Special Needs Service and Housing Presentations
To
Knox Affordable Housing Task Force (AHTF)
2/27/08 and 3/5/08

During five hours over these two afternoons, the AHTF heard from five groups and including report from meetings with Christ’s Kitchen women. Attendees on 2/27 were Paul Seebeck, Zach Hedgpeth, Dick Raymond, Dawn Troxel, Scott Edminster, Brian Thompson-Royer and Jerry Schwab. Attendees on 3/5 were Paul Seebeck, Zach Hedgpeth, Dick Raymond, Dawn Troxel, Brian Thompson-Royer and Jerry Schwab.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to document what occurred during this amazing and enlightening five hours and share that with as large a group as possible. The goal was to find out which special needs populations would be prioritized to be served in addition to the elderly, working poor families and market rate units. This method of investigation was undertaken to educate AHTF members reviewing special needs populations, housing and service providers is to make informed decisions on which of these groups the AHTF will prioritize to serve. Supportive service and housing providers for special needs individuals were researched. It was decided to schedule groups to make four separate presentations to the Task Force. This occurred over five hours of AHTF meetings over two weeks on February 27 and March 5th. A subsequent two-hour meeting of the AHTF will process and make recommendations based upon this analysis.

The larger question to be asked and determined by the AHTF and Session through this overall process is:

1. In addition to seniors, low-income elderly, typical working but low-income families and market rate units what special needs groups can and should be served?

2. Who can best be served with the Knox housing and with what other service partners?

3. Who has highest need and can best be served and integrated with other populations such as elderly and low-income working families?

4. Who is best for the neighborhood? , and

5. Whom can the Church serve and grow with best?

Process
It had been decided that people at the upper levels of each special population with the most stability and most progress would be targeted. After the earlier presentation of who in the area/neighborhood needs the housing and the characteristics of each group, the Affordable Housing Task Force (AHTF) decided they needed to examine more closely certain special populations. The groups being considered are: low-income families, independent disabled including developmentally disabled and those with chronic mental illness; survivors of domestic violence; individuals/families that can afford market rate units to students from either Whitworth and/or Gonzaga University. The Task Force decided it needed more detailed first hand information from service providers and potential service partners for the housing.

This report will attempt to give a non-exhaustive description highlighting key issues brought forward through this process. Generally, it was found that there are extensive services offered to support independent living for all of these special needs populations. These groups are the largest but not the only providers of these services and they are customarily involved in partnerships offering services and supportive relationships with housing providers to insure the success of their clients. It is very impressive to see the breadth and depth of these services, the mission and the commitment of these other non-profit agencies to contribute to successful independent, living conditions for the least of these among us.

SUMMARY and RECOMMENDATIONS
The surprising element of all presentations was the agreement that affordable housing of low-income people in Spokane is at a crisis level with not enough units to go around. Any new affordable housing has a positive ripple effect that is felt throughout the community and affects all non-profits and service providers trying to help special needs and low income peoples. Any new housing affects the whole continuum of housing, whether it is emergency shelter, crisis mental health housing, transitional housing, family housing, senior housing, and all permanent housing.

Any new supply of affordable housing would help ease the crisis and benefit housing for the least fortunate in our society, community and neighborhood. It has been decided that Knox housing would be most appropriate for people at the upper levels of each special population with the most stability and most progress would be targeted. All the service agencies provide services for their clients that have a range of degree of severity and stability. The service providers understand and are willing to be supportive for this type of independent housing that would be for the highest functioning individuals within these special needs groups.

Who best to serve and can be best integrated with other populations such as elderly and low income working families, the neighborhood and the Church will be determined by this process. It is also clear that any incorporation of any of the above special needs populations have huge unmet need and services support available to the housing they live in. This would come in the form of long-term agreements with the owner of the housing to support those populations residing in the housing. The key position of an on site resident manager living in the apartments is underscored as a critical element for this housing if it includes special needs individuals.

How best to incorporate this information and make decisions on whom the population should have the highest priority to serve is the point of this will be determined at the next AHTF meeting on March 17.

For the next Congregation meeting, we have been thinking through the positive aspects of having individual story telling by individuals representing these groups, who have run the gauntlet of these problems and come out the other side in good condition and with much to share about their path experiences with supportive services and housing. There was strong, positive response from Session on Monday 3/10 about having some people share their stories at the next congregation meeting for update on the housing feasibility including results of the questionnaire. Some of the Service/housing providers groups have offered to be there also to provide context and support.

Service and housing providers’ presentations
The following groups were determined to be representative of these special needs individuals and who could provide services in partnership with the proposed housing. The groups invited to make presentations of housing and service needs of their clients were:

The ARC for developmentally disabled;
J
Jerry Schwab of Urban Plunge and Catholic Charities, on previously homeless and people with severe and persistent mental illness;

YWCA Domestic Violence and Faith Partners program on survivors of domestic violence; and
Spokane Mental Health Community Service programs for supportive elder services and mental health services for their clients with severe and persistent mental illness.

