I'm Julian Ramirez, Chair of this Houston City Council Quality of Life Committee meeting, and I call it to order.

Present in chambers, we have Councilmember Mario Castillo from District H, as well as staff from Councilmember Cayman's office, Huffman's Office, Tiffany Thomas's office, Tata Carter's office, and Alejandra Salinas' office.

We have online staff from Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex Tatum's office and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck's office as well.

We have an agenda today related to the 419 Emancipation Homeless Hub and presentations from our housing and community development department.

Want to welcome Director Mike Nichols and one of his assistants, Melody Barr.

So welcome.

I will turn it over to you guys.

Thank you for being having us here today and going through these important issues.

We're really focused on mainly on 419 emancipation and the DR24 funding, and I'll give Melody Barr the table and then come back before you get to 419.

I have some level settings.

Yep.

Sounds good.

All right.

Hi, my name is Melody Barr.

I am the Assistant Director for Housing and Community Development Department.

For item 2A, the Housing and Community Development Department is presenting an ordinance adopting the 2024 DeRetro and Hurricane Barrel Disaster Recovery Public Services Homeless Services Program Guidelines.

We are bringing this item back before committee to reflect minor updates to the guidelines.

Specifically, the maximum award amount has been increased from $30 million to $40 million out of an abundance of caution, and select language has been revised to ensure consistency with the city's grant agreement.

These guidelines establish the framework for a targeted program to prevent to prevent and address homelessness among individuals and families directly or indirectly impacted by the 2024 Derecho windstorms and Hurricane Barrel.

Through this program, the city will provide funding to selected subrecipients, including nonprofit organizations and local government entities to deliver critical homeless services such as shelter operations, case management, and support services that help individuals transition to stable housing and support long-term recovery.

As council is aware, both events caused significant and widespread damage across Houston.

The May 16, 2024 Derecho was one of the most severe windstorms in nearly 25 years, resulting in prolonged power outages and extensive property damage.

Hurricane Barrel made landfall July 8th, 2024, bringing life-threatening flooding and further compounding impacts on already vulnerable households.

Together, these disasters have intensified housing instability across the city.

In response, the president issued major disaster declarations for Texas following both events.

This program will be funded with approximately 41 million dollars in community development block grant disaster recovery funds or CDBGDR, dedicated to supporting long-term recovery efforts in federally declared disaster areas.

The city will administer this program in accordance with these guidelines and all applicable HUD CDBGDR requirements, ensuring accountability, regular compliance, regulatory compliance, and effective service delivery.

And that ends my presentation for that item.

Thank you.

Melody.

Thank you, Melody.

What I'd like to do first is do some general level setting about 419 emancipation.

At the direction of Mayor John Whitmire, the city's taking bold and deliberate action to ensure no one is left sleeping outside while waiting for housing.

This effort builds on Houston's nationally recognized homeless response system by increasing the scale, speed, and sustainability of solutions that help individuals move quickly from crisis to stability and ultimately permanent housing.

The role of 419.

419 emancipation is central to that effort.

It is important.

It is an important component of the broader homeless response system, which brings public agencies, service providers, and community partners together through a coordinated system designed to connect people to the right level of care and housing support.

It's very important to know what 419 emancipation is and what it is not.

It is important to be clear 419 emancipation is not a shelter.

It is not a shelter.

It is designed to serve as an easy entry triage, treatment, and transition facility that helps individuals come indoors, stabilize and connect to the appropriate next step housing and supportive services.

The model reflects a more comprehensive coordinated approach that responds to the full continuum need.

From a funding standpoint, the city is in a strong position to support 419 emancipation over the next five years through a combination of disaster relief funds from DR24 and non-federal sources.

This puts us in a position not only to launch the facility, but to do so with a focus on operational stability.

Timeline and urgency.

Our goal is to get 419 emancipation operational as swiftly and responsibly as possible.

This work is being advanced with urgency because the need is urgent.

Vulnerable individuals are living unsheltered today, and it's inhumane to allow anyone to remain sleeping outside while waiting for help.

Today with us, we have a number of our partners.

This is a true partnership between the city representing the city representing Harris Center, who you'll hear more about in a moment.

Wayne Young and Keena Pace, will they are real heroes in the city.

Larry Shadow White, as you know, is my partner representing law enforcement, and we have James Gonzalez and Hosway, who are here from the Coalition for the Homeless.

These four partners are the key essential to making 419 emancipation successful.

Wayne Young told me, and I wanted to agree, he said when he travels around the country, and he says, and he said they say you're from Houston, he they say we wish what you had where you have a great collaboration between law enforcement, housing, mental health, and the continuum of care.

And that is unique in the country.

We saw it when we went to the legislature this year, and we see it throughout.

419 will be successful because of that partnership.

I'm going to turn this over to Melody to talk the detail of the proposal from public services.

If I could interrupt just for a minute, just to note the arrival, we have Council Members Vice Mayor Pro Tem and Vice Chair of this committee, Amy Peck here, as well as Sally Alcorn and Joaquin Martinez.

