03:30pm. Roll call, please. Commissioner. Bowie. Commissssner. J Jes. Commissioner. Kim.. Commissioner. Here. Commissioner. Here. Commissioner Yang. Here. And chair. Johnson. Here.. That s for present to. Excuse me. Commissioner Bowie and Commissioner Jones and Commissioner and Commissioner Kent. Thank youou. Oh my GOD. Sorry. It s okay. We ll read the first item when Kelly takes a seat. Thank you. Item number one is Resolution Res 25. 945 general bond resolution authorizing the issuance of parking enterprise revenue. Refunding bonds. Okay, so we ll I think we had a do we have a
staff report? Yep. Okay. We had a staff report last week on this item. Um, so this will be coming back in front of us as well. So I ll hand this o over to Director Newton. But before I , I ll just, uh, welcome the otc students from s Snt Kate s. Thank you allll for being here.E. Uh, a a I m also going to take a minututeo a anowledge and welcome my family. My my m mher is with us, and my brother Martez is with us. So I appreciate all the guestsshat are here. Uh, shout out to my family and shout out totc Saint Kate s program. Go ahead, rector Newton. Thank you. Chair. Johnson. Commissioners, thth item and the next item are both items for which you received one presentation last week. So it was one presentation about this refinancing.G. B there are two items thatou ll need to
approve. S s both of these are back for yourction today. And staff recommends approval of o of both items. Okay. Thank you so much for for that reminder and refresher. I m sure council colleagues myself, uh, have had a chance to review. Are there anan questions or anything for Director Newton before we take the vote? Okay. Seeing none, I will take a motion from Commissioner Nager to approve. Uh, any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Five inavor. Zero opposed. The resolution is adopted. Itete number two is resolution rez 25, dash 946, first supplemental bond resolution a ahorizing the issuance of parking enterprise
revenue refunding Bond Series 2025 a and taxable Parking enterprise Revenue Refunding Bondnd Series 2025 b okay. A a this is related to the prioror item, but this is the specific request. I ll hand this over to Director Newton. If there s ananhing further to say. I m sorrrr chair. Is thererenything further to say about this?S? Okay. Uh, seeing no other things, uh, I ll take a motion from Commissioner to approveve all those in favor. I am opposed. Five in favor, zero opposed. The resolution is adopted. Thank you. And as we head into the next agenda item, I ll let you read it before I say my comments. Actually. Item number three is a staff report. Sr 25 111 familiar faceses
familiar families. Update. Uh, know the council members had a chance to, um, review bothh progogms, and I know there was just some questions and things that we w wted to hear more about in relation to the city, because these are really vital programs thahate ve had. And, um, forome, we ll c connue to havend therere has been some investment eitherrrom t t using Trust Fund or from the Housing Redevevopment Authority, but also from the city. And so reallyy excited to have this updpdeor all of us. And t tnk you to all the commissioners who submitted any sort of questions. A lot of them r reay stemmed from reallll trying to fully understand the work that you all do. Um, I know I see,h, Chris Michaels in the roommnd the deputy
mayor, Jamie Tinker, as well, also as Director Blakey. So thank you, all three of you, for being here to talk about familili faces and familiar families. Um, I hand I I over to Director Newton. Thank you. Chair. Commissioners. I h hav nothing t t add. We ve got several speakers here to cover theses programs for you that as as youentioned, you d asked for a aitional informatiti on. So we llet them gohead and get started..Nd you all have thth last item today. So you can yoyo can go thrhrgh your slides d take your time. Hello. Uh,h, Chair. Johnson and commissioners, um, I m Chris chaels w whh the Office of Neighborhood Safety, and my work at the citys primarily focused on, um, startinin up and implementing the familiar faces
program. Um, I think many o of you have awarenene about what thee Familiar Faces program is about. Um, but the kind of ope of the program hasn t changed over t t last many months. Um, I really break downn the familiar facac proroams into a few different categories. First and foremost, we are looking to develop an intensive care m magement team that focuses on o oreach.H. Fte caseanagement,te, um, case management, slash l Le Coach fte, and then a behavavral health comomnent. Um, the other bucket orhe o oer a aecectf familiar faces w wld be at s se point in time,e, a dedicated 24
hour facility. Um, that is, serves a a a location foror individuals identified as familiar faceses to, um, getetomom grounding in some stability. Um, some recuperative recuperation from their circumstancecef l ling in survival mode, primarily being unsheltered, and most importantly, um, getting that front facing, cononcted cocoectionon to services. U u the otheromponent I is, you know,w, justst forging best p pctices,, ght? So trackingll sorts of data, accomplishments, um, stumbling blocks around the way. So we
re best pososioiod to, um, advococe for needed changes in o o social services fetyty net programams. Um,o right now where we e re at today, we ve launched ourur outreach component of the familiar Faces program. Um, we are in t the process of hing and onboarding the life coaches,, slash ssh case magers. Um, we are supportinin um,m,ity departmement such as Parksnd Rec,m, the libraries and dsi withth encamament management strategieses u we have hosted and provided services to probably about 30, 35 familiar faces in the terms of direct
outreach, basic c ce mananememt rvices around getetng connected too housing resources and getting on a pathway towards permanent supportive housing, as well as offffing individuals hotel vouchers in the absence of having a dedecated 24 hour space,, um, to dada, sinin launching our outreach approach, uh, late last fall, early last winter, um, we ve facilitated housing plplements for about 20 individuals, and we havavebout eittore that a a slated to go intooououngng um, b b the end of the month. So that kind of relentless engagement strategy, um, is provivi to work really well. Um, another huge, huge part of the woror is just, um, papanering, collaboboting with
all of o o community providers, um, internal city d dartments, other appropriate response teams, and really kind of assessing what, what where the gaps are and what we can do in the shohort term, mid-termmnd ng term to shore up some of those gaps. So we re able to have, um, b bter outcomes. Um,m, we can go to the next slide orr do I move it? Um, thiss slide indicacas kind of what the general, um, practice and approach is. And it s w why the, the, the work I I so kind of, um, important is that it s not just aboutut sininlar program or a singular approach, um,m, really to accomplish the goals that we want to accccomish, to improve some of thehe quality of
lili challenges that we re seeinghrououout the city.Y. It really requires a cross-sector approach andnd partnererip. Um, overhe last year, we ve really been f fusing on developing and strengtheningng these cross-sector partrtrsrsps. So when we re onboarding t tntensive carar management teaea there s a foundation and an infrastructure for that team to work out of. Um, and then here this next slide I iustrates, um, what t t kind of plan or progression is.S. U u andnd the approach that s taken by the intensive careanagement team.
