REALTIME FILE

Meeting ‑ CCSWW Tacoma‑Pierce County 
Coalition to End Homelessness

Friday, May 29, 2020

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>> All right.  Good morning.  You hearing me?  A good intro this morning.  [Singing].  It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful for a neighbor, would you be mine, could you be mine, would you be mine, could you be mine.  I have always wanted a neighbor just like you.  I have always wanted to live in this neighborhood with you.  Let's make the most of this beautiful day.  Since we are together we might as well play.  Would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?  Won't you please, won't you please, please won't you be my neighbor?  [End of singing].
	You all had a choice to make this morning, and you all decided to get up and come here to learn a little bit more about how you could be a good neighbor.  And that's one of the things that makes you so special.  And that's what I like about you.
	So as we get going today ‑‑ [knock‑knock‑knock].  Oh, I believe Mr. Walker was going to come in for a visit.
>> Good morning, Gerrit.
>> Good morning, Mr. Walker.  So nice of you to come by.
>> It's nice to be here.  I want to thank you because your introduction and welcome kind of just lifted my spirits.  So I was invited last week to spend a few minutes this morning talking to us about how we can love one another and support one another and make a difference in this post‑COVID‑19 world, and I was also told that I had five minutes.  You tell a Pentecostal pastor to say something in five minutes or less, you are going to basically get an introduction and not all of that.  Oh, wow, there is the garbage truck.  Did you order that, too?  There we go.  Anyway, this morning was pretty heavy if you have been watching the news, and I was struggling with what I wanted to say this morning.  And so I appreciate Gerrit's introduction and grounding us, because I think really that's where we start.  My notes are pretty much all trash now, but in a good way.  But it's the same idea.
	We can look at what's going on in our world and we should be horrified.  My heart is broken.  The things that I am reading in my news feed caused me to shutter because things I always took for granted as normal in our nation, standards and values that were allegedly unchangeable, have been kind of wadded up and thrown in the trash in recent days, and that breaks my heart.
	It all boils down to being good neighbors.  That's where we are going to start.  That's where the change is going to come from.  That's where it's always come from.  We tend to want to rely on institutions and powers and positions of authority and special leaders.  And I think that's okay in some times, but these are not ordinary times, and as I was reflecting on this ‑‑ you really messed up my whole presentation, Gerrit, because you ‑‑ in a good way.
	One of the things I wrote down this morning is I was thinking about what I wanted to say is the fact that we really are at an inflection point in our community, in both Pierce County and in our nation.  And I think we are at an inflection point in history.  Really what it comes down to is how do we want to ‑‑ the outcome is going to be determined by how we choose to respond in this inflection point.  As I have considered history and what we are seeing now, my general perception is the change we see in these inflection points comes not from extraordinary people.  The change we see in history, and these big changes like I think we are facing, really comes from ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things.  And I think that this group reminds me of that.
	Nobody here is famous.  Nobody here has some special gift or talent or super power, but what we've got is a bunch of people who do some extraordinary things, and they do it loving one another and loving their neighbor, and they do it, and they persist, when there is opposition.
	I think one of the things we need to be aware of as we are facing opposition, as we are trying to make changes in our community, there are people who are more interested in supporting themselves and advancing their own causes, and this group is special because we tend to love our neighbor.  We tend to be willing to sacrifice for the people that aren't advantaged, the people that are not in a position to advance their own causes.  That's the question I always end with talks that I have, what do we do now?  I have listened to a lot of people talk about where we are and where we think we are going.  I can tell you that anybody that thinks they've got it figured out is probably delusional and they might be a cult leader, so be aware.  What I would advise at this time is for us to look for like‑minded people, groups like this who have a purpose that's bigger than themselves to work alongside one another.  To support one another.  Because there is going to be times if you haven't already reached it, I am impressed, but most of us have hit that point where we're tired, where we just don't feel like we can go on.  Where it just be easier to quit and go do something else.  And that's normal, that's expected, and the only thing I can ask of each of us, when we hit that point, is to reach out, let somebody else in the box on your left or your right or above or below know that you are hitting one of those times and you need some help.
	Take a break when you need to.  Let somebody else pick up the load for a little while, but persist.  Because this time can be an opportunity.  As much as it may not feel like it, Michael Mira wrote last week I think it was, talking about how as a community we have an opportunity right now that we can change things significantly for the good, and he referred to points in our history of our nation where we have done that, where the crisis has created an opportunity, and where we have done extraordinary things and we've changed who we are and we have shifted our communities based on that opportunity.  I think we are there.
	I know some of us can only make that change by doing things that seem less significant, but it's feeding our neighbor, or helping someone find shelter, or providing case management for that person who is having trouble navigating the system.
	There is also some of us who can change our community by lobbying and bringing about change and how we implement public policy.  And there are some people in our community that are on this screen right now who are going to be putting themselves out there to change public policy from within.  So if each one of us does what we can, and what we are capable of, we can bring about that change.  There is hope.  Even though it doesn't feel like it sometimes.  Your news feeds get really ugly.  Stop listening to it and start listening to your neighbor.  Turn on Gerrit, or Mr. Rogers, the original.
	I know it can seem hopeless and frustrating, but the power of this group, the power of communities coming together in difficult times, that's what's going to change the world.  So look at your Zoom screen full of boxes and see the neighborhood that we are a part of and that can bring about that change.  Be encouraged today.  Thanks for letting me talk and for listening.  I appreciate you guys more than you will ever know.  And I truly believe that Pierce County can be a different place, and one of those beacons of hope that sets examples to our nation, if we persist, if we love one another, if we are good neighbors.
	That's what I got for you today.  Thanks.
>> Thank you, Mr. Walker, reverend walker.  Very much appreciated.  Mr. Barbee is going to give us some updates on the CARES Act funding.  Sounds like some ‑‑ hopefully by now, some of the first round has been officially announced and we are looking at a second round opening up, and anything else you got for us.  Mr. Barbee, welcome.
>> Thank you, Gerrit.  Thank you.  That takes me back, your intro.  You set the tone of the meeting and you set the tone for the day and just that was great, so thank you for doing that.  And then, Greg, you carried on nicely, and I think your point resonates with me about the opportunity to change our community as well as this is our ‑‑ all of us as neighbors, this is us, and we have this opportunity to change and hopefully I've got some fairly good news.
	We have not officially sent out award letters.  They are going out today to agencies, so I won't announce agencies that got funding, but we awarded $1 million in round one, so 985,000 to agencies, and they will be notified today.  I don't want them to be notified via this, so I will wait for our team to get those award letters out.  So I think that's an incredible turnaround.  I think historically we have been really slow as far as processing and it just takes awhile to get money out.  We got this money out, applicants were received and awarded within just under two weeks.  I think that's a pretty good turnaround.
	With round two, applications are already being posted on the Internet.  We made some modifications to make it a little bit easier for folks.  There is three applications.  We have pulled out each of the sections of the subsections, so it will make it a little bit easier for folks and also for the scoring committee.
	I want to touch on a couple things we are doing a lot different.  I think we are being more transparent and more collaborative in who we award in our committees.  We had a committee of five folks on the first round, and which they represented a cross‑section of the community.  City of Tacoma, the City of Lakewood, the county and Health Department had representation as well.  
	Three people of color sat on that committee.  I think that's important to diversify that as well.  Round two, we will have a different set of folks.  I think really where we are trying to have a little bit more transparency in community involvement and participation.  So our homeless programs teams have selected ‑‑ we will have some partners that we have never actually worked with before to come and review.  So think that's one.
	As we move forward, we are going to get a different perspective, a different lens of a cross‑section of the county as well represented there.  So with that said, I think that's a little bit as a result of this committee's letter that was sent and received by the county on May 19th that had outlined some priorities for the funding.  
	We have actually hit three of the five priorities that this committee recommended.  We were very intentional about taking those into consideration, as well as some of the recommendations from the Affordable Housing Consortium about how we process our rental assistance and focusing on AMI and some of the recommendations that Amanda and her team forwarded to us.  
	The two that we did not focus on or that we did not prioritize is behavioral health and physical health resources that this committee recommended as a prioritization.  That doesn't fit for us, but we do have a separate behavior‑health bucket that Steve O'Ban and Director Moss are heading up.  I still feel that we can check that box in its own category.  That's not something the homeless programs will focus on there.
	The safe parking, we have not prioritized that as a county, so it's not a priority at this time for us, so we weren't able to check that box as well.  But the other three I want to touch on real briefly.  The new shelters was one of the priorities that this committee came up with.  We are continuing to fund the hotel expansions as well as shelter expansions, we are continuing to do that.  I will be fully transparent, we are at the point where we are looking throughout the county for potential buildings that we can either purchase or we can either have ‑‑ I have spoken to a couple agencies about providing services if we came across some type of ‑‑ so if we get ‑‑ it's really complex.  Right.  As you can imagine, all of the things, the permits required and really just the land.  We have done land inventory of county land, as well, so we are looking at all throughout the county.  This is not something that the executive has given the stamp of approval to move forward, but if we get to that point we can put proposal together and move forward with that.