Excuse me, Miss Barr will discuss two items, which is the lease and then the operations contract.

Again, the city that Houston, the City of Houston is the owner of 419 emancipation, and should go through the lease and the operations.

Correct.

So item 2B, the Housing Community Development Department is presenting an ordinance authorizing a lease agreement with the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, or simply the Harris Center, for the city-owned facility located at 419 emancipation.

Under this agreement, the Harris Center will operate a 24 hours per day, seven days per week, easy entry facility serving individuals currently experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

The site will function as an easy entry access point with on-site partnerships, including the likes of Harris Health and law enforcement agencies to provide coordinated services and support pathways to stable housing.

This initiative is a key component to Mayor John Whitmeyer's strategy to end street homelessness and alliance with the Houston Harris County Homeless Response Strategy.

The Harris Center was selected through a competitive NOFA or notice of funding availability process.

The lease term is 36 months, beginning when the facility begins operational with a renewal option at the city's discretion.

I'll move on to the next item and then I can pause for questions.

For item 2C, the department is presenting a sub-recipient agreement with the Harris Center and an amount up to 39 million dollars, utilizing both community development block grant disaster recovery 2024 funds and in-street homelessness funds.

These funds will support the administration and operation at the city-owned facility located at 419 emancipation, where the Harris Center will operate a 24-hour seven-day per week easy entry facility for individuals currently living unsheltered.

The facility will provide up to 222 beds and is expected to serve a minimum of 750 individuals this year.

On-site staff along with partners like Harris Health and law enforcement agencies will work to connect individuals to housing and the services they need to become stably housed and not return to homelessness.

This funding supports full operations of the site of the site, including staffing, case management, meals, security, pet care, and maintenance.

And again, is a key part to Mayor Whitmeyer strategy to end street homelessness.

Services offered include operation of the facility, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, including during declared emergencies and disaster events.

Implementation of security protocols that prioritize de-escalation and crisis response while demonstrating the ability to triage individuals with complex needs to appropriate high levels of care without discharge to the streets.

Accept referrals from outreach teams, law enforcement, and system partners.

Accept walk-in clients daily from 7 a.m.

to 9 p.m.

Conduct immediate intake assessments and triage upon entry to identify housing opportunities, medical, behavioral health, and stabilization needs.

Meal service three times per day, including snacks and beverages.

Behavioral health and clinical integration with warm handoff to higher levels of care.

Implementation or implement diversion and rehousing strategies, including reunification when appropriate, complete the coordinated entry assessments, provide client transportation assistance for services, appointments, employment, and housing related strategies.

These are some of the services that will be offered at the facility.

The Harris Center again was selected through a competitive process, and the agreement term is 36 months, beginning at the date of the controller's counter signature.

Harris Center has received funding for various projects from the city since 2008.

And today we have Wayne Young, the Chief Executive Officer, along with King Keena Pace, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer here in the audience.

And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Melody, for that.

I've got a few questions here.

So you've talked about the number of folks you expect to take advantage and uh stay in the facility.

When it's at capacity, uh is there a particular place that individuals will be will be told to go, or what will be the guidance given.

If I understand your question correctly, when an individual is experiencing homelessness comes to 419 emancipation, the first step is they will be assessed.

Again, the Harris Center is an expert in assessment of individuals with mental health, substance issues, and homelessness.

They will be assessed to determine what is the best place for them to be.

Many of them will come and spend the night in the facility.

Again, there are 222 beds there today.

We could have more.

Some of them, if they have high psychiatric needs, will go to HCPC or 6160.

Some will who have a special opportunities, maybe directed toward open door mission or salvation army.

Um people who individuals who are suffering from domestic abuse may be uh sent and brought over to the Houston Area Women's Center, other centers that specialize in that.

Um I think that's that's the one issue.

The other issues you see in Melody's write-up, we expect to have more than 750 people go through this facility in a year.

That number is a is uh is our guess.

The way I'm working it out in my head is if the average day is um 90 days, that's uh four times two hundred and twenty-two.

So it's somewhere between 700 and 800.

We I think there could be more that will go through there.

Some people, as you remember, with as we saw during the cold winter spells, are really here in homeless very temporarily and just need some diversion program.

They may need uh uh rehabilitative, they may need to come back and be reunited with their families.

They may need they may be just trying to get through town to some other place, and we will have funding and programs for that also.

Again, if you'd like to have more, both Wayne Young and Keena Pace are here to answer those questions, and also if you have questions about law enforcement, uh Chiefs Larry Shadow White's here.

All right, thank you, Director.

We have Councilmember Castillo in the queue.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you both for the presentation.

So the 222 beds at maximum capacity, you'll have 222 individuals at the facility.

Maximum could be, excuse me, I'm sorry.

I was in currently, but yes.

You could have four beds per room.

Right now, there are three beds in a room.

Okay.

So that configuration could change.

What would determine that?

I think that what would determine that would be left up to the operator.

So part of it is what kind of need did those individuals have.

And so, even to your question, where do individuals come who are homeless and then where do we direct them?

That is very specific to that person.