Um, first and foremost, um, not just going out and talking to individuals. We re really kind of focusing assertive, targetedngngement and creating a by namam list of individuals. Um, and thehe as those individidls p p up onn our radar through referrals from different entities, um, we really that s when we begin that relentless engagement and really learn to build trust, rapporor with the individuals, and most importantly, learn about their circumstance, what what brings themmo the the space and place that t ty are cucuently. Um, we because there are limited resourcrc in termsms of what we have available in terms of staffing, it
s reallll important to go b bk to t tse criticalartnerships and drive accountabilityty right? So if you re a permanent supportiviv hohoingg provider, um, in Ramamsey County, it shouldn t take0 or 6 months for a a housing referral to be manifested into a a housing approval and move in. Um, we re gauging in and watching eviction and return to homelessness rates. Um, and we re looking with our, you know, commitment, um, court case management services t t ensure that people who are eligible and supupsed to be receiving the svices, ty re they re actually gettiti the services that are intended foror them, um, t phase that we rere movivi into andope to move
into thiss summer is, uh, b b four with the onboarding of the life coaches. Um, that s w wn we re going to get beyondd kind of the like, case managememt touches that we ve been doing with our outreach approach and really drill into those personn centered care plans and get move beyond justt facilitatingg a housing placement and really working with individuals on resolving the issues that kind of cauaud them to to fall intnt their unsheltered statusnd, and haveehe challenges and the barriers to receiving services at they ve had over time. Um, andhenn box five j jt talksks
about, um,trategic consequences, right? Like offering, tracking, knowingng the services and referrals that a a offered to individuals. And I I those aren t, um, received or taken, if w w re not takenppn those and problems and issues and situations persistst to have, um,he s stratic conseququces, um, to kind of, um,m, implement those and then circle back andnd offer supportive service servicic once those consequences have been met and addressed. So, um, we re continuing the work. Um, it s really vital work. It s reaeay importantoror We ve shown some initial success withh it. Excited to be moving into thehe
xt phases of furthering to build out the intensive care management team and then evenenly, um,m,tt is still, um, part of the plan to to look for a building in w wch we can,, um, host these familiar faces inin ass dedicated settiti. ThThk you. Chrhr. U u MISS Michaelsls are there any questions from any of the commissioners at this time? Uh, Commissioner? U Uh, thanks, Chair Johnson. And reallyppreciate the update. Chris. I thihi, you know, I was around when the city kind o o had to jump in to a more active role I inhis space during the pandemic or the deep shutdown.N.Nd it was really a moment of crisis where, you know, Deputy m Mor Tinker, the dsi staff at that
time, it was a bigig s sess, andnd it was a b b leap for the city toake to jump into that work. And so I m I m happy to see it progressing just b bause it s a place where I think in a meeting somewhat recently, either one or both of you mentioiod to it to an earnest estion where someone said,d,o we have enough coordination? Is ere enough coordination andnd partnership? And you all answerededn a helpful way, saying, no,e have plenty o o coordination. We need sources. W w need more. You know, investment. I llll sak only for myself and not for for the departments ornyone else. Butt personally, I I ve always wanted t t see morenvestment om the county sidee into these efforts. I think the city, and
I m happy for the c cy to be playing a a actcteole,e,ut rely, the c cnty is the place where, um, you know, thihi kind of human s svices is meant to be funded. So I ll continue t to support the city action. Um, particicarly b bauau I think preventing and reducing homelessness in and of itself is an endeavor w wth pursuing for its own reasons. But even if you didn t care a autny of these people as peoeoe, you should still supportrt the effort for the financialenefef it can bring. The t t cost reduction on our e ergency services, onnll of our public infrastrtrture. Um, the fact thatesponding to crisese is always moree expxpsivehan just
tryiyi to prerent it. So I appreciate that every dollar we re able to put I io programs lili this is it selelul for thth human side, but it also I I smartiscal strategy on our part tooakeure that, you know, you all are as resououe as necesesry to help preventnt the back end uncontrollable, um, fololw onost. So I I appreciate the context. And I will also say, um, all of my, um, complaining about, u uh, msey County fundingside, I this visisl is very helpful t t helpppreciatat the scope of this is w wt it s like to wk a case l le throughout the process and how individualized it is and all of those things.S. So I reallyy appreciate this
too. And I wouldld just add too that, um, I thinknk another aspect of familiar f fes that makes it really different is that it s not meant to be a band aid program. Right? So we are that crisis oriented. Initial response. Um, but it is thedentificationf individuals really getting to ow them, understanding their circumstance, understanding why they arehere they arere brokerinin that trust and really tting to those person centereded care plans to address e issues. Right.. Like oftentimes right now it s,m, becausus we don t have a lot to offer people is people are
taken from very destabilizing situations, andnde put them inin h hsisi, which is great, right? It seallyreat. And we pat ourselves on the back and, you know, likeob done, buteally there s a volume and a highh degreee of work t t b be done once they are in a more stable setting to really kind ofof address their,heir ciciumstance. Um, bececse if no what w w re noticing is an uptick in eviviioio, right? So typipilly right now, mosos peanent supportiviv hououng providers trara, um, housing retention at six months, most permanent s sportive housing providers, um, havav when somebody doesn t pay their
their rent for five months, consececutive, they w wl begin thth process of filing a w wt, which means thatt that will hit probablyn around monthevev ofof housing month e eht. Andnd then they goo back and have a return to homomessness. A And it s stillllounted as a win for thoseousing providers because they j jt measuredd for six months. Rht. S s there s there s a whole disconnect in theeap thatte re not noticing. And now the person s ck I ioo housing or back intoo homelessness, harder to serve than they wereehe first time around because thehe have that iction on t tir recordow. So it s really about getetng to those really systemimi
