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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 85ACity Council Meeting Correspondence 7/3/2018 DISCUSS AND DIRECT STAFF TO PREPARE AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE ON PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SITES; AND AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AND IDENTIFY KEY SITES FOR MOTEL CONVERSION (Mayor Pro Tem Martinez) Date of Name Correspondence 7/2/2018 TIM M. JOHNSON *RA- Recommended Action Representative of In Favor of RA*. JLK ROSENBERGER LLP YES TOTAL: In Opposition of RA.* Tuesday, July 03, 2018 Page 1 of 1 Orozco, Norma From: Tim Johnson < Sent: Monday, July 02, 2018 3:12 PM To: eComment Cc: Solorio, Jose; Pulido, Miguel; Sarmiento, Vicente; Martinez, Michele; Benavides, David; Villegas, Juan; Tinajero, Sal; Kaka, Hafsa Subject: RE: Agenda Item 85A- Perm Supportive Housing Categories: Correspondence Below is an emailed comment regarding agenda item 85A which has been continued a few times. I am resubmitting it in order to be sure it is considered when discussed at tomorrow's meeting: Mayor, Mayor Pro -Tem, Council Members, and Homeless Services Manager Ms. Kaka ...Thank you for taking up the very important issue of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) with your agenda item 85A tonight with regards to directing staff to prepare an emergency ordinance on PSH. First, I am appreciative that you recognize housing is an issue for the chronically homeless. Secondly, I appreciate that you feel that Santa Ana does have a responsibility to address the housing needs of those who are living on the streets. Thirdly, as you are likely aware having a plan Is critically important in securing available funds and there hopefully will be an opportunity for the City of Santa Ana to compete for and receive a significant portion of those funds. The issue that you will be discussing is very important to not only the homeless but the residents of Santa Ana who do not struggle securing a warm bed, a locking door, and security. As such, I pray that your group makes a wise choice and has an open and compassionate heart. PSH is a win-win all around for all stakeholders but especially the homeless and also the residents who are currently experiencing quality of life issues. PSH is a very important in providing for those who need it most. There are a lot of myths surrounding PSH and the impact on surrounding neighborhoods including increased crime, increased law enforcement needs, decreased property values, and increased litter, increased drug usage, increased costs and more. Most of these can be summarized as quality of life issues and more importantly most of these quality of life items truly are myths. Most of them are not backed by data but instead can be debunked through data as shown through both the UCI Cost Study and the Grand Jury Report. Property values do not seem to be impacted and depending on the location and the existing property acquired, there may actually be an increase. Criminal behavior actually drops significantly with PSH compared to the behavior of those who are unsheltered. Drug usage often eventually drops as those who were previously homeless receive needed services, health services and begin to not feel they need drugs and alcohol to cope with the stresses of life. PSH can actually be a benefit to Santa Ana residents' quality of life when done properly. An integral aspect of PSH must be public education. We need to learn from the errors of other cities and the County in when they discuss homelessness. Public relations and education begins now and has to be part of any plan to be successful for all the stakeholders. As part of the PSH plan, I believe that the City needs to involve hospitals, non -profits and private business partnerships. The UCI cost study shows that the overall cost of providing PSH to the chronically homeless is significantly less expensive than what we are currently doing. However, their likely is a cost shift. For example, a hospital's cost may go down because emergency room visits will drop once the homeless are in PSH, however our own City's cost may actually go up. We need to be able to engage the hospitals such as St. Joseph's, CHOC, UC Irvine, OC Global Medical Center, and others to where by providing PSH we can reallocate funds to where it is a win for both the City and the hospitals. By the City having a plan for PSH, we should be partnering with the hospitals because their costs will be reduced thereby increasing their profits. They are businesses and should see the benefit of this return on investment. The one downside of PSH, in my opinion, is the time frame. The best time to have begun a PSH plan was 10 years ago. Since that opportunity has passed, the next best time to do address PSH is now. It takes time to implement PSH due to land use issues, ownership issues, financing issues, neighborhood issues and others. If we do not address this issue now, we will be forced to address it in a larger scale later on. Now is the time to act especially considering the possibility of available funds that hopefully will become available. The City of Santa Ana needs to be positioned in the best possible way so that we get our share or more to address PSH. Our city has borne a larger than our fair share of the costs and as such we need to be on the leading edge of securing more than our share of available funds in the future. If we do not do this today, I am afraid that we will not be in the best position tomorrow. The county's goal of 2700 units of PSH is at a minimum 3 years away from speaking with PSH providers. Our homeless cannot wait for us to act and prepare. We need to plan now and implement quickly, yet intentionally. The time frame issue, meaning the length of time before someone is off the street and in PSH, also provides the need for Council to support identifying sites and implementing a plan for emergency housing. Our city has a significant number of individuals who do not have shelter on a nightly basis. We have an opportunity to provide emergency housing to bridge the gap between those living on the streets and eventually getting them into PSH. Emergency housing is not a popular part of the homeless spectrum. However, the City has an opportunity to provide a new and improved way of offering emergency housing. I suggest that we allow proper space for each person, a door that each can lock on their own, a space for recreation, space for pets, space for their belongings... essentially, the same focus that PSH has but in an emergency shelter perspective. The existing shelter system is not appropriate and the users (the homeless) do not generally like it. In the business world, when our customers or clients do not like our product but the end result is needed, we need to adjust our product offering ... that is exactly what we need to do with emergency housing. We need to change the end product (the emergency housing/shelter) to a product that is desired, wanted, and still achieves the desired result. By Santa Ana providing PSH and possibly additional emergency housing, we cannot forget about our responsibility to encourage other communities in Orange County to also participate in providing services to the homeless. Santa Ana cannot and should not do this alone, but instead we can lead by example and pull others along with... however, we need to gain support of other cities on the front end and not wait for them to be forced to act. In summary, please support directing the staff of the city to prepare an emergency PSH plan which has a focus on providing housing, increased quality of life, and partnerships with other stakeholders. On top of that, I would suggest that we also direct staff to coming up with an plan for getting people off the street today through a next generation emergency housing plan that will actually be sought out and used by the homeless because the services are being provided in a manner that is desired by the "customers"...the homeless. I pray for your leadership with this matter. Best, Tim M. Johnson, CPA Tax Partner PKF International is on association of legally independent accounting and consulting firms with locations throughout the world. Our network affirms collaborate openly and move rapidly to open up your world to confidence, capability and growth.