Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution approves the site for a permanent shelter facility for men experiencing homelessness, authorizes the City Engineering Division to begin a competitive selection process for engineering and architectural design work, and authorizes the Community Development Division (CDD) to begin a competitive selection process for a facility operator. CDD’s 2022 capital budget includes the Permanent Men’s Shelter capital project (Munis Project # 13344), which includes $11 million in funding from city general obligation borrowing ($4 million), Dane County contributions ($3 million), local American Rescue Plan Act funding ($2 million), and additional federal funding ($2 million). The total cost to design, construct, and operate the shelter is unknown at this time, but is anticipated to be greater than $11 million. The design work described in this resolution would inform the cost estimate for the project. No additional City appropriation is required for this phase of the project.
Title
Approving the selection of the property located at 1902 Bartillon Drive as the site for a permanent shelter facility serving men experiencing homelessness, authorizing the City’s Engineering Division to undertake a competitive process to select an entity to provide architectural and engineering design services, subject to Common Council approval, and authorizing the City’s Community Development Division to undertake a similar effort to select an operator for the facility, again, subject to Council approval.
Body
WHEREAS, for more than thirty-five years men experiencing homelessness in Madison and Dane County accessed emergency overnight shelter services in facilities that utilized spaces made available by churches in downtown Madison, spaces that greatly influenced the range and scope of services that they could support; and,
WHEREAS, shortly after the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, local public health officials determined those shelter spaces were incapable of providing conditions needed to avoid the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of shelter guests, and forced their closure; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison quickly moved to establish temporary replacement shelter space that could more safely meet the needs of this population, using first the Warner Park Community Recreation Center and later, when more space was needed, the former City Fleet Maintenance Facility on First Street, from which the shelter currently operates; and,
WHEREAS, in the midst of these developments elected officials from both the City of Madison and Dane County, resolved to collaborate to establish a new shelter facility from which to serve men experiencing homelessness, and both the Madison Common Council and the Dane County Board made initial financial commitments in their respective capital budgets in support of such a facility; and,
WHEREAS, at the direction of the Mayor, City staff undertook an extensive search for suitable available properties in Madison, considering properties both within the downtown area and more distant, and properties on which existing structures stood that could be renovated as well as those on which new construction would need to occur; and,
WHEREAS, on October 5, 2021, the Common Council enacted RES-21-00679 (Legistar File #67405), authorizing the acquisition of one of those properties, located at 1902 Bartillon Drive, “. . . to provide the City with both short-term and long-term options to address homelessness”; and,
WHEREAS, City staff involved in the search for a site for a permanent men’s shelter has concluded the Bartillon site generally satisfies the criteria utilized in conducting the search and now recommend to the Mayor and Common Council its selection for that use; and,
WHEREAS, the realization of a men’s shelter requires the completion of many tasks from, for example, refining a scope of services and assembling the resources needed to fund it, to designing and constructing a facility that can accommodate specified uses, and choosing an agency to operate the facility; and,
WHEREAS, a successful undertaking to establish a new men’s shelter calls for collaboration among funders and service providers, as well as other community stakeholders, including those the facility will serve.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council approves the decision to establish, on the property located at 1902 Bartillon Drive, a permanent shelter facility to serve male-identifying adults in Madison and Dane County who experience homelessness; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council directs City Engineering to undertake a process to procure architectural/engineering services to prepare plans for the construction of the shelter, and return to the Council, for its approval, a recommendation of a firm to provide those services; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council directs Community Development Division staff, working with its counterparts in Dane County, to undertake a process to identify an entity that will actively participate in designing and planning for a facility that will provide overnight emergency shelter and housing-focused support services, and that will operate the shelter upon its opening; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council commits the City to work collaboratively with Dane County, the network of local service providers, and other community stakeholders to bring about the establishment of a shelter facility, secure needed resources, and ensure its successful operation; and,
BE IT STILL FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council authorizes the Mayor and City Clerk to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Dane County describing the collaborative partnership with Dane County in establishing and operating a shelter facility; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Council directs City staff, at least quarterly, to provide project status updates to the City’s Finance Committee.