challenges and I iueue um,m, both systematicalal. A a then what the I iividual really needso m meangful stabilization.. So theyy g g out of that vicious cyclehanknk you. And I prpriate t tha question as well..Nd j jt kind of g ge me the fulul uh,ambit. I been atat seral, uh, well, a couple fferentncamamenen closusus. And I have alwayay appreciated how, um, welel I ve never been on a site w wre you h hav not been there, so I just w wt to acknowlelee that. And then alsls just to share that so much o o the efforts fororhe team as you related to, like actually k kwiwi the ininvidualshaha are there t tt aree seeeeng sheltlt through these encampments,m, you thereas beenanyy timim where I ve seenn otherer folks that have been m me willing to
communicate with somee of our staff because t ty recognize ouou faces as well. And s s I do think that ssn m man wayss like theeamiliar Faces program provididomewhat of an opportunity for us to be familiar with t tmmselel as them to b b familiaia with us to. So t tre s a resource f for when people are readydy bececse I know that sometimes maybebehe first initial conversation folkssren tt rdy t t seek t tt additiononal resource or additional support, because itt cacae challengigi to doo so.O.T n behallenging to leave what litite you do knoww o o with omom you ve you ve estababsheded community with. And so I ve found thaha tooee just r rlly impopoant andnd vital. Soo doo appreciate that. I saw,,m, mmissionererowie s hand a and soso I ll hanant o or toou. Thank you. Chair Johnson. Um,
thank you soo much foror the presentationon I d d have,e, um, myy mputer had went off,, had a couple,,m, queststns, but, u u um,,s you knono um, there s been a a hugug volume o o p pplpl who havav been unshelterer, um,m, people who areealing witit chemical depepeny and, you ow, andlso mental health issusu a alo t t corridor. I I knknowasas week w weadad esentataon,, um, fromamamse Counun,,nd I m s sur you know, rector Blakey havee received quite a few of my emails. Um, of constituentnt whohore jusus concererd myselffs w wl. U u one o o my queststns, partrtularar as I I t tinin too t moror familiaritit the
familili faceses program, I I um, who l le, I u uerstand ass people whoho have reallyntense, ,, cycling of t the systems. B b I m just wondedeng,,ike, what thehe referrara b beded procece? Um,, b bauause therererere cas where there s peopleehore, u k kw,w, experiencing overdosese Our fefefigerer a a fafaliararithh t tm. Ourur pice is famamilia w wh them. The neigighbor are f filiar wh thesee individuals,, b butheyy MAY t be actuauayy in thatt prograra or thehe MAY not h hee wewe t tough, um, y y know, intensnsearar I I t ter o o treaeaent in our jaiai Um,m, so,o, , I guess I I m tryinino understand,,ust like,e,hat is the volume offhehe caseload? Um, and thehe understandingng tt ththe I I limitinin limimed amouou o of resououes too s sve
pepele.. Um, a a iss therere prpress for somomeoho sayay ey justt a,, jt a cocoununyydvocatat andnd thehe want t t makeureehahahe city is famililrithhhis individual andndan get them into s som type of supportrtee serves.H, s rightht n we re b buiinin outut likee cocounityaciningeferrara chanisishattouou bee througug ourpricot, uh,asas mamagememe s stware.M,hat mmunityy m mbersrsndnd dififrere pepele c c submit r rererls basedff o o t tt, that w wsisi formation. Um, cururntlyly um, referrrral a aomomg froro rectct toe, fm a allffur
holessss svice p pviders.H, ththugugh t t dififrentntinin of colllloratatee c colborativeve neneoror, t tououeadingngome, RaRaeyey c City Deptmtmt didirectors rch oututoo me didictly withsssss,s, allelees, problemems. Um,m,oo rit now I I m kind of t t thehe gateteeper and theheececveverf thth r rererls..Ndnd w wilill be as w w c ctinue t tuildldutut am androww I c cacitit we ll beakakin t tt comommuty fafangngefeferll m mechasm,, u u go l le.E.M,m, thihink likik ass cocommity,y, um, wee he t to b b rely d digigt aboboow we nanangnghehe problbls thaha we re seseng I I our comommutities soo th weanan resndnd tohem efctctely.Y. I m un a a Uniondndee dailyly, um, s setetim
icice a dayay u u mulultie t tes d day Um, I I t tnknk wtt we re seseei t there issindd o o lot ofof diffeferent thihis,s,igig?? That itan j jus b b namamed or beleled as unsnsltereded melelessne..M, r reayy thinirst a a foremosos atat s driring,, u um, t allengng I t tha particucula spspe I I a muchoror off publeaeah criss d drive b by ththepipid u u I in thahat sce ddhehe imptsts t ttt it s vivingo areaa binesess,s, cocounityy membebe,, ueanining reresides,m,m,ururibrarary.M,m, I I think t the resnsee f atpacess n nee tooee multifacaceded I t thi t that, u um, my eertiti a a t theseseff
mimiarar faces canm, fininitelyee off s svice I thatat scece but f feeike wee neneedo uh,h,amee troblblem coececy. I I kw I hea I I fffferen commumutytyeeeetis,s, pepeop likeeo talkk a autut I I ass ununshelreddomelelessns.S.T mimight b s som o of tt.M,m, I thinkhaha I is sllller p pce ofhat reallyy driving t t prprobm.M. S So w wanttoo b carereful noto, l lik stigmamazeze lik aholelethther kind of armf t the work.M, bu yeah, thihi I ss a pubcc healalth crisisisapappeni t the. , a a Inonowirirecrr b Blayy mymyse wit uirecector HaHartman. Um, w we re really kind
of inhehe policicepepartmen a and theirir department. U we e realallyind of zereroing in on thth. Thahatrerea, um, and okoking for solutions for pepeople. Ramsey Cnty alternativeesesponse. Um, roroug t t worork whh d Decector Blakey a partnering a and coabororating withhem,m, um, haseeeeeaeayy benenefia o ove eeastt s sever mononths.Oo thinkhe g good nsss, isshaha we rere mee coordinated and alnened tha we havenn recent memo.. Y Yeah.Hahank y you, Coisissier.. Thanks so much, Chrrohohonon. And Cisis, ththksksoo much for all of your wowork.M,m, can you I was a little bit confused from your prprestatation. I there rrrrentl a an ienenveve cee nanageme t tea onn the grounund, I ishatt being b bltlt up as.
Spepe? Uh,h, the the outreh cocomponentff t t intensi car magemementeamm I on t groun f funioioni. A And we re a and we re o onboarding a and hiring t lif c coach compone of that. O Oy. And h hanany fofossre inhe outrehh component? U t trere s three of us Okay. U andhehen in terms of the 2 h hracacity,y, I kno we ve taldd about tss a lot asas sortt of w havave a lot of folklk d dngng oututreach, but often ther ss just a need for pcece to bring peopleo,o, um, can you talklk littltleitit mee autut whwhat s how tha w wkk isoioing what we re ungng I the meantimeme?M, s sor o of w whe,, ere people are brought wn you re interacti w with the if ty y re in need of a place.
