HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 7/18/2023 - Memorandum From Brittany Depew Re: Quarterly Homelessness Update
Social Sustainability
222 Laporte Avenue
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.8055
MEMORANDUM
DATE: July 13, 2023
TO: Mayor Arndt and Councilmembers
THRU: Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer
Beth Yonce, Social Sustainability Department Director
Meaghan Overton, Housing Manager
FROM: Brittany Depew, Homelessness Lead Specialist
CC: Rupa Venkatesh, Assistant City Manager
RE: Quarterly Homelessness Updates
Purpose: The purpose of this memo is informational to provide Council with quarterly homelessness updates.
Bottom Line: Addressing homelessness in Fort Collins is a collaborative, multi-sector effort that involves
dedicated, cross-departmental staff and funding resources from the City, the Northern Colorado Continuum of
Care, nonprofit organizations, and community members to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
Ongoing efforts address both short-term, targeted response and long-term, systemic approaches.
SHORT-TERM, TARGETED RESPONSE
Staff and Partner Collaborative Response
• Tactical Team
o In November 2022, a team was established with representatives from Social Sustainability,
Parks, Police, Natural Areas, Code Compliance, Security, Transfort, Poudre Fire Authority,
Northern Colorado Continuum of Care, and Outreach Fort Collins to address immediate needs
and emergent concerns on a weekly basis, while building a more agile and complete response
system.
o Recently, both the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado State University Police
Department have also joined as partners on this team.
o The tactical team has continued to coordinate and collaborate in complex situations to ensure
people experiencing homelessness are supported and connected to appropriate resources while
maintaining an accessible, healthy, and safe community for all.
o This group aims to: increase consistency in response and process, enhance information sharing
across internal departments and with external partners, prioritize people-centered connection
opportunities (resources, outreach, co-response) ahead of enforcement, and collaboratively
brainstorm possible solutions to ongoing and recurring concerns.
• Homeless Outreach & Proactive Engagement (HOPE)
o Police Services’ HOPE Team, an innovative outreach team that uses problem-oriented policing
strategies to address issues surrounding homelessness within the city, has been very active in
the community and working closely with multiple partners, including Outreach Fort Collins, Code
Compliance, and Rangers, to respond to complex situations.
o The team, which was formed in March 2023, is being led by Sergeant Annie Hill.
DocuSign Envelope ID: FD00CD21-5BC1-401F-908E-87D441FD282D
2
o The HOPE Team is currently comprised of Sgt. Hill and three officers, with a fourth to be added
later in the year.
Camping & Enforcement
• Beginning in January 2023, a pilot project launched to conduct cleanups once per week, due to previous
challenges posed by a less frequent, more sporadic cleanup schedule (such as having to re-tag camps
and not being able to keep the number of active camps at a manageable level).
• So far in 2023, 492 camps have been cleaned, including 332 cleared with assistance from a contracted
cleaning crew, 41 completed by Natural Areas staff, and 112 completed by other (including the occupant
of the camp).
• Of the 492 sites that have been cleaned, 20 (4%) were active (occupied) camps. The remaining 96% of
sites were trash cleanups. The tactical team prioritizes connecting with occupants (via the HOPE Team,
Outreach Fort Collins, or both) to provide resources and services before conducting a cleanup.
• Within the camp-tracking app, Field Maps, a new layer has been added to track outreach conducted and
resources offered, so better data will be available next quarter related to the people occupying these
camps and their paths out of unsheltered homelessness.
• As of July 12, only 14 trash sites are pending cleanup.
• Between January-April, the average cost of a cleanup day was $5,408, which cleaned an average of 20
sites.
• Current encampment budget will be insufficient to cover cleanup costs on this accelerated schedule. This
was presented to Council Finance Committee on May 4, and will be brought before the full Council on
August 15.
Extreme Heat Response Planning
• A collaborative team from Social Sustainability, Environmental Services, Safety & Risk Management, and
Larimer County’s Department of Health & Environment has been working to develop an extreme heat
response plan to pilot in summer 2023, the first time the City will have a formal activation plan in place
during the summer months.