	So it's a work in progress.  And also thinking long‑term about that.  What does that mean after December 31st?  What's a sustainable model that we can carry on?  Nothing is outside the realm of possibility.  We have done specific outreach to the eastern part of the county and Key Peninsula, we have been very intentional with our solicitation of different providers.
	Hygiene resources was another one of the priorities on this group's list.  We have hygiene services at Sprinker now open five days a week and YMCA on a rotation basis five days a week.  That's great work by Valeo and YMCA and some of the county folks to make this happen.
	Racial equity and homelessness, we have done specific outreach for agencies who serve people of color and marginalized populations, we are continue to work with communities of focus and some of the folks that we have right in our backyard that we can partner with to really look at how we can better serve and be more equity in our distribution of funds.  One of our thoughts is diversifying our review committees so we are not having the same people review the same applications over and over again, and try to broaden the scope of the lens there.
	With that said moving forward, we still have a lot of money to get out the door to be quite honest, and but we also want to do it strategically and we want to do it smart, in an intelligent way.  So we are going to continue to take recommendations.  I am looking forward to receiving recommendations from the Continuum of Care.  They have not submitted the recommendation yet, but there is plans for them to submit some type of prioritization recommendation.  And next week we have some community stakeholders that historically have not been to the table from us, but hear from them what they prioritize.  I think that's important to hear from them again.  [Mic cutting out].  Our needs are going to change, our governor's plans change every week, our needs as a community are going to change, and I think we need to be flexible and adaptable to meet those needs as best we can.
	Really I am here to say we are part of the big solution, and we want to be a good neighbor.  And we want to work together to really, you know, find ways to solve and address the highest needs.
>> Mr. Barbee, there was a question asking why safe parking wasn't a priority I think you said.
>> It has not been a priority from ‑‑ you know, I think we are trying to align ‑‑ again, I think this is outside a little bit of my scope as far as where that priority falls so to speak, but that has not been something that the county and city have prioritize the as a real need, and I think it's based on we would rather look and invest in a long‑term solution as opposed to short‑term, temporary.  Like that's just going to be me speaking on that, just being on some calls and some conversations around that, can we invest in long‑term solutions as opposed to vehicles.
>> Always a balancing act, how much immediate shelter we provide versus how much we obsess on permanent housing.
>> So I guess I also just ‑‑ I was told that apparently the awards ‑‑ that agencies have been notified and the awards are posted on line, so that is out there for people to see, which agencies were funded in round one.
>> Cool.  All right.  Maybe we will link those into the chat.
>> Also, there is one thing that you are going to see on there as well.  What we have done as mentioned before, the CARES Act dollars have to be spent, not allocated, but actually spent by December 31st.  One of the things we want to do is make sure we spend our money and don't carry any of those over.  The first round of funding, there was also a checks and balance that the county required only 60% could go out the first 60 days, but the first round are two months' worth of funding, so then we can continue to make sure that funding is being spent appropriately.
	If agencies weren't funded the first round in round one, they were either notified that they could reapply for round two and moving forward, and/or sometimes they are a better fit for other opportunities, whether that's through Pierce Connected or city funds, so we want to make sure that folks have opportunities again to share the scarce resources.
	More questions, Gerrit?
>> I don't think so.  I think you are good.
>> I have a question.
>> All right.  Theresa.
>> So this is a followup.  As somebody who lives in one of the many communities in Pierce County that have unsafe lots that are our front street, and have for years, I want to ask if there is anyone in the city or county who is advocating for our needs and the needs of the people who are living in vehicles and who are going to continue to live in vehicles, and you know it as well as I do, so is there anyone who is actually listening to us and who we could help move forward?  And for goodness sake, vote for.
>> So I think, yes, listening.  I think there is a difference between listening and maybe getting the response and taking the action that ‑‑ I think there is a difference there, but listening for sure.  But I also do know unofficially, but I do know, there has been an application submitted for safe parking through another funding entity.  Right.  And so I don't know where that part of it is at.  I don't even know where the location is.  I have heard it's in Pierce County and not in the city limits.  So I think there is avenues for that that people are exploring that are ‑‑ there is advocates on this call that I know I have spoken with frequently about this.  I think there are people really pushing, and I think the best I can say is if that's the need of the community, I think we need to continue to advocate for it.  That's what this ‑‑ and I think it is frustrating.  I am going to sense that frustration a little bit.
>> Yeah, you are right.
>> People are listening, but listening and responding the way you want them to respond don't always align, but it doesn't mean that you are not being heard.
>> It's just disheartening to hear you say it's not a priority.  That's really disheartening, and I just want to register that.  If you haven't been able to sleep for the last week, you would be disheartened, too.
>> Agreed.
>> Do you have something there, Al?  All right.  Thank you, Mr. Barbee.
>> Thank you, Gerrit.
>> We will track you down if we have further questions.
>> Yes.  Please do.  Thank you.
>> All right.  I have brought a few folks together to talk about what's going on with services for veterans.  Veteran services are pretty well darn coordinated within our county, and even more so with COVID‑19.  Part of that is that all of the funders of the major veterans services make everybody play together.  Funders out there, you might consider that as a funding requirement.
	It's also been a time of some change for the veteran programs, so most of them are expanding what they are doing with extra resources and expanded eligibility, so I asked some of the crew to come on and just talk a little bit about where they are, and so I believe we have three folks.  I just snuck Mr. Baker onto the agenda without asking him properly, so I am hoping he will be able to share.  I think we are going to start off with Captain Dennerlein with the Pierce County ‑‑
>> I completely lost audio there, but I heard my name at the very end.  Is it my turn to speak, Gerrit?
>> It's your turn to speak.
>> Can you hear me all right?
>> Yes.
>> Awesome.  Thanks for having me, everybody.  For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean, the Pierce County veterans program manager, part of the Human Services Department.  I work with John and his team often.  Right now my role within the county Emergency Management team is to run the Temporary Care Center, so I am there most of the week.  But I am happy to be here, happy to be in my regular role running veterans programs for the county.
	As some of you may know, we formed last summer a task force on veterans homelessness, and I don't think we ever got to give an update to this group, so I hope to get that opportunity sometime, Gerrit, but we gave our presentation, our first presentation to the council the first week of March, and the second week of March as some of you may know got a little crazy, and we never really got to do much followup.
	I will share a little bit of what we are doing with COVID‑19, how that plugs into that, into some of those recommendations that the task force made and I know some of the members of the task force are here.  They are often active members of this group, so I am excited to see them and hear from them.
	Gerrit, is it already if I share my presentation then?
>> Yep.  Go for it.
>> All right.  Okay.  It says I am disabled.
>> How about that?
>> Let me see.  Still says disabled, but.  I can talk it if we can't get this up.
>> All right.  Used to be able to do this.  Zoom changes crap all the time.  Oh, wait.  How about now?
>> Oh, there we go.  Got it.  Okay.  All right.  So I am going to pull up some slides here just to give us ‑‑ because I don't want to say too much about data without showing you guys.  So can everybody see these slides?  Okay.  All right.
	So I just wanted to briefly give you guys an update on our veterans population in Pierce County for those of you who may not be familiar.  Pierce County has the second largest veterans population in the state.  By the end of 2021 we are on the track to have the largest population in the state.  And the next closest counterpart is going to be LA County down in California.  You are going to have to go pretty far away to see a veterans population quite the size of ours.
	And why ours is going to be the largest is largely because our veterans are younger.  They are mostly gulf era, which is more millennial veterans.  Like King County has mostly Vietnam era.  Veterans make up about 13% of our population here in Pierce County.  King County, they've got 3% of their population.  The national average for a county is about 1%, so we are just well above that.
	And what is unique about our veterans, so since they are mostly gulf era, they typically come out with a little bit more baggage.  You know, Gerrit and I were talking awhile back about how dishonorable discharges for those of you who know have been on a significant increase year after year.  Our veterans are much more disabled, so we have about 30,000 of our veterans are going to be with a service‑connected disability.  So a disability pertaining to their time in service.  So that drives a lot of our decisionmaking.
	I will add something here.  Veterans are also in Pierce County at least are in the industries that are most likely to be affected by COVID‑19, so that's going to be something like manufacturing, sales, hospitality.  Those are the ‑‑ by far the primary sectors that veterans work in, and so what we are trying to determine in the data is how great that need may be.
	So I will talk about COVID in a bit, but I wanted to give you a brief update since we didn't tell you about what we recommended as a task force.  This was our initial recommendations for ending veterans homelessness in Pierce County, what it would take, and so I have been working on just different proposals and how we may integrate these as we go, and we came up with this handy‑dandy matrix that and we have this on our web page and I can send it out to the group, but I hope you all get the opportunity to take a look and stuff.
