[BoulderCouncilHotline] Example Solutions - Re: Wallach's July 13 Hotline Post

[Young, Mary]

Dear Colleagues and Community,

I am sharing the thread below so that we can all be on the same page tonight.

In response to my colleague Mark Wallach's Hotline post, we received an email with examples of solutions relating to HAB/HRC's recommendations. I asked Kurt if he was familiar with these. His initial response is pasted below as it was a separate email. Staff had, overnight, also looked into these, and Kurt forwarded their work to me after his initial response.

I would like to thank Vicki and Wendy for their responsiveness.

We're all in this together...six feet apart.

In solidarity,

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

[cid:fddd397b-2567-4f07-9e19-9f9ecdb1c09d]

"All ethics ... rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts..." - Aldo Leopold

Dear Mary,



We won’t have time to look into all of these projects today and our staff member who used to assist our department with this work was laid off.  However, Vicki worked in homeless programs in Texas and I reached out to her.



1. The Dignity Village is discussed in the CC memo

2. The Austin housing is completely privately funded.  It is a fairly good use of tiny homes as PSH

3. Regarding hotels: there are two reasons communities are buying hotels- COVID, PSH or bridge housing. As for COVID, we have multiple approaches, some of which includes a component of hotels.

4. Redevelopment, there is some merit in these approaches in some communities.  In Boulder, first, I am not aware of any hotels for sale.  Most hotels in our community are worth as much or more than the Balsam hospital that we purchased. In Austin they invested over $7m (not including any operating costs) and they have a large supply of lower quality hotels that could be purchased and redeveloped.



It is worth noting that we approached several hotels in Boulder that we thought may be open to allowing us to place COVID symptomatic individuals.  None were interested.  In Denver they had to rent whole hotels, as other customers wouldn’t stay there and they have lower cost hotels.  The hotels were destroyed and they had thousands of dollars of damage to repair.  Renting hotels with out investing in a system of oversight and support creates this outcome.  Similar to campgrounds.

________________________________
From: Firnhaber, Kurt <FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 8:13 AM
To: Young, Mary <YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: FW: Mark Wallach's Email re: HAB


Dear Mary,



Both Vicki and Wendy were up past 1:00 this morning looking at some of these projects people have put forward in the last couple days, including from HAB.  Here is a piece of some of there review specific to your question.  They also did other helpful work to some of the other aspects we may hear about tonight.



I hope the below is helpful.



Thanks,



Kurt



From: Schwartz, Wendy <SchwartzW at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:SchwartzW at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 8:03 AM
To: Firnhaber, Kurt <FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov>>; Ebner, Vicki <EbnerV at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:EbnerV at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Subject: RE: Mark Wallach's Email re: HAB



I double checked many of these last night. My comments highlighted.



  1.  Opportunity Village (Eugene, OR)<https://www.eugene-or.gov/3705/Opportunity-Village>.  A previous Boulder city council toured Opportunity Village in 2016. Operates on city land leased for $1. City does not pay operating expenses, which are covered by fundraising, as well as each resident paying $30/mo. No paid case management onsite. The last report available is from 2016 when they report 6 residents (27%) exiting to permanent housing. Of note, their housing exits % may be skewed upward by the criteria to live in the village: must be able to pass a background check, go through interview and application process, complete 10 hours volunteer service to the community every week, not have any alcohol, drugs or weapons onsite. In other words, the criteria for living in the tiny home village is skewed toward the most functional people that may have lower housing barriers and be easier to have successful exits with.
  2.  Community First (Austin, TX)<https://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20190517/how-austins-tiny-home-village-for-homeless-people-is-becoming-national-model> not only a model for a thriving community, with gardens, but also rents open-to-all airBnBs on site (yes, someone with a Mercedes could technically sleep next to previously homeless and wouldn't that be eye-opening?) This is a beautiful community and it is very different from what HRC/HAB have proposed because it is PERMANENT HOUSING. It would go very nicely with our housing focus since it actually ends homelessness for its residents. It is not funded by government. Residents pay rents averaging about $300. It was started with $18M of donations from corporations, private individuals etc. Run by a faith-based non-profit started by a real estate developer that purchased the 51 acres on which it sits.
  3.  Dignity Village (Portland)<https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2016/01/28/in-a-tiny-house-village-portlands-homeless-find-dignity/> -  2016 Council also visited On City land, but pays for its own operating budget through a combination of fundraising and a $35/mo fee from village residents. The organization makes claims of 80% placement in housing – though it also notes it’s average length of stay at about 2 years. The 2 year LOS is down from a high of 10 years and they credit additional affordable housing opportunities with the reduction. Again, the exit rate can’t be compared to ours because we include everyone. Their exit rate is capturing the people that can abide by rules such as no drugs/alcohol, doing 10 hours of service for the camp per week, demonstrating goals to move on, and moving on before the end of 2 years.