Um we're all human, we all have different needs, and so it's going to determine that the amount of beds, the type of service is on that individual and how high or low the barriers are for the people that are walking in.

We would expect it to be as that marks my experience, what I've seen around the country, 222 or less.

Um I think it to get to that any bigger would just make it more difficult.

And again, part of the success is moving people to the right services.

And that's gonna be key to it.

Um there's a room in there in the in the to the side where it's like a call center, and our guests and our our expectation is that there will be nonprofit service providers stationed there to help move people to their programs, which through the individuals that are right for their individual programs, whether again it's Santa Maria Hostel or any number of programs that they could be directed towards the and would that be an agreement between that group and the Harris Center?

Essentially, the nonprofit service providers get to pick and choose their clients.

And that's why it's so important for the city to step forward with 419 emancipation, because we really have to take all clients.

And it's that's why it's so important that the Harris Center with their expertise in mental health substance use IDD is there because those are the most difficult clients with which to work.

And that's that's why I'm so excited about the partnership here and why it's so unique in the country.

So do you know about how many nonprofit partners will be a part of this facility?

Um the uh coalition for the homeless has a hundred, a little less than a hundred nonprofit service providers.

I don't know the number that will actually be working there, but again, we will have those names and another key area is at this point, we're not always sure how many beds are available around the city in transitional temporary housing, and we will have that up to date as part of the pro programs here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Castillo.

We have Councilmember Martinez in the queue.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, and I think what what you're gonna get right is like what is that intake look like?

What is the actual nuts and bolts of what's happening day in, day out?

Uh, we're all interested.

Uh, but I do want to just uh you know definitely give a shout out to to Wayne.

Uh you know, the work that he's doing out at the respite site at 610 and and long.

Uh we've had that that facility there in district I for some years already.

Um, and knowing that this is really uh it's a it's a tough um it's a tough issue to try and tackle, right?

Uh I think we can all agree that it's managing homelessness, right?

Managing unhouse folks and uh you know I know our one of my colleagues, uh Councilmember Thomas Housing First, and I think we all want that as well.

But as we've been doing this for over 10 years, knowing that housing first, if there's no funding from HUD for vouchers, then what are what is it that we're doing, and do we stop the work?

And so actually doing the work now out of 419 is important.

And so as as y'all figure out what this these relationships look like, um we know that you know IDs are important.

We know that you know the actual medical attention initially that triage is important, uh, but then also how do you kind of get reacclimated back with uh workforce as well.

So um and I know y'all probably already have been having these conversations, but as as y'all really start kind of painting inside of the lines uh what that looks like, it'd be helpful for us.

Um just to be able to bounce ideas, you know, how that works.

And of course, the public safety side that the community has been, you know, uh very concerned about.

What does that look like as well?

So we could be helpful, uh but quite frankly, then how do we uh uh can be that sounding board for you all out in the neighborhoods and the in the communities that will ultimately be impacted directly in that immediate area, east downtown for me, um, and then a little bit more towards Eastwood uh neighborhood for me as well.

But um, you know, the downtown neighborhoods, we have a super neighborhood in downtown that meets as well that have have a lot of questions.

So um I think really it's uh how can we get that information as quickly as possible knowing that it will be opened up pretty soon?

Um so that we can share that information as well.

It's what I would like to look forward to.

Um let me see if I'm right, Melly.

In the contract, part of the up uh part of the goals and responsibility at the Harris Center will be to meet with neighborhoods and be part of that uh effort.

Um, I'm gonna call Blair Shatterwide up to answer some of the questions about law enforcement.

Um, but it's very important that we do that.

The job piece is done too.

As we talk about exit housing, that is still very important.

So I'm on multiple phone calls a week with the coalition with the homeless to discuss how do we make sure this exit housing, how do we make sure there's permanent supportive housing for those individuals who are elderly and disabled who will not be able to sustain themselves?

How do we make sure that there's opening in these voucher programs is so people can move on and be once it becomes sustainable?

And so that's still a very important part of what we do.

Um the how the housing will be probably shorter term because of the mandates of the federal government over time.

Uh we this year I think we'll still get our 70 million dollars for supportive housing, and that's great.

And we're having making plans ongoing to make sure that there is exit housing and exit opportunities, with the goal being independence of these individuals.

Would you like uh Larry Sadwijk to come visit about that?

That'll be fine.

Good afternoon.

Welcome, how are you?

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um Councilmember Castillo, did you have any specific questions of um teams doesn't have to be?

Oh, sorry.

We do that to ourselves.

All right.

Yeah, um well, so we know that the homeless outreach team is gonna be housed out of there.

Uh what does that space look like?

What's ours?

What are the you know, how are folks gonna be able to pick up the phone and say, hey, you know I need help.

So it they the HPD homeless outreach team will be on that floor, as will Metro's team.

Okay.

This is a collaboration effort.

We've always been focused on doing collaboration, multiple agencies because everybody has responsibilities and they all have constituencies that are are crying for help, both those people who are suffering on the street, but also the communities that that homelessness affects.

