DRAFT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< DRAFT Homeless Services Gaps Analysis of Sarasota County ~~ ~~ ~~ Presentation of Findings and Action Plan Recommendations to the County of Sarasota and the Cities within Sarasota County by Robert G. Marbut Jr., Ph.D. ~~ ~~ ~~ Draft Written Report - November 20, 2013 Presentations - November 25, 2013 Final Written Report - November 29, 2013 Prepared by Robert G. Marbut Jr., Ph.D. www.marbutconsulting.com Table of Contents Title Page ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... 2 Summary of Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 3 Project Scope of Work ................................................................................................................... 6 Initial Observations ........................................................................................................................ 8 Strategic Action Recommendations ............................................................................................. 13 Immediate Next Steps .................................................................................................................. 26 Exhibit 1 - Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Site Evaluation Criterion .............................. 27 Exhibit 2 - Locations Evaluated for Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit ....................... 29 Exhibit 3 - Program/Agency Site Visits, Tours, Meetings and Conference Calls ....................... 38 Exhibit 4 - The Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation ..................................... 53 Exhibit 5 - Robert G. Marbut Jr., Ph.D. Biography ..................................................................... 55 DRAFT > Martbut Report - 2 Summary of Recommendations 1 - The entire Sarasota County Community needs to move from a Culture of Enablement to a Culture of Engagement in all aspects. This includes service agencies, volunteers, staffs, donors, funders, government agencies, programs, residents, tourists and the homeless community. Free food handouts and cash from panhandling - although well intended by nice folks - actually perpetuates and increases homelessness through enablement. Rather, street handouts, food and cash donations should be redirected to high performing agencies. The mission should no longer be to “serve” the homeless community, instead the mission should be to dramatically and consequentially increase “street graduation” rates. A media and public awareness campaign needs to be developed to educate and encourage the community to move from a culture of enablement to a culture of engagement. 2 - Establish an Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children for the North County area in the City of Sarasota. This would become the “emergency room” for any homeless family with children and any unaccompanied minors residing in North County. The Portal would provide intake, stabilization, emergency housing, master case management and referral services. All homeless families and children in the North County area would start at this intake portal. 3 - Establish an Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children for the South County area in Englewood (or North Port), then create satellite operations in Venice/Nokomis and North Port (or Englewood ). This would become the “emergency room” for any homeless family with children and any unaccompanied minors residing in South County. The Portal would provide intake, stabilization, emergency housing, master case management and referral services. All homeless families and children in the South County area would start at this intake portal. 4 - Establish a 24/7/168/365 Men’s and Women’s Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit which would be a “come-as-you-are” emergency shelter. The Sarasota Sheriff’s Office should be asked to be the lead coordinating agency. This would become the main intake portal for adult homeless men and women. All adult services county-wide should “spoke off” of this main hub. Once operational, all county-wide street feeding programs, food pantry programs and day-time service centers for adult homeless men and women need to be relocated within the Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit (“Sarasota Safe Harbor”). This should also be the location of the Master Case Managers for adult homeless men and women. Note: Throughout this report “Sarasota” is used to refer to the overall Sarasota “community” living within Sarasota County. If an issue specifically relates to the City of Sarasota or to Sarasota County it is then specifically stated. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 3 5 - Two different Master Case Management “systems” need to be developed: one for families with children (including unaccompanied minors) and a second one for adult men and women. The two Master Case Management systems need to be embedded within the intake portals and the triage stabilization unit. “Master case management” and “agency level case management” are often wrongly presented as the same functionality. There is a major difference between master case management and agency level case management - the first is holistic case management across the entire system of all agencies while the second is only within an individual agency. 6 - The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) needs to be transformed from a “Score Keeping Model” to a “Proactive Case Management Model.” To accomplish this, the software program needs a couple component upgrades and a system-wide-all-agency information release form should be utilized by all agencies. Additionally, in order to promote universal agency participation, funding to service agencies by foundations, government agencies, United Way and the Continuum of Care should become contingent on being proactive participants in HMIS. 7 - A seasonally targeted program should be developed to address seasonal shortages in food supplies within the All Faiths Food Bank. This effort should promote cash and food donations before seasonal residents move north for the season. This “empty your pantry before you go north” program should be promoted through a comprehensive public service campaign. 8 - Redirect “Street Feeding and Street Services” to be aligned with holistic service programs. Street feeding and street services, although well-intentioned and good-hearted, actually “enables” homeless individuals rather than “engages” homeless individuals into 24/7 holistic program services. Providing camping supplies and/or feeding in the parks, at street corners, at beaches and behind restaurants exacerbates and promotes homelessness, thus increasing the number of homeless individuals. Organizations providing street services need to be encouraged to relocate their adult services to Sarasota Safe Harbor. 9 - Ordinances should be harmonized and standardized throughout the County. These ordinances should be drafted in such away as to promote engagement into holistic programs, and not “criminalize” the condition of homelessness. It is very important to note that due to a series of court rulings (often referred to as “Pottinger”), Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) will not be able to enforce most ordinances until Sarasota Safe Harbor is fully operational on a 24/7/168/365 basis. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 4 10 - Once Sarasota Safe Harbor and the Family Portals are almost ready to open, “homeless outreach teams” (HOTs) should then be activated 2-4 weeks before the opening of these new facilities. Street outreach teams will be critical to the success of the overall system. The best HOTs pair a social service worker with a police officer. Additionally, every LEO in the County should go through an appropriate level of homeless engagement and sensitivity training. 