[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Summary of Human Services Strategy Study Sessio May 13, 2014 - Item 3B

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

Dear Jane and Karen:


Council was clear at the Study Session that Boulder needs to generate a regional response to Homelessness, as we cannot alone provide housing and services sufficient to address the need. That Boulder is already devoting substantially more resources than
 other communities can be seen in the data in Attachments B and C of the Summary of the Study Session. We spend 3 X as much as Longmont, 6 X as much as Ft. Collins, and 17 X to 35 X as much as Lafayette, Louisville, Arvada, Westminster and Colorado Springs.
 Many cities, including Superior, spend nothing to address the needs of people who are Homeless.

The need for regional collaboration to address Homelessness was well captured in the Summary of the May 13 Study Session. 


What I do not think was well captured was the additional focused information requested by Council on May 13: namely, 1) more detailed information about people who are Homeless based on interviews and meetings, and 2) did people become Homeless elsewhere
 and then move to Boulder, or did they become Homeless while already residents of Boulder or nearby communities? In asking this question, I believe Council understood that this would take both skill and time to develop credible information.


The information about what other communities spend on services for Homeless people is very useful. But some communities have policies or practices that export the burden of providing services to the Homeless onto other communities in ways that are not
 expressed in their budgets. Additional information that would be helpful for the Study Session and to lay the groundwork for regional cooperation would be to specify what other communities do to shift the burden associated with Homelessness to other jurisdictions--in
 ways that would not be reflected in their budgets. At the CML conference in Breckenridge in June, an employee of the Brighton City Manager's office informed me that Brighton transports Homeless people from Brighton to other cities that do provide services
 for the Homeless.


Broomfield, even though it is a county, devotes barely a page of its website to social services. A search of its website on the word Homeless brings up the following at http://www.broomfield.org/faq.aspx?qid=201



I am homeless, where can I get shelter assistance?
There are no shelters in Broomfield; however, if you are a family with children, you may contact the Emergency Family Assistance Association at 303.442.3042. The United Way of Denver (Mile High United Way) also has current information of available shelter space
 in the Denver metro area. You may access their referral service by dialing 2-1-1.



So there are specific directions, such as Broomfield's, that Homeless people should seek help in Boulder or Denver, whereas other jurisdictions like Brighton take action not embodied in policy that also shifts responsibility to other jurisdictions. It
 would be helpful in August to have more information about these policies and practices.


Thanks very much.











Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member




1726 Mapleton Ave.







Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 447-3062
(303) 638-6884