So we're looking at this as a a large collaborative effort.

Um, and not just HPD and Metro, but uh Harris County, uh Sheriff's Office, all eight constables' offices, and just not to give you a full list, but there are you know 40 or 60 law enforcement agencies in the area, and they'll all be partners in this because we all face this together, and I think that's the best approach we have.

And and so, yeah, they will be there and how I mean you'll have teams that normally work their normal eight-hour shifts, uh, which they will just be housed there, but they are not the security for this facility, just to be clear.

They they will do what they are they have been trained and assigned to do, which is go into the field and engage uh the the unhoused on the streets and all of those issues and and try to offer them help, but also uh you know, assess and and also enforce the law.

And then uh the plan as it stands right now, uh those are primarily on day shift, most of those teams that work that all the time.

Uh so we need uh additional resources because homelessness is not just eight to four.

It is uh it is 24 hours, 24-7.

So we'll have additional resources and nursing personnel from multiple agencies working.

Uh the after-hour shifts, we need this because all these agencies uh become inundated with calls for service and additional challenges in the later evening hours and early nighttime hours.

It's no surprise to any of y'all that call volume goes up.

A lot of things start to happen in the city, unfortunately, between um domestic violence, between uh other activities, um consumption and things like that that increase the number of responses and needs of the law enforcement agencies.

So we have worked out where we will have additional resources dedicated solely to this effort every evening and into the night, which is very exciting because that's just something we've not ever done before.

We've done it on a small pilot scale uh in the last year.

It's been very effective.

We're just gonna expand that uh by uh several fold and be able to first and foremost take care of the communities that are in the immediate vicinity of 419 emancipation.

We made that promise to the communities over there, like your district, like council member Castillo's, uh, but but everybody we have and of course downtown, midtown, you know, these other areas that are closest to it, and also they send that this is actually ground zero.

419 emancipation uh is actually being uh stood up in what we would all probably agree over the decades that of you know the area that has been most and worst impacted by homelessness.

So uh, but we made commitments to these communities that we would not let their areas go into decline.

We've made a lot of work, made a lot of improvement.

We have to maintain that and keep that going and make improvements on top of that.

So that will require a lot of outreach, a lot of care, a lot of humanity, but also um accountability.

I appreciate you sharing that because um I think quite frankly, and we uh grew up in the East End, and you know, even on your way into the East Downtown and downtown, that is ground zero.

It's always been ground zero.

That's where a lot of your services have been as well, midtown as well.

Um, and again, just elevating that that is going to be uh core.

Uh but quite frankly, I think we all know as development's been happening in downtown and east downtown.

Uh it's past the east end now.

Uh for me, it's in the hobby area, and I know you all work really closely with uh Constable Garcia.

He's awesome, yeah.

He has a hot team as well that they've stood up within the last couple of years because we are seeing it at uh by Sims by you and uh along Broadway and telephone uh south of 610.

So we know that it's it's uh you know it's it's been move moving further and further outside of that central business district.

Uh but I think making sure that folks know that we are focused where the challenges are the most.

Um, and then uh make sure we don't forget I know Councilmember Thomas also says in the West side that there's and she's been talking about a lot of programs that she's been doing uh specifically with within her community.

It's unhouse folks are everywhere.

Um, and I think we need to be be able to admit that, but then still focus on the challenge at Hadon as well.

They they are out west, yes, sure.

And and Councilmember Thomas and I were at an event just the other day, and she committed some additional resources trying to do that.

I know some other council members at the uh at the U at the horseshoe here also are doing that.

I will say the the problem is throughout the city and into the county and on.

I mean, it's a national problem that everybody's facing.

Our plan and our strategy is using the resources we have to the best of our ability, focusing on the the areas that are worst impacted.

But as we make significant improvement, we think we will quickly, we're gonna expand and expand and expand.

So eventually we hope that there will be no one anywhere in our AO area of responsibility throughout the city, even the county, you know, that's our the goal that is sleeping outside and going through all of that.

Thank you.

And before you uh before we let you go, Director Satterwhite, I know you and I spoke about Midtown specifically recently.

And you were gonna have some conversations.

Uh are you able to share uh any any progress that's been made on those lines?

So um obviously I'm talking to the management district and we're working with them closely.

Uh there are a lot of services in Midtown also, and and it's you have a lot uh because of that, you have a larger population of of homeless out there.

Uh and there are some that are right now a little struggling, quite frankly, uh, with some of the things that are happening around their facilities.

So we're gonna have those conversations and how we might be able to help them, just like we've done some other places to work out a better plan.

Um Midtown is a a very uh it is it is front of mind.

Um anybody that goes through there, some some of those streets right now are are seeing a lot of uh a lot of problems, and so we are laser focused on that.

Yes, sir.

Appreciate that.

And I'll I'll also share um and I think council member martinez was sort of alluding to this, but we've we've had some concerns raised from uh east end area residents in that area, specifically around 419 emancipation.

Uh some have a fear that that the facility will act as as sort of a draw to the area, and if if capacity is exceeded in in the hub, uh you might have additional numbers of homeless uh hang, you know, uh being present in in the area.