	These are things that you all may be familiar with in your regular roles.  We are talking about shelters, talking about supportive housing, affordable housing expansion, all this kind of stuff.  And the county, we just started working on these proposals back in March, so things have gotten a little bit strained since then.  One of the things that I wanted to really briefly go over is the group recommended that we improve resource accessibility, so that interactive matrix, you can click on it, you can go into more detail and see what exactly we meant by that.
	But basically ‑‑ I am going the wrong direction here.  Basically we were recommending a resource center as well as a transportation plan to get veterans to the resource center, get them connected to different things and stuff like that.  That work is ongoing during this time, and these are the three areas of emphasis that we were hoping to focus on there.
	So we invite you all to reach out to me and we would love to connect if you have any resources that you would like to use the resource center.  The construction begins this week ‑‑ sorry, next week.  We are hopeful that it will be up and running by the time this crisis is over and we can get those resources plugged in, start a transportation plan for getting homeless and other veterans to the resource center and doing outposts and events into the rural and expanded parts of the county and community.
	So I just wanted to show some pictures about the furniture we are moving in all right now, getting painted, fresh stuff.  This is a nice facility a lot of common space, three conference rooms and a bunch of different technologies and abilities.  We are having to have the VA there, the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, and if we've got homeless veterans that this be a hub for them to get connected to resources.  Not even just referred out.  Like really get resources there on site.  And that includes coordinated entry, that includes all the things that we want.  This is going to be an ongoing process.  The hope is that we can get the ball rolling and it will continue to progress over time.
	So this was the timeline.  Clearly it's all been kind of changed here because of COVID‑19, but if you have any questions on that or anyone wants to connect with me I will send out my e‑mail after this, and Gerrit has it as well.  And I would love to connect.
	Talking about COVID‑19, so John, and as you guys are familiar, we received about 157 million in CARES Act funding.  27 million has gone to human resources.  Of that initially we are receiving 400,000 for veterans services with the ability if we spend that ‑‑ again, it's hard to determine need.  If we spend that, we are going to be able to expand that out.  
	Our primary here is veterans.  They are typically used to a dedicated route, be it through the VA or through our programs at the Veterans Bureau has, so we wanted to have resources there to help fine‑tune specifically for veterans who are used to going that route.
	And we are also, I wanted to say, plugging in with John Barbee's team.  If you are a veteran, if you have served in the military and you go to access assistance through the typical rental assistance, there is going to be a question, have you ever served in the military.  If you answer yes to that you get rerouted through the same application to my team.  So you may not even know you are working with a separate team in the county, and we are hoping that will be seamless and it will help us track all the data for how many veterans are coming through.
	We are integrated, we are working with the VA with all the different veterans providers to make sure that they know we have this assistance.  The benefit, my team already does homelessness prevention, we are already doing that.  So we are able to really start this up and start running as soon as we know the funding is there, and we are hoping that next week we can start rolling these dollars out.  Initially we are going to have people call us for their screening, but there will be by the end of next week we hope that online application will be up and running as well as a bunch of different methods for getting in touch with us.
	There will be a broad campaign around messaging and making sure that veterans in our community knows this exist.  The last slide I wanted to show you the differences in what we have proposed here between what we usually do, which is the veterans assistance programs column, to what we are doing through the CARES Act dollars.  So we usually just because of limited number of funds that we have, we only do so much in rental assistance.  We are really, really expanding that, so we are going to be able to pretty much for the targeted population that we see, we are going to be able to pay their rent.  We are going to do mortgage assistance.  You know, we have some ‑‑ we can go over the criteria for that, but mostly it has to be your permanent residences.  We are not paying mortgages for a rental property or line of credit, but we will have mortgage assistance, vehicle and transportation assistance, our typical utility assistance.  We are expanding our food and nutrition assistance and we are able to do back payments.
	But I think the big thing here is this can be reoccurring, so typically in our emergency assistance program, you can come one month out of a year with the ability to get waive to come get several months if we see a need there.  For this one er being as gracious as possible.  We are really saying everybody is going to be eligible for three months back to back.  It doesn't have to be consecutive or three months until the dollars run out.  If your need is that great we can reassess and potentially add another three months on that.
	A big change here is the eligibility.  On the veterans assistance kind of things because of the rules around it, only those who have been honorably discharged and 180 days of service.  AMI we are getting more flexible going up to 80%.  We are hoping to capture a larger pool and get these dollars out.  The typical restrictions that you guys have heard from Maureen and John about these dollars need to get spent by December, so, you know, our word of advice is if you know veterans that are in need, send them our way.
	So that's about it.  I am here.  I will stick around.  If you guys have any questions or want to connect afterwards, I would love to set up a meeting.  Exit sharing mode.  Right.
>> I have one question about where the veterans building is.  3602 Pacific avenue, kind of by the Health Department.
>> And I can send out that address.  It's the same building that typically we run the point‑in‑time count for those of you who are familiar with where we do a lot of those supplies, it's the center hub, right next to the Health Department.
>> And the Wazzu master gardener is there, so you can get the question answered about your camellia at the same time.  All right.  I would like to shift over to Miss Spaulding‑Klewin with the Supportive Services for Veteran Families programs.  Patti.
>> Good morning.  Can you see me?  
	For those who don't know what Supportive Services for Veteran Families is, it's a federal grant that we are over one of 300 grantees across the United States, that we are tasked with ending veteran homelessness in our community.  CCS has been a recipient of this grant since 2012, and we serve 11 ‑‑ no, ten counties in the State of Washington.  With our largest territory being the balance of state, so anything that is south and west of Pierce County.  And currently we did receive an extra surge of dollars for CARES dollars, specifically for emergency housing and Rapid Rehousing and homeless prevention for veterans in our communities.  So right now we are approximately providing emergency housing in those ten counties for 100 to 110 literally homeless veteran households who are at high risk for COVID‑19.
	So we are expanding and collaborating with our VA partners to be able to provide assistance to those who are in congregate living situations and emergency shelters, and we have two locations in Pierce County we are providing those services, and in Thurston we are providing services there as well as in Mason County and Kitsap County and King County.
	King County has the most ‑‑ currently I think they have 80 households.  We are expanding our services here in Pierce and Thurston to balance the state.  The criteria for SSVF is they have to be below 50% area median income.  So for a single veteran in Pierce County they cannot earn more than $2,225 a month.  They have to be an active duty service member.  If they were guard or reserves only, then they have to have deployed into a title X orders.  So right now we are taking referrals directly through the VA, so our healthcare team, our domiciliary team, and we have been also collaborating with the Health Department in Pierce County in Puyallup for a couple of veterans that have been housed in emergency housing there.
	So what we have our dollars, what we are short on, is case management.  So if you are a Rapid Rehousing provider and you are providing services to a homeless veteran household that is not yet housed, please reach out to me so that we can try to coordinate services.  If you are not a Rapid Rehousing program and you are working with a homeless veteran, if they are VA‑medically eligible, then let's try to coordinate.  If they are not we can still coordinate, but we are prioritizing those referrals that are coming directly out of the VA because case management needs to be tagged to every referral that is given to us.  Because we can't do it all.  We need partners in being able to do all the work.
	I do not have an end date for providing the emergency housing.  We do have a deadline to get all this money spent by the end of July, so we are working on doing that.  Emergency housing is expensive, so on average we are spending between 80 and $100 a night, depending on big the household is, plus food.  So we are still carrying an active caseload of those veterans that we rapidly rehoused, so those veterans are still getting case management and we are providing rent assistance to them.  We will be shifting more towards homeless prevention when the need for emergency housing has lessened a bit.  
	So when there are other resources available, perhaps when there is a larger scale opportunity for a hotel, if the county is going to shift in that direction, perhaps then we would have more opportunity for homeless prevention.  But right now we are partnering with Pierce County Veterans Services to help people keep themselves housed as much as possible.  That's what we want.  We do not want people to become homeless, so.
	Any questions?
>> I will give you a second to put them into the chat if you've got questions, and we will shift over to Brendan.  Do you mind doing a little update?  I sort of ‑‑ yeah.  I put you on without asking.
>> I don't have as much to report as, say, Sean from the county, with all of the CARES Act funding that he is working with.  And what the VA has done is they have taken their funding for the COVID response as far as homeless veterans is concerned, and pretty much put that in the SSVF emergency housing assistance program.  
	I can give you like a little bit of an update as far as what is going on at the VA, but like I say, the bulk of the expansions that tend to COVID‑19 is kind of going through the county and SSVF right now.  So there have been some changes.  Due to the COVID response, the way services have been delivered at the VA has changed a little bit.  So currently our urgent care services are not being provided at VA.  There is a link that I can send out to everybody as far as community providers that are able to serve veterans, and all the instructions are on that as well, too.  They would basically need a government identification, and then they would need to have received VA services in the last two years, but if they have that then they can go to some of the community providers, urgent care.  And I am going to send the link to you, but when they first did that, the selections weren't that great.  