Su.. Ihihinkight now thehehe sesearch for auildlding has been hold. Um, I tnk whe the, umum, buildldin that w idtifified,,m,m, didn c cee to uiuition lateasast year, um, it caused me t h have t pivot and rerefocusececause I m one psoson anan o only. The o onlyo m myy hours in the d day And, um, the focus b became to ohehe innsnsiv c care managentt t tea because tt t s just what t overerall time fmeme was. U u a and new,w, um, t beginni o of 2525,ikee the front hal o of 2025, was aayss meant and teteeded to o onboardhihiseam,m, umum hopinghaha w w w would have hahad location soueded and also rkinggn o opening andnd operationalizing. So it s on hold. It
sinind o b bac o m my dadar at t b beginningf AUGUST toookkor a permanent catition. Um, I thinkhahat, um, righght now the fus has b been going to the familrr faces whee they are currently ceceivin servicem, whether that s in an eamampment. So we re portabl a and eamampments working whh heart and o other trtrea provide too ensur need a are bngng m.. We re going to overnight shelters, woworking withhehe tea I in those spaces. We re goi t tayaytime seicic c centers, um, working with people onhoho spaces. We re parartnering and cocollaboratin w with pole.E. S So ifhehere s somebody who they, um, is hitting on tirir r rad,,
uh, they reach out and we go to the familiar face where the popolice iss interacting with them. Um, and then as people get traction withs,s,ss we re doinghahat, like, like case nagement w work with them, um, which is really primarily housing focused. Um, we h have the ability andavave bnn dog,g, um, houngng assessments. We veve bnn updining houngng asssssmes.S. Werere filling out all o t the paperwork n necessary for peoee toe,e, um, approved for housing. Um, and o once opople get traction with the housing referral, um, and especiallyff the re I some atat o of vnenerability will facilita a a placement for the
at a hotel, we have a relationshipithh o specific hotel. U a and we offer, um, hote vouchers. Why people a are in that process. Right. It ss been identified a and leaearned that f from housing, referral to housing approll toouousing move in is a super precariou time. Um, for an uheheltered individual w k kind of pops all erer the pcece and you lose track of them, and there s a lot of really technical things that ndd to happen duringhahat process. And we ve learned that to kind of ensure the most success in having sebebody navigate tha process, havgg a
place to be that isafafe and secu s so they can eurure that they can work on all of those technical things, has really yielded some good outcomes. So, um, we would love to p everybody that we interact with in a hot I if itasas only that easy. But a hotel isn t housing. Um, and we don t want toakake it seem like I is. Um, so having that connection to a permanent house that they need to be working on, um, also like their time at the hotel really prepares the um, to be in a more stable place when they enter that housing placement. Um, so probably since, um, late last fall, we ve probably had about 35 I people at the hotel. Already I see additional questions. I m gonna. Is it a
follow up? It s a quick follow up. Okay, quickolollow up, and then I ll pop in with my question as well. Thanks. Thanks. Chair Johnson, last one. Um, I appreciate ttt update. And I m, um, as you re thinking about the t the long term, the 24 hour facility, I don t know if this is an option or not, but I know we ve talked in the past about how, you know, shelters should come in all shapes and sizes. The one size fits all huge facility isn t always the right place for folks I know. Previously, um, the proposal had been for larger facility. Um, but I wonder if there s been thought of or if there s any value in sort of scattered site places. It seems like it might be more feasible, even in the short
term, to, um, acquire a home here and there for a few individuals, maybe, rather than a large building for everyone. And maybe, um, that might be something that s possible in the near term and maybe also more beneficial, um, for the people who are there. So I m just curious if that s part of the model, potentially. Um, it s difficult. Right. So we re the the plan or the dollars set aside to purchase and rehab a space are the home arp dollars right. That very clearly specify that whatever is developed with those dollars be to support non congregate shelter is the kind of term that the that hud is using. Right. And hud defines non
congregate as a private dwelling like a private room with an interior bathroom. So and that meets the definition. So that limits us a little bit. Right. Um I think some you know, taking a step back from where we were um, last DECEMBER to where we are today. Right. I think that, um, what s important is we re looking at a whole bunch of different models. Right. And I think that, you know, something that doesn t involve, like, the ongoing maintenance that an old aging, you know, building brings, right? So looking more kind of at like an a vivo village type model, um, that is
has a lower overhead to like, manage um, is is kind of one of the things that we re considering. Um, thanks. Thank you, MISS Michaels. And I think just for our ability to also, one of the things that we really want to continue to do is basically draw differences between these programs. I know that they vary in size, operating budget, staff capacity. So could you just briefly touch on like, familiar faces? Overall, how big is the team? Um, how large is the operating budget that you kind of work with this year? And just, um, the variety of where the funding sources come from just so folks can understand that this this I would distinguish of the two things we ll talk about today. Familiar faces is more of the, in my opinion, like very hands
on, but also as a growing and developing team that ll be around here for a while. So could you just make did you just draw that distinction program wise of size, amount, resources? I mean, I think ideally right in in learning from lessons learned, even with the number of individuals we ve had at the hotel at one place in time. Right. Like we don t want whatever we re building to be permanent, right. Like this is really kind of recuperative care, right? And getting kind of people stabilized and back on their feet and ready for the next permanent thing, that is, and making sure that we re availing ourselves to everything that, that they re available for. So small. Like. And when I say small, right,
like in the moment, like I still continue to believe that having like 35 ish active people in a space at one time is what makes the most sense. If we want a success and true stabilization and, um, a fairly efficient, for lack of a better word, revolving door. Right? Like so you re talking about exit and entry with people. You re establishing the picture that this is not permanent. You re relying on strategies like critical time intervention, getting people reconnected back into the community. However they define community, the supports that
they would find helpful in that community. So really to do that kind of intensive, person centered work, you can t be working with hundreds of people at one time, right? But hopefully over the span of a year or two years, you re working with hundreds of people because you re having successful exits. So I think scope, um, and number of people needs to remain fairly small so you can be efficient and have good outcomes. Uh, right now, what we re budgeting and planning for is, uh, outreach support. Um, currently I m counting myself as an outreach worker. Um, my team puts up with me, and I
ve, um, they re telling me now that I m actually a fairly decent outreach worker, but I need to quit that part of my job. Um, so ideally, we would have two outreach practitioners, uh, two life coach, uh, practitioners, and three behavioral health practitioners, uh, working as part of that intensive care management team. Uh, we need an overall programmatic manager. Um, and then when we find a space, um, you that intensive care management team would hub office work out of that space. Um, but then you ll need, um, operations staff just to manage day to day checking people in
and out of the building of the facility, managing just issues and stuff that come up in operating in a space like that. And just and I appreciate that. And just like for a quick follow up and right now, what you have is like as far as staffing capacity and sizes right now, you have on on staff. Uh, for. For a team members. And just like are they there s is that including yourself. So then are all four technically right now on this uh, outreach. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. And then just how how big is the operating budget for familiar faces right now. So, uh, we re winding down our state funding, um, which was
the state funding was intended largely to go to operational expenses of a building, which we didn t have. Um, so we used that to build out a lot of infrastructure supports that are needed to house a program in terms of, um, it database support. Uh, uh, vehicle support. Um, we partnered with Hart and offset some of their eft expense, um, through the partnership. Um, the Department of Justice grant was extended for another year. Um, so right now, the operation budget is primarily focusing on that doj grant, and that is about $1.8
million. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner, I did see your hand in my peripheral. Did you still have a question? Yeah, I was just trying to, uh, from my last question, I didn t get my answer, um, or my question answered, particularly around, like, how many people do you serve, particularly with familiar faces? I know you mentioned you said ideally we want to serve, um, 35 participants within the building, but I just I don t know if that is the volume of your caseload in terms of who s considered enough familiar faces program. Uh, right now, given that outreach is the part of the program that has been launched, outreach has several touches of lots of people. I
