Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents and any subsequent amendments, with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, to accept and expend Measure H funding in an approximate amount up to $2,863,945, for the period of October 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, to implement Homeless Initiative strategies adopted by the County Board of Supervisors to combat homelessness in Los Angeles County; and Increase appropriations in the Health Fund (SR 130) in the Health and Human Services Department (HE) by $2,863,945, offset by Measure H revenue. (Citywide)
Motion carries. Thank you. And we have item number 20. Item 22 Report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to execute all unnecessary documents with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to accept and expend measure H funding in an approximate amount up to 2.8 millions. To implement homeless initiative citywide. Thank you. Will go to the city manager. Kelly Connell, FBI director of Health and Human Services, has been the point of the spear working with the county for Measure H and to try to bring homeless initiatives here to the city of Long Beach. So Kelly will walk us through the measure. Measure H money. Good evening. The $2.8 million that we are accepting tonight is a focus on prevention for single adults, rapid rehousing, enhancing the coordinated entry system, enhancing our outreach efforts, and also our emergency shelter system. Approximately $1.8 million of that is specific to direct services now. And the remaining funding will allow for the ability to provide physical enhancements to a building for a year round shelter, as well as services for the year when those are identified. We're looking at hiring a number of case managers, including an opportunity to actually support those who are have experienced homelessness, who are currently living in Section eight housing and the ability to support them so that they remain in their housing, as well as more housing, navigation and being able to support people as they're moving into housing and helping keep them there and housing, location services. We'll also be doing more outreach with the possibility of adding a public health nurse or psychiatric nurse to those teams for increased outreach opportunities. In addition, some of the funding will be utilized to help support the administrative functions with within the Homeless Services Division. Thank you for the staff report. Councilmember, you can get anything. Thank you. Councilman Austin. Yes. I just want to congratulate the city and also commend. Ah, ah, director of health services for for some excellent work working with the county to secure these funds. Is this on top of the 11.5 million that we budgeted already, or is. This is on top of the continuum of care funding as well as the others that we brought in from other grants? Yes. It's also we've heard some public comment about where the money is going. And I just I wanted to be clear on that. We have a full breakdown as to how those funds are going to be spent and where they're going. And also, I wanted to just recognize Supervisor Janice Hahn's deputy, who is here. And obviously our supervisor has been instrumental in helping us secure those funds, the sorely needed funds for our homeless. So thank you very much and thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Pearce. Yes. I also just want to say thank you so much, Kelly, for your work on Measure H. We know that this is a huge asset to Long Beach and I think it really shows how important it is to have our own health department advocating for Long Beach to not only get funds that were already prioritized, but from what I understand, there's also five specific strategies specifically to Long Beach that these funds are going to. And so I wanted to ask, let's see, the process for negotiating for next year. Yeah. Is that how often is the group meeting and what does it look like in deciding where the funds are going to for the future year ? So those conversations have not yet started. So they're just now sort of finishing and we are in the process of contracting for this year, I believe probably starting sometime in the spring, that they'll start to look at what are the resources coming in. By then the tax increment will begin, will be coming in, they'll have a better feel for what those amounts will be. I believe that the strategies will stay the same, but that within those strategies there'll be a line different amount of resources, one based on what's been able to be spent in the past. So what were they really be able to utilize and then what would be needed in the future? So those conversations, I believe, will start in the spring. Great. And I know the answer, but I want to make sure we talk about it. There's been a lot of discussion around the heart team and trying to identify different resources. It's my understanding that Measure H cannot go towards public safety. That is correct. And is that specific? Does it say just general public safety or does it say PD and fire explicitly? One of the strategies within the 19 strategies overall focuses on a team similar to quality of life. And in that spectrum, the waste is designated as that. That police officer is not covered by Measure H, but the support behind with the outreach or mental health or support person with that police officer is covered by Measure H. So it's that it's, it's the breakout between those two. So you could put together a team similar to a heart team that has funding from Measure H. No paramedics here. There's nothing that's outlined that talks about paramedics that's very much about outreach and navigation. Okay. Great. That's that helps me. And so, again, just congratulations. I think having a health department here, making sure that we have a supervisor that is advocating and prioritizing homelessness. I think, you know, seeing our numbers decrease by 20% and being able to