11 - Increase the number of “longer term” housing placements across the spectrum for men, women, families with children and unaccompanied minors. To be successful, there needs to be an increase in inventory capacity as well as improvements in service programs to better prepare individuals and families for the challenges they will face. 12 - Governance and leadership of the new and improved holistic homeless service system is critical. In order to reduce role ambiguity and to improve service delivery it is recommended that two governance systems be established - one for families with children which includes unaccompanied minors and a second one for adult men and women. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 5 Project Scope of Work The Project Scope of Work was divided into seven phases. Below is from the executed contract: 1. Phase 1 - Inventory. Consultant shall perform an inventory of all homeless services in Sarasota County and conduct visits to all homeless services providers. Many of these visits will be conducted during normal work hours. Additionally Consultant will visit sites during the off hours, on the weekends and the evenings, when the front line staff continues to provide services. Consultant agrees to provide an activity log noting the date and time of the visits to the homeless service providers that will be submitted monthly to the County no later than the submittal of the invoice for payment. 2. Phase 2 - Needs Assessment. Consultant shall conduct a needs assessment of types of services (qualitative) and capacity of services (quantitative) needed in Sarasota County. This will require street level observation and analysis of as much data as Consultant can gather from the point-in-time-homeless counts, 211 information, HMIS (Homeless Management Information System), agency reports, etc. Consultant agrees to provide an activity log noting the date and time of such street observations and visits to service providers that will be submitted monthly to the County no later than the invoices for payment. 3. Phase 3 - Gap Analysis. Consultant shall conduct a gap analysis of services between inventory and needs. This often requires a lot of follow-up that may be done by phone and e-mail. If the gap analysis includes a recommendation for new facilities, the Consultant shall identify the type, size and general location for each facility as well as review potential sites for consideration. Consultant agrees to provide a written report regarding such Gap analysis. 4. Phase 4 - Strategic Framing. Consultant shall perform strategic framing of the Action Plan. This will require Consultant to conduct in person meetings with government staff members, elected officials, business leaders, faith based entities, civic groups, educational groups, other agencies and homeless individuals. The Consultant will use his knowledge of national best practices to frame the proposed Strategic Action Plan. Consultant agrees to provide an activity log noting the date and time of such in person meetings that will be submitted monthly to the County no later than the invoices for payment. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 6 5. Phase 5 - Prepare a Draft Strategic Action Plan. Consultant shall prepare a draft Strategic Action Plan. A copy of the Draft Strategic Action Plan shall be provided to the City and County for review and/or comment. 6. Phase 6 - Comment and Best Practices. Consultant shall present a draft Strategic Action Plan for comment and discussion. This phase will require Consultant to conduct numerous one-on-one briefings to government staff members, elected officials, businesses, faith based entities, civic groups, educational groups and other agencies. 7. Phase 7 - Complete and Present Action Plan. Consultant shall finalize the Strategic Action Plan and submit the Strategic Action Plan to the County and City. This shall include a presentation at a City Commission and County Commission meeting, joint meeting or workshop. Note About Scope of Work: This proposal was for the “study” phase only and did not include any services for detailed budget development, design, implementation of findings and operational activities. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 7 Initial Observations - This researcher was struck by the lack of real, validated and actionable data within Sarasota County. Most everybody and every agency had anecdotes, but few had validated hard data, and when validated data was available it was mostly about “outputs” not “outcomes.” Additionally, there was no validated unduplicated data between agencies on a system-wide County basis. Anecdotes can inform the research process, but anecdotes should never be used to develop policies. On July 17, 2013, this researcher asked 13 agency directors and/or program directors how many “unsheltered” homeless adult men and women there were in the County. Estimates ranged widely, from 50 to 3,800. Of the 13 “guesses” given, the 3 closest guesses were within 150 of each other, yet these three guesses understated the true number by 400%. Part of the problem is many of the homeless service agencies are not part of the HMIS system, and the agencies that use HMIS often fail to provide real-time data entry. It would be impossible to develop a comprehensive action plan without validated unduplicated system-wide data. Therefore, one of the first orders of business was to gather validated actionable data sets for adults and for families with children. - The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness, in collaboration with 28 local agencies, conducted a comprehensive survey for homeless adults. The survey counted individuals in Sarasota County who were living on the streets, in encampments, the jail, temporary shelters and transitional shelters during the week of September 15-21, 2013. The count was conducted using first name, last name, gender and age of each individual, thus assuring a highly accurate count of homeless adult males and females. Individuals were then de-duplicated between agencies, thus providing a list of unduplicated individuals in Sarasota during the time of the survey. Because of the internal survey methodology, the count is highly accurate and any errors would be in undercounting. Key significant macro-level findings are: + There are at least 1,460 single homeless adults in the County + There is a shortage of at least 1,187 beds/mats for adults (does not include families) + 21% of the jail population is homeless + 85.6% of the adult population is from North County (North of Osprey - includes Jail) + When you exclude the Jail population, 82.8% of all adults are from North County + Only 2.3% of the adult population moves between North and South County DRAFT > Martbut Report - 8 - The North-South County percentage split of homeless adults is validated and reinforced by HMIS data of “Known Last Address” by zip code (jail not included). The HMIS data shows the following: + 85.2% of the adult population that lived in Sarasota County is from North County + 65.0% of the adult population that lived in Sarasota County is from City of Sarasota + Using adults from all zip codes in Florida: * 49.4% are from the City of Sarasota * 26.6% are from the balance of Sarasota County * 24.0% are from everywhere else in Florida - The North-South County percentage split of homeless adults is also supported by Sarasota County Fire Department (SCFD) response calls. Of all the homeless calls made by SCFD, 71.8% were inside the City of Sarasota proper. - An analysis of Jail booking data from September 1, 1012 to September 1, 2013 found that 57.5% of all the individuals booked into the Jail were arrested (and/or had their originating arrest) in the City of Sarasota. Furthermore, 80.4% were arrested (and/or had their originating arrest) in North County (north of Bee Ridge Road). - There are three major problems with non-violent homeless adults being sent to jail rather than a “come-as-you-are” emergency shelter: 1- Homeless do not receive programming that is needed to graduate from the streets 2- It costs 3-5 times more to house a homeless person in jail than in a 24/7 shelter 3- Non-violent homeless individuals crowd out beds needed for violent criminals - National best practices indicate that communities need to have at least one 24/7 “come-asyou-are” low-demand emergency shelter. Yet, Sarasota County does not have a true 24/7/168/365 emergency shelter for adult men and women. - Because there is not a true 24/7/168/365 emergency shelter for adults in Sarasota County, many programs like the Resurrection House, The Center of Hope, Community Assistance Ministry (CAM) and others have sprung up to fill the service void. Unfortunately, taken together, the lack of emergency 24/7 programming combined with part-time day-programs have created a culture that is more often enabling than it is engaging. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 9 - It should be remembered that it is the weather, not programming services, that initially draws homeless individuals to Sarasota. Communities with beaches, palm trees and golf courses will always attract homeless individuals because of the nice climate. Then if the community is enabling, homeless individuals will continue to stay on the streets and in encampments. - Exacerbating the draw of the weather, is the fact Sarasota as a “community” enables homelessness rather than engage homeless individuals. Street feeding and other street service efforts (eg distribution of clothing, backpacks, blankets, tents, etc.), although well-intentioned and good-hearted, are very enabling and do not engage homeless individuals into service programming. Street feeding and services in parks, at beaches, at street corners and under bridges when not aligned with transformational services actually exacerbates homelessness and increases the number of homeless individuals on the street. There is an excessive amount of street feeding efforts in Sarasota. This culture of enablement needs to change to a culture of engagement. - Compared to other communities in the USA, the encampments within Sarasota County are relatively non-violent. Beyond crime statistics, supporting evidence of this finding is the relatively higher percent of women in encampments and the relatively lower ratio of dogs:person compared to other communities (dogs are alarm systems - less dogs indicates less fear of violence). - Tragically, there is a very high number of homeless families with children and homeless unaccompanied minors in Sarasota County. Last school year, there were 907 unduplicated homeless K-12 students of which 87 were unaccompanied youth in Sarasota County public schools. It should be noted that these numbers do no include siblings below the age of 5. This means more than 5 students become homeless every school-day in Sarasota County. - Using similar methodology as above to de-duplicate individuals (eg only count one person one time), the Sarasota Y led an effort of 13 agencies to develop a comprehensive statistical understanding of homeless families with children during the first two months of the 2013-14 school year (August 20 to October 20, 2013). This survey found the following for this two month period: + 3 families with 7 children were in cars or campgrounds + 73 families with 127 children were in motels (this group was often in cars before) + 37 families with 99 children were in shelters + 45 families with 61 children were in transitional housing programs + 190 families with 343 children were “doubled-up” (loss of housing) > Total > 348 families with 637 children DRAFT > Martbut Report - 10 - In the same Sarasota Y survey of families with children in Sarasota County, families that were at imminent risk to becoming homeless were also surveyed (defined as an family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence within 14 days): + 71 families with 156 children were at imminent-risk of becoming homeless > Combined Total > 419 families (793 children and 528 adults) facing homelessness Other Information gathered from this survey: + The average age of a child facing homelessness in Sarasota County is 10 + 20% of children facing homelessness in Sarasota County are age 0-5 - Many families actively try to avoid the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and police for fear of having their children taken from them by the State. - Sarasota does not have a Master Case Management system for families with children (including unaccompanied minors) nor for adult men and women. “Master case management” and “agency level case management” are often wrongly presented as the same functionality. There is a major difference between master case management and agency level case management - the first is holistic case management across the entire system of all agencies while the second is only within an individual agency. - The Sarasota Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) provides a helpful passive “score-keeper” function but it is not used as a “proactive case management tool.” As HMIS systems go across the USA, Sarasota’s HMIS is one of the better systems; however, it must become a more robust tool in order to improve inter- and intra-agency service delivery. There are three major weaknesses that lower the optimization of Sarasota’s HMIS system: 1- The software program lacks a couple of needed component upgrades 2- There is no system-wide-all-agency master release form 3- Many agencies do not use HMIS for a variety of reasons - There are seasonal shortages in food inventories at the All Faiths Food Bank. This occurs when seasonal residents move north at the end-of-season. During this out-migration, food inventories and cash donations hit critically low levels. - Food shortages are likely to be exacerbated by an increased demand triggered by the recent cuts in the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - Food Stamps) contained within the Farm Bill. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 11 - The cost of housing within Sarasota has increased significantly over the last few years, yet local wages have remained stagnant. According to Axiometrics (an apartment data research company) as reported in the HeraldTribune, the average occupancy is nearly 97% which has lead to rental rate increases of 6.7% this year (6th fastest in the nation and nearly double the USA average). In terms of singlefamily housing median sales prices in Sarasota increased 24% to $217,000. According to researchers at the University of Florida, a family would have to make $39,804 in order to live in a two-bedroom apartment costing $995. Assuming 2,000 hours of work in year for one person, this would be an hourly wage of $19.90. - The greater Sarasota community is a highly engaged and caring community. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Homeless Children and Family’s Initiative and it Homeless Prevention Funding have filled critical service gaps to improve the plight of families with children. The annual Season of Sharing facilitated by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and many other organizations is a fabulous program, and is one of the best prevention efforts in the USA. The homeless situation in Sarasota County would be much worse than it is today if these outstanding programs did not exist. - Funding has been “agency-centric” not “system-centric.” Furthermore, for the most part, funding has been based on “out-puts” and not “out-comes.” The County’s Human Services Department has started transitioning its contracts to out-comes. Exacerbating this situation is the fact that most agencies “compete” for success-recognition rather than “share” in the success of the overall system. - If community leaders choose to take no action it is very likely that the number of homeless families and individuals will increase 15-25% over the next 2-3 years (because of increases in the number of combat veterans, increases in domestic violence and poor employment rates). Therefore, choosing to take no action or getting bogged down with the “implementationpolitics” will act to increase the number of homeless folks in Sarasota County, especially in the City of Sarasota. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 12 Strategic Action Recommendations 1 - Move from a Culture of Enablement to a Culture of Engagement The entire Sarasota County Community needs to move from a Culture of Enablement to a Culture of Engagement in all aspects. This includes service agencies, volunteers, staffs, donors, funders, government agencies, programs, residents, tourists and the homeless community. Free food handouts and cash from panhandling - although well intended by nice folks - actually perpetuates and increases homelessness through enablement. Rather, street handouts, food and cash donations should be redirected to high performing agencies. The mission should no longer be to “serve” the homeless community, instead the mission should be to dramatically and consequentially increase “street graduation” rates. A media and public awareness campaign needs to be developed to educate and encourage the community to move from a culture of enablement to a culture of engagement. - If the greater Sarasota community keeps doing the same activities in the same ways, the number of street-level chronic homeless individuals will dramatically increase and likely become more aggressive and embolden. There needs to be an across-the-board “Change in Thinking and a Change in Doing.” - The mission should no longer be to “serve” the homeless community, instead the mission should be to dramatically and consequentially increase “street graduation” rates. A street graduation occurs when an individual moves from living on the street (or in an encampment) into a sustainable quality of life that allows the individual to be a productive citizen of the community. - The entire community needs to move from a culture of enablement to a culture that engages homeless individuals in all aspects of daily life. Free food handouts and cash from panhandling - although well intended by nice folks - actually perpetuates and increases homelessness through enablement. Rather than street handouts, food and cash donations should be redirected to high performing agencies. - The leadership within the civic, local government, funder, advocate, service provider, law enforcement and homeless communities need to embrace transformational best practices that have worked throughout the USA. - Homeless individuals who want help, should be provided engaging help. Individuals who turn down help, should not be enabled. - “Hanging-out” should be replaced by “program participation.” Every effort possible must be made to engage individuals into programming. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 13 - If Sarasota successfully shifts from a culture of enablement to a culture of engagement, news of this shift will be passed to homeless individuals nationwide. Individuals who want to avoid engagement will be reluctant to come to Sarasota despite the attractions of the weather. Thus, the rate of in-bound homeless individuals will decrease. - Engagement should never be mean - instead engagement should always be kind, caring and compassionate. - A coordinated strategic “systems-approach” throughout Sarasota County should be implemented (not agency-centric nor a series of isolated “one-off” arrangements). This is accomplished quickly and effectively through changes in funding requirements and standards. Decisions should be made based on performance and not be based on historic funding levels. Funding should always be transparent and accountable. Service providers need to work together as partners within a single coordinated holistic system in order to better help homeless people move from the streets and encampments into formal service programs. 2 - Establish a North County Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children Establish an Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children for the North County area in the City of Sarasota. This would become the “emergency room” for any homeless family with children and any unaccompanied minors residing in North County. The Portal would provide intake, stabilization, emergency housing, master case management and referral services. All homeless families and children in the North County area would start at this intake portal. - The North Family Portal should serve families of any kind that have children under the age of 18. Unaccompanied youth should also be provided the same services as families with children. - This Intake Portal needs to be “operational” 24/7/168/365. Overnight and weekend staffing can be “on-call” as long as response times are less than 10 minutes. Staffing should be shifted to fit the demand which will require full-time staffing around “crisis times” such as Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights as well as around holidays. - This Portal should provide emergency food, clothing, hygiene, housing and logistical services on site. - There should be formal referral protocols for medical, mental health and behavioral services. - In regards to housing, the goal should be to place a family into transitional and/or supportive housing within a week of arrival. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 14 - The Master Case Managers for families with children should be located within the North Family Portal. - Based on site surveys to date, it would be best to co-locate the North Family Portal within the proposed “Family Village” which is targeted to be within the square block bounded by MLK Jr. Street - Tuttle Avenue - 25th Street - Chester Avenue. The “Family Village” concept is being developed by Harvest House. - Based on research to date, Harvest House should be designated the lead service agency for the North Family Portal as well as for the “Family Village.” Harvest House should be encouraged to collaborate with as many other agencies as possible. - Because of their direct work over the last two years with families with children, Gulf Coast Community Foundation should become the lead convening and supporting agency for the North Family Portal. 3 - Establish a South County Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children Establish an Emergency Intake Portal for Families with Children for the South County area in Englewood (or North Port), then create satellite operations in Venice/Nokomis and North Port (or Englewood ). This would become the “emergency room” for any homeless family with children and any unaccompanied minors residing in South County. The Portal would provide intake, stabilization, emergency housing, master case management and referral services. All homeless families and children in the South County area would start at this intake portal. - The South Family Portal would provide the same types of services at the North Family Portal. - Based on research to date, the Jubilee Center (St. David’s Episcopal Church) in Englewood should be designated the lead service agency for the South Family Portal and encouraged to collaborate with as many other agencies as possible. - Because of geographics and demand, two part-time satellite operations should be set up in the South County. Ideally, one would be at the Human Services Campus in North Port and one at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation in Venice. This could be in the form of a small office and access to existing reception services. - Based on the service census and geo-demographics changes, the system needs to be prepared to adjust locations between Englewood, Venice/Nokomis and North Port as indicated. There likely may be a need to add additional housing in South County. The key is to be nimble and adjust quickly to changing needs. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 15 - Because of their direct work over the last two years with families with children, Gulf Coast Community Foundation should become the lead convening and supporting agency for the South Family Portal. 4 - Establish a Men’s and Women’s Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit Establish a 24/7/168/365 Men’s and Women’s Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit which would be a “come-as-you-are” emergency shelter. The Sarasota Sheriff’s Office should be asked to be the lead coordinating agency. This would become the main intake portal for adult homeless men and women. All adult services county-wide should “spoke off” of this main hub. Once operational, all county-wide street feeding programs, food pantry programs and day-time service centers for adult homeless men and women need to be relocated within the Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit (“Sarasota Safe Harbor”). This should also be the location of the Master Case Managers for adult homeless men and women. - National best practices indicate that communities need to have at least one 24/7 “come-asyou-are” emergency shelter (sometimes referred to as a low-demand-shelter). Yet, Sarasota County does not have a true come-as-you-are 24/7 facility. - This public safety triage and stabilization unit would be modeled after Pinellas Safe Harbor and Prospects Courtyard (San Antonio), and to a lesser extent CASS (Phoenix), Star of Hope (Houston), St. Patrick Center (St. Louis) and The Bridge (Dallas). - Because so many operational folks within Sarasota have been to Pinellas Safe Harbor (PSH) and understand the basic concepts of PSH, a suggested operational name for this facility is Sarasota Safe Harbor (SSH). The following is a list of other suggested possible names: + Bridges to a New Beginning + Bridges to Healing + Bridges to Home + Bridges to Life + First Choice + First Day + First Help + First Place + Prospects Courtyard + Safe Beginnings or Sarasota Safe Beginnings + Starting Place or Starting Point + Safe Start or Sarasota Safe Start - The Sarasota Sheriff’s Office should be asked to be the lead agency. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 16 - Sarasota Safe Harbor should act as the master community intake-portal for all adult homeless men and women. - Because of the increasing number of homeless, Sarasota Safe Harbor should be opened as fast as possible. - Sarasota Safe Harbor needs to include a 24/7 intake-portal and have a wide variety of holistic services adult men and women. - It is critical to co-locate as many holistic homeless service programs and agencies as possible within Sarasota Safe Harbor. Homelessness is too big a challenge for one agency to address alone in isolation. All non-24/7 agencies/programs like CAM, Resurrection House and the Center of Hope that are serving homeless adults within the entire County should relocate all their adult services to Sarasota Safe Harbor. This includes all types of street feeding programs, food pantry programs and day-time service centers for adult homeless men and women. It is critical for all agencies to be part of a “strategic system” and not be wed to specific locations. Like great sport teams, individual agencies need to adopt a team-winning attitude in which the team is first while individual agencies are second. Existing 24/7 programs such as Harvest House and Salvation Army would not be included in this co-location effort. - “Specialty service providers” and “referral service providers” should also be located at Sarasota Safe Harbor on a part-time basis. - All agencies, programs and service providers within Sarasota Safe Harbor should adopt the “culture of transformation” in all aspects of their operations. - A master case management system needs to be created. Master Case Managers should conduct the initial intakes into the HMIS system, do initial and ongoing assessments, develop the individual recovery-action-plans and be proactive “navigators” of the recovery-actionplans. Master Case Managers would develop and customize all aspects of the recoveryaction-plans for each homeless individual receiving services. Master Case Managers would then proactively monitor and manage each recovery-action-plan. Based on research to date, 9-12 Master Case Managers should operate at Sarasota Safe Harbor. - To assure success, a commercial grade kitchen should be built at Sarasota Safe Harbor. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 17 - The following services should be included within the Sarasota Safe Harbor (full-time and/or part-time): + Engagement Into the Sarasota Safe Harbor: * Outreach - interface with Homeless Outreach Teams (HOTs) * Intake, registration and assessment * Master Case Management + Medical: * Medical (on-campus and off-campus referrals) * Dental (off-campus referrals) * Vision (mostly off-campus referrals) * Pharmacy services (on-campus) * Mental health (on-campus and off-campus referrals) * Addictive disorders and substance abuse services (on-campus and off-campus referrals) + Job Placement Services: * Legal services and ID recovery * Life skills training * Job skills training (includes interview and resume training) * Job placement, coaching and enlisting business community support for jobs + Hygiene Services: * 24/7 bathrooms * Showers * Hygiene skills training and services * Hair cut services (to be presentable for job interviews) + Overnight Sleeping: * Low demand sheltering * Transitional living + Feeding: * Establishment of a commercial kitchen * Food and meals * Coordination of meals (delivery and prep from non-profits and churches) DRAFT > Martbut Report - 18 + Other Support Services: * Clothing closet * Housing out-placement * Veteran services * Daytime activities * Property storage * Donation center + Administration: * Administrative services for the Sarasota Safe Harbor * Security * Storage * Volunteer coordination * Community service work crews and Sarasota Safe Harbor work crews - Sarasota Safe Harbor must be a “Good Neighbor.” - A robust “buffer” around the Sarasota Safe Harbor needs to be developed. A physical fencing barrier needs to line Sarasota Safe Harbor. If possible, foliage or other screening should be integrated within the fencing system to create a visually aesthetic barrier. Additionally, the structures within Sarasota Safe Harbor need to be laid out in such away as to create positive ergonomic flow and defensible space. - For safety reasons, the queuing for intake must occur inside of Sarasota Safe Harbor and not on the street. - Safety, health and hygiene are all negatively impacted by dirty, soiled and cluttered environments. Therefore, Sarasota Safe Harbor needs to embrace national best practices of “Look, Feel and Smell” standards: + all areas need to be organized neatly and uncluttered (look) + all areas need to be warm and nurturing (feel) + all areas need to smell like a nice home - should not smell dirty and soiled, nor should it smell like cleaning solutions (smell) - Having high standards dignifies the folks being helped while fostering higher standards for staff and volunteers. Individuals respond to their surroundings. Neat, clean and warm feeling environments lead to more positive outcomes than dirty, soiled and cluttered environments. Embracing a high environmental quality also helps in being a good neighbor. - How a facility is operated is as equally important to where a facility is sited. The goal is to reduce the hanging-out and minimize the “crumb-trail” between service agencies by encouraging individuals to come into programming. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 19 - High quality environments also increase resources to agencies in the following four ways: + increases volunteers + increases funding + increases staff member and volunteer productivity + extends the useful life of the physical plant and infrastructure - Exhibit 1 (Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Site Evaluation Criterion) outlines the criterion used to evaluate possible locations for Sarasota Safe Harbor. Exhibit 2 (Locations Evaluated for Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit) contains the report on sites evaluated. 5 - Develop Two Master Case Management Systems Two different Master Case Management “systems” need to be developed: one for families with children (including unaccompanied minors) and a second one for adult men and women. The two Master Case Management systems need to be embedded within the intake portals and the triage stabilization unit. “Master case management” and “agency level case management” are often wrongly presented as the same functionality. There is a major difference between master case management and agency level case management - the first is holistic case management across the entire system of all agencies while the second is only within an individual agency. - Sarasota County lacks a true master case management system. - Each homeless individual and family needs their own Master Case Manager who creates a customized action plan to recovery. Master Case Managers then need to proactively monitor and manage each recovery-action-plan across service providers. These Master Case Managers need to have the full authority to place and move individuals and families throughout the integrated-system, and to adjust recovery-action-plans as needed. - “Master case management” and “agency level case management” are often wrongly presented as the same functionality. There is a major difference between master case management and agency level case management - the first is holistic case management across the entire system of all agencies while the second is mostly within an individual agency. - Two county-wide master case management systems need to be created: one for men and women and one for families with children (including unaccompanied youth). These systems need to become the entry-portals into the service system and include centralized HMIS intake. The two Master Case Management systems need to be embedded within the North and South Family Intake Portals, the North and South Family Villages, Sarasota Safe Harbor and all other agencies within the systems receiving funding. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 20 6 - Transform HMIS from a “Score Keeper” to a “Proactive Case Management Tool” The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) needs to be transformed from a “Score Keeping Model” to a “Proactive Case Management Model.” To accomplish this, the software program needs a couple component upgrades and a system-wide-all-agency information release form should be utilized by all agencies. Additionally, in order to promote universal agency participation, funding to service agencies by foundations, government agencies, United Way and the Continuum of Care should become contingent on being proactive participants in HMIS. - Sarasota HMIS has provided a helpful “score-keeper” function. However, the HMIS needs to move from being a passive score-keeper to being a proactive case management tool within a truly integrated Master Case Management System. - The actual software needs to be up graded to include eligibility and external database interface modules. - Data entry needs to be “real-time” and universal across agencies. - An “universal release” should be developed and utilized by ALL homeless agencies who receive funding from the Continuum of Care Federal Agencies (already required), Sarasota County, Cities, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, United Way and Season of Sharing funds. Funding should be contingent on pro-active HMIS participation and real-time data entry. - HMIS needs sustained staffing resources to enhance the functionality, sophistication and capacity needed to become a proactive case management tool. It is recommended that one or more of the community foundations provide the needed resources to improve the HMIS system. 7 - Empty Your Pantry Before You Go North A seasonally targeted program should be developed to address seasonal shortages in food supplies within the All Faiths Food Bank. This effort should promote cash and food donations before seasonal residents move north for the season. This “empty your pantry before you go north” program should be promoted through a comprehensive public service campaign. - Food and cash contributions are needed in order to provide year-round resiliency. - Before leaving to go north, residents should be encouraged to “empty their pantry” and make a small cash contribution to help cover the purchase of meat and perishables. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 21 - Awareness programs and out-reach initiatives need to be developed to address the seasonal shortages when a large numbers of seasonal residents head north. 8 - Redirect and Align “Street Feeding” Efforts with Holistic Service Programs Redirect “Street Feeding and Street Services” to be aligned with holistic service programs. Street feeding and street services, although well-intentioned and good-hearted, actually “enables” homeless individuals rather than “engages” homeless individuals into 24/7 holistic program services. Providing camping supplies and/or feeding in the parks, at street corners, at beaches and behind restaurants exacerbates and promotes homelessness, thus increasing the number of homeless individuals. Organizations providing street services need to be encouraged to relocate their adult services to Sarasota Safe Harbor. - Street feeding, although well-intentioned and good-hearted, “enables” homeless individuals rather than engaging homelessness. Feeding in the parks, at street corners, at beaches and behind restaurants/bars/buildings exacerbates and promotes homelessness, thus actually increasing the number of homeless individuals. - Groups and individuals feeding homeless individuals need to move from enabling behaviors to engaging efforts by holistically aligning feeding efforts with engaging services. Street feeding organizations need to be encouraged to relocate and redirect their services to Sarasota Safe Harbor in order to align with holistic service programs. - Wholesale food suppliers, caterers, grocery stores, restaurants and hotels need to be encouraged to assist strategic initiatives rather than efforts that enable homelessness. - A media and public awareness campaign needs to be developed to encourage the community to move from a culture of enablement to a culture of engagement. - The negative repercussions of street feeding are also true for cash handouts and panhandling. 9 - Harmonize and Standardize Ordinances Throughout the County Ordinances should be harmonized and standardized throughout the County. These ordinances should be drafted in such away as to promote engagement into holistic programs, and not “criminalize” the condition of homelessness. It is very important to note that due to a series of court rulings (often referred to as “Pottinger”), Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) will not be able to enforce most ordinances until Sarasota Safe Harbor is fully operational on a 24/7/168/365 basis. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 22 - Because of Pottinger, many County and municipal ordinances cannot be enforced until Sarasota Safe Harbor opens. - Ordinances should not be used to “criminalize homelessness,” but instead be used as tools to engage homeless individuals into programs such as Sarasota Safe Harbor. - In order to streamline and clarify use of ordinances, it is strongly recommended that the County adopt the ordinances and than have all the municipalities adopt the County’s ordinances. - This will allow LEAs, LEOs, homeless individuals and the general public to all understand the same set of rules throughout the County and thus help to reduce geographic “shopping.” 