think since the, um, rollout of outreach, we ve probably had touches of over like 250 individuals. Um, the services that are made available to them primarily depends upon their engagement. And their receipt of the services that are offered. Um, right now we have, um, six people currently remaining at the hotel that we re doing more than outreach services to. Um, so outreach doesn t really define its work by carrying a caseload, uh, the life coaches will, um, and those life coaches once hired and onboarded, would have a caseload up to about 15, um, each. And thank you, MISS Michaels. I know that I think what I
m appreciating from this conversation is just kind of adding the context behind the individuals of what we consider what the individuals served for this program. Um, from what I hear from you, is that it will be it s probably a primary example of one that like the numbers themselves, mean so much more because the average person like the unique part about this is that you re not just counting literal bodies, as some of our like, shelters and like our kind of our count for the county does. You re also counting that as like with multiple hours, multiple staff time, multiple different resources that are coming to them. So appreciate the context behind the caseload, knowing that like the caseload can be
extended in multiple ways. Um, I did see hands from commissioner and then a commissioner. Nacre. And so follow up. And I ll just say like, and we are tracking that. Right. Like the duplicated and unduplicated counts of individuals. And I think just being I will say to that end, like, I think it would be really helpful to know just um, on average, like how, you know, you mentioned the timeline from when familiar faces, which folks are first coming in contact, even when they re able to successfully get them in a hotel to then another additional resources like I think knowing the timeline of just what length of time or how many hours that s clocking for each person would be really eye
opening. Um, as a as the chair of the hra, um, I appreciate this graphic only because when you think about like functional zero, obviously the differences between our current actual, uh, uh, the heading home, Ramsay s, uh, strategic plan that s been kind of focused off of just the overall response utilization. The key thing I m noticing is the differences in time. The difference is the numbers that come from that timeline of when someone is, um, going from unsheltered to emergency shelter and coordinated entry is significantly less than some of the successful referrals numbers. We see some of the program exits we see. And then overall, just like prevention does not look like the numbers on the back, if our goal, which I think it continues to be to get to functional zero. Um, and
so I think in this case too, just with folks that you re, you re working with knowing the timelines, knowing what we are currently experiencing gives a lot of context to what maybe the goals might be in the future, especially when it comes to try and, you know, make a strong case for, uh, continuing to support the work and bring it on different hands and different resources for it. So I just I m very interested in the work that you all are doing, and primarily just to understand, like a full, uh, like what? How long does this type of work take? Because I think in many ways it s it s set aside in some of the conditional responses and a little bit on an island of its own when it comes to just how, um, we are, you know, the city
is taking the initiatives to basically work, um, where there s a gap in resources for, um, you know, individuals who we unfortunately are familiar with because our current, uh, our current system, our current system as it is, is not actually being able to benefit some of our folks that aren t able to access permanent housing options right now for whatever reason, or have like, a long history of being, of recycling through the system. So I just really appreciate kind of the context you re giving because it just talks to the nuances, the amount of time that it takes, probably for an average person within your caseload is just different than, um, that if we were seeing them overnight. And so
just really, really appreciate that clarity too. And I would add, I think the nuance is really difficult to wrap your arms around. Um, what I have learned is that if you have no one advocating on your behalf, you will sit on that coordinated entry wait list indefinitely. Um. Best like out of the Bruce Vento closure, we, um, offered hotel vouchers to five individuals for the five were all had housing referrals to one specific site based place. Right. So site based providers have a lot more control of their situation. And when units become vacant and
how long it takes them to turn the units, um, I would say the four people that were all going to the same place were at the hotel, um, waiting for their approved housing to turn into a move in. They were there from anywhere from 15 to 45 days, um, to moved in pretty quickly at a at a 15 day window, we were told seven days when we when we agreed to the arrangement and then just different things happened that like somebody didn t move out when they were supposed to, it took them longer to turn a room. And I think that if we weren t there persistently rattling the cage, being good partners, of course. But just
like also being that kind of squeaky wheel, like, hey, where are you at with that housing turn? We still have the person at the hotel. Um, so I think that that and that I m learning is best case scenario, right? Best case scenario. Um, we are more substantially challenged, um, with housing referrals that came out of the Lafayette encampment closure. Um, all of the referrals were with a provider that is that scattered site housing provider. Right. So they have independent relationships with private market landlords. And we it s been double. It s taken twice as long, um, for a whole multitude of reasons. So. Right. So that nuance is really different. And if it s just you
trying to manage your way through that with limited capacities and abilities to communicate, because maybe you don t have a cell phone or you don t have consistent access to a cell phone and you don t have a computer like that referral will just fall off. So the nuances are are profound. No, that I yeah, that gives. So, uh, I think I just talked about the struggle and I think to your point of like you needing someone in your corner to be an advocate, I think we ve all experienced scenarios where, um, you can say that that s true. I know, like in our family, it looks very different. Like I m still, uh, the voice that often my family calls me to advocate, to kind of maneuver systems. And when you don t have that, it can, to
your point, be the difference between, oh, well, this person s got to get moved up here because we are hearing from people over and over and over about this one individual. Let s try to get them into housing, which is not always the case that it should be. But um, in a space where we have a growing need at times, like I m sure everyone s working through the list as best as I can, but being able to be the advocate piece is really important. Um, I think back to the 24 hour, uh, facility piece. I would be very curious to know to how the county is assisting, uh, in that conversation, and in part because I know that that is a growing partnership that folks have had. And I ve been in several communications, um,
with the county and with the city. And I m just curious if they have, um, or is there any planning to potentially also talk to the county about any county owned resources or land that they have, or even just like, um, potential assistance that they might have when considering the 24 hour facility goal? I think those conversations are ongoing, and I think it s a result of the good work that Director Blakey has, and forging, uh, relationships with, uh, new public health director at Ramsey County, City of Saint Paul. Um, we re working with Gloria and her team consistently about kind of
really trying to be mindful as we re building out approaches separately, how we can maximize, um, what we re each bringing to the table to, um, have a solution. But and recognizing that resources and funding is tight. No, I think it ll be really important just to continue to have that county partnership, especially as it relates to security. I would hate for the city to get into a space where they re solely responsible for the facility, solely responsible for the continued operation, solely responsible again for carrying so much of the load of our, uh, of our disproportionate amount of folks that we service here in our city. But really, that really do end up coming from everywhere across the county and the Twin Cities
metropolitan area. And so I really, you know, I think I think for me, the goals all make sense. And I just think that the partnership, especially if it comes to moving towards some sort of like permanent structure or permanent facility, um, that could be so needed for community that it s not just us, the city, you know, standing in that capacity alone and that we can do that with the partnerships, especially with the opportunities for new leadership, the opportunity to communicate with newer commissioners that have been on board who have kind of vocalized some of their interests. Um, you know, this is just a priority, I think, across the board. And I think that, um, people sometimes we underestimate the oh, this didn
t work in 2022. This not this wasn t talked about in 2023. Um, and not recognizing that maybe the conversation could be completely different in 2025 and 2026 because of how different, what different times we are currently living and experiencing. And so I just, um, would really love to be supportive in any way that that, you know, comes with you as you continue to go forward with that goal and building out your team. You know, I continue to just really want to be able to advocate for the work that we re doing at the city, to also reach and gain the partnership with the county as well. Um, but I m taking a lot of time, so I ll give it over to Commissioner for your