Uh do either of you any of you would like to address that or sure.

So right now, I'm sorry, just we we right now, if you go over Congress, uh St.

Emmanuel, you will see a significant number of homeless.

Even then.

We did a lot of work last year along that corridor and probably reduced the numbers by half, but it was probably the single place.

I mean, even today, every weekend, we have a lot of people showing up, uh, churches, other groups, and opening up their trunks and and and setting out things and doing handing out food and resources because everybody knows it's an area, as do our unhoused population.

So they they congregate there.

So it is a tr it is a real challenge that we're still working through.

You can see it today.

Yes, there is a real concern by the communities that that that will get worse.

It is our position that we're going to ensure that it gets better, that we bring them in.

To be clear, we're going to have to have some, we're gonna have to hold people accountable also for those that absolutely refuse services or anything that we are trying to offer, unfortunately, if they're still in violation of law, we're gonna have to hold them accountable.

So there will be some of that too.

We hope to do that very little.

We hope to bring them in and start them on a path to something better, but we can no longer, and not that we ever wanted to, but you know, capacity is capacity.

We cannot allow them, especially if we have a place for them to go to continue to violate the law.

And so um there will be that.

I mentioned the uh the the additional resources we'll have.

We'll be focused on those areas first, and it will no longer be a place to engage in those illegal behaviors.

And I'd like to add that um 419 is going to build and bridge capacity, and so we will build capacity once open, but we're also bridging that capacity to service providers that um don't always, you know, they're there the front door will be open in a way that hasn't been open in the past.

And so I often talk about our unhoused population is very different today than it was, say, five years ago, or even 11 years ago.

I've been doing this a long time, and the one thing that makes Houston successful is that we continue to be fluid, which is a promise that we made when we started looking at homelessness back in 2011 that we would be fluid to adjust our systems to what homelessness looks like today.

If it's not working, we have to change.

And so when we talk about capacity, it's also bridging that capacity to other providers that provide transitional housing, that provide shelter, and that not every homeless individual is aware of or at that moment ready for.

And so as they stay here, it's gonna bridge them into that next destination.

So I do think, and I do believe that 419 is going to build some of that capacity.

Will it build it for everyone?

Probably not, but it's definitely a great start.

Okay, thank you for that.

And I appreciate you being here, Director Shatterwright.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Director Nichols.

Do you want to add anything?

I had a few other items as I've as I've listened to you might answer some questions.

Uh, one is I when I sat down, I had a note from Wayne Young, who's just more you get to know him, the more you'll like him from Wayne Young, who said, remember that in weather problems, freezing rain, freezing snow, we can increase the number of people in that facility.

That's just another opportunity for us.

Um the second item is I want to make sure we recognize Bob Ure here who's here.

Bob, of course, is a major figure in Houston, having run the downtown management district, and Bob is chairman of the Harris Center Foundation, which will be the entity that we under which we will raise funds for 419.

And uh we're excited about that opportunity.

Um third, about funding.

Um, as you saw in Melody's write-up, it's a 39 million dollar three-year contract.

If you take 13 million dollars a year and divide it by the number of people, it's a lot of money.

But this is not a shelter.

Shelters do cost less.

There's no doubt about it.

Um even housing with um with supportive services may cost less, may cost less.

This group is the really the hardest to serve, hardest to house, and so that's why the dollars are there, and that's why it's so important.

Again, Houston's done a great job in housing people who are right for permanent housing.

This group needs that extra help, needs the psychiatric help, needs substance use help, and that's why that cost is there.

But again, compared to leaving people in the street, it's a sp it's a real bargain.

Um two other points, poverty.

There's a lot of poverty in Houston.

Um studies show that more than 40 percent of the population do not have 400 for an emergency.

Um we leave the country in evictions.

It's a real issue.

This is not about solving prior poverty.

But the reason I really like this program, it's it's solving the problem of the people who are the most vulnerable, most difficult to help.

And the economy is gonna go up and down, but for this group, they need that urgent help, and that's important to know.

Uh funding came from Metro.

We talked about DR funding, but funding came from Metro.

There's a reason Metro wants to fund this product program.

They spend a great deal of money dealing with people with mental health issues and homelessness on their transportation.

Great deal of money.

And it keeps people from riding public transportation.

The fear factor in that.

So they're with this because it will have a direct impact on their business.

And then last is the urgency part.

We have prepared Roxanne to go to council on the 22nd of April.

Yes.

And it's very important we do that then.

We're hoping that we don't get have to wait, we don't have to wait another week that we get all the way through because the quicker we get to council, the quicker we can open up.

And the quicker we have approval, the quicker we can open up.

So what I urge everybody to do, every councilman and council person to do is to call us if there are any questions.

Would like to answer any questions prior to that council meeting.

And we'd appreciate if you would move to that.

It is the top of our prior priority to get it through council on the 22nd and opened up as quickly as possible.

So if you're if uh if you have questions, we can make ourselves available to come to your office.

