The TYP is committed to a scattered-site approach to developing housing to end chronic homelessness. In order to reach its goal of creating 400 units of permanent supportive housing, the TYP will need to encourage construction and/or rehabilitation of perhaps a dozen or more apartment complexes scattered across the city and county.
Last week the Ten-Year Plan conducted a joint City Council/County Commission workshop. This workshop came about as the result of interactions with County Commission over the allocation of funds for Minvilla Manor. Commission considered an amendment to the resolution making that funding available only on the condition that any further project seeking to use public funds to build permanent supportive housing (PSH) would be built outside the city limits. That amendment was defeated, but it raised the issue of public input into siting of PSH and other kinds of supportive housing. The TYP asked for this joint workshop to begin to address that issue.
This joint City Council/County Commission workshop had two main goals.
- One was to begin a process for defining the siting considerations that would inform location of permanent supportive housing developments in various parts of the city and county to meet TYP objectives.
- The other was to begin the process of discussing the guidelines by which developers of this housing will engage neighborhoods where such housing may be located. A good process for neighborhood engagement is critical to the success of the TYP’s efforts to develop necessary permanent supportive housing stock.
To begin this process well, it was essential that Council members and Commissioners understand permanent supportive housing. Tim Klont from the Corporation for Supportive Housing spoke about what permanent supportive housing is, how effective it is, how it affects property values, the different models of development, how different communities site this type of housing, and other points of interest. Tim’s presentation was extremely informative. Click here for a copy of his detailed PowerPoint presentation.
The Task Force on PSH Siting Considerations
A good portion of the meeting was spent discussing issues related to specific permanent supportive housing projects. By the end of the meeting, however, Council and Commission approved the formation of a Task Force to do the following specific tasks:
- Generate a thorough list of site considerations for the development of permanent supportive housing.
- Develop a working definition of each site consideration. This definition will fairly represent the interests of all stakeholders.
- Present this list of site considerations and the working definitions to both City Council and County Commission for comment.
- Once all comments are processed and incorporated into the definitions, then the definitions will become usable by the developers of permanent supportive housing.
The members of the Task Force will be composed of representatives from each stakeholder group. (Note: The following list is updated as necessary. Updated Feb 23, 2009.)
- Three members of City Council
- Joe Hultquist
- Marilyn Roddy
- Chris Woodhull
- Three members of County Commission
- Mike Brown
- Mark Harmon
- Finnbarr Saunders
- Five members from the various neighborhood organizations (the TYP envisions COIN volunteering two members with the other three coming from other neighborhood organizations)
- The Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Office: 3 Members
- Two members from the Support Service Community
- Ginny Weatherstone, Volunteer Ministry Center
- Jim Warchol, Open Arms Care Corporation
- Two Developers
- David Arning, Southeastern Housing Foundation
- other TBD
- Two residents of permanent supportive housing (TBD)
- Glen Jackson
- Robert Clark
- Other
- David Waite, Attorney at Law
- A Facilitator (TBD)
- Jeannie Dulaney, Leadership Knoxville
- Dawn Ford, Consumer Awareness Management
- The two Mayors will have an open invitation to attend the meetings
- All other Commissioners and Council Members can attend the meetings in a non-participatory role.
The Task Force will meet for the first time on March 12, 2009, from 7:30am to 1pm at the United Way of Greater Knoxville. This meeting is open to the public. The majority of the time will be used for education and to focus the group on its purpose. Workgroups will form at this initial meeting. They will meet independently to explore issues that are critical to the work of the Task Force and will bring their findings together to create the final product. We anticipate that the Task Force will complete its work within three months of its first meeting.
The Task Force will meet at least every other week for twelve weeks for at least two hours per meeting. The TYP office will look to the members to decide on the regularity and duration of the meetings after the first meeting convenes. The goal is for the Task Force to have a final product to present to the two legislative bodies by April 1, 2009.
If you have questions about anything related to the Task Force, permanent supportive housing, or anything else related to the TYP, please don’t hesitate to contact us or ask your questions in the comments below.