I want to recognize those who are present from City Council.

We have Councilmember Vice Mayor Pro Tim, Amy Peck, along with uh staff from Councilmember Amario Castillo's office, Councilmember Twilight Carter's office, Councilmember Alejandra Salina's office, Councilmember Sally Alcorn's office, Councilmember Joaquin Martinez office, Councilmember Mayor Pro Tem uh Castax Tatum's office and Councilmember Tiffany Thomas' office as well.

So thank you all for being here.

And we're joined today by our housing community development department director Mike Nichols as well as assistant director Melody Barr.

And so I will turn it over to you folks.

Before I start, if I'd like to take a point of personal privilege.

And if we could have just a moment of silence, I'd appreciate that point of personal privilege.

Absolutely, Director.

We'll have a moment of silence when we work with people day in and day out.

There's a tragedy, it feels like a family tragedy.

So thank you for that time.

You bet.

And sympathies to everyone in the housing department and to uh her family as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Um, would like to begin with um I'll catch my breath a little bit with Melody Barr discussing um the items that are coming up before council, uh, beginning with the item for the coalition for the homeless.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

So item 2A, the department is presenting a second amendment to the contract for services with the coalition for the homeless of Houston and Harris County, providing an additional 130,226 and 25 cents in community development block grant administration funds for strategic homeless planning services.

The coalition will provide research, data analysis, planning, and administrative support to assist the city in evaluating homelessness needs, strengthening system performance, supporting funding strategies, and informing policy and program development.

This amendment will extend the agreement, which started May 1st, 2024 through August 31st, 2027.

This is a planning activity that does not have beneficiary goals.

The coalition will continue to provide weekly meetings with the city to discuss the local homeless response system, daily um city access to the way home data, metrics, quarterly feedback from individuals with lived experience and reporting as such.

The coalition has no fines or concerns as of the recent annual compliance monitoring review, and that was as of um sorry, and as of April of 2026, the coalition has extended nearly 87 percent of their allocated funding.

The coalition serves as a lead agency for the local homeless response system that we call the Way Home Houston since 2011 and has a long-standing history of leadership in the local homeless response system.

I'm not sure if I have somebody here today from the coalition, um, but I am happy to answer any questions that you may have.

All right.

Let me um just note uh Melody that over the last decade um the city has had some significant success in reducing the number of uh folks experiencing homelessness.

Uh how many years has the coalition been a part of that in helping to provide strategic services?

All of them, I believe for the last 20 plus years.

All right.

And um my information is that uh over the last year, uh uh based on the most recent uh pit count numbers, um, the homelessness numbers are essentially unchanged, even though housing costs continue to rise.

Is that that's that is correct?

I think there was maybe a very slight increase of like 300 individuals, but yes, over the last I believe five years, it's been relatively flat.

So appreciate that.

Also want to note that Councilmember Willie Davis has joined us.

And we have uh staff from uh councilmember Thomas's office.

Lambda's in the queue.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Melody.

Um you mentioned that there are weekly meetings with the city that the coalition has.

Yes, my team has um a standing Monday meeting with the coalition.

Okay, and what sort of data is reported in those meetings?

So it depends on what's on the agenda, right?

So a lot of times we are looking at the inflow, we're looking at the outflow of rapid rehousing data, those numbers.

We're looking at the utilization of different um programs, so maybe like Navigation Center or 419.

Um sometimes we talk about our discharge planning.

It it just really depends on the time of the year, honestly, and then what our priority is for that week.

So is it more of like an operational conversation on their edge?

Okay, so not necessarily the their outreach efforts by council district or does that come up sometimes.

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

I'm sure I like to ask that the coalition first I admit my bias because I was the CEO for five years, but I've been very impressed with Kelly Young and her team because of their ability to be um agile in the wake of changes in federal funding and agile in the wake of changes in philanthropic funding.

Um it's a very tough role that they play as both the advocate for more than a hundred nonprofits who work on homelessness, and as well as a as the lead agency for the COC, which means that sometimes they have to pivot and make other changes.

But what I've seen, especially with the advent of 419 and the changes in the federal funding, they have been very, very agile.

Um we the federal funding is in difficult situation.

A recent court case just stopped HUD's new NOFA, and we're looking to see what happens.

We expect it to go back the way the previous NOVA was, but again, I've been impressed with the coalition's ability to be flexible, to be nuanced, and making sure we move forward even when there's uncertainty about funding.