03-14-18 Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force Packet

Mayor’s Dover Task Force on Homelessness Wednesday, March 14, 2018 3:30-5:00 PM Dover Public Library, Meeting Room A Agenda 1. Call to order, Jeanine Kleimo, Chair 2. Identification of volunteer to take minutes 3. Introductions of guests 4. Approval of Minutes a. November 26, 2017 b. February 7, 2018 5. Working Group Reports: a. Development b. Daytime Support c. Food & Emergency Shelter 6. New Business: Housing Corporation Bylaws (draft) 7. Schedule of next meeting 8. Wednesday, April 11, 2018 3:30-5:00 PM, Dover City Hall Conference Room 9. Adjourn

Mayor’s Homeless Task Force February 7, 2018 Minutes DRAFT Attendees: Acting Chair- Valerie Bradshaw-vice Chair, Tina Showalter, Herb Konowitz, Kim Brockenbrough, Councilman David Anderson, Commissioner Allan Angel, Greg Bunkley, Valerie Bradshaw-vice Chair, David Hugg, Sara Keifer, Chanda Jackson, John Baker for Crystal Allen- Horne, Rev Ellis Louden, Major(Ret.) Bill Farley and Alexandra Sparco for Andria Bennett Guests: Councilman Tanner Polce Vice Chair, Valerie Bradshaw acting as Chair in the absence of Jeanine Kleimo asked that those present review the minutes in preparation for a vote to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Allan Angel asked that we delay passing the minutes for November, as he has a few changes to request. He asked that the spelling of his name be corrected in the January notes as it was miss-spelled as Alan and Allen and the correct spelling is Allan. Working Group Updates: Development Report The Development working Group has proposed two early action steps to address some of the issues being considered by the Task Force. First the group considered an opportunity to secure lockers to be placed at key locations that would afford homeless individuals with secure storage for their personal belongings. Working with Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing and the YMCA, 57 lockers have been secured. These will be cleaned and refurbished as needed and funding is being secured to provide lighting as well as a platform and cover from the weather. Interfaith will house the lockers on their site in Dover and will begin installation in the next few months as weather permits. Those wishing to use a locker will need to engage with case management. Second, the Group at its meeting on February 6, 2018, approved bringing to the Task Force a proposal for the creation of a Dover Community Housing Corporation as outlined in the materials supplied to the Task Force yesterday and handed out by Herb today. The DCHC would serve both as a coordination and program management entity and function as an entity to acquire, develop and manage highly affordable housing for homeless individuals facing high barriers to housing. The committee has identified properties and hopes to house at least 200 people in highly affordable housing. Properties identified include:  2-4 Forrest Street

2  Apartment buildings on Corner of New and Loockerman Street  1151 Walker Road Dave asked for a motion to endorse this concept and allow the working Group to begin developing the proposal further, including recruiting membership, directors, incorporation, capitalization, leasing protocols legal status, etc. Bill Farley indicated that he believes the creation of such an entity will help to focus this effort. Greg Bunkley made a motion to accept the proposal and asked that the Development Committee move forward with the creation of the Community Housing Corporation. Reverend Louden seconded the motion. All present voted to move forward with creation of the Community Housing Corporation. Emergency Shelter  Allan Angel began by notifying the group that he is creating a map for the Dover area similar to a Wilmington map that identifies shelters, code Purple sites, and feeding sites. It will be a small foldable map that will fit in a person’s pocket.  Allan also indicated that he and others are looking at a possible site for a Shelter for Women and Children in the Dover area. Three buildings are involved and may create a 501(c) 3 organization. Tina asked if the shelter would participate in the Continuum of Care (CoC) and Centralized Intake (CI). Allan indicated that everything is in the preliminary stages and those determinations have not been discussed. Kim explained that some funding is available from DSHA through the Housing Development Fund to make shelters handicapped accessible and possibly other rehab and we have Emergency Solutions Grants which most emergency shelters use to cover some operating costs, but that DSHA requires all homeless service providers receiving DSHA funding to participate in the CoC, CI and Community Management Information System (CMIS). Daytime Support Daytime support did not have a report, but a discussion followed:  Tina reported that she and Kim had gone to the Hopes and Dreams site the day after the Point-In-Time Count to identify and survey people who had been unsheltered the night before. She was very impressed by the place and all the things going on there.  Greg Bunkley asked if they had numbers from the count for Dover yet. Tina explained that they did not have numbers yet as they were still collecting data from varies sites. It will then be combined and analyzed before being released. She expected to have a report in April.  Tina also informed the group that the Point-in-time had included a number of elected officials as part of the volunteers counting homeless people on the night of the Count,

3 Including: Governor Carney, Lt Governor Bethany Hall-Long, Dover City Councilmen Polce and Lindell. (Others?)  Tina indicated that this was her first Point-in-time study and she would like to expand the count next year to Libraries and Emergency rooms.  Valerie reported that a woman had been taken to the hospital from Code Purple with a broken blood vessel, she was release to the streets without any coordination with Code Purple and did not even have shoes.  Others reported that both Bayhealth and Dover Behavioral Health frequently release homeless people to the streets with little regard for the person’s health or safety. Suggested that we should ask them to join us to better understand the constraints that they are under and try and improve discharge planning for homeless people. Tina indicated that Housing Alliance Delaware is also interested in this issue.  Councilman Polce who was a guest was able to communicate with the Bayhealth CEO and he is willing to come to the next meeting or some other meeting if invited to discuss the issues we were talking about today regarding discharge planning from hospitals.  March 14, 2018 at the Dover Library 3:30-5:00 p.m.  April 11, 2018 at the City Hall Conference Room, 3:30-5:00 PM Minutes Respectfully submitted by Kim Brockenbrough