Brian provided each group with a series of issues and questions that focused their presentation on:

1. Who each special population is?
2. What types of housing they need?
3. What supportive services are typically provided by these service partners to housing residents? and
4. Their interest in collaborating with the Knox housing to provide services.

In addition, Pastor Paul Seebeck and Brian Thompson-Royer, consultant made two presentations to Christ’s Kitchen participants, staff and workers to see of their interest in this housing. Many women are very interested in the housing. They provided input into key critical issues they would like to see in the housing. They would like to continue to receive updates and be involved in this process with Knox. Several women offered to meet with church members and share their stories of healing, recovery from brokenness and the key ingredient that supportive housing, service support and God contributed to their growth and success. Subsequently all groups represented in these presentations made the same offers. Three presenting groups and Christ’s Kitchen offered to be service partners with the housing.

1. The ARC of Spokane is part of nationwide network that serves developmentally disabled families and individuals. They are one of several local agencies and nonprofits providing these types of services and housing. Their mission: We promote independence, choice and a better life for people with developmental disabilities and their families. These facts were presented on their website.

“Of every 200 children born in Washington today, three will be diagnosed with autism, Down’s Syndrome, cerebral palsy, or some other form of intellectual or developmental disability. As they grow, these children and the people who care for them will face unique challenges every day of their lives. But this does not mean that they will not lead rich and rewarding lives. The Arc of Spokane is one of 850 chapters of The Arc nationwide ensuring that people with developmental disabilities and their families in Eastern Washington enjoy the highest quality of life possible.”

Cathie Griffith, Housing Specialist and Lynette Richardson, Director of Residential Management made the presentation. Cathie has been successful moving her developmentally disabled clients into more independent living settings that include home ownership. Spokane and the ARC through the programs she manages have the most successful program in Washington State for home ownership. Cathie manages and supports clients in independent living. The need for one bedroom, affordable apartments far exceeds the supply. Many people are living in substandard, crowded conditions. They have very limited income. Typically, they are single with less than 30% AMI (adjusted median income). Affordable housing adds significantly to their stability. She estimates their agency sees the need for greater than 20 units currently. This does not include people that are living with family members and looking for housing. Lynette manages the program of the ARC that provides group living housing and needs 24-hour services. Even in this group, there are individuals that are functioning on a higher level that could use independent housing. Most DD individuals require some type of handicapped ADA accessibility accommodations. Most also have protective payee status with ARC where their bill paying and finances are managed through a caseworker. This guarantees funds for housing, etc.

2. Catholic Charities Jerry Schwab of Urban Plunge and Catholic Charities, House of Charity gave information on and his research on current need for housing amongst several different agencies on previously homeless and people with severe and persistent mental illness. He explained that the mental health problems and homelessness are interconnected problems. There is a wide range of levels of suffering, stability and progress made by individuals within these categories. The individuals he was researching are people who have made substantial progress with their problems, are willingly receiving supportive services and consequently more stable and in need have less oversight and services.

He wanted to give us an actual snapshot of the types of need with several groups that provide supportive housing for previously homeless individuals. These groups are not exhaustive but representative of groups providing these types of services. Other examples include the Salvation Army, SNAP, Transitions, Union Gospel Mission and related housing. The examples he researched and reported on were Hope House, (VOA), Catholic Charities, and the PACT team division of Spokane Mental Health.

Hope House on 3rd Avenue downtown that has both a Womens’ overnight shelter and supportive service housing in the same building that the women can transition into. Typical issues beyond homelessness are housing affordability, substance abuse, domestic violence abuse, mental health and elderly related issues. Hope House is owned and operated by Volunteers of America. Average stays are 12 to 14 months. Hope House manager, Rusty Barnett reported there are currently five women that are functioning at a higher level that would be interested in independent, affordable housing.

He talked with Catholic Charities housing manager about individuals within their housing that have been previously homeless that have a variety of past problems similar to residents of Hope House above. They have a number of people that have improved their lives and stability who would be in need of more independent housing. Their current estimate was 10 people currently in need of better, independent housing.

The third group, he contacted was the PACT team, that deals with mental health client stabilization and housing. This is part of Spokane Mental Health who made a presentation the following week. This group said they had from five to 10 individuals at any time that were stable, higher functioning and ready for permanent independent housing. They are people that have mental health problems and or were previously homeless.

3. YWCA Alternatives to Domestic Violence, Patty Wheeler, Director and Faith Partners program, Sandi Thompson-Royer made the presentation on housing and services for survivors of domestic violence. They provide the full range of support services to victims and their families whenever they request assistance. They have a legal assistance program, emergency shelter program that provides short term housing for up to 60 days and scattered site transitional housing that they lease from other housing providers. They may have additional funds that allow them to do more transitional housing and offer that kind of service and financial support for permanent housing also.

