduction of new members
      1. Kimberly Mercer-Schleider - Director, Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities
      2. Kylon Hooks - Deputy Director, Office of Statewide Homelessness
      3. Quiwana Bell - Assistant Secretary, Office of Firearm Violence Prevention
      4. Jonathan Hoyt - Office of Firearm Violence Prevention
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: September 29, 2023 and November 21, 2023 - quorum was not attained, approval of minutes will be done on the next meeting
  4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
    • Matthew gave an overview of the Poverty Commission statutory goals as well as an overview of Pillar 2 for the information of the new members.
    • Pillar 2 centers on stabilizing homes and communities. The main strategies are:
      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
    • Matthew shared a document which showed the FY24 goals of Pillar 2 and the work that have been done so far for each goal.
  5. Discussion and breakout session - workgroups discuss accomplishments and updates on gaps
    1. Goal 1 - Fund or support the development of at least 300 supportive housing units through various programming (Permanent Supportive Housing Development Program, Statewide Referral Network units, etc.)
      • Evan Ponder, Senior Policy Planning Officer was identified as the point of contact at IHDA to assist in determining the pathway of support that the group can provide
      • Also, Dir. Staley will reach out to Tracy Grim, CFO and request for data on number of units created as well as present and future projection, also to introduce Matthew and Priya who can do the follow up.
      • Dir. Phillips shared that the Housing Task Force has produced a housing report which she can send to Matthew.
    2. Goal 2 - Research the existence and impact of different rent control models and document their findings for future advocacy efforts
      • There are already a few research on rent control that were previously identified by the workgroup which can be a part of any future advocacy strategy.
      • Hope Babowice was going to reach out to Denise Akanson for more information as agreed during the previous meeting.
      • Hope, Jason Horwitz and Ni'Shele Jackson were going to formulate questions to ask academics/organizations as agreed during the previous meeting.
      • Kylon Hooks suggested looking at demographic comparisons, whether there are analyses from the research that look at differences or similarities across demographics that might align or not with Illinois populations.
      • Matthew suggested to look more closely at the research and put together a one-pager highlighting key findings and feedbacks that can be shared to the group.
    3. Goal 3 - Design an advocacy strategy to influence legislation that will limit the impact of credit checks for rental housing
      • There were research found but not as comprehensive as rent control
      • Still need to find individuals who may have more information
      • Senator Fowler asked if there other states with legislations on rent control policies that can be mirrored in Illinois
      • Kimberly Mercer-Schleider suggested reaching out to the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) to ask such as what national policy initiatives they have supported, state-based efforts on credit check and other barriers, etc. She will share links she can find and reach out/introduce a contact that she may know from the CSH and invite to the group.
      • Goal 4 - Create a map of housing affordability and availability for three prioritized regions and comprehensively analyze the map to identify gaps, with special attention toward availability for individuals with a disability, mental illness, or substance use disorder. Lessons learned will be applied in future efforts to build this same kind of map statewide
      • There is already a map and it is regularly updated. There are also regional maps but the group has yet to prioritized regions to look at and do analyses as it relates to affordability of housing. ARI 2023 - Web App (arcgis.com)
      • The group has also yet to figure out if there is a way to approximate total housing need for each subgroups e.g. seniors, disabled individuals, people in need of mental health services, etc.
      • The maps highlight to some extent, availability but does not necessarily provide a crosswalk between availability and affordability. There might also be a need to define affordability.
      • There might be a need to take a look at the current map and figure out whether there are any missing components or additional layers that need to be included and then suggest updating the map
      • Kylon suggested that the next step might be to understand what the definitions are (e.g. affordability, affordability risk index or ARI), how the definitions came up so as to have a better understanding of the regions.
      • Priya can reach out to Erik Turner of IHDA to get a background on the map and how it was created and what metrics were used to populate the map.
    4. Goal 5 - Craft a vision with clear goals and strategic action for each area of work within Pillar 2 beyond FY24 with special attention toward investment in (a) high-quality, specialized supports for persons experiencing mental health and substance use related crises, and (b) interventions that address cycles of trauma and violence in our communities
      • Instead of crafting another goal, the group discussed who else should be invited to the subcommittee:
        1. Council of State Governments Midwestern Office - as suggested by Senator Fowler, especially for mirroring some possible legislations or just data within other states
        2. Shriver Center on Poverty Law - President and CEO Audra Wilson is the Poverty Commission chair and member of pillars 1 and 3 subcommittees, Matthew can ask her of some of what the Center has been doing
        3. IHDA - Priya will reach out to IHDA if they are still able to commit in participating in the subcommittee
        4. National Conference on State Legislatures - as suggested by Dr. Phillips
        5. Woodstock Institute - as suggested by Quiwana Bell, the organization used to do housing analysis and they have reports around specific geographic areas and house insecurity; Ms. Bell will see if she still have existing contact with the organization
        6. Cook County Assessor - as suggested by Juan Calderon, assessing property taxes which go up every year should go hand in hand in researching rent control and rental assistance; if Matthew can't get a hold of someone from Community Relations, Mr. Calderon can assist
  6. Action items
    1. Dir. Staley will reach out to Tracy Grim, CFO and request for data on number of units created as well as present and future projection, also to introduce Matthew and Priya who can do the follow up.
    2. Dir. Phillips will send to Matthew the housing report from the Housing Task Force once she receives it.
    3. Kimberly Mercer-Schleider will try and find a contact from CSH to be invited to the group.
    4. Priya to reach out to Erik Turner of IHDA to get a background on the affordability map and how it was created and what metrics were used to populate the map.
    5. Organizations to invite to the group and/or get relevant information from:
      1. Council of State Governments Midwestern Office
      2. Shriver Center on Poverty Law
      3. National Conference on State Legislatures
      4. Woodstock Institute
      5. Cook County Assessor
  7. Adjournment - Dr. Phillips moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Senator Fowler. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn at 2:03 PM.