We would appreciate it to happen next week.

Um I have been able to clear my calendar, and I'm available to this is a lot to unpack here, right?

There's a lot, and you're gonna have questions after this.

And so please um be you know, as soon as you know something that let us know, and we will definitely get you on the calendar.

So we're appreciate all that.

Um regarding, you know, the the documents involved, including the the lease and the uh the uh the contract, when might those documents be available.

So we are currently working on those with our attorneys, both on the Harris Center side and the City of Houston side.

So as soon as they're ready to be uploaded, I believe it's in one meeting, we will upload them.

I do not have a date for you.

It will be prior to city council.

Okay.

The negotiations are going fine, but they are this is very complex.

First time any of us have done this, so it is taking some time, but it will be there in time for you to review those before council.

All right, thank you both.

Um Councilmember Alcorn.

Hi, the 39 million dollars, that's that kind of covers all the operations, right?

Correct.

For three years.

Additional money going to somewhere.

That's that's it.

That's the whole ball of wax.

Correct.

And if you divide that number, I'm interested in director, what you were saying earlier about kind of the difference differences in costs in a shelter and uh this I I think what we're gonna say transitional temporary housing is that we're gonna say triage and treatment facility.

Triage and treatment facility.

I'm gonna get that down.

Yes, and it's about 160 dollars a day per bed.

Okay.

160 a day per bed.

And what would be the difference in like a regular old shelter?

So regular shelters, somebody comes in and they wait in line until probably about three o'clock, they come in, they get a bed, and then they're asked to leave sometime after breakfast.

These individuals that are unhoused neighbors or in-housed relatives, will have the opportunity to come in um any time between seven to nine, unless they're with a law enforcement drop-off and they can come in at any hour.

They're given uh three hot meals a day.

They do not have to leave uh once they come in.

And then they are also triage for the proper clinical care, which is there will be a clinic on site, um, psychiatric um assistance, you know, mental health care, um, any type of physical, and then they get um triaged and um and assessed to go into the coordinated entry system.

We're excited about our partnership with Harris Health, which will run a clinic there, and again, this is much more than in the services than somebody that's in a regular shelter who has to be out at 7 a.m.

Uh again, clarity, especially to our councilmen who represent those areas.

The goal is for those people to stay in that facility.

So there have to be activities, there has to be training, there has to be education for them to stay in this that facility.

And for all you just described, I think $160 a day is good.

I'd also like to add that.

There are therapists that are, you know, $300 an hour.

Yeah.

But but I'd also like to add that there's a workforce economic component and impact to this program.

So it is $39 million, but we are also providing full-time 86.5 full-time employees with this agreement.

You know, that's case managers, that's your staffing.

And then outside of that, there's professional development contracts, is what we call the professional development, and you're looking at food service providers, laundry services, janitorial facility suppliers, security and maintenance.

And so when we think about programs like this, it's not just that we're serving our unhoused relatives, but we're also serving the community and growing the economic impact around that community.

To clarify, the $39 million is what happens around inside that facility.

Right.

We're still gonna have extra dollars needed for extra law enforcement to help the neighborhood and other folks, which is extra.

Uh the we'll be back to you for funds for the navigation center.

But again, we have that drawn out and ready to go without asking for uh general funds.

And then on the purchase price, the $16 million, that's where we landed, right?

$16 million.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh that payback is kind of over time from the TERS.

We have funding from uh from one tours that will pay back back over time, and over 10 years we'll have completely paid that back.

Okay, thank you.

Again, that's all that's all within the plan, and I felt very comfortable that this is a five-year commitment because we're using HUD money, and we can do this for five years without coming back for additional funding.

Thank you, Councilmember Al Corn.

We have a question from staff from Councilmember uh Tiffany Thomas's office.

So, not a question, but just want to reiterate Councilmember Thomas's support for 419 uh and generally the work that y'all are doing in housing.

Uh and to Councilmember Martinez's point, we we do believe the council member does believe in housing first.

It's a data-backed approach, but we also know that housing that homelessness is complex, uh, as we were reminded this past Easter weekend uh at our first mobile care day.

And so we appreciate that you all are being really individualized in the holistic approach at 419, and we're excited about what this is going to do for the city.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

As someone who has been in the middle of the support for housing first for many years, we recognize that.

What we're trying what I'm trying to do is explain to people we're not we're not we don't care about that argument.

What we care about is people moving to sustainability as quickly as possible.

There has to be funding for people elderly who are permanently disabled.

They have to have that.

Others who have been housed, probably ready to move on and go to work and have some sustainable portion.

It's all we have great plans with that.

We have wonderful support from the coalition for the homeless.

They know that they're in the trenches, getting people into some kind of housing and the right kind of housing.

It's really the great partnership, and but rather than fighting about it, we just want to roll up our sleeves and go to work.

Great, thank you.

Appreciate all the work that's gone into this.

I don't see any other questions uh in the queue.

So, Director, if you have anything else, great if you don't.

We will move to the next part of the presentation.

Again, I look forward to ongoing support.

Any questions from any council people would like to answer those well before the 22nd.