• Historically, the need for heat response activation first occurs by mid-June, and the plan has been
finalized to prepare for the high likelihood of an incoming heat wave.
• The extreme heat response plan will be activated when the National Weather Services declares a “Major
Heat Risk” for Fort Collins using their “HeatRisk Prototype” index, which is determined by using factors
including how unusual the heat is for the time of year, the duration of the heat, daytime and nighttime
temperatures, relative humidity, and elevated risk of heat-related illness.
• Once activated, internal and external partners will be notified to share this information with their staff and
clients, and partner agencies will provide water, cooling towels and sunscreen to people who are
unsheltered; additionally, the Murphy Center will extend their hours into the late evening to provide an
indoor cooling center for people experiencing homelessness.
• Based on data from last summer, we anticipate a Major Heat Risk event will occur 3-4 times this summer
(no activations have taken place yet this year).
• After this pilot season, the coordination team will reconvene to discuss successes, number of activations,
and process and to assess any changes needed in future years.
LONG-TERM, SYSTEMIC APPROACHES
Prevention & Supportive Services
• Homeward Alliance:
o The Murphy Center is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. for indoor day shelter and
appointments, and from 11:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. for outdoor shelter and indoor appointments. Core
services they offer include showers, laundry, mail, and computer access.
o Has received $1 million in ARPA funding from Larimer County to build a medical clinic on-site at
the Murphy Center and construction is slated to begin in summer 2023.
• Outreach Fort Collins:
DocuSign Envelope ID: FD00CD21-5BC1-401F-908E-87D441FD282D
3
o Expanded to midtown in early September, and their new expansion area runs along College Ave
from Laurel south to Trilby, and a couple blocks east and west. This midtown expansion was
adopted as a Council priority, and $100,000 in ARPA funding was allocated to this expansion via
the 2022 budget process.
o Noted a decrease in overall contacts in Q1 and Q2, but an increase in escalated behaviors; this
may demonstrate that, increasingly, people are contacting OFC, rather than 911, when
witnessing behaviors that are disruptive but not illegal.
• Catholic Charities:
o Continues to be over-capacity for women’s overflow shelter.
o During summer months, will ask overflow guests to sign out at 8:30am and check back at
2:00pm.
o Had not turned away any clients due to space since implementing a 24/7 model in August 2021;
however, as demand for beds for both women and families continues to increase, Catholic
Charities did have to turn away two families in early July.
• Fort Collins Rescue Mission:
o Reduced capacity at their main location by 18 beds on April 2 to remedy a building code violation.
Including these lost beds, plus the closure of the overflow shelter, their capacity for the warmer
months is 86 beds per night.
o There were 189 men turned away in April, 172 in May, and 119 in June, with an average of 5 men
turned away per night.
o In June there were a total of 176 unique guests served.
o FCRM is in the process of converting about 20 beds from reserved/program beds into overflow
beds in preparation for the winter season.
• Future 24/7 shelter facility
o Fort Collins Rescue Mission hosted a voluntary neighborhood meeting in Spanish in June. There
was a large turnout with many questions about the shelter specifically, homelessness in general,
and concerns about safety.
o Expecting to receive a final funding decision from the State in late July/early August. FCRM
submitted a request for $13 million for capital and operations.
Funding
• The City allocates funds to support partner organizations that provide direct services to people
experiencing homelessness and increase the availability of housing options.
• For 2023, a total of $955,000 in ARPA funds is being allocated to seven agencies via 11 contracts.
• The ARPA contracts include program support to the Northern Colorado Continuum of Care, Catholic
Charities, Crossroads Safehouse, Family Housing Network, Fort Collins Rescue Mission, Homeward
Alliance, and Outreach Fort Collins for resource navigation, 24/7 shelter operations, street outreach, the
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and other general operations.
• Additionally, $100,000 in general funds were allocated to Outreach Fort Collins for ongoing operations in
their service area.