	I have noticed since they have gone on there again, they have added more providers in the area, so I can get that out to everybody.  I think one of the reasons why they did that was they allocated a lot of the urgent care stuff to doing testing and to doing the screening points to check for COVID as people are coming on campus.  So if there are veterans that would like to talk to primary care, they can.  Most of those services are provided by telehealth now.  They have switched over to telehealth.  I think primary care are still seeing some people face‑to‑face, but you would have to talk about the primary care provider about that.
	As far as the Housing Department is concerned, we made the switch on over to doing telehealth services, and I know people have been sent home, so we are not having the face‑to‑face contact like we used to.  There were concerns about making sure that people were at least getting essential items, so I know that case managers from King and Pierce worked together in order to provide like paper products and emergency food.  And then we worked with our management to make sure that we did deliver that safely to veterans, so I know that's what the case managers have been doing since we are predominantly working telehealth right now.
	Let's see here.  One thing that I am excited about ‑‑
>> Sorry.  Go ahead.
>> One of the things that I am excited about is we do have a new HPAC provider, and that is our primary care team here in Pierce County that provides services to the homeless, so they will go into the shelters and provide services.  And those providers have always been very extraordinarily dedicated and our new provider Dr. Hakita [phonetic] is the same from what I can tell.  It seems like she is a very strong advocate.  Unfortunately she started just as COVID came around.
	We were able to go out to the first ‑‑ for the first time out to Tacoma Rescue Mission since we hadn't been out there, so I am happy that at least we have been able to go out into the community a little bit, and I know that she is very eager to be able to get into the shelters and provide services again.  I think we are just simply waiting on approval for that.
	And then lastly as far as like outreach, I am the outreach worker for Pierce County, and I am also working from home right now, and that's been a challenge.  I would just love to say I am very happy that those that are in the shelters and those that are still doing outreach are still connecting with me when they can.  Because right now since I am not in the shelters, I am completely dependent on the outreach workers right now and shelter staff to continue working with me to get services for veterans.  
	I would like to applaud the work that they are doing, and help me to address the needs of those that are more acute and have the higher needs.  Because right now I am getting lots of phone calls for people that have housing needs but they are not as acute as those that are not able to use a phone or don't have a telephone.  So I am very happy that I am still working closely with those out in the community.
>> Brendan, I was curious.  I believe the domiciliary sectioned off some space to use for veterans with exposure to COVID‑19.  Has that resource been heavily used?  Do you know?
>> I don't know.  So what you are talking about is our residential program that we have on campus.  It was originally geared for a program for pain management, which is a smaller program.  There is a PTSD program, and then there is the substance use program.  The program that we would use for those with housing needs was like a return to work program, where we usually had I think about 20 beds over at the facility that we would use, and due to the COVID‑19 response they exited people from the residential program to make room for people that have been positive for COVID‑19 but were no longer needing hospital‑level care.  And I don't know the numbers.  I don't know what the numbers are of how many people are continuing to use that at this point.
	I know it would be the same intake coordinator that was doing the intakes for people in the residential programs, in charge of that program as well, too, but I don't know the numbers for you.
>> That's fine.  So there has been a lot of things happening in the veterans programs that are pretty impressive, for organizations as complicated as the Department of Veteran Affairs to do rapid changes has been impressive to watch.  Thanks.  And if we have any more questions, they can come in through the chat.  We are going to shift over from veterans to some new shower facilities that have recently opened for folks experiencing homelessness.  So free showers and access to some hygiene supplies.  I will hand it off to Miss Jensen.
>> Hello, everybody.  I was hoping to be going with Darcy.  She is an appointment that popped up.  The YMCA has been pretty phenomenal.  They are extraordinary to work with and it's been such a learning experience.  We officially launched on Thursday the market street and downtown location and the Puyallup YMCA and Lakewood YMCA.  Tacoma Mondays and Thursday, Puyallup Tuesdays, Fridays, and [mic cutting out].  We are providing lunches, clothing, referral to local laundromats, bus tickets when they are available and needed.  The week started on Monday.  It started pretty slow.  We didn't have any marketing material prepared.  We got the go‑ahead I think Friday that we could start on Monday, and if Valeri is on she can confirm that.  
	There was a short turnaround time so it was a slow start, but that's okay.  Yesterday was really great.  We did 30 showers in Tacoma, the Beacon Center came down.  We are reserving each hour of every day, the first hour, for youth, and so Jake brought down a whole big crew.  Then it was still pretty slow.  
	So Mitch, who is the program manager, he went out into the community and started roping people in.  It was really extraordinary.  The YMCA called them out for that and applauded that.  He was able to get a lot of youth in yesterday.
	Definitely have some needs.  Theresa, I got that e‑mail from you, responded about any hygiene things, we need them.  So that's it.  And get out, tell your people.  Please tell your people.  Lakewood particularly, I don't have a ton of connection.  I am not familiar with the climate over there, so Lakewood folks, get them there Wednesday.  If anybody knows of a laundromat here in Tacoma that is open to working with our population, I have had quite a jarring conversation with the owner of Laundry Mart, who does not want those people, those people being our people, using their facilities, and it was just really extraordinarily a jarring conversation.  
	We have two laundromats in Puyallup and Lakewood.  The owners of both facilities are super supportive, but we can't find a good contact here in Tacoma.  James referred somebody to us.  We haven't been able to make that happen.  If anybody knows of a laundromat, we want to create a partnership.  Yeah.  So thanks.  Let me know if you have any questions.
>> Cool.  And I did add ‑‑ so there is a great flyer that Valeo put together, but I added the locations and times to the website, so if you want to pop on there, one of the banners is showers and Day Center locations, so I will keep that updated as things change with that program.  But the flyer is great and prints out well, so I think you all got that in the LISTSERV.
>> There is a few questions I wanted to answer, Gerrit.
>> Go for it.
>> Before I shut up.  Do clients need to provide their own towels at the YMCA?  Ikea partnered with YMCA and donated a ton of towels.  They have an option to take their towel or leave their towel and we will wash it.  Everybody gets to take their own towel.  Greg, the laundry facility on Sixth and Sheridan, we have contacted all of the laundry facilities in the area.  We have only been able to make contact with a few of them.  I am not sure about the ‑‑ if it's the coin op one, I don't think we have been successful in contact.  If you have any contact for us, that would be great.  I think that's it.  What we need is I can't just come up with a bag of quarters to hand to everybody, so we have set up a referral process for two of the facilities where they get a voucher to go and then we front load and track how many people are being referred.  I suppose if we come up with a bag of options, that is an option.  I don't know if that's the best option.  I think I got them all.
>> Cool.  Allen, a little reminder, families, you can do laundry at 5050 South Tacoma Way way most weekdays from 9:00 to 5:00.  Cool.  Thank you so much.  Starting something new is a nontrivial task, working with government organizations to use their facilities is a nontrivial task, so hats off for once again seeing something from start to deployment.  Joy, you had a question?
>> Where do I drop these clothes, Sherri?  I've got about two buckets of clothing, male, a few things in there are male, but mostly female clothing, so where should I drop them?
>> Our location, although we are ‑‑ our office is only part‑time being staffed right now, so if you can shoot me an e‑mail then I will make sure it to get it to the program manager and coordinate a drop‑off or pickup time.
>> Sherri, it occurs to me that there are a lot of closed commercial exercise facilities and gyms around.  A chance any of those could be solicited to provide showers and other geographic locations?
>> Yes.  Possibly in the future.  I think this is a really good case study.  Emerson agrees.
>> Thumb up from Emerson.  And who puts clothes in buckets, Joy?  Like bags, people do clothes in bags.
>> No.  I put them in tubs with a lid.  I'm sorry.  I'm organized.  [Laughs].
>> All right.  Tubs sounds a little better than buckets to me.  Okay.  Thanks so much.  We also have some cool new resources coming online for folks that need diapers, so I am going to hand it off I think to Kate Ginn, but I am not seeing her here on this list.  If not, I think Kelly can cover.
>> Hi, everyone.  Hi name is Taylor.  I am covering for Kate today.
>> Sorry.
>> Yeah.  You are fine.  So I am Taylor Kerrigan, the healthcare liaison with Help Me Grow, and I am excited to be a part of this community today.  I moved here two months ago from Florida, and I have been enjoying seeing how the Pierce County community works so well together.  It's been very inspiring.  For those of you who don't know, Help Me Grow Pierce County promotes the healthy development of children from pregnancy through age five.  What I am here to share with you today is actually something that started in response to an immediate need as a result of COVID‑19.
	Help Me Grow in collaboration with community organizations from all over the county have worked together to start the Help Me Grow Pierce County diaper banks.  Right now we are excited to announce that there are three new diaper banks that are open to the public with a handful more on the way I believe.  I will share with you the ones that are currently open, and giving out diapers and wipes to the public.  
	We've got the Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center in Tacoma.  They are open Mondays 2:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. or by appointment.  You can call ahead and request diapers ahead of time.  The Franklin‑Pierce County schools headquarters in the Parkland area, they are open Wednesdays and Thursday from 10:00 A.M. to noon.  And then the Key Peninsula Family Resource Center, they are currently available by pickup, by appointment, but as soon as they are able to open their doors again they will have a schedule ready to actually have people come and pick up diapers.