Okay, we'll do.

Thank you all.

So we'll move to the public comment part of the meeting.

We have three speakers signed up to speak, and we'll hear from Roy Hirsch first.

Good afternoon, Roy.

Good afternoon, Chairman.

Good afternoon.

Uh turn the mic off.

Um we have to speak after.

I'm sorry.

Sorry, Roy, can you press the button there to turn the great?

Are we good?

Okay.

Uh I'm here as a member of the uh friends of Settergas Park.

Um the park is unique by its close proximity to the HIST Baylor Magnet School and to the soon-to-be operational 419 emancipation uh homeless facility.

Um there is a delicate balance between providing public safety to the neighborhood residents and students with the need to adequately address the homeless issue.

Uh homeless, the homeless are members of the large the larger city population and have rights that must be respected.

That is understood.

I need it to be expressly clear that I know myself and members of this uh this group, friends of Setagas Park, we are not in opposition to the dire need to address the homeless issue in the city.

That goes without question.

The the focus is doing it right and ensuring public safety at the same time.

Umerous studies suggest park and green space benefits to health and mental well being uh vastly diminish if they are perceived as unsafe.

Um this is not a suggestion that park aspect be controlled, which would undermine the whole public status of its nature.

Uh rather, the screening process at 419 emancipation uh would need to be the disqualifying factor as to who the resident population of that facility is by virtue of the fact that that population is going to bleed into the adjacent neighborhoods and the park area.

Um beyond that, it's appreciated.

This is a complex issue.

No one's even suggesting otherwise, as you all well enough, because you've been dealing with this for quite some time, uh, as well as um Director Satter White and uh Mr.

Nichols.

So I'm not trying to suggest that anybody's trying to over uh oversimplify the problem in any way, shape, or form.

So and the other the other observation is is a dire need for uh community involvement with respect to being kept in the loop and constantly being updated as to whatever kind of revisions are uh being made in the process, knowing that it's going to be ongoing.

Um that you know it as is in the nature of things, especially at a startup uh uh point.

And with that, I'm good.

Thank you, Roy.

Well, next hear from Scott Singleton.

Renee's not here today.

No, but uh you're you're doing a pretty good job yourself, Scott.

Okay.

All right.

Uh okay.

Go ahead.

Uh hello, Chairman Ramirez and members of the committee and staff and and other council members.

Um, first of all, I want to express my thanks and respect for Chief Satter White and Terry Robinson and how they've handled developments with the community thus far.

Um coming before the committee six months after I originally came here to oppose 419 emancipation.

Community still does not consider concentrating 200 plus chronic homeless individuals in the second ward to benefit our neighborhood.

So the purchase transaction is concluded.

Missing still are the two appraisals for the property which have been uh sent in for TPIA requests.

So the first act, since the transaction is concluded, is to show us the appraisals.

And as was a print uh just presented, the 39 million dollars from HUD is now here and is going to be uh funding the Harris Center's uh operation of 419.

So there are two documents uh that are important to this that I think the community needs to be able to have access to since those documents have been concluded, are the lease and the operating contract between the Harris Center and the city.

The public needs to see these agreements to understand and manage the expectations on both sides.

Onto the Harris Center.

Uh my son is on the autistic spectrum, and our family has personally encountered the Harris Center four times over the last 15 years, none with acceptable outcomes.

Several things are important to understand.

First of all, the Harris Center is underfunded.

Their most recent financial reports state that funding dropped by $8 million.

The Harris Center has difficulty attracting and hiring professionals for that very reason, and employee turnover is very high.

And uh, to their credit, though, the Harris Center serves 90,000 intellectually disabled individuals in Harris County, together with all of the mental health clients.

This is a ridiculously large caseload.

The case managers have very little knowledge of the eligibility requirements for the services offered, and that is resulting in constant misinformation, especially in our personal family experience with the Harris Center.

The contract process was above board, but based on personal experience, I am not confident that Harris Center can manage 419 even with the 39 million dollars.

Now, onto public safety.

But as we learned at that outreach session from HPD, those eight are for the whole city.

And the hot team itself is not going to be responsible for security at 419, as Chief Satter White just mentioned, and that will be up to Harris Center itself.

So that's a concern.

Even though there will be law enforcement in and out of there, the security of the facility itself is up to the operator.

Next, and as Roy kind of mentioned, the um 419 facility is about 900 feet from the Baylor Magnet School, and city ordinance and state guidelines prohibit housing sex offenders within a thousand feet of a school.

So our next ask is to make sure that the intake requirements at 419 prohibit sex offenders.

And my last point is a serious security event that happened on March 19th, which I didn't make enough copies of, but uh uh Councilmember Castillo has them there.

Um a neighbor was walking his dog at the corner of emancipation in Texas, 200 feet from the front door of 419.

A homeless man rushed the victim and punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground, and caused serious injury.

The victim had to seek medical care and missed work.

And this is exactly the thing the community is concerned about, and this happened right at 419.