question, and Commissioner as well. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Um. Oh, sorry. And I, I appreciate that familiar faces. The topic we re talking about today. I m, I broadened it earlier and I m vaguely broadening it now. Um, but I just want to mention it now because it s so rare that in work like this sort of success stories are shared. And I had a version of that happen recently talking to, um, folks who do a lot of community level, um, uh, encampment support and also folks, just to put it bluntly, who are very, very quick to criticize the city, myself, department staff, whoever, like someone who is a very vocal critic, just for context of what this meant. And he directly, openly said, when he works with people in
encampments and the folks who are around those spaces, they consistently mention heart and familiar faces. Staff as people they trust, people they re willing to work with, people they re happy to see, and that matters for any departmental interaction. Like I want everyone in the city to like when they re interacting with city employees. I m not naive enough to think that s universal. Um, but it matters ten times more or 100 times more in this work, because the trustworthiness them being willing to trust our staff is one of the only ways we actually make progress on getting these referrals through and getting these people to the resources they have. And so just want to name that. When I was sitting in that
conversation, I was pleasantly surprised to hear, not because I don t trust the teams, but the fact that someone who s even someone who s very critical of the city not doing enough, they openly said that that s like an almost universal thing that they here. And so just want to say that goes to the intention. Your team is showing the intention that the heart team is showing, and it matters that we re doing work that way. I appreciate that. Um, and I think that it s not always the case. Right. Especially when much in the bulk of the familiar faces work is about rattling those cages, like zeroing in on the gaps that we re seeing, um, holding more of the provider side of
things accountable, like we do it in the vein of, like, showing up for the people that we re working for. So, um, people aren t always excited to see us coming, but the people that matter are. So that s important. Thank you, MISS Michaels. And I. I, um, if folks are okay, I want to make sure we get to both programs. The familiar faces and familiar family spaces where we ve been talking mostly on familiar faces, which is really great because I, I do think that council members have a really strong interest in this, and I will just share, like, um, you know, as you guys are thinking about your procedure, it s very your budget and just your build out and your goals. Um, I m very interested and have kind
of shared with Director Newton as well. Like as the current, uh, vice chair of Heading Home. Ramsey, I m really interested in seeing what role we can play, as well as supporting some of the work not only around unsheltered homelessness, but I think that there s been some creative work that has come in place in standing in between the gaps with the data that we ve seen. And I see familiar faces as an example, at least from that lens of where we re trying to coexist in a in a place of not replicating what currently exists, but in the gap. And I think that there s a lot of need for that as well. So as a lot of investment in prevention, I see a lot of, you know, the continued conversations about what do we do when someone has, um, become
homeless or has is experiencing unsheltered homelessness? Uh, I ve also been very vocal about the need to really try to prevent that from happening in the first place. And so I see investments in, um, the emergency rental assistance program in our city as a, as a mechanism, not necessarily to solve evictions in our city, but to provideome sort of resource to try and prevent that from happening in the first place. And so I do see needs to, to exist within the gaps where the data is showing us. We just don t have enough people. We don t have. We have two. We have too many people waiting for weeks to get into options when they have a voucher, like some of those information and some of that experience, I think is super
important to continue to inform how we fund and how we invest in our unsheltered homelessness response as a city overall. And so I just see the work that you guys do is really vital. Um, you speak and communicate with some of our constituents that don t often get to communicate with us. And I think that that work is really important. And so I just want to uplift that. While you re a team of four, much like our heart team as well, like the work that you do, the hours that you spend and, um, the committee members that you speak to, like you said, often don t have advocates doing that same work. And so it truly can be life or death for someone. So it just really appreciate that attention and the work that you guys put in. It
s been great to meet you along the road. And I think it s been really awesome to have that work. Um, there is a question that we didn t get to, but it s just about knowing the numbers. And I think people are just really interested in like your, your numbers of people that you have by this name list. So like step one and the familiar face is focused. I think if you could just talk a little bit about that or even follow up with us in an email of like, here are the numbers we re currently working with, here s a number of people that we have currently housed in hotels waiting on. You know, here s their circumstances. Like they re waiting on, uh, they have a housing voucher that they re waiting to get into, like, just so again, we can get a sense of, I think
numbers. People care about the length of time, the amount of hours you guys are working on this. Like, I think it just really, again, adds person like add context to person and then also just context to the work that you guys do every day. Um, that s just not easily replicated. And so, um, that can be an email follow up with us that really can just talk about that. But that was the last question. We didn t get to today. So that s great. Yeah. And we can put together a dashboard that s easy to glance at. Thank you guys. Got a lot of stuff to read. Well thank you so much Michael. All right I see the deputy mayor walking up for transitioning again to familiar families. And I think,
um, you know, as you go forward, I think just drawing this distinction will be helpful. I got a number of questions from commissioners that really started with, can you just explain the difference between the two of them? So I ll hand it over to you. Thank you. Chair. Uh, Jamie Tinker, deputy mayor, City of Saint Paul. Thank you for having me. Um, I want to zoom out really quickly, um, so that I can then put it back into context. So, um, I want to talk a little bit about the heading home. Ramsey cac. So this was the handout that we gave. Um, the reason I wanted to start with, uh, familiar faces is because that s really the body of work in this continuum that the city of Saint Paul has stepped into and is leading. Um, and as I think about the populations that we
re serving, um, you know, familiar faces is a very intensive focus on individuals who, um, are frequent users of our emergency services. So I think, um, just underscoring that, um, in the vulnerable populations that we have, we have at heading home, Ramsey, um, entities that we partner with really strongly to do housing and shelter, outreach, prevention, day services, mental health supports and familiar faces kind of sits in a space of filling a gap where with our emergency service, um, responders, police, fire, our courtrooms, our emergency rooms, we have folks that are cycling in and out, in and out consistently. And so, um,
Familiar Faces was really designed to say, how do we put intensive focus on that list of individuals and do whatever it is that s needed to get them into stable spaces? And so, um, just super proud of the work that, uh, Chris Michaels and her team does in that space. So at heading home, Ramsey, um, and we re really proud that, uh, our hra chair is now the vice chair at heading home. Ramsey, I think that it creates a lot of really important connections between the city and this, uh, collective action, uh, community partnership that we have. Um, we have done we ve done a lot of strategic planning. That s the other outreach or the other
handout that you had. So we started at heading home. Ramsey with a needs assessment of, you know what? What are we seeing in the space of homelessness. And then what do we need to do to make it rare. Um brief and nonrecurring for people, all people in our community. And so, um, all of those partners are looking at ways that we re doing, uh, programming for youth, for seniors, for all of our different populations that are experiencing homelessness. And the goals are to move to a state of functional zero. Um, the reason this is important for us to know where our numbers currently are is because then at heading home, Ramsey, we have a governing board that is made up of the
entities, um, the leadership from, uh, our community service providers, and we actually do the strategic planning. And we say, how do we direct dollars in ways that are going to impact that current state? And create systems so that we have people moving through that continuum in a in a smarter way? And so our steering committee at heading home, Ramsey got together. And based off of the decade of work that led into the concept of familiar faces, that steering committee of providers, uh, came up with a concept and said, we should do that same thing with familiar families.