	There is more information on our website, which is helpmegrowpierce.org/diaperbank.  We plan for these diaper banks to remain open as long as donations are coming through.  If you are interested in donating, we have a donation page on the Help Me Grow Pierce County website.  Yeah.  And if you have any questions about the diaper bank, feel free to ask now or you can reach out to Kate Ginn, whose e‑mail address is on the agenda.  So, yeah.
>> Cool.  I might not have caught it.  You have diapers for all ages or is it just for youth?  Do you have adult diapers?
>> No.  Just babies, babies and toddlers.  Sorry.  That's a good question, though.  But, yes, we have diapers from newborn all the way up to toddler sizes.  Our hope is that we can hand out a pack of wipes for every person who picks up diapers.  Right now we are kind of low on wipes.  I am sure as you are all aware almost every store that's open has limited the amount of diapers that you can purchase, the amount of wipes that you can purchase, the amount of formula, the amount of toilet paper, paper towels, so everything is one pack, so we are trying to find a way to get a bulk order of wipes.  We found bulk order diapers, not wipes yet, but we are working on it, so.
>> Great.  Well, thank you so much for that information.  And, again, making things happen.  Much appreciated in the community.  I know time and again, we struggle with a lot of these odds and ends, if you will, although you don't think about that when you got an infant that needs a diaper, but we hope with food, we help with housing and we help with healthcare as a society, but we don't do a lot of help with shampoo, tampons, diapers, things that we generally need to get by.
>> Yeah.  We got to help with those basic needs so everything else that's more important above that can be addressed.
>> Hats off.  Kelly, you had something?
>> Yay.  Thank you, Gerrit.  Taylor, I am going to connect you and Kate with The Moore Wright Group.  They have pallets of baby wipes.  I am sending you that e‑mail right now.  While I am talking about The Moore Wright Group, I have been circulating some e‑mails throughout the coalition.  Please remember that this is an amazing resource for many, many, many, many, many free different items right now.  Anybody can feel free to just e‑mail me personally, which I believe my e‑mail is out there, but I will e‑mail the coalition as well and I can connect you directly with them.  You just have to be able to have a truck to go pick up the items.
>> That is fantastic.  Thank you so much, Kelly.
>> I am on it.  [Laughs].
>> Making connections.
>> Whoo‑hoo!
>> All right.  Thanks so much, and Taylor put the website out there, so you will be able to get more information if you need it.  I am going to hand it off to Colin DeForrest and Jan Runbeck.
>> Yes.
>> I was looking forward to joining Colin's garage again.
>> Colin is busy being a dad.  His oldest is taking her driver's license test today, so if you see a 16‑year‑old driving on the streets of Tacoma, give her a wide berth.  
	Al, you are dressed and ready for our meeting today.  Thank you.
	We are going to talk about ‑‑
>> It's only the top half.
>> [Laughs].  The imagination goes wild.  Doesn't it?  We are going to talk about safe parking and the status of what this coalition has produced to date.  And this is a result of several of you meeting together on one Zoom meeting, and then I had side conversations with several folks about how Pierce County may be different than other places.  Theresa has recommended that we get this book from Santa Barbara, and it's loaded with great stuff about how one county has handled safe parking issues.  But then in talking to a variety of potential sites around the city and the county, I believe that we have ‑‑ we need to be flexible and we need to be prompt, and a lot of this is coming from also conversations with Rich Berghammer and others, other churches.
	So I will do a brief description of the plan and then I am going to do a share screen.  So listen up, everybody.  Listen up, everybody.  Okay.  In order to provide as much safe parking for those living homeless in vehicles as equitably as possible and understanding the constraints of finances and other resources, we need to utilize public health measures that promote the protection against spread of disease, especially but not exclusive to COVID‑19.
	We need to recognize the rapidly growing population of those living in vehicles as immediate consequence of the current economic fallout.  I think there is a lot of anecdotal out there of an increase in population of people living in vehicles as they are losing their jobs.
	And we are going to mobilize community partnerships already providing services for those who are at risk experiencing homelessness and to invite more interested parties to participate.  This particular coalition is a coalition by definition, meaning there is a lot of different agencies that serve a bunch of different aspects of the life of somebody living homeless.  So we are calling on everybody.
	So the plan is that there will be a fiscal agent, will collect funds for disbursement per agreement by all participants.  The plan for disbursement will recognize the diversity of options and the abilities of participating community‑based organizations, to include faith‑based organizations.  
	The fiscal agent will contract with an operations manager to oversee each site's ability to comply with the approved plan of operation, initially, and continuously on an ongoing basis.  The issues that need compliance will be addressed in writing and will include, but it's not limited to, security such as the use of camera systems and/or staffing, agreements with local law enforcement partnerships, and fencing.
	Sanitation such as portable toilets, handwashing stations, dumpster services and using the YMCA shower network.  Service connection, service ‑‑ social services are to be offered to all car campers with the goal of rehousing.  So the project is a pilot program that will seek grants to assist ten sites to function.  Preference funding will recognize the goal representing Tacoma versus Pierce County population needs.
	The community based organization will request funds for a specific need one time.  In other words, if a church feels they need help to pay for food, for meals, let's say ‑‑ if the church has 30 campers, 100 meals, maybe five bucks each, that church will then ask for $15,000.  Okay.  That's just a rough example.
	The pilot program will be ending by December 30, 2020.  All funds not disbursed will be refunded to the grantors.  Our goal, our ask, is $300,000.  The goal is ten sites at 20 cars per site, some a lot more, some a lot less, but we will average about 200 camper sites per night.  We hope that we can turn over the camper sites about every 30 days with the goal of rehousing.
	This will total 200 camping sites for six months.  If we do that, that will be 1200 camping nights at 150 nights, which will cost us on average ten bucks per car per night.
	I will do a screen share now, and there we go.
>> Beautiful.
>> So a jump in with questions.  Actually, I really prefer chat questions because I have a doctorate of nurse practice candidate who wants to type this all up, so I will take questions and I will also encourage chat questions.  And let me ‑‑ so the goals are there.  This is in response to COVID‑19, both the disease being communicable, so we want to promote social distancing.  Also the COVID‑19 is causing people to lose their jobs.  When people lose their jobs in this country, they lose their insurance, so it is a direct result of COVID‑19 causing havoc.
	So the plan is here.  We have to include behavior contracts with folks coming in.  Here is a draft here.  Here is all of this.  We have not finalized ‑‑ okay.  So, Gerrit, can you see questions?
>> I do not see any questions coming out except amazing job, all in caps.  Are location lots already identified?
>> Oh, not at all.  We have had two sites come forward, and I have been in contact with the chief of police of Lakewood, Lakewood would be responsive from a law enforcement point of view.  So that's part of the goal is to get law enforcement on board early on.  We want any site to participate and who identifies a particular need to use their assets.  Rich had talked about Fellowship Bible is already pretty close to starting, but maybe they need to pay for food to be able to open up, dumpster services, maybe a church or nonprofit needs to pay for increased fencing, whatever.  So the sites have not been identified.  We want folks to contact us.
	Okay.  Gerrit, start reading.
>> Sure.  One month is a very short turnaround.  I have a question too long to type, Theresa says.  Would you like to talk?  Yes, Theresa.
>> So I just want to say that even with a really great team, you have seen how few people actually get housed through the Stability Site, and my experience of people living in vehicles is that some of them have been living in vehicles for decades.  So I wonder if you would consider having a different aspiration that includes people who are going to stay in their vehicles.  I mean if the aspiration is that everyone ‑‑ or most people even, or even half the people, I would say pretty much anybody, anything that you can move them through in a month is really optimistic, and I wouldn't want it to feel like a failure.  That's why I am saying this.  I think there is another need.
>> Correct.  Now that has to be ‑‑ yes.  That will definitely be taken into account.  I am anticipating increasing new population, so, yes, those who are already chronically living homeless in vehicles, they will not be turned away.  However, the funding is going to be gone by the end of December.  So we as a coalition and as service providers perhaps immediate to start another project or another approach for folks who are living in their vehicles chronically, but meanwhile addressing these immediate hygiene, public health issues, that is exploding throughout our county.  I mean we all know it's starting to explode.
	So, yes, absolutely, Theresa.  Nobody is going to be turned away because we think they might be a chronic person already living in their car.  We will not turn them away.
>> Part of my concern is if you put out to funders this is your expectation and you are not able to accomplish it, it can feel like you didn't accomplish what you offered.  And I think there is this whole other piece.  In fact I would be surprised if most of the people who come are ‑‑ I am doing a double negative.  It seems like most of the people who will come will be people who are going to still be in their cars after December.
>> We are going to collect data.  We are going to collect data going on.  If we identify a specific let's say social determinant of health that can't be addressed in another way, then perhaps we can go for more funding for another kind of project later.  So if, like you say, with the Stability Site, which is classic example, if we can collect data that is suggesting that this is not an end‑all, and we are not saying it is, but at least it's going to be documented and data will be collected and we can approach it from a different perspective further into the project.
