ARP Committee 10/19

We had two ARP meetings in October. We seem to be winding down the number of ARP meetings.

1) MDHA Wrap Around Services- 1.6M

The item passed unanimously. Money will pass through MDHA and go to nonprofits who will be helping 350 families from the 7 listed sites. Each family will execute a 4 year agreement of participation to achieve family self sufficiency. That participation agreement will not include a drug test. As we know, drug test have been used in many different forms that have become roadblocks for people seeking help. If this an area that needs to be addressed, it will be in the assessment of needs. The assessment will look at health, workforce training, education, children needs, amount others. Goals will be set based on assessment. The goal would be to move families from a subsidized unit to a tax credit unit.

2) Our Place- $500,000

Our place asked for $250,000 to “ensure stability through this expansion, recruit adults with physical disabilities who have trouble accessing affordable housing, sustain critical social/ recreational activities and vocational support, and hire social workers to address the complex challenges of the vulnerable population we serve.” A motion was made to double the amount to $500,00 since the request was very conservative. I did abstain on the vote because I believed that we needed a wholistic approach where nonprofits could apply for money since we really haven’t addressed the need. After speaking a little more to the nonprofit and doing some research, I have decided that I will be voting in favor of the allocation. They are one of the only organizations doing this work.

3) Supplemental homeless support- $5,350,000

This item was put forth by CM Welsch. The goal was to address some of the support services gaps when it comes to homelessness. This item was deferred indefinitely with one abstention which was mine. I abstained because we have not received the list of support services being funded with the previous 50M. Another reason was because we have a fiscal responsibility to oversee the spending of ARP funds. Can’t vote on what you don’t know.

4) Affordable housing planning department- 30M

This was approved.

Going back to finding a wholistic approach to address needs in nonprofits, I believe this should be an ARP agenda item. We have addressed individual needs (rent, mortgage, and utility relief) and small business relief. We have not addressed nonprofit needs. Yes we have given money to nonprofits to deliver services or do outreach but we have not addressed needs. Some nonprofits had a hard time during the pandemic as well. It’s my opinion that we need to create a fund distributed by an entity of our choosing. If we were able to do it with small businesses, I do not see why we can not do it with nonprofits. It will ultimately be up to the committee. We said we would discuss this at the next meeting.