Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes a contract with a non-profit provider to act as the City’s Homeless Street Team. Funding for Street Teams was first included in the City’s 2016 Adopted Operating Budget to connect homeless individuals with permanent supportive housing, particularly as part of the Rethke Affordable Housing Development. Funding for the program was increased from $100,000 annually to $170,000 annually in the 2017 Adopted Operating Budget. The mission to connect homeless individuals with permanent supportive housing will remain the same in 2017.
Title
SUBSTITUTE - Authorizing (a vendor to be identified by May 2, 2017) Sankofa Behavioral & Community Health Inc. to provide Housing-Focused Street Outreach Team services - that will include identifying, engaging and connecting chronically homeless persons to local support services and systems with the primary goal of facilitating their entry into stable housing.
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Background
In January of 2017, the Madison/Dane County Continuum of Care identified approximately 800 individuals and more than 500 families in the County who were literally homeless. That term, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, describes a person who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, meaning (s)he:
a) has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not meant for human habitation; or
b) is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements; or
c) is exiting an institution where s/he has resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or a place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution.
Approximately, 10% of homeless persons identified during the January 2017 Point-In-Time Count were unsheltered and not connected to local shelter programs. The City of Madison subsequently identified the availability of robust and strategic street outreach serv...
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