Transitional housing is up to 24 months with average stays of 15 months. During the past 3 years of this program, only one person has been asked to leave because of any difficulty. At the least, they can provide support for survivors and their families as they transition and stabilize in permanent housing. Any additional housing resources, especially affordable housing for these women, many of which have children, would be a great new resource for them, their clients and the community. Most families have one or two children, which would be served by two bedroom units. Most of their clients but not all are within the income category of less than 30% AMI and or less than 50% AMI. They perform screening for safety and appropriate living arrangements for all their clients. They also provide guarantees of payments in cases where the abuser has damaged credit history or past rentals or in the case where the woman has no credit history or rental history in her name. They discussed all the services they provide to their clients and why and how they work with Faith Partners to provide faith based volunteers and the appropriate training to go along with that to assure that the right balance of empowerment, opportunities and God with us are conveyed to abused women as they get stronger and safer in their walk away from violence in their family.

They emphasized that security and secured parking is good, though not more so for this group than any other. The concern about the offender following the family to this housing is not an issue due to the screening they go through. The current affordable housing crisis in Spokane coupled with credit and housing history problems increases the difficulty in finding housing. Good public transportation and walking to stores such as within the North Monroe is essential. Having community activities, small groups, participation in a resident advisory committee are all good. Youth services for kids and opportunities for recreation would be good also.

4. Spokane Mental Health Their presentation was made by Joseph Judd, Director, Community Support Services, Pam Sloan, Director of Elder Services, Mac Hatcher, Supervisor, Information and Assistance and Chrystal Alderman, Team Leader for Homeless Outreach Team. They provide mental health support services including housing for people with severe mental illness or mental health disabilities and elder services. They are a large agency that operates in Spokane, Spokane County and the region. Their presentation focused on the support services they offer to assist clients to find housing and gain increasing levels of stability in their lives.

The main thrust of their presentation was that there is a huge affordable housing crisis in the area. Any housing that is done whether it serves their clients will help them and they would be supportive of because it increases the supply and lessens demand thereby positively affecting people they are actively seeking housing for and providing supportive services to in that housing. They are committed to providing regular scheduled supportive services as well as on call over 24 hours, 7 day a week to meet those needs.

They have extensive staff to provide these services to people living in permanent housing. Their job is to provide the ongoing services to support those individuals and enhance their progress and stability. Housing is one of the most critical missing elements in this stability. Reoccurring chronic homelessness destabilizes these individuals. In Spokane based upon statistics in 2006, there were 6,200 homeless incidents including 900 children with 2,000 homeless people at any given time. They also provide job counseling and community program access through the Evergreen Club. They have a disabled mentally ill project they are doing with SNAP, near Sprague, that they are doing groundbreaking ceremony that all are invited to on March 25th at 11:00am. This housing uses HUD 811 funding plus a mix of other sources.

Their Elder services provides 24 hour service and coordination agreements with other agencies and housing providers. This includes the COPES, case management program. They also operated the PACT and protected payee service for their clients. Jerry had discussed housing needs reported by PACT. The PACT, Program of Aggressive Community Treatment provides 24-hour regular and emergency services throughout the area to assist mental health clients in their needs to decrease homelessness improve health care access and health and increase client access to housing, services and improvement in their conditions.

They are very willing to provide support to this effort and can provide several clients as representations of mental health clients that are stable and successful for discussions with a larger group.

5. Christ’s Kitchen women’s’ issues We (Paul and Brian) had two meetings there and met with quite a few of the women who work and volunteer there. On our second trip there, we had a group meeting to get their input, suggestions and gauge their interest in the housing. They were generally supportive and encouraged about the possibility of affordable housing in the neighborhood close to Christ Kitchen that had a spiritual center connected to the Church and the church body there at Knox. It was also very interesting that many of the women we met there exhibited recovery or stability from the problems people are generally most afraid of dealing with such as mental illness, prior incidents with alcoholism and addiction, domestic violence, criminal backgrounds, developmental disabilities. It was clear that they were at a high point in their lives and that life and sometimes their choices and their treatment by society as women and members of these different groups had taken its toll. Having said that the bright, warm eyes, hearts, hopes and stability were clearly present throughout the room. They are enjoying these fruits at this point because of the faithful people, services, supportive housing and their faith; they had encountered along their way, had all contributed and had a huge and positive impact on their current life conditions and their ability to become survivors and valued humans, both by others and by themselves.

Their optimum desire for housing was affordability and safety. They desired secured separate entries to apartments entered off corridors not separate exterior entry. They desired group interactions with similar people. The concept of mentoring with older women from the Church was received positively, as was community activity both in the apartments and in the Church. Most all of these women are single though some are with a husband/partner and only a few women have children.

Prepared by BTR 3/14/08