partner this with the 14.1 million towards homelessness this year demonstrates, I think, to so many of the constituents that said, 80% of them said that homelessness was a priority. And so this demonstrates that we're listening and we're prioritizing that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce. Thank you. I want to echo the comments of my colleagues and thanking our health department for being involved in the discussions regarding this county resource. And of course, I want to thank our supervisor and her representatives. Mr. Chico is here for being a partner with us on this huge project. She she has expressed a commitment to partnering with us on this even before she was elected, and I'm very appreciative of that. I did have a question for our health department, and that is, was there anything that, based on the amount of funding we got or the limitations on the funding that we got, we would have liked to have accomplished but were unable to fund. So was there anything that we that's kind of outstanding that we just don't have the resources to fund? We could have if we had more? I think the dynamic under Measure H is that some of those funding is coming directly to us to manage and to engage with the outreach and those kinds of things that doesn't fund areas around, clean up and more of a response that cities face. It is very focused on service. However, there are other funding streams through Measure H that are coming that we have access to that may or may not come directly to us. So, for instance, permanent supportive housing, which we know is one of the key things that we need to provide to start to reduce homelessness is that we are in negotiation of a process that we have greater access to that. So the funds don't come directly to us, but the system is in place at the county level that will be able to operate through and to engage in those services. So there are a number of other things that are like that. So it may not be dollar value specifically, but there are places that we're increasing our partnership to be able to increase access. And I know you and I have talked about this and, you know, we've we've written reports and and summaries read reports and summaries regarding in regard to this. But generally, from the public's perspective, one of the biggest issues in this area is rehabilitation services and what measure H moneys are available specifically either directly to us or, as you just stated, with the kind of ancillary type services that could support rehabilitation efforts by the city. You know, under permanent supportive housing. Those supports include access to substance use treatment, but there's not a space that is, you know, unless it's tied to permanent supportive housing. I don't believe that there is a sort of substance use treatment availability in terms of the rehabilitation. The same would be true for mental health services. There are there are some services and supports for those coming out of incarcerated settings who are homeless. That also would be able to connect to some of those services that are being operated out of the county jail. But they're not available specifically to the city jail at this time. But there isn't sort of a path that says substance use treatment on it. As part of the strategy. Do we expect that through any other source? If it's not in Measure H, can we expect to see that with Prop 47 or Prop 64 or any other moneys that could help with that? Yeah. So the so the county, L.A. County wrote for Medicaid waiver for what they're calling drug Medi-Cal. Drug Medi-Cal kicked into place in July. And so we are tracking on that. They're really just sort of getting things going. But what that does, it expands the number of services, the types of services that can be provided and covered under Medi-Cal, which is the primary funder for low income folks. And then from that, we so where we are connecting at the county level with the director of substance use services there and to sort of determine greater access and how we start to build our capacity that way within the city. But those contracts all run through the county. But it does it does mean that we'll have greater access to substance use treatment within the city of Long Beach, hopefully within the next six months or a year or so. As that for adult substance abuse treatment are also youth. You know, I'm not sure about that. Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks for the report. I appreciate it. Thank you. Councilwoman Gonzalez. Thank you as well, Kelly, for your work in this. And I'd also like to thank Supervisor Janice Hahn's office, her Linda Chico as well for your work. I have a question. I know in here it specifies homeless prevention for single adults. And so we that's who we're focusing on. Correct. There's no. The. Yeah, well so the the funding that we get specifically at the city level for our continuum of care is for adults. There is also prevention services for families, but that model is being determined at the county level and they're providing services. Perfect. Okay. And then I believe at one point we were talking about and I know it's not explicitly stated in here, but employment efforts working with Pacific Gateway in some sort. So is that I'm sure that's underway. What is that looking like right now? So the planning is in place. We're actually meeting in the next week or two. So through the workforce investment networks there, there is funding directly through Measure H to the I think I said to the L.A. County workforce and they'll be partnering with our local provide with our local feed unit. And so we'll be in a conversation there to figure out what that can look like and provide some employment training and supports moving forward. But I don't know what that looks like yet. