Title
Status Report and Request for Emergency Shelter (B)
This item involves provides a status report on plans that are currently underway in efforts to provide assistance to homeless families who are being dislocated from Tent City.
Explanation
The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) has received a request from the property owner to enforce the "No Trespassing" State Law on a 16 acre parcel in the area known as Tent City. The 16 acre parcel is just west of the three (3) parcels where the trespass was enforced last week. The owner posted the property on June 11, 2009 and GPD negotiated a week long extension in order to allow the residents to secure other alternative housing. GPD will be enforcing the "No Trespassing" Thursday, June 18, 2009.
The Alachua County Poverty Reduction Program is proposing that $25,000 be allocated to assist residents of Tent City with temporary shelter at St. Francis House. The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners has scheduled a Special County Commission Meeting on June 19, 2009 to discuss and approve this funding proposal for Tent City.
To accomplish this temporary request, the City Manager is asked to find that an emergency exists in order to increase the shelter capacity from 35 beds to 60 beds for the period of 14 days. The City Manager will evaluate the emergency condition at that time. The Gainesville/Alachua County Office on Homelessness and Alachua County Poverty Reduction Program have proposed this emergency measure to accommodate the evacuation of homeless residents from Tent City, and have agreed to jointly manage and monitor the Shelter Services Contract at St. Francis House.
The City of Gainesville has a tentative offer to purchase a 12-acre site for the One Stop Homeless Assistance Center and has encumbered $543,220 toward the purchase of the property. Additionally, the City Commission approved Community Development Block Grant Recovery Program (CDBG-R) funding in the amount of $371,003 for the One Stop Homeless Assistance Center for acquisition and/or construction of a One Stop Homeless Center to provide services to homeless individuals and families; therefore, all available funding designated for homeless services has been encumbered and allocated for FY2009.
The City of Gainesville City Commission has approved $567,404 in Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) funding to provide financial assistance and other services to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless and help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.
The Gainesville/Alachua County Office on Homelessness and Alachua County Poverty Reduction Program anticipates that HPRP funding will be available in late August or early September to assist homeless and low-income residents with financial assistance and other services to identify temporary and permanent shelter.
Fiscal Note
There is no fiscal impact at this time.
Recommendation
The City Commission 1) authorize the City Manager or his designee to find that an emergency exists in order to increase the shelter capacity from 35 beds to 60 beds for the period of 14 days; and 2) report back to the City Commission on this matter at the July 2, 2009 meeting.