Agenda - 03-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 1 Commissioner Dorosin referred to the list of services provided to low-income families 2 that was included as Attachment 4c at page 126. He noted that a lot of these are based 3 on state and federal funding administered by the County. He is interested in knowing 4 where Orange County can put their own resources to address these issues. Child care 5 subsidies are a great example. Do we need a county-funded Section 8 type housing 6 program or county funded public housing, He is looking for real targeted ways that 7 Orange County can address these issues and make an impact. He said that we ought 8 to be able to find a way to get to the 5,000 kids who are living in severe poverty in this 9 county. 10 11 Nancy Coston said that for people at the brink, more funding for child care subsidies, 12 rental housing assistance, and occasional emergency assistance would stabilize a 13 number of families. She noted the challenge of sustaining people in decent, affordable 14 housing where they have sufficient income to keep paying the rent. 15 16 Tara Fikes added that what they hear in the community is about the need for funds for 17 more rental assistance. She suggested that they consider providing incentives for the 18 private market to provide affordable housing units. 19 20 Chair Jacobs said that he would like us to do some creative thinking about creating 21 rental opportunities for people. He noted the tendency for landlords to consider people 22 in Section 8 housing as stigmatized — perhaps it would seem to be more benign if they 23 were working through Orange County. He said he was struck in discussions with the 24 school systems by how many kids are in free or reduced lunch programs. 25 26 Chair Jacobs said that a starting place might be programs that worked that no longer 27 have funding. He said that he wonders why we stopped Wheels for Work. Nancy 28 Coston said that several years ago, DSS was obliged to make an $800,000 cut in their 29 budget—Wheels to Work was a victim of that. He suggested that perhaps the County 30 could look into donating retired County vehicles. 31 32 Chair Jacobs asked for a more complete list of what programs they had that worked in 33 the past but that they could not afford anymore, to see if we can afford it now. He said 34 that picking up federal and state programs may be more ambitious than we can afford, 35 but if she wanted to propose that, he would be willing to listen. He said he is interested 36 in what might keep people out of jail who can't afford to pay bail so they can stay with 37 their families and at their jobs so they can keep up their housing payments. 38 39 Commissioner McKee asked Nancy Coston to also bring back figures for job training. 40 Nancy Coston noted the importance of job fairs and reattaching people to employment 41 even if temporary. She remarked that statistics show that the longer people remain out 42 of the job market, the harder it is to get hired regardless of the skill level they had 43 before. 44 45 Commissioner Pelissier asked what have been the federal and state cutbacks the last 46 few years. She said that if you put in child care subsidy money, you can't do it for just 47 one year. She cited the need to understand with additional funding, what the County 48 would be committing to and how that funding would fit into state and federal funding. 49 She also mentioned that she expects that there will be some child poverty initiatives 50 coming from the Board of Health. 51 52 Commissioner Rich asked how cuts in federal long-term unemployment benefits will 53 affect this situation. She said we need to look at public/private partnerships so the 54 whole community owns the poverty issue, not just governments. She said if they talk