So in our in our providers, with our school district, um, and our nonprofits, our community based organizations, what they were seeing was the same phenomenon happening with our, uh, family, support system that we were seeing in the city of Saint Paul with those frequent users of emergency services. And so, um, I know that it gets confusing with the programs, the way that I think about it, to make it really easy and streamlined is familiar. Faces is about individuals, and familiar families is about families. Um, and it s really just designed with those services. How do we direct and coordinate those services so that the individuals who are
experiencing, um, recurring systemic, uh, bouts of homelessness, what services do we need to provide in very individualized ways, uh, so that we can get them to stability and sort of stop those cycles? Um, so with familiar families, uh, that that concept came through our heading home Ramsey Collective Action Partnership. Uh, it was a pilot program concept that the steering committee and providers, uh, practitioners brought to the governing board, the governing board blessed it and said, yes, we should do a pilot program and figure out how we would design the programming for families that
would mirror the work that has been done for familiar individuals. Um, and then there was there were resources that we solicited so that we could fund that work. Uh, the city of Saint Paul provided in the last budget. Uh, you all supported, um, $500,000 to go to. Heading home. Ramsey. Uh, and the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation matched that with $250,000. The 500 from the city was from the Housing Trust Fund, and it was repurposed balances from, uh, an overnight shelter program and permanent supportive housing, uh, programming. So, um, with those balances, we
said, uh, we sent that money to heading home. Ramsey, uh, so that we could launch this pilot program. The rfp for that scope of work has not been released. Um, and I know that at the upcoming, uh, heading home, Ramsey governing board conversation, uh, I think there will be a conversation about, as we all know, we re facing some financial pressures from the federal government, from the state situation. And so as we again, go through that process of looking at our needs assessment, and where do we need to be putting dollars, what s happening in our system? I know that our nonprofit
providers are feeling that crunch as well. And so, um, the the goals and the values and the the work that was done around familiar families, I think it holds, um, I just I know that, um, it will probably be a conversation about as we look into this year and into next year and what s happening on the ground. Um, I trust that the heading home Ramsey, uh, body will make some good decisions about how do we need to be investing resources and what what makes the most sense? I m happy to take questions. Chair Johnson. Okay. And, uh, thank you, Deputy Mayor, for that overview. And just so I can also make sure that I understand. So the the Housing Redevelopment Authority s
housing trust Fund put $500,000 that was matched by the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation. So there s about $1 million that s put aside for what would be an rfp that more, more than likely would be released later on. But as could be communicated with heading home, Ramsey, when. Uh, the next meeting is in JULY. So this is like scheduled for the 24th meeting. Correct? Okay. Are there any questions right now initially from commissioners, uh, Commissioner Yang, thanks. Chair Johnson, um, thank you so much for coming in and presenting along with, um, uh, the presentation about familiar faces to I really appreciate it
and just appreciate the clear distinction between both of the programs I m hearing. Um, I heard a deputy mayor, you shared a bit about the funding piece, and so I m wondering if you can share about, like, the, the long term plan for funding for both of the programs. It sounds like there isn t ongoing funding for it. If I m incorrect on that, like, please correct me. It would be helpful to hear about that, especially like knowing all the changes that are happening at the federal level, state level as well. And then also is is there still is the intention behind the physical space to also be
hosting familiar families as well? And if yes, like what s the what s also like the long term plan on being able to fund a space like that, knowing that there are operational costs, maintenance fees, that s that s going to come with the long term too? Um, I ll touch on, uh, Chair Johnson. Uh, Commissioner, I ll touch on the second question first. Um, for familiar families, I think that the structure of that programming will look, um, pretty different from the individuals. And so the housing supports will probably look different to, um, and I think in the family space, a lot of it is, um, all of the supports, multigenerational supports that some of the families might need for a lot of the communities
that are happening, that are keeping them in that cycle. So, um, it could be that, uh, there are opportunities for housing, but they re just getting moved and moved. The children are moving from school to, like, consistently. Um, so that the housing pieces MAY look very different from the other program. Um, and I would love for our folks, uh, that are leading that work, the practitioners to come to this space. And I know that, um, Chair Johnson can facilitate those just so that there s really specific, um, answers around that. I think for the ongoing funding. Uh, when we really stepped in as a city
into this work, really deeply out of necessity during Covid, we didn t really have a plan for what s the long term. Right. And I think a lot of the work that the city steps into in this space that I think we think of as the umbrella of community first public safety, like, what does that mean? How do we advance community first, public safety? Um, a lot of the work that is happening in the Office of Neighborhood Safety with familiar faces with, you know, our partnerships is really thinking about how do we re-envision the way that our structures are happening right now. And I think that what
guides me is that the great work that we see, Chris Michaels and her team do, the great work that we ve seen the heart team do. If we can capture that data, if we can capture that narrative, if we can capture those successes and really focus on how do we come together every year and make priorities around a budget and make sure that we re we re seeing successes in getting outcomes and results toward community first public safety. And we re breaking that cycle of, um, you know, the the frequent use of emergency services. Um, I think that what we will ultimately find is that
we are going to save so much by better resourcing, effective outcomes that it s kind of going to be sort of a swapping of dollars. Um, and it doesn t always feel that way. You can t necessarily see it on a spreadsheet. But I know that what it costs to do what we re doing right now and send EMTs, fire rigs, law enforcement, um, all of that, that cost us way more than if we are getting real, sustainable, long term outcomes for the individuals who are cycling through that every day. So it ll be a partnership with you all. Thank you. Okay. And then I saw Commissioner Bowie and then
Commissioner Privacy. Thank you I m Chair Johnson. Thank you so much. Um, I m the deputy mayor. I m sure I, um, I just was just reflecting on some of the conversations I ve been having, and, like, neighborhood district councils and community groups. Um, I want to shout out to the good neighbors. I know there, um, located in that Capitol Hill area and been really organized around, um, you know, the work that s happening with Halie Ramsey. And one of the things they did mention to me, um, which some of them have served on, not the governing board, but one of the committees is that, um, heading home, Ramsey is looking at the effectiveness of some of the
programs and evaluations. Um, and he had mentioned particularly around there was not like an audit audit, not an official audit, but just a testing of, um, um, trial runs of calling services, calling organizations and saying, hey, I m looking for help. Just trying to see, um, what, like the user experience is, um, and I know when it comes to, um, a lot of the concerns and complaints I ve been receiving is just like, we know that funding is out there. Um, we know that people are, um, there s tons of services out there, but people just don t know, like where to go, who to
call, and, um, from people s experiences when they do call, um, those services that are those organizations that are funded, you know, whether it s through the county or through the state. Um, or in partnership with the city, like they have a very specialized approach are they might just be solely educational awareness. They MAY just give care packages, but people really need somewhere to go. And a lot of our shelters are at capacity. Um, so I m curious around the direction of heading home. Ramsey and the investment of some of those day services and drop ins. Um, you know, I