>> I meant to start with, great job, I love what you are doing.  That was what I should have led with.  Thank you.
>> There is a number of questions in the chat, Janet, basically asking why stop at the end of December, why not plan this through winter.
>> Stopping at the end of December because our ‑‑ some of our funders ‑‑ because $300,000 isn't all that much money given the enormity of the project.  And a lot of our partners, our community partners, may not want to go in for the long haul.  They may want to start with an entry project.  Realistically if we call this a pilot project and we know there is an end in sight, and perhaps we can readjust the plan or project afterwards, I firmly believe there needs to be an end date and this is not an ongoing forever and ever amen project.
>> So just another question, as a point of perspective, so an operation like the Stability Site is running about $60 per bed night.  The TEMS Shelter is running at $70.  This type of plant with $10 per bed night, there is not the same level of services, but it's hard to get a less expensive way for people to be safe and have access to hygiene than safe parking like this.
	So a question from Rob Huff, there has been discussion about the distribution of sites.  Which communities would we think would be willing to host sites?  That's a question.  This is a great need and a framework for people to respond to.  I guess that's a compliment.
>> You are breaking up.
>> Have you talked about the distribution of sites?  Or maybe ‑‑
>> We need help from the entire coalition on identifying who the potential partners are going to be, and the distribution being mindful of some areas have no access to hardly anything.  So we need participation from the coalition.
>> And I would dip into Rob's good work doing the shelter planning that the city funded, and the Ministerial Alliance and MDC doing.  Hopefully that's available.  There is a question from Al.  If parking is nighttime only in a church lot, is a fence really necessary?  It seems to convey a negative image of parkers.
>> Al, that's exactly why we switched from having a one‑size‑fits‑all model, like they did in California, why we switched to realize that not all sites are the same.  So that's why fencing is not a contingency.  It is perhaps ‑‑ it might be the deal breaker for a church in Bonney Lake to not provide services because they don't have a fence.  If that's the deal breaker and they got volunteers that can do the food or they got a budget that can pay for the dumpster, but they need help with fencing and that's their deal breaker, then we will write a check for fencing.  But if you don't need fence, in fact the chief from Lakewood doesn't want fences.  He feels that it is not conducive to a neighborhood feeling.
>> Yes.
>> The fencing is not mandatory, but if it's a deal breaker for a church or a park or whatever, we will include fencing as an accessible expense.
>> My question was qualified on if it's a nighttime only parking situation and people have to leave during the day, I see ‑‑
>> It's completely up to the individual participant.  When we came up with this model we were saying 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. and it had to have X number of security folks, and that got to be really expensive.  Also, it turns out some of the churches don't even want that, and some of the churches have addressed security in other ways.
>> There is a question of the churches may have to provide their own funds for food or waste, and is that a deterrent?
>> Yes.  We will write a check.  A church can come up with a budget, and they cannot afford a specific one or two or three items in that budget, we will write the check for that church.  So it doesn't have to be just food or something.  Because some of the churches will only allow maybe six parking spots.  Some churches may allow 60.  So it is not ‑‑ it's not ‑‑ I end we want it to average ten bucks per night per car.  It's not going to be ten bucks in reality.  It's going to be an average.  So if a church or a CBO can identify two issues that they need financial help with, then we will consider both.
>> There is a question, has the design of this program, putting this together, have you asked for input from people living in cars?
>> No.  In fact I am trying to get access to data on how to find ‑‑ I mean Theresa lives in the neighborhood where you can walk up and down and talk to the folks living in cars, but not everybody who is going to go into one of these sites is not in Theresa's neighborhood.  Entry into one of these safe car parks has to be worked out.  Is it the church or the CBO already has a relationship with that person in that car?  Or should there be a central call‑in center?  So we need some data on how to contact folks with this particular model.
>> Maybe some of the outreach teams would be willing to do a little bit of outreach for you.  It's not that hard to find people living in cars, so maybe they could kind of be part of that data collection for you.  James?
>> Sure, great.
>> I am asking you.
>> Having to have permits from city and county governments?
>> You broke up, Al.  What did you say?
>> I said do you contemplate having to have zoning‑type permits from city or county governments where these are located?
>> That may be an issue and I have every intention to go into discussion with that.  If that increases the cost, then that might make it prohibitive for certain sites.
>> It will at least increase the hassle.  I don't know about the cost.
>> But having gone through a couple of these deals already, secondary to COVID, I am expecting cooperation from at least some of the agencies in the city and the county.  Don't laugh, Theresa.  [Laughs].
>> All right.  There is a few other discussion things that exceed my skills as a moderator to navigate us through, and we are kind of getting a little behind on our schedule, so I am going to wrap it up, unless you want a final comment, Janet.
>> No.  Send questions via chat, and then stay in tune.  We are listening to everybody, but I really feel a sense of urgency with this.
>> I think this is something our community has needed for a long time, and that it feels like this is the moment.  I agree with a lot of people that wouldn't it be great to have this last all winter long.  I think trying it out and seeing what it's like, and just getting it going, like you said, it's probably something we can sustain once we get it launched, and see what a benefit it is.  And at a cost that feels like something that's easy to pony up as a community.  So thank you, thank you, thank you.  I hope that you and Colin are able to power this through.
	All right.  We are going to shift over.  We added something last minute to the agenda, so Joy Stanford is going to jump in with an update about things at Shared Housing Services.  Joy.
>> Thanks, Gerrit.  Great way to start the meeting, Mr. Rogers.  Shared Housing Services.  We are still moving forward, we are doing a lot of strategy work and posted COVID, if we can even call it that.  I don't think we can really call it that, but as we move forward with folks who will be losing that extra $600, with people who will be exhausting their rental assistance, we don't know if the rental freeze will keep going, so we are thinking about what's going to happen moving past that.
	So you are talking July, August and September.  In the first three months for Shared Housing Services we had an increase of 154% matches, which is incredible.  We started our year off incredible.  And then COVID hit.  Doggone it.  It's been a slow burn because people were still coming to us and we were still getting applications.  We had a huge influx of home providers as COVID started, but then as COVID started to pick up, our home providers couldn't move anybody in, which is understandable because you don't know who is infected, you don't know who is quarantined, et cetera.
	So we are kind of at a standstill, but we are still matching folks.  I know my co‑worker Julianne is on this call and she will give some numbers as soon as I'm done.  In the last two weeks we saw the same number of apps we did the previous six weeks, which is incredible, so people are thinking about where they are going to be, especially our manufacturers, restaurants, low‑wage earners are thinking about what's going to happen in the future.  So I think that's why we have seen that increase in the last two weeks.
	Our executive director did some numbers and said if just 2% of the folks in Pierce County ‑‑ if just 2% of the folks who are collecting unemployment stopped getting that extra $600 and had housing instability, that would be 4,000 more people into our homeless system, and that's a lot of people that we would be adding to our homeless system, which is already overrun with folks.  So we are trying to stop that.  That's what shared housing is about, and that's we need you, our partners, to think about situations where folks can match up or folks can decide to open up their home, and share space with folks.  Two seniors may be living together, a senior and a veteran living together, a single mom who might have an extra room and can double up, like I did with my roommate many, many, many, many years ago.  So it's all those kind of unique situations where shared housing can play a part.
	So we are just asking you when you hear about those type of situations, please feel free to send them my way or Julianne Fisher's way.  She is on the call as well.  And we can determine whether that is doable.  Hi, Julianne.  And I am just going to turn to Julianne for any additional comments and/or numbers that she might want to give.
>> Hi, good morning, everybody.  Thanks, Joy.  Yeah, through February and ‑‑ February is pretty busy.  March and April we saw a decline in the number of people that are were putting in applications that were worried about going outside, but we have had an increase in calls.  And we are closer to opening up a [mic cutting out] June 5th, a lot of people are anticipating and hoping that we will be opening up and this shows this month we are already back up to about 70% of the applications that we normally receive and we are getting even more calls.  So the need is there.  We just need people to spread the word and let them know what we are doing, and let people that own homes or are renting homes and have an extra room, if they are struggling, that this is an option for them and this is something to think about, so that we can help other people with affordable housing.
>> And we are not taking walk‑ins right now.  You have to make an appointment.  You do your application online if you can.  If you can't, call our office, we will mail an application to you.  But to do the background check we are taking appointments only.  We can't just walk in, and that's our own processes and our own way to do our social distancing.
>> A couple questions.  One of them was from Greg Walker.  Any update on possible change to the law regarding host homes for minors?
>> I don't know the answer to that.
>> I honestly don't know.
>> What law?