Evaluation, Metrics and Reporting
• Point in Time Count
o The 2023 PIT count was led by the Northern Colorado Continuum of Care (NoCO CoC) and
conducted on January 24, 2023.
o In Fort Collins, the count showed 273 sheltered and 120 unsheltered people experiencing
homelessness. In comparison, there were 263 sheltered and 84 unsheltered people counted in
2022.
o This year’s count saw better process and data collection with increased engagement from
Outreach Fort Collins, and included smaller communities like Windsor, Estes Park, and
Johnstown for the first time.
o The 2023 PIT Count Data Dashboard can be viewed on the NoCO CoC’s website:
https://www.nocococ.org/data-reports
DocuSign Envelope ID: FD00CD21-5BC1-401F-908E-87D441FD282D
4
o The full analysis and report is not yet available, and additional information will be included in the
Q3 updates memo.
• Quarterly, Homeward Alliance shares data with the City to demonstrate impacts of funding and services,
track the current number of program utilizers, and help analyze community trends.
o The total number of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Q2 was 600 and 27 people
who had been experiencing chronic homelessness were moved into permanent housing. In
comparison, there were 629 people experiencing chronic homelessness in Q1 2023 (with 39
housed), 706 people experiencing chronic homelessness in Q4 2022 (with 47 housed) and 791 in
Q3 2022 (63 housed).
o Please note: Beginning in Q2 2023, this data has been more accurately filtered to reflect ONLY
Fort Collins, whereas other locations may have been picked up in previous reporting cycles.
Larger fluctuations in numbers are due to this change.
• All ARPA-funded programs are required to report into the Homeless Management Information System
(HMIS) and share quarterly reports outlining the impact of these funds.
Strategic Planning
• Homeward Alliance is leading efforts to create a County-wide homelessness strategic plan, with
partnership from Larimer County, United Way of Larimer County, the Northern Colorado Continuum of
Care, City of Loveland, and City of Fort Collins.
o An application to fund this project was submitted to the State Department of Local Affairs (DOLA)
and Homeward Alliance was notified of award of full funding request of $500,000!
• Staff is exploring the opportunity to bring the safe parking program to the City, potentially with partnership
from Larimer County. The Colorado Safe Parking Initiative (CSPI) is a nonprofit organization that
operates the program, to include case management, in conjunction with churches in the following cities:
Arvada, Aurora, Broomfield, Commerce City, Denver, Golden, and Lakewood. Hope for Longmont
operates three safe lots in three different churches in Longmont. Council will be presented with more
information once details of what a program could look like are better established.
o To date, many conversations have taken place with nonprofits and faith-based groups, but there
has not been solid interest yet from an organization to either host or operate a Safe Lot.
Lived Experience Advisory Council (LEAC)
• The Northern Colorado Continuum of Care, with partners from both Larimer and Weld Counties, created
a Lived Experience Advisory Council to help ensure that people with personal experience of current or
recent homelessness can provide input and guidance on system improvement work, projects and
programs across the region.
• This group was fully seated and began meeting in May 2023.
• A full board consists of 6 board members and 1 lead coordinator, and all positions are paid.
• The LEAC meets at least once per month.
• The first project for this council will be to provide feedback on the Coordinated Assessment and Housing
Placement System (CAHPS) - what their experiences were like with the housing process and where they
would recommend improvements.
Good News!
• At the employee breakfast on May 9, the Homelessness Tactical Team was announced as a recipient of
the team MVP award. Kudos to the entire team for tireless, and often unseen, work that makes a positive
impact on our community every day!
• The HOPE Team recently encountered a woman who was experiencing vehicular homelessness and her
vehicle starter had stopped working. She was worried about losing her source of income as a food
delivery driver due to this unfortunate situation. The HOPE Team was able to acquire a new replacement
starter from a local auto part store and a volunteer (another person also experiencing homelessness)
DocuSign Envelope ID: FD00CD21-5BC1-401F-908E-87D441FD282D
5
installed the replacement part. The vehicle is now working! The HOPE team will be following her progress
toward housing and a full-time job and Outreach Fort Collins will help her obtain additional services.
DocuSign Envelope ID: FD00CD21-5BC1-401F-908E-87D441FD282D