Houston Quality of Life Committee Reviews Homeless Housing Subrecipient Agreements - July 28, 2025
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Houston Quality of Life Committee Reviews Homeless Housing Subrecipient Agreements - July 28, 2025
The Quality of Life Committee of the Houston City Council, chaired by Councilmember Julian Ramirez (At-Large Position 1), met on July 28, 2025, to continue consideration of housing-related items carried over from the previous week. The meeting focused on eight subrecipient agreements for homeless services, including diversion, case management, street medicine, and housing assistance, funded through various federal and state sources. Presentations were delivered by Assistant Director Melody Barr of the Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD) and representatives from the proposing organizations. The committee reviewed each item and discussed program details, client tracking, reporting, and funding methodologies.
Discussion Items
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Item 3A – The Beacon of Downtown Houston: Subrecipient agreement for $480,922 in CDBG funds for homeless diversion services, serving a minimum of 50 households over two years (September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2027). Services include case management and wraparound support. Stephanie Trong, Chief Program Officer, described hiring two new case managers and using HMIS for tracking. Funding is provided on a reimbursement basis.
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Item 3B – Northwest Assistance Ministries (NAM): Subrecipient agreement for $1,153,870 in HOME-ARP funds for diversion services, serving a minimum of 65 households annually (one-year term with renewal option). Allison Booker Brooks (COO) and Marcella Summer (Director of Housing) detailed hiring two case managers (housing and workforce), using HMIS and internal Client Track software, and providing monthly checkpoints. NAM has received city funding since 2020 with no findings.
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Item 3C – Wesley Community Center: Subrecipient agreement for $580,264 in HOME-ARP and CDBG funds for diversion services, serving 75 individuals (36 households) annually (one-year term with renewal). Emily Varadi (Senior Director of Development) and Erica Luna (Director of Community Services) explained tracking via HMIS and APRT database, with supplemental private funds. Wesley has served the near north side for 120 years, with no zip code restrictions. Councilmember Huffman asked about service area; Wesley confirmed they are not restricted. HCDD clarified that Wesley’s lower cost versus NAM is due to serving fewer clients (35 annually versus 65 annually) and a greater focus on rent/utility subsidies (homeless prevention) rather than intensive diversion.
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Item 3D – Salvation Army: Fourth amendment to an existing subrecipient agreement adding $622,432.91 in CDBG-CV funds for diversion services, serving a minimum of 266 households, extending the term to April 31, 2026. Robert Stutz (Executive Director) and Kenneth Ekins (Director of Housing) noted maintaining six case managers, using HMIS and internal trackers, with post-exit stabilization through United Way’s Thrive Navigation.
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Item 3E – Covenant House Texas: Second amendment adding $200,000 in HHSPY funds for youth homeless services, supporting 80 unaccompanied young adults aged 18-24. Felicia Broussard (Chief Development Officer) said funds will cover operations, maintenance, security, and utilities at their new 104,000 sq ft campus. Tracking uses Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) and HMIS. Term runs through March 2026. HCDD noted these state funds are specific to youth providers.
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Item 3F – Healthcare for the Homeless Houston: Subrecipient agreement for street medicine program (funding amount not explicitly stated in transcript; described as providing at least 48 days of service annually to 200 households). Catherine Rogers (Executive VP) described expansion of street medicine with primary care, mental health support, HIV/STI testing. Tracking uses HMIS and offline spreadsheets. Term: September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2026.
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Item 3G – Bread of Life: Second amendment to an existing HOPWA agreement adding $575,630 (corrected from an earlier typo of $290,000) to continue supporting 107 low-to-moderate income households living with HIV/AIDS through June 1, 2023 to November 30, 2025. Yvonne Binmar (Assistant Director of Housing) described services: tenant-based rental assistance, short-term rent/mortgage/utility assistance, and permanent housing placement. Staff ratio is 25:1, with eight direct service staff. Clients are tracked per contract using HMIS and spreadsheets. A discrepancy in the budget numbers was noted by Councilmember Davis’ staff and acknowledged for correction.