>> So when I was ‑‑ when I came by and met with you guys a couple months ago talking about host homes, Mark was talking about that there was some language in Washington law that limited the ability to provide host homes with public funding for use under the age of 18 who weren't dependents.  And there was something in that legislative session that they were trying to change that restriction in the law, and I just ‑‑ I haven't been able to follow afterwards.  I would send Mark an e‑mail, Greg.  I don't deal with the host home.  I don't think Julianne does, either.  We do adult ‑‑
>> Hey, Greg and Joy, this is Valeri.  It is up for discussion with the state budget.  The law currently states that you cannot pay a host home for a minor to be in that home under the age of 18, and there is a restriction on the amount of dollars per year a host home program can have in their budget if they serve minors.  The point is you don't take in minors because that replicates the foster system.  The law is still being processed.
>> Is that Valeri?
>> Thanks, Valeri.
>> Thanks, Valeri.
>> Is there a way to match people who have already recovered in COVID‑19 in shared housing?  
>> Yes.  We have people that have said they have recovered, and there are strictly referrals.  The choice is up to the homeowner and the home seeker.  We let them know about the guidelines, sanitizing, wearing a mask, staying six feet apart, sanitizing things like [indiscernible].  Each home provider, it's up to them how to do it.  If they want things sanitized before they move in, if they want a COVID test, we are looking into the possibility of that, testing temperatures, but it is up to the home providers.  As long as there is no signs or symptoms, they are letting them move in.  Despite it being slow, we have already had seven move‑ins.
>> Can I just thank Gerrit?  Several providers in this coalition have reached out to us and partnered with us over the last couple months, and I want to say thank you to them.  We have been able to help several folks and get them ‑‑ start the process of either doing home share or getting some Safe Housing like a hotel room for a little lady who was living in her car.  Funds were allocated and used to help people like that.  And I want to say thank you to all of you who do this great work.  I think the silver lining of COVID‑19 is that many communities like this one, you guys have set the tone in the example and it has spread throughout Pierce County, and I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you.
>> Thanks, Joy.  If there was a recent jump in cases of hepatitis A, yay.  I got so tired of COVID‑19, I was really excited to get a new disease, and it's an old friend coming back.  So I just want the Health Department to have a chance to talk to us a little bit about how we may need to consider responding to that, and if that spike occurred within the homeless community, which it often does, so I am going to hand it off.
>> Thank you.
>> Hi, everyone.  Happy Friday.  I wanted to report really quick that I spoke with Denise from the Health Department who manages some of the nurses, and as far as the outbreak, some came from the folks unstably housed, and after speaking with Denise it sounds like all those four cases denied any shelter, any ‑‑ yeah.  They were not in the system.  They were unstably housed and not with the shelters.  And there was testing, COVID testing, in addition to hep A immunizations being offered at the Puyallup site before the hep A outbreak, and the next site's immunizations will be offered at the Tacoma Rescue Mission on June 8th.  
	I want to position myself as somebody from the Health Department, if you have any additional questions I can rely that to Denise and that team as far as future immunizations for hep within the community at the shelters.  That's all I have for now, but if there is any questions anyone wants to connect offline, feel free to do so.
>> Can we have the 90‑second version of how it's transferred, what we need to be doing and where we can get vaccines?
>> It is transmitted through fecal and oral ‑‑ oral and fecal matter, so a big way to prevent it is through hand hygiene.  We all know that this is troublesome for the homeless populations, so there is still conversations as far as how to mitigate that and as far as protection through the immunizations it's very protective, and how to offer those at the shelters there is conversation, but hand hygiene is super important, and I know you are working on hand sanitation.
>> Same thing we are doing for COVID‑19.
>> Absolutely.
>> Yeah.  And I think that you guys do have a list of where immunizations can be acquired.  Obviously going to the sites and offering them where people are is super effective and amazing so thank you.  I think there are some other locations that do them on demand, and I am pretty sure you have a spreadsheet, so maybe send that out to the coalition.
>> I will look into that.  Thank you.
>> All right.  And let's see.  I think we are ready to head into our advocacy update.  We are going to kind of pound through our updates here, but I want to make sure we take some time for Maureen.
>> Thank you.  Good morning, everybody.  So I think in terms of three buckets.  We keep everybody housed, we can possibly keep housed, as long as that is safe and appropriate.  We shelter everybody who is without stable housing including people who are wherever they are, and kudos to Jan and everybody who has worked on the safe parking.  And the third bucket is we rehouse people who are experiencing homelessness, however it is defined, as quickly as possible in permanent housing that they can have a reasonable chance of staying in.
	To do those things, several of you have added to your missions, to your business lines if you look at it that way, to the programs that you offer, and I think the entire community is grateful that you have been willing to do that.
	I think there are three things to keep in mind.  One is we have to be nimble.  Two is we have to help influence policy and take advantage of any opportunities that are presented, and I am trying to send that information out to the full coalition.  And we have to understand the money.  And I just have a couple of things about money.
	There is $40 million coming.  This is not COVID‑related.  This is money out of the state legislature.  Commerce is trying to get this money out, and you have a chance to weigh in.  This is going to come by allocation to counties.  Counties are going to have to request it.  It's three‑year money, works out at about $5.48 times the population of the county over a three‑year period.  That's a new way for Commerce to put money out.
	The second thing is that there is a lot of pressure at the national level to make changes to the CARES Act, especially the relief fund.  That's that huge pot of money that we are ‑‑ that John Barbee was talking about this morning, that we are trying to get ‑‑ the county is trying to get out as quickly as possible.  And while you are thinking about $10 a day for project safe parking, think about the retired general who is going to make 120 grand to advise the county executive between now and the end of the year on how to spend that money.
	So one of the troubling things that's happening at the national level is that there is a move to have the congress change the parameters on that relief fund.  Right now a jurisdiction cannot use it to backfill anything in their budget.  It has to be something that is unbudgeted.  And there is a move on the part of several members of congress to try and change that so that jurisdictions could use it to make it budgets et deficits.
	So I really encourage you, put your applications in.  When Pierce County comes out, there is another round out now, get them in, let them spend that money, and let's get everything out that we can.
	Two last things.  One is hygiene and sanitation.  I've gone round and round with Pierce County Human Services that the showers are wonderful, but this is not 24/7 where you go to the bathroom or wash your hands, and it's really nice if a shelter also a porta potty on their parking lot, but that isn't 24/7 for everybody across the county, so that's another push we need to make.  The CDC is the gold standard on the guidance.  So that's one thing.
	And the other thing if you are a small program and/or you are just beginning to do business with government funders, please be realistic about the cost to your organization because it's an allowable cost to have enough financial support to be able to manage that money and report out on it appropriately.  This is not something you add to what you are already doing.  This is an additional responsibility that your organization is going to have, and so make sure that you ask for and receive enough money so that you can have the financial recordkeeping and management properly taken care of.  It will save you nightmares in the future.  Thank you again for letting me do this.  Oh, I can't hear you.
>> Because I don't know how to do teleconferences.  Any questions for Maureen?  All right.  You nailed it again.  So thanks for that update and that global perspective.  I appreciate feeling a little more in‑synch with a lot of the wheels there are moving.  We are going to jump into a bunch of things.  Mostly I am going to ask if folks have updates, and I want to start with homeless prevention, just kind of touch base on available funding or on kind of where you are in the process.  Yuni, did you want to provide any information on the City of Tacoma?
>> Yes.  I
	Have a quick update and I have another meeting to jump off for.  We are still processing lottery applications, and after talking to the city last week we decided the best thing to do would be finish processing these applications before we reevaluate the eligibility requirements, but we are keeping a list and we are tracking those.  Things that we would like to readdress.  We were able to issue 23 different payments last week, so we got a little over $20,000 out the door.  We started doing followup calls to applicants that weren't responding to our e‑mails, and they weren't checking their e‑mails.  We asked them to go back.  We have a specific date that we contacted them and the name and they were able to find the e‑mail and they got back into the process.  About 20% of those followup calls responded they have gone back to work and they no longer need the help, so that's great to hear.
	We are going to be distributing our COVID‑19 rent assistance flyers over the weekend.  And we are receiving calls to Share and Care and MDC if they are not able to be served under our current program.  We want to make sure there is no overlap of services and no duplication of efforts.  There has been a couple of landlords I have needed to step in on and just kind of review some language with them and make sure they were not trying to evict the tenant.  There is one landlord I think we were able to get to back off of her threats.  And then there was another person who was referred to us, and we shared the information with them to report their landlord to the Attorney General if they felt necessary because they were getting notices posted on their door daily with threats that they needed to be out because the unit was already rented.
	So that's our update from LASA, COVID‑19, and I will have another update next week.
>> Thank you, Yuni?  Anyone else, Share and Care House?  MDC has kind of used up its funding?
>> We haven't really used up the funding.  We are at a point where we are processing applications.  Last week at the end ‑‑ last Friday we closed the first window and we may reopen after we process the current applications if there is dollars still available.  The total pool that we had to spend down, and this is money that is from LIHEAP, so Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance, so the qualifications for people who can receive this funding are the same as our energy assistance program.  And there is a lot of paperwork involved and a lot of back and forth just like Yuni mentioned.  So we are hopeful to be able to reopen to disburse further funds, but we don't have a date for that yet, so.
>> Thank you, Rob.