10 - Create Homeless Street Outreach Teams and Train All LEOs within the County Once Sarasota Safe Harbor and the Family Portals are almost ready to open, “homeless outreach teams” (HOTs) should then be activated 2-4 weeks before the opening of these new facilities. Street outreach teams will be critical to the success of the overall system. The best HOTs pair a social service worker with a police officer. Additionally, every LEO in the County should go through an appropriate level of homeless engagement and sensitivity training. - HOTs should be the initial point of contact with both chronic homeless and inebriates living on the streets, in parks and in encampments. - Homeless outreach teams will be critical to the success of the overall system and will be the primary tactical engagement tool for street level engagement of individuals into 24/7 service programs. - For a variety of reasons the best HOTs pair a social service worker with a police officer. - It would likely be a waste of valuable resources to deploy teams any earlier than 2-4 weeks before the opening of these new facilities since there will be nowhere to successfully send individuals and families, - In addition to the specialized HOTs, every LEO in the County should go through an appropriate level of homeless engagement and sensitivity training. LEOs operating in high homeless corridors should get more training than LEOs operating in low homeless areas. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 23 11 - Increase “Longer Term” Housing Placements Increase the number of “longer term” housing placements across the spectrum for men, women, families with children and unaccompanied minors. To be successful, there needs to be an increase in inventory capacity as well as improvements in service programs to better prepare individuals and families for the challenges they will face. - Sarasota County lacks affordable housing especially for the working poor, and the loss of affordable housing has hurt families with children the most. - Over the last 20 years, a substantial number of affordable housing units have been lost within the County. Some of this has occurred because of urban conversion to higher-end housing and retail establishments; while some has been caused because of new hurricane and flood plain building codes. - Harvest House has operated the most successful housing initiative in Sarasota by adding about one bed unit per week over the last five years. Harvest House should be encouraged and incentivized to double their rate of production to an average of two bed units per week. - The “Family Village” proposed by Harvest House should be fully supported and opened as fast as possible. The proposed location of the “Family Village” is a square block bounded by MLK Jr. Street - Tuttle Avenue - 25th Street - Chester Avenue. This location is within 4 blocks of an elementary school, a day care, a library and a park. A promising site for a South County Family Village has been identified by the Jubilee Center in Englewood at a cul-de-sac near 350 North Elm Street. It is located within 5 blocks of an elementary school, a park and a pre-kindergarten center. - Family Promise has a very successful nationally proven holistic model for families with children. This effort needs to be scaled up to increase the number of families in programming. If possible, Family Promise should add an affiliate in South County and add another line of care in the County utilizing larger church congregations. - The Sarasota Y has been doing due diligence on developing an unaccompanied youth housing and service center. The Sarasota Y should be encouraged to build on the success of its Sarasota Y Youth Shelter and move forward with a more encompassing unaccompanied youth center. - Other groups like Project 180, Catholic Diocese of Venice and the Salvation Army have been exploring the creation of longer term housing options in the County. These efforts should be supported as much as possible. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 24 12 - Create a High Quality and Sustainable Governance System Governance and leadership of the new and improved holistic homeless service system is critical. In order to reduce role ambiguity and to improve service delivery it is recommended that two governance systems be established - one for families with children which includes unaccompanied minors and a second one for adult men and women. - It is recommended that the County of Sarasota continue to support the efforts of the newly created position of Director of Homeless Services. The person in this role should work to create synergistic strategic coordination between and among the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness, all government agencies, all service providers, the general public, funders, community foundations, the homeless community and interested stakeholders. - The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness should continue as the official HUD Continuum of Care agency-of-record and actively work with the County’s Director of Homeless Services. - It is recommended that the Sheriff become the operational lead of Sarasota Safe Harbor. - The County, all cities, United Way, community foundations, other funders, faith based agencies and the general public should all be encouraged to support Sarasota Safe Harbor, specifically by helping to fund Master Case Managers and by providing meals at Sarasota Safe Harbor. - The four large foundations have critical roles to play in terms of sustainability and leadership. It is recommended that the Community Foundation of Sarasota County continue to be the leader with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in prevention efforts vis-a-vis the Season of Sharing. Additionally, it is recommended that Gulf Coast Community Foundation build on its past efforts and be the leader with families with children (including unaccompanied minors). The Patterson and Selby Foundations are encouraged to actively participate with these strategic initiatives possibly with programs for veterans and capital funding for Sarasota Safe Harbor respectively. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 25 Immediate Next Steps - Get started and do not get bogged down in politics. Simply just start!! - The Sarasota County Commission, on behalf of all the overall Sarasota community, votes to accept or amend or reject the 12 Strategic Recommendations “in-concept.” - The Boards of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota vote to accept or amend or reject the suggested functional roles for their respective foundations. - Start implementing the 12 Strategic Action Recommendations as approved or amended. - Hire consultants as needed (eg architects, contractors, SME, etc.). - Site, finalize, fund and set up the sites for the North and South Family Intake Portals. - Site, finalize, fund and set up the site for Sarasota Safe Harbor. - The County and cities should formally ask the Sheriff to take-on the lead agency role at Sarasota Safe Harbor. - Finalize master case management structure then hire and train Master Case Managers. - Train LEAs and LEOs. - Operationalize Homeless Outreach Teams (HOTs). - Start venuization and operations of facilities. - Institute governance and operational system improvements as well as other approved recommendations. - Start public awareness campaign (enablement culture –> engagement culture). DRAFT > Martbut Report - 26 Exhibit 1 Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Site Evaluation Criterion Based on my research and observations to