HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/26/2023 - Memorandum From Brittany Depew, Sgt. Annie Hill, Kelly Pryor Re: September 12, 2023 Work Session Summary – Overview Of Homelessness Response System And Community Report: Northern Colorado Continuum Of
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Social Sustainability
222 Laporte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.8055
fcgov.com/socialsustainability
MEMORANDUM
Date: September 19, 2023
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Brittany Depew, Homelessness Lead Specialist
Sgt. Annie Hill, Police Services’ HOPE Team
Kelli Pryor, Northern Colorado Continuum of Care
Thru: Jacob Castillo, Sustainability Officer
Rupa Venkatesh, Assistant City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
RE: September 12, 2023 Work Session Summary – Overview of Homelessness Response
System and Community Report: Northern Colorado Continuum of Care
Mayor Arndt, Mayor Pro Tem Francis and Councilmembers Gutowsky, Pignataro, Canonico,
Peel, and Ohlson were present.
At the September 12 Work Session, staff provided an overview of the homelessness response
system and updated Council on current efforts underway, funding components, and next steps,
including a community report from the Northern Colorado Continuum of Care’s director.
Summary of Feedback
Discussion:
Councilmembers asked about training required for the HOPE Team.
o Team members complete the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, conduct
learning through various community resources and in-the-field learning via
ongoing engagement with other outreach agencies.
Councilmembers discussed the upcoming funding gaps due to occur after American
Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are used in full at the end of 2024. Staff will work with
community agencies to assess the highest needs while also researching state and federal
funding opportunities.
Reviewed data from the Coordinated Assessment Housing Placement System (CAHPS)
and barriers to moving those on this list into housing. Top barriers are scarce housing
availability and inability to use vouchers for rental units listed above fair market rent (a
majority of rentals in Fort Collins fall into this category).
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Partnership between the City/CoC and Poudre School District/Front Range Community
College. In general, education systems tend to be fairly siloed from this work, but the
new youth shelter slated to open in 2025 has begun to bridge some of those gaps.
Review of how some folks come to self-resolve their homelessness, including support
from friends and family, ability to secure employment, etc.
Review ideal services for LGBTQIA+ homelessness and how shelter and services
tailored to this population can help increase safety and housing rates.
Discussed overarching CoC goal to achieve “functional zero” homelessness:
o Functional zero: The number of people experiencing homelessness at any time
does not exceed the capacity of a community to house people (from Community
Solutions: https://community.solutions/built-for-zero/functional-zero/)
Councilmembers discussed various points related to the Point in Time (PIT) count:
o How PIT can be utilized to understand trends and benchmark against peer
communities
o Our community saw no clear increase in homelessness between 2019-2022,
during the heart of the pandemic
o There seems to be some increase happening in unsheltered homelessness and
decreases in chronic homelessness
Questions about whether better/more services can draw people to the area specifically for
those services. Staff discussed regular flow of people experiencing homelessness between
communities, and we do not statistically see higher numbers of influx into Fort Collins
than other areas in the region.
Questions with follow up:
Interest in better understanding data around first-time homelessness and how these
numbers are trending.
o In Q2 of 2023, 378 individuals enrolled in the system stated it was their first
episode of homelessness.
o Based on all active enrollments in Q2, 378 experiencing homelessness for the first
time represents about 21% of the population.
o Prior quarters of this data, to help demonstrate trends over time, will be included
in October’s Q3 Homelessness Updates Memo.
Interest in learning more about Point in Time (PIT) data and trends over time.
o Additional information attached.
Data trends in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) were of interest,
namely if there has been an upward trend over time.
o Additional information attached.
Councilmembers asked about self-reporting a disability. The CoC will share more
information on how disability is defined, as established by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD).
o This will be included in October’s Q3 Homelessness Updates Memo
Councilmembers expressed interest in breakdown of types of homelessness (level of
acuity) and which resources/services are most effective at each level.
o This will be included in October’s Q3 Homelessness Updates Memo
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Attachments
1. Point in Time Data & Trends
2. Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Data & Trends
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Attachment 1: PIT Count Data & Trends
Year PIT Count # % of homeless per
capita
2017 331 2.07%
2018 263 1.62%
2019 353 2.10%
2020 260 1.53%
2021 348 2.05%
2022 284 1.65%
2023 393 -
Notes:
Only sheltered homelessness counts were conducted in even years.
Unsheltered and sheltered counts were conducted in odd years, leading to overall higher
numbers those years.
Beginning in 2023, combined unsheltered and sheltered counts will be done annually.
Official population data for 2023 is not available.
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Attachment 2: HMIS Data & Trends
Period Total # Enrolled in Programs
in Fort Collins
Total # of Chronically
Homeless Individuals
Q1 2021 1,730 622
Q2 2021 1,951 569
Q3 2021 2.493 647
Q4 2021 2,717 666
Q1 2022 2,909 736
Q2 2022 2,955 764
Q3 2022 3,531 791
Q4 2022 3,247 706
Q1 2023 3,479 629
Q2 2023 2,448 600
Notes:
These numbers are unduplicated
Some of the more significant increases seen here are due to increasing numbers of
agencies reporting into the HMIS
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