>> Yep.
>> I knew there was something and I knew I had it wrong, so I appreciate that accurate information.  All right.  I would like to jump in with some government updates.  I think this is our last chance with you, Carrie.  You are going to be moving off to contact tracing within the Health Department, not too far away.
>> Yes.  And that will happen on Monday.  So I will probably ‑‑ well, maybe not.  I am not sure how this will work out.  We will be doing ‑‑ we will be working alongside all of you as well, but for now this is my last day here at the EOC in the community branch, homeless response, and on Monday I start with the contact tracing, so, yeah.  I have to go through training and whatnot.  
	As far as an update, [indiscernible] is going to be taking over and he does a fabulous job, so moving forward you can replace my e‑mail with his e‑mail.  But thank you, everyone.  You are doing awesome work.  Keep at it.
>> Any other updates from the Health Department side?
>> Naomi or anyone else, Health Department?
>> No.
>> No.  We are going to send out our latest blog as well.  You all are doing a fantastic job, so keep it up.  Thank you.
>> All right.  Anything from the EOC?  Ivan, is that you at the end of the table?
>> Ivan is over here.
>> No major changes from last week's update.  We are just having a lot of discussions regarding recovery and resiliency, planning and such, but no major updates as of last week to this week.
>> Thank you.  All right.  Valeri, any additional items from the county?
>> I think John covered most of it.  The CARES Act funding is open for round two.  Letters are going out right now.  We were a little fast in posting onto the website versus ‑‑ sorry.  So our communications is so fast, they posted on the website before the letter went out.  So that's where the confusion is.  Sometimes I need to remember to slow down.  Congratulations if you were awarded.  If you were not on that short list, an e‑mail explaining why is coming up.  
	The primary reason is that 60‑day requirement, but the council has put on for funding, as well as really they needed some additional information from most of our providers.  We wanted to make sure we were coming at this CARES Act funding with a cultural understanding and being able to fund agencies that have a primary focus of serving people of color and impacted by COVID.  There is a few extra questions as well as calling out specific populations and we are doing strategic outreach to get agencies to apply for those dollars.
	So that's kind of where we are today.  YMCA is open, Sprinker is still open.  I know there is confusion about whether they are charging.  They are not charging $2 at Sprinker.  There is a sign on the shower wall.  They have been asked to take that down because that was creating a lot of confusion.  So that is down.  John asked the Continuum of Care to put together a group to have a recommendation, so that meeting is scheduled for next week.  If you are on the CoC, you got an invitation already, so there you have it.  Other than that, other duties as assigned.  I don't know what else.  Let's see.  Matrix on rental assistance program, who is eligible for what and where and how.  Rental assistance, you can apply to serve the entire county, but for the first time ever, if you remember working for the county, typically we will say we will take whoever you refer.  If you need to serve folks in Orting, we will figure out a way for that to happen.  If you serve primarily people of color, we want to encourage and embrace that and figure out a way to refer you best.  We are going to work on all of those things.  
	We still have 5 million to get out as John said earlier.  Thank you, James, for posting my way too soon of announcing.  There are three applications already posted on the website, so hopefully once we finalize the scoring criteria, I will share.  [Indiscernible].  Please stress to everyone that you talk to that these grants must be spent by December 31st.  There is no rollover into 2021.  There is no reallocating to other agencies after December 31st.  So please don't submit an application for 12 months because we don't have 12 months.  We have seven months.  We added that to the application.  If you are chatting with someone or in a collaboration, will you please remind them that December 31st they must be spent, not just allocated.
	Any questions for me?
>> Thanks, Valeri.
>> Just quickly.
>> Yes.
>> I wasn't clear enough in my question.  Or answer was that that's important information, but for people who are trying to figure out how to get rental assistance, are you going to have something that ‑‑ there is no central portal on the rent assistance, so there is no portal at all on Share and Care, so how do you ‑‑ one of the things I think would be helpful for everybody else is, for lack of a better word, a matrix of where do I go, where do I refer this person.
>> Yeah.  So there will be a portal, Maureen.  We are finalizing it right now.
>> The county is going to have the portal?
>> Yes.
[Talking simultaneously]
>> Our veterans and domestic violence, there is different funds that we can find, and it will help us refer directly to those agencies.  Everyone will have one place to go to and we will refer those out.
>> The county is going to manage the portal?
>> Yes.
>> Oh, God yes.  Thank you.
>> So glad you are happy about that.  I held my breath.
>> I have set the examples of so many times of other places doing one single portal.
>> Developing it as we speak.
>> Oh, thank you, thank you.  Now if you can do as well on porta‑potties, I will feel really good.
>> Trying, trying.  A whole list back here.  You can't see it, but that's our to‑do list, and it's moving around constantly.
>> Is there a to‑do list with my name on it?
>> [Indiscernible].
>> All right.  Let's move over to updates from the City of Tacoma.  I see Erica is still on the call.  Erica.
>> Hi.  So I don't have any big updates from last week.  We have our council meeting today at 2:00.  We are slated to discuss the resolution for equity and then have some updates on Pierce Transit and the city's response to COVID‑19.  On Tuesday our city council will be closing public comment for the consolidated plan, so if you haven't had a chance to look at that, I suggest you do that.  
	I sent the postcard out for the town hall on the 4th about the TEMS update, so if someone did not get that and would like that, please let me know and I can send out another one.  That's all I have.
>> Questions for the city?  We know where to find you.  Thanks for coming on.
>> Absolutely.
>> Any of the shelters have any quick updates, unmute yourself and toss it into the mix.  Mr. Walker.
>> So just real quick update, we are ‑‑ the Serra House is in the process and finalizing the work right now to execute a lease for a new facility.  We will be announcing probably as early as next week the location and the process on that, but we are going to be expanding our operations and will be among other things opening our first Pierce County coffee shop for The Coffee Oasis in the coming months.  So good things are happening in the midst of stressful times, so good news from us.  Thanks.
>> Coffee shops, those are the places that we used to be able to go and have coffee.  Is that what those are?  I don't really remember them.
>> We are going to be supplying the first physical distancing compliant coffee shop for Pierce County.
>> All right.  A question from Al.
>> Speaking of coffee, you recall that sometime ago I asked Starbucks if they would be willing to provide freebies to our homelessness first responders, and I had a very enthusiastic response from the local store manager and a moderate response from one of the district managers, and then as it ramped up higher in the hierarchy I encountered total silence.  So I am invoking the William Stone coffin rule, not to reply is to reply, and assume that we have failed in that effort, and I'm sorry.  Maybe you should take your coffee business to some other place.
>> Thanks for trying, Al.  You don't get what you don't ask for.
>> Any that have access to the Kitsap Coffee Oasis location we do provide ‑‑ I don't think it's free, but deeply discounted and sometimes you get free if good samaritans have paid it ahead, but we are providing support for all the emergency responders and homeless providers in Kitsap County locations.  As soon as we have a place to fire up [indiscernible].
>> Thanks.  And there aren't any updates from TRM.  They are just powering along doing the work.  Impressive.  All right.  I think ‑‑
>> One last one?
>> Maureen, yes.
>> For Erica and Valeri, the portal for rental assistance, do I understand correctly that the city programs will go through that portal as well?  That's one question.  Second one, Valeri, the county moves to implement the mortgage relief, some sort of assistance, and I don't know if the city plans that or not, but will there be a similar portal just for that?
>> Great questions.  Currently the fund we receive for CARES dollars cannot be used in the City of Tacoma, so they would not go through that portal.  The mortgage assistance would go through the same portal.
>> So only the CARES relief fund going through the portal?
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Currently.  Things could change in the next five seconds.
[Laughter]
>> Nimble.
>> To let you all know.
>> Be nimble.
>> Joy?
>> Valeri, we talked on the phone yesterday.  Are these the same dollars we talked about or is this two different buckets of money?
>> Same dollars.
>> Thank you.
>> You are welcome.
>> All right.  Well, I think that brings us to the end, and I will attempt to channel the good Mr. Rogers one more time.  It's a good feeling to know people like Mr. Baker and Dr. Radcliffe and Ms. Jensen, and it's a good feeling to be able to say what you feel.  Sure.  I am glad that you are the people that you are, and that Mr. Dennerlein is the person he is and Ms. Jensen is the person she is, and nobody in this world can do everything.  No.  Some people can do one thing well, and other people can do another thing.  Nobody does everything perfectly, no.  We have had a big week together, you and I.  And I will be thinking of you a lot this weekend.  So I will see you next week.  It's such a good feeling to know you are alive.
[Singing].  A good happy feeling when you are growing inside and when you wake up it's ‑‑ 
[Talking simultaneously]
>> I think I will make it a snappy new day.  It's a good feeling to know ‑‑ a very good feeling, a feeling to know that I will be back when the week is new, and I will have more ideas.
[Laughter]
>> We love you, Mr. Nyland.
>> And we will have things to talk about, too.  So see you next week, neighbors.
>> Thanks, everybody.
[End of meeting]