know a lot of, um, what we ve seen, particularly on Uniondale, is in the daytime, there s a lot of people out there, but at night, um, a lot of people have successfully somehow found shelter, um, whether they have their own permanent shelter or they re going into, um, some of those shelters that we fund. So I m just curious around what is like heading homes, like knowing that we still want to be good faith partners. But also there is that accountability question of like our as we re investing our services, what are some of the outcomes that we want to make sure that we re seeing and how we re holding our partners? You know, up to that standard of
actually making sure they re servicing the people that they say they do. Yeah. Uh, Chair Johnson, Commissioner, uh, it s a great question. And I think the accountability for ourselves and for, you know, all of our partners in this work is really important. And I know that, um, Ramsey County and through heading home, Ramsey, Ramsey County sort of staffs that body of work. Uh, there are um, sort of monitoring visits. And, you know, in the same way with all of our grants that we do with partners, there s that process of, you know, how are we making sure that the services are being provided, that the work is being done? And so, um, you know, I
m happy to follow up on some of those specifics and some of those metrics. Um, one of the things that we ve been doing at Heading Home, Ramsey over the past couple of years, uh, the staff there, you know, we can make arrangements so that they could come and do some presentations. Uh, Mary Jo Schmidt did our last needs assessment. It s like 125 page report. She did a lot of quantitative and qualitative assessments with our partners. And really looking at, you know, what are our physical what s our physical capacity to serve folks as a collective? Um, what are the challenges that our nonprofits are facing? Like what our service
providers. We heard a lot of great feedback around, um, the needs that their staff has and just staff retention and the staff training, like, so it s a really comprehensive report about collectively what s going on our on in our community as a, as a body that is trying to serve really diverse needs. Um, so we can come back and and give a lot more detail on the specifics that heading home Ramsey is providing from the City of Saint Paul. Uh, the way that we ve been thinking about it and Director Blakey and I ve had a lot of conversations around this over the past, I think three years, uh, that we ve been doing this gvi work, the gun violence interruption work. We ve had a lot of
technical assistance. We have a ton of partners, um, that that come into that space. And we have really clear structures around how are we going to tackle, um, gun violence as an epidemic. And it s taken us years to kind of get to a space where those things are built out. The partnerships are there. It works. Really. Um, it s not perfect, but we ve got it working to the extent that our results and outcomes are that we re in JUNE of the year and we have one gun related homicide in the city of Saint Paul. What we ve been talking about in this body of work is we know that the logistics, the structures, the partnerships, the way we collaborate around that work is what s getting us
those results for the people that we re trying to get those results. And so we as a city are thinking we need to take that same framework, that same structured approach, and we need to apply it to complex problems like this as well. And so I really appreciate your question, because embedded in that is really deep strategic work around how are we doing our work toward the outcomes and the results that we want to see. So we we can definitely follow up on all of that. Thank you. Commissioner Bravo. Yeah, I know we re tight on time. Uh, Chair Johnson, thank you. I know. We re 13 minutes. I know we re tight on time. I ll go quick. Only because, um, the question about facilities for families versus individuals. I
m very, very excited about the new shelter space, the family shelter space in, in my ward and pretty close to my house at Bandana Square. It s a former hotel, and I actually had never been in the hotel when it was operating. Is that either. And we got a chance to tour it, and it is in such phenomenal shape, such great condition. It will be like such a nice welcoming space for, for these families. They re currently in the process of proposing, you know, going through the court process to get approved, but they re hoping to be operating in the next few months. Fingers crossed how that process goes. Um, but just just noting that because on the family side, it s just so important to have spaces like that. And it really is sort of perfectly built to be transitioned into this use.
And so just noting that. Yes, thank you, Commissioner, um, I appreciate just kind of getting the information. I will say that I think the, um, the important things for me that I really want to know, and even just from the presentations today, um, I think the aspect of what it sounds like was originally thought of to be a pilot for similar work, um, but with a different body of focus. So familiar families being primarily focused around families. Um, I heard you say that there was, um, the original thought was to also do like an rfp, and there s communication that will be going to head home. Ramsey, for to see kind of if it s still a relevant scenario. And I m just
wondering so the heading home Ramsey Body will also be reviewing our $800,000, um, supportive housing rfp investment that the city has also made. And with that, though, there was a suggestion at the last heading home Ramsey meeting. So they had kind of an idea of where they wanted to go. Is that similar familiar families, like there s a direction that we re considering fully at the table that, uh, members will be responding to. Or is it really like there s, like, how far in the stages, I guess, are we in that. Uh, chair? The way that heading home Ramsey is structured, we have the governing board, and then we have a steering committee. The governing board, uh, is the
body where we, uh, decision makers make final decisions about all of the funding sources. So we have federal funds from hud that come into that body. Um, and then, uh, sources like the sources that the City Council provided to heading home. Ramsey, we think about it as that governing board makes the decision about, um, releasing the rfp and sort of running that process. So, um, for all of those sources of funding that will go to the governing board, uh, to make those those final determinations, and for the $880,000 that the city sent, um, what the governing board is
doing first is getting confirmation about if we re looking at this data, um, where, where and how should we propose and scope an rfp that would use those dollars to most effectively impact, uh, results? So they ll do a two step process there. They ll say strategically, where should we, uh, scope an rfp to address those needs? And then once that, uh, proposal is made, they will then direct the funding toward those pieces. Okay. I, um, I guess I appreciate that, too. And I m, I guess I m wondering just, uh, I think that it ll be really
important to hear what the feedback is. And I will say this just for some of the things that I think I ll be listening to as well as like if, uh, folks still think that this is the direction to go or if there is questions or even, um, ideas for what, not necessarily like a pivot necessarily, but like what exactly what it look like. So we can come back through. Because I think with any budgetary conversations and even just future investment opportunities, the goal will be to fully kind of understand, like how at least from the housing trust fund, like how the money and resources is being used, like what will come of the $500,000 that was then matched. And I
m sure our partners at the Saint Paul, Minnesota Foundation will want to know the same. And so just being able to have like a plan for what that looks like, um, following the JULY meeting, I think is really important. We did go through some of what will be on the agendas for those meetings. And so I m pretty i m pretty sure that the people that are there will have viewpoints and thoughts, and providers will have thoughts and, uh, suggestions on how it can be done. Um, and just and this is just a question from my vantage point, too, because I also hear familiar faces talking about really just trying to continue to establish their program and their building and their capacity needs. And, five minutes. So with that, we