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Item 3H – Montrose Center: Subrecipient agreement for $1,791,845 in HOPWA funds to serve 248 households, providing tenant-based rental assistance (78 households), short-term rent/mortgage/utility assistance (150 households), and permanent housing placement (20 households), plus support services. Jamie Giros (Chief Program Officer) described tracking per grant and category, using HMIS and internal EHR. Term: September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2026, with renewal option. Montrose Center was one of 12 selected from 14 applicants (two withdrew) in a competitive NOFA process.
Key Outcomes
- All eight items were presented and discussed; no formal committee vote took place during the meeting (the committee typically forwards recommendations to the full City Council). The committee received presentations and Q&A, with staff clarifying funding methodologies and program details.
- HCDD clarified that funding amounts are determined through competitive applications (REI, NOFA, RFP) based on proposed budgets, client numbers, service intensity, and available grant line-item caps. Newer organizations face challenges due to reimbursement requirements.
- A typo in the Bread of Life amendment agenda amount ($290,000 vs. actual $575,630) was noted and corrected.
- The committee acknowledged that additional HOPWA agreements will be presented in coming months for the remaining 12 selected applicants.
- No public comments or consent calendar items were present in the transcript.
Meeting Transcript
Like we were just here. That's because we were here. Um this morning we're going to take up the housing items that we didn't get to last week. So introductions. My name is Julian Ramirez. I'm Houston City Councilmember at large position one, chair of the Quality of Life Committee. And uh this will be the second part of the meeting that we started last week. With us here in the chamber are uh councilmember Mary Nan Huffman and staff from Councilmember Mario Castillo's office, Councilmember Sally Alcorn's office, Councilmember Joaquin Martinez office, Councilmember Amy Peck's office, Councilmember or Mayor Proteir Martha Castex Tatum, and count uh staff from Councilmember uh Tiffany Thomas office as well as pretty much uh almost my entire staff as well. Uh staff from Councilmember Plummer is joining online. This is a hybrid meeting. There is an online option. Um we are having some issues in the chambers, as you can probably tell. Um the air conditioning is not fully uh hasn't fully cooled the room yet. The power was out to City Hall in the annex over the weekend by design. They did some work and systems are playing catch-up. In fact, the board I have to my right is not working. Neither are uh so we'll when we get to questions, we'll just have folks raise their hands at the at the horseshoe, and we'll get those questions answered uh like that. So I regret that Director Nichols is not able to be here. I know he wanted to be here. However, um, due to um a number of circumstances, we're meeting this morning. And uh we have his trustee assistants here to take his place. The other thing I want to mention, if you're online, is that due to technical difficult difficulties, the titles and captioning that are normally available during the broadcast are not available at this time. And folks are working to add those uh up to get us up and running on those. So without further ado, we will go ahead and get started. And um I'll turn it over to you guys. All right, good morning. Uh, thank you all so much for scheduling this portion of the agenda so quickly behind the last one. We have a lengthy one as you can see, eight items to be covered today. Um joining me is Assistant Director Melody Barr, and she'll run us through each of these items. Good morning. So today I will present here I will be presenting eight items before this committee. On the agenda, these items are identified as contractors. All of these items today are agreements, specifically subrecipient agreements. Um as a reminder, a subrecipient is also known as a sub-awardee, and it's an organization that receives a portion of a federal award from a pass-through entity, being as the City of Houston, um, to carry out specific part of the overall project. Five of the items directly relate to Houston's homeless plan led by Mayor John Whitmeyer. Melody, I'm sorry, let me interrupt for just a second. If you can tell us when you want us to go to the next slide. I will try. Then those folks in the back will uh be able to put those on the screen. Also, because it's uh warm in here, you all are welcome to remove your jackets if you want. I've done that, and uh Alan, you can as well. That's my shield. That's my it's my shield. Okay. All right, next slide. Next slide. All right. So um so those items are items 3A through 3D and F, and we're selected through a joint tri-party request for expression of interest, or as we refer to it as an REI. It's very similar to a NOFA. Between the City of Houston, Harris County, and the Coalition for the Homeless, which is the lead agency for the way home.
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