Minutes 05-19-2022 Business Meeting

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52 Bonnie Hammersley said the $406,000 partnership budget is $270,0000 from Chapel Hill, $99,000 from Carrboro, and $33,302 from Hillsborough. She said this is for the expansion budget. She said that the county's expansion is $209,000, which is already included in the county's budget. Commissioner Fowler asked what changes are being made to lower wait times between voucher and leasing. Corey Root said that the housing locator position that has been requested will work directly with clients. She said that there is a huge need for this. She said that there are needs to help with the housing search and a lot of times there can be quite a bit of trauma experienced around housing. She said that they maintain a list of available units, for others, there is a lot more hands on needs that the housing locator position will fulfill. She said that they are doing some internal shoring up, such as making a codified system with structures processes. She said that if someone hits 30 days without leasing, it gets escalated to the housing locator position. Commissioner Fowler asked if there are enough landlords available. Corey Root said no. Commissioner Fowler asked if that means that even with the best of help, they will not be able to find every person housing. Corey Root said that there are challenges and that they house people every week, but they try to work all the angles. Commissioner Greene said when there was a housing locator that worked with CEF under a grant, that person had some success in getting landlords to accept vouchers. She asked if that will be part of the work. Corey Root said that position is now the housing access coordinator, and that position works directly with landlords and property managers. She said the goal is that they work at system level to recruit housing providers and work with a landlord incentive program. She said that this position's time has really been pulled to the client level so the hope is that the housing locator position will be able to take over these duties so they can focus on the system level. Commissioner Bedford asked if they are considering reducing street outreach to address the other needs. She said she does not know what the affect is from preventing homelessness to addressing the homelessness once it occurs. Commissioner Richards said she does not understand why the county cannot give resources to provide housing. She asked if the emergency housing option is best spent there. She said there is a lot they could do with the money, but they are spending lots of resources trying to impact the demand and nothing to the supply. Commissioner Greene said she does not think the county can increase supply. She said they uniquely have the job of helping those with the greatest need. She said the supply conversation is a different conversation. She said she does not want to take the $4 million out and transfer it to capital. Commissioner Richards said she has concerns that the $4 million will have a long-term effect. She said they could consider taking about $1 million. She said they could have a conversation. Chair Price said how it is being spent now is the best effect. She said that the $5 million on capital did not meet the needs of the community. She said that it is a very hard problem to solve. She said this is not the ultimate answer, but we must get people into housing and especially as temperatures cool. She said that people's finances go down and they are out of their home. Bonnie Hammersley said she does not think there is nothing that can be done, but she believes the money is going to the greatest need. She said that they are a safety net for the people that are most vulnerable. She said there should be a conversation about a bond or ways