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Super nice. Thank you. Just a quick follow up to Councilmember Austin's point about the total budget. Now, it's actually the second to the last sentence in the report. And a figure we can use now is the 14.1 or we can have it this. We spend over $14 million a year on all those issues. Does that sound fair? Yes. Yeah. So part of that is, you know, is our work with Parks and Recreation, the hurt teams, quality of life, it's citywide. All of the funding that we spend as a city. Yes. And with it and with the grants and measure H coming. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll just I'll just say, you know, it was from what I hear from the director of homelessness, the homelessness initiatives, the homelessness initiative in the county, is that this was a pretty hands on process to get all the partners to consensus. And you were a part of those conversations, and everyone didn't get exactly what they what they asked for. But you got unanimous support at the end of that process. So that really says something about the direction of this initiative. I'm very hopeful that the measure process will reap real, real benefits and rewards and that we can really stem the issue. And then I'd say and, you know, I would just say, I know that a portion of this is the funding that we were waiting on, a fully implemented landlord and savage incentive package in the housing authority . So it's all good stuff. So, you know, no questions, just came with the good work. Is there any member of the public would like to speak on this item? Now be a time. Please come forward. Let's form a line. So we have an idea how many people we have. Okay. So I see three in line. Thank you. Okay. Give an honor to Jesus. Okay. I hear you. All the stuff you said on this one and work on the Pacific Gateway. That's the first thing that got me out of this Pacific Gateway. I don't like that at all because I remember a few meetings ago. Everything about Pacific Gateway was to give money to train non-English speakers. And I saw that whole agenda with Pacific Gateway is for illegals to give them jobs. It was something, man, I forgot. That agenda was about three meetings ago. But no, I'm not with the Pacific Gateway and I don't see them talking about anything for everybody else in first. Mr. Pearce over the you mentioned Janice Hahn. I'm talking about this. She gave her that job on the board of the crazy people. You know, all that after she did that thing on, you know, with that little thing in the middle of the night, drunk driving and she got favoritism and everything. And then she called later and then I guess you scratch the man's face up. I don't know. That's how I heard it, you know. So if I do something like that, I go to jail. But she gets special treatment. The things on the border is not correct. You know what? I'm talking about you. And you ain't going to shut me up because you're the one that did it criminal. You're spirit point of order. He's on a tough topic. Well, then you. This is not. Public. So respectfully, if you guys don't hold us together, how you expect me to get them though, anyway? Anyway, don't speak out of turn. Please don't be recognized. He has a flaw at this point. That's what this is. If you remain on topic, you have 3 minutes to speak. It's that simple. Okay, so just stay on topic. Thank you. My seconds. Back from the talking. No, you cannot because you were way off topic. But you have the rest of your time. Thank you. Stop me no more then shut up. So. So anyway, she gets this thing from Janice. Now you're off topic. Oh, no, no. That's it. No, no, it. Is city attorney about to cut him off. Okay, well, I'm. On topic now, so you. Need to stay on the topic. It's not public comment. Okay. The topic is measure H and everything. Yes, that's the topic. Thank you. This I don't see how it's going to work with the same old thing even dealing with her. And then if that's not my best, that's part of the topic. She spoke so I can speak. I want you to retire. You'll retire and I want you to stay in your place and let me talk. That's what you do. As for the time taken. Yeah, I know it's thick and you need to be quiet. So, Janice Hahn, I'm not with her. She's a sellout. She's alive. She's for illegals and everything. She's a one term and she's going to have her time. And so is everybody here that keeps on doing what you doing? Section eight, you mention Section eight. You're doing everything it takes to run Section eight out because Section eight has a limit with this with this rent control, everybody's boosted up to 300 and that's run a Section eight along. These is not is not gentrification from these rich white folks. It's black folks like you, black folks like you doing this to your own people. And it's like that mayor, the son of illegals is doing it. So don't blame it on white folks. If anything, homicide up with the white folks against you and that illegal mayor. That's the best way to go. So first I'll say I think we have a fantastic county supervisor and thank you for our support with with respect to this issue. Secondly, I know that it's difficult for members of the council sometimes during public comment, but there is a fine line that we have to sort of follow to make sure that we don't skirt the law as an open public meeting. And so we we work very closely with our city attorney. Sometimes it's difficult sitting up here. I get it. You are just, you know, the object of of some other people's frustrations at times. But that's our job as public officials sometimes take those take those hits and it's not okay. I just want to say it's not okay. But we have to stand in front sometimes and take those hits. So no further public comment. We will. Okay. One final public comment. Sarah going back on the item 24 again, I would suggest. I'm sorry. You have to speak on item 20. This is. I'm 20. Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a minute. Measure is funding. I apologize. I thought you were an item. You don't have to speak on it if you are prepared to speak on it. Thanks. Members, please cast your vote.