Safe Parking:

This writeup on Longmont's plans<https://coloradosun.com/2020/04/28/safe-parking-living-in-cars-longmont/> also includes links to Santa Baraba (going on 16 years) and Seattle's programs. Longmont’s program does not include government funding. The Santa Barbara program noted here is in our memo – combination of public and private funds. I took a look last night and it appears that in 15 years the Santa Barbara programs says they have exited 1000 people to permanent housing – or about the same as what we’ve accomplished in 2.5 years. Vicki did the research there and might be able to speak to how the balance on that funding works.





Hotels for homeless:

The articles below all feature local or state government efforts to purchase hotels to turn into PERMANENT HOUSING. This is completely in keeping with our strategy – if we had the funds. Bottom line, comes down to having more funding for housing for people experiencing homelessness.

  1.  Austin is purchasing hotels <https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/city-of-austin-identifies-second-hotel-theyll-consider-purchasing-for-homeless-housing> and converting them to housing. Austin also plans to spread out homeless options so that each of the 10 city districts pulls their weight, instead of all on one side of town.
  2.  California hotels to housing<https://calmatters.org/housing/2020/06/motel-conversion-homeless-housing-california/> (some have been up and running longer). You may need to supply your own Eagles soundtrack when reading, but I do believe residents can both check out and leave any time they want.
  3.  Buying hotels hit by COVID-19<https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2020/05/could-motels-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-pandemic-help-answer-portlands-homeless-shelter-problems.html> financial issues to convert to short and long term housing.







From: Young, Mary <YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 6:46 AM
To: Firnhaber, Kurt <FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:FirnhaberK at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Subject: Fwd: Mark Wallach's Email re: HAB



Hi Kurt,



To your knowledge, we’re any of these efforts government funded or were they community driven? Thank you!



We’re all in this together...six feet apart.



In solidarity,



Mary Dolores Young

Member of City Council

C: 303-501-2439

YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov>

http://www.bouldercolorado.gov

________________________________

From: Rebekah Dumouchelle <rebekahrld at gmail.com<mailto:rebekahrld at gmail.com>>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2020 8:41:16 PM
To: Council <council at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:council at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Subject: Mark Wallach's Email re: HAB



External Sender



In a recent email, Mr. Wallach appears to be unaware of programs other cities are implementing or have implemented. A Google search quickly turns up some examples that may help answer his many questions. Council has access to direct staff to look more closely at HAB's recommendations and present findings.



Quick examples of tiny home villages:

  1.  Opportunity Village (Eugene, OR)<https://www.eugene-or.gov/3705/Opportunity-Village>.  A previous Boulder city council toured Opportunity Village in 2016.
  2.  Community First (Austin, TX)<https://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20190517/how-austins-tiny-home-village-for-homeless-people-is-becoming-national-model> not only a model for a thriving community, with gardens, but also rents open-to-all airBnBs on site (yes, someone with a Mercedes could technically sleep next to previously homeless and wouldn't that be eye-opening?)
  3.  Dignity Village (Portland)<https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2016/01/28/in-a-tiny-house-village-portlands-homeless-find-dignity/> -  2016 Council also visited



Safe Parking:

This writeup on Longmont's plans<https://coloradosun.com/2020/04/28/safe-parking-living-in-cars-longmont/> also includes links to Santa Baraba (going on 16 years) and Seattle's programs.





Hotels for homeless:

  1.  Austin is purchasing hotels <https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/city-of-austin-identifies-second-hotel-theyll-consider-purchasing-for-homeless-housing> and converting them to housing. Austin also plans to spread out homeless options so that each of the 10 city districts pulls their weight, instead of all on one side of town.
  2.  California hotels to housing<https://calmatters.org/housing/2020/06/motel-conversion-homeless-housing-california/> (some have been up and running longer). You may need to supply your own Eagles soundtrack when reading, but I do believe residents can both check out and leave any time they want.
  3.  Buying hotels hit by COVID-19<https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2020/05/could-motels-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-pandemic-help-answer-portlands-homeless-shelter-problems.html> financial issues to convert to short and long term housing.



Boulder's boards and commissions are filled by volunteers, and I'm grateful for HAB's time and effort to push a more equitable vision for housing.








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