Um as it turns out, there was a case number generated by the county uh precinct six, and uh the individual was apprehended, and uh so that went into its own process, but this is a recent and very very specific example of the kinds of public security issues that the community is really really concerned about and wants to prevent regardless.

Okay.

So the last ask is to involve the community with regular meetings with 419 management, including intake and public safety statistics and financial reporting.

Going back to the whole idea of sustainability, how sustainable is this going to be from a financial standpoint as well as from an operational standpoint.

And if 419 is to be a success, the community needs constant transparency and accountability.

So thank you.

Okay, appreciate that.

Appreciate that, Scott.

We'll next hear from Dominic Mazoc.

Welcome, Dominic.

Go ahead.

Welcome again.

Okay.

Uh before I start, um, I weren't here this morning.

Uh I was at the meeting this morning, so I took my usual 96 to the red line to walk.

During the off period, I walked to over to the flying saucering app by feet and walked over here.

So I've been doing my uh Earth month thing that we drive.

Okay.

And I think as a Metro customer, and I've been riding between QTRAN and Metro for the past 50 years.

Um, the situation with the homeless on, particularly the three LRT lines.

Uh I don't know, I guess people think it's it's a it's a shelter, and it is not.

And I can see where Mr.

Sadwagger was talking about, and as a metro customer, that is a problem.

And that you know, you have a homeless person, particularly somebody who does have mental issues.

Uh, you know, would you want your kids with you on the train with a person like that?

I mean, these people need to be treated with compassion, they need to be treated be treated.

But we're gonna have to accept one thing on all of this.

Some people, because of either genetics or they got uh disease or or or whatever, uh something with with ingesting chemicals or drugs or alcohol.

There are people in this world that can cannot ever be able to be out in the world.

Uh unfortunately, like the like all of us in this room.

And I think one thing we're gonna have to have to look for is how do you and I think the gentleman did say this, there are gonna be some people are going to have to be in uh some sort of assisted living or nursing home the rest of their lives.

Uh I think you know, I'll ch I don't want people to be forced in that situation just by by fiat, but to be charitable and the thing that that person needs is actually that.

Um I don't want people being sent into a situation like we saw in the movie One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, you know, where we you know we were experimenting or back in the Victorian era, we had all these terrible things we did to to people who were mentally ill.

But on the other hand, by not providing for them, aren't we just as guilty?

And I used to be a paramedic, and there were three classes of people that were uh we have to be very careful of uh not abandoning.

That is people under 18, the elderly, especially those who have uh uh mobility and other needs, and the mentally ill.

And I'm beginning to wonder if all of us as a collective group uh are abandoning abandoning the the mentally ill.

And I think that's something, you know, we're gonna have to make some tough judgment calls on this.

But to but I think that's I'm glad that we're bringing it up because it we need things like the person that said I'll I'll finish up.

The person ahead of me says we gotta do things that are good for both the person and society as a whole.

Now I'm gonna stop right there.

Thank you, Dominic, uh, Councilmember Martinez.

Thank you, Chair.

And Dominic, you bring up good points, right?

It's it's it's a difficult thing to do.

And I I want to remind folks, right?

At the end of the day, you pay property taxes and you get sales taxes, which is our general fund.

There's no line item when it's starting talking about the health department, like how homelessness specifically, right?

And mental health health in this uh challenges.

And so um, as you're advocating, because we do need more funding, as you're advocating, you have a state rep, you have a state senator, quite frankly, they need to be at the table.

Um I've had this conversation as well.

There's a taxing entity in Harris County, right, that actually is taxing us for the for health.

And we just recently did a tax increase for flood for flood control to address those things.

We really need to be more serious about what it takes to continue continuously fund programs like this, but it shouldn't be on the backs of the city of Houston and taxpayers alone.

It is in our backyard and we have to address them.

But at the end of the day, we need to be serious about this and really start tackling this.

Also, too.

At the state level where we don't get enough mental health funding.

And then also too, can we cooperate with Harris County?

Right.

And last one other thing I'm gonna say.

When these people are brought into the Harris Center, has anybody ever thought of actually doing a blood draw?

And it's not to get catch people if they're doing drugs or alcohol.

But maybe part of the problem is their blood chemistry is not right.

If your blood chemistry isn't right, your body and your brain don't work right.

And maybe that might be the thing is and maybe instead of as part of their treatment, instead of them giving a lot of drugs, change their diet or give them uh vitamins or whatever, folks with this approach.

The Harris County Hospital District tax rate is uh eight eighteen cents to the hundred dollars right now.

Uh that's the tax identity that we're paying taxes to every Harris County resident.

How do we start tapping into that to make sure that we're focusing on on on house community on the housing side, but also the mental health side as well, substance abuse.

So I'll just leave it at that.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Martinez.

Is uh there anyone else here who would like to offer comment who hasn't yet signed up?

All right, hearing no one, we will go ahead and adjourn the meeting now.

It is 3 59.

Appreciate everyone being here and the presenters, and we'll look forward to seeing you again.

I don't know if we'll meet next month.

Uh it's budget season, so we'll see you when you see you.

Thank you.