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Agendas and Minutes

Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee (View All)

Housing and Human Services Commission Regular Meeting

Agenda
Thursday, January 24, 2019

Ashland Housing and Human Services Commission
Minutes January 24, 2019

CALL TO ORDER
Commission Chair Rohde called the meeting to order at 4:30 pm in the Siskiyou Room at the Community Development and Engineering Offices located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland OR 97520.

Commissioners Present:	Council Liaison
Tom Gunderson	None appointed at this time
Rich Rohde
Heidi Parker	SOU Liaison
Erin Crowley	None appointed at this time
Erica Franks
Linda Reppond	Staff Present:
Sue Crader	Linda Reid, Housing Specialist

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
RR/m/s to approve the minutes of the October 22, 2018 and the November 15, 2018, regular Commission meetings with some minor grammatical changes. Voice Vote: All Ayes, motion passed. Commissioners reviewed the discussions/activities that took place at the retreat in December for those members who were unable to be present.

PUBLIC FORUM
No one spoke at public forum.

CDBG AND SOCIAL SERVICE GRANT UPDATE AND MEETING SCHEDULE
Reid will mail out the applications as soon as they are turned in, to give the commissioners enough time to review them. Reid will put a discussion of the CDBG process next month’s agenda. It was suggested that the discussion should be focused on generating clarifying questions, discuss the scoring matrix and any changes to the matrix. The Commission then discussed the Social Service Grant process. Gunderson suggested that the commission develop a plan/shape an idea that we wanted to achieve. Parker noted that the Commission started that process but did not finish before the RFP was released. It was asked whether the Commission could put something together quickly, like a draft that puts findings together? Heidi volunteered to compile the data from the surveys and participate in a subcommittee to put together a package. Heidi, Erin, and Tom volunteered for the subcommittee.

ASHLAND HOUSING STRATEGY DISCUSSION
Gunderson suggested that the commission create a subcommittee to pull the meat out of the document and put it in simpler language that prioritizes the strategies and recommend that the council adopt them with the priorities. Rohde, Parker, Gunderson and Franks would like to work on the subcommittee and arrange a time to meet with Michelle Glass to get feedback.

STRATEGIC PLAN PRIORITY GOAL FOR 2019 REVIEW
The Commissioners discussed the goals that were set at their December 20, 2018 goal setting retreat. Crowley brought up the renter protections goal identified at the retreat and how it may or may not relate to the current legislation being proposed at the State level, SB 608, the tenant protection bill. Crowley pointed out that both the Commission’s goal and SB 608 address the issues of just cause eviction and rent increases. Rohde asked whether and how the commission could support this bill. Parker is in favor of putting together a fact sheet about the bill-since the commission’s role is to provide education about housing. Parker also mentioned putting together a factsheet about Accessory Residential Units, as the development of that housing type is an important strategy for meeting the City’s housing needs. Franks will check in with the Rogue Action Center, they make factsheets about housing legislation and my already have one prepared for SB608. Franks will check if there is one in the works and get it to Linda to disseminate. Rohde will also send information about SB608 to Linda to disseminate to the group. Franks heard from a developer regarding the need for funding for staffing for 24-hour care for housing for the chronically homelessness. The developer stated that the funding is available for the development of the physical structure but not for the support services needed. Funding for services to chronically homeless populations in housing is an identified resource gap. Reppond would like to rework the goals-she volunteered to rewrite them into goal language to be more affirmative. Reppond will send them to Reid to disseminate. There was agreement that the goals were good and that they are moving forward.

It was suggested that the Commission add, under the mental health services goal, a sub-category: 24-hour care/services in housing for the chronically homeless. Parker stated that there are great projects out there, which have funding for services. She asked “how do we find out about where that funding comes from.”

LIAISON REPORTS AND GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Council – N/A

Rohde – Shower truck is still running, hopefully a new one will be coming soon.
Crowley-Spoke with SOU housing dept. about getting a Liaison, Rohde will talk with the Mayor about getting a non-student liaison. The mental health counselor that Crowley spoke about at the goal setting retreat (that is interested in providing service to low-income folks in Ashland, but does not currently have a location) does take OHP, Crowley arranged a meeting between the counselor and OHRA to discuss possibilities for partnership.

Staff - Reid reported that the Point in Time Homeless count was taking place this week. The survey will be given to ACCESS who will then tabulate the data and turn it into the State.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND MEETINGS
Housing and Human Services Commission Regular Meeting – 4:30-6:30 PM; February 28, 2019 at 51 Winburn Way.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Linda Reid