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Human Services Advisory Commission- Minutes of Regular Meeting, May 21, 2001 -Page 5 of 7 5 Marvin asked who in the County is responsible for housing. Sharron answered that there are several housing initiatives County. The Continuum of Care Committee being overseen by the Interfaith Council is one. The Orange County Housing and Community Development Department is another. This is a Department of Orange County government. Ms. Tara Fikes, Director, has the most knowledge on 10 housing issues, Sharron said. It was the consensus of the commission that we invite Tara Fikes to the next meeting. Rebecca said that said she thinks that we are really already at the second stage - -past the educational 15 piece —and need to now be developing the strategy. Debbie asked Rebecca to repeat what she had said. Rebecca further explained that she meant that we develop implementation plans for dealing with housing issues. 20 Debbie said the way we normally do a forum that the people in the strategy break -out groups do not normally have the expertise to develop actual strategies for solving the issue at hand. Rosetta said that to deal with that, she suggests that the group leaders of the break -out groups be selected as being persons who have the ability or resources to come up with strategies for solving housing problems. 25 Debbie asked if she meant that the group leader of, say, the homelessness break -out group would be an expert on that subject? Rosetta agreed. Rebecca said that she likes that idea. Robin said she thinks we may have bitten off more than we can chew; that we may need to narrow this down. Also, we need to come up with a definition of homelessness. Rosetta said that the problem is that 30 there is no one definition of homelessness. Different agencies have different definitions. Marvin said that the definition is a person or persons who do not have a place to live. David added that some people live with friends one week and in the shelter another week. He asked if 35 those persons would be considered "homeless ?" Marvin said that it is also confusing to see panhandlers on the street and to wonder if they are really homeless. 40 Mel asked Rosetta what her idea of the topic for homelessness is. She answered that when people come to the Shelter from anywhere, whether they come from somewhere else in Orange County, or from another county, or from another state – that once a person comes to the shelter they belong to us. Mel said we want to educate people about the issues and then to address these issues. He said that these 45 issues that Hudson brought up in her message are real but may dilute our efforts. Mel said he would prefer to focus on what we can most have an impact on. Rosetta said that she of course does have her bias and that she would like to see a plan to solve the entire issue of homelessness. 5. Mel said he thinks that the title of homelessness is the right title but that we can say what issues or what the reasons are for the homelessness.