date, a Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit is critically needed in order to successfully address street-level and chronic homelessness in Sarasota. A Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit, sometimes called a “come-as-you-are-shelter” or a “low-demand-shelter” should include a holistic and comprehensive 24/7 programming. It is very important to understand that homeless individuals do not “graduate” from street life back into general society if they are enabled to stay on the streets, in parks or in encampments. Likewise, homeless individuals do not graduate from street-life while being incarcerated. The most successful and proven way to increase the rate of street graduations is for individuals to be in formal programs that provide holistic, transformational services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Holistic and transformational means comprehensive services including master case management, behavioral health, substance abuse treatment, life skills training, job training, job placement, etc. This researcher waited to start possible site evaluations until after the results from a comprehensive, countywide field study of unsheltered homeless adults was completed. Without this data in hand, it would have been impossible to evaluate specific locations. Based on national best practices found in dozens of other communities, the following are the criterion that was used to evaluate sites: - In order to reduce pedestrian and bicycle traffic passing through neighborhoods, and to increase efficiencies within the overall service system, this Triage and Stabilization Unit ideally should be located within a short walking distance of existing programs, preferably between service agency anchors. - In order to maximize jail diversion for individuals whose legal involvement may be a result of untreated mental illness or substance abuse disorders, the Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit should be within a short drive of the County Jail. - In order to improve neighborhood quality of life, it is critical to have existing ergonomic natural and/or industrial buffers around the facility and/or have the ability to create buffers. - In order to save money and ramp-up quickly, the site needs to be readily available for use (eg there needs to be a willing seller and/or the property be owned by local government). DRAFT > Martbut Report - 27 - In order to be a good steward of taxpayers’ dollars, the cost of acquiring the land needs to be affordable. - In order to be cost effective, the cost to build and/or renovate and/or install buildings needs to be affordable. - In order to be cost effective, the establishment of support infrastructure and utilities needs to be affordable. - In order not to waste taxpayers’ dollars, the facility needs to be “right sized.” We do not want to over-build a facility that has wasted space nor do we want to under-build a facility in such a way that hinders program and operational functionality. - In order to start helping individuals, reduce fatalities and get community relief as soon as possible, the ramp-up time of a site should be short. - Are there are any site-specific impediments that might stop or delay the “go-live” date of its operation? It is important to note that this researcher never saw a map of any political districts within Sarasota County. Staffs of the County and the Cities within the County were asked not to provide any maps that contained political districts. The main goal is to pick the site that is in the best overall interest of Sarasota and one that promotes the operational success of Sarasota Safe Harbor. The hope is the site selection will not get bogged down by NIMBY’ism nor political rivalries. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 28 Exhibit 2 Locations Evaluated for Public Safety Triage and Stabilization Unit As is true in most public-good site location efforts anywhere in the USA, there is no “ideal” location. It is therefore important to remember the mission is to come up with the most viable location that is available, and not to endlessly pursue a hypothetical location that does not exist in the real world. The good news is after evaluating over 65 possible sites, there is one “near perfect” location as well as three outstandingly good locations to choose from. The task of this researcher is to recommend potential sites that are in the best overall interest of the residents of Sarasota County, and to recommend a site that promotes the operational success of Sarasota Safe Harbor. This researcher was given potential locations be realtors, advocates, service agency staffers, property owners, elected officials, government staffers and members of the general public. Additionally, this researcher drove throughout targeted areas of the County to identify possible sites. Evaluation criterion for this effort is outlined in Exhibit 1. Optimal and Available (numeric address order) 1003 North Washington Boulevard - Adjacent to service core - Near Jail - Some buffers exist, but more buffering would have to be constructed - Great site access - Ingress and egress from 301 and 10th Street would be dangerous, 11th Street entry is possible - Land layout is excellent with no structures - 3.2 acres - Zoning: ICD (Intensive Commercial District) - Future Land Use: PIC (Production Intensive Commercial) - Water: 6” line in US 301 and 14” line in 10th St. - Sewer: line in 10th St. - Evacuation Zone: eastern 1/5 of parcel is “E” - Flood Zone: X (minimal flooding) - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - List price is $750,000 DRAFT > Martbut Report - 29 1121 Lewis Avenue - Near service core - Near Jail - Existing buffers on all sides - Good site access - Excellent ingress and egress - Two existing structures with 26,000 usable sf - 1.47 acres - Zoning: IGD (Industrial General District) - Future Land Use: Urban Edge from PIC (Production Intensive Commercial) on 9/16/2013 - Water: 8” line in N. Jefferson - Sewer: line in N. Jefferson - Evacuation Zone: None - Flood Zone: X (minimal flooding) - Interior demolition would have to occur (one budget estimate received was for $36,000) - Would have to add some modulated structures (very tight foot print) - List price is $550,000 - Totally air conditioned/insulated - Has been on market for a long time / on 3rd broker 1330 North Osprey Avenue and/or 1530 North Osprey Avenue - Adjacent to service core - Near Jail - Great existing buffers exist, and plenty of space to add more buffering - Great Site access - Great ingress and egress - Land layout is excellent - 2.14 and 4.5 acres - Zoning: G / IGD (Industrial General District) - Future Land Use: PIC (Production Intensive Commercial) - Water: 8” line in N. Osprey - Sewer: line in N. Osprey - Evacuation Zone: None (Zone “E” touches the south western corner of the parcel) - Flood Zone: X (minimal flooding) - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - 1330 property owned by the City of Sarasota - 1530 property owned by UPS (we would not need the UPS property to have site work) - This is an ideal location - Least expensive land option evaluated - Of all the possibilities in the County, this is the best overall viable location DRAFT > Martbut Report - 30 1800 East Avenue - Near service core - Near Jail - Existing buffers on all sides - Good site access - Excellent ingress and egress - 2.3 usable acres . . . land footprint doable (a bit tight, but doable) - Zoning: I (Industrial) - Future Land Use: PIC (Production Intensive Commercial) - Water: 8” line in N. East Ave - Sewer: lines in N. East Ave and 19th St. - Evacuation Zone: None - Flood Zone: X (minimal flooding) - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - List price is $299,000 - Adjacent to an existing encampment - Biggest concern is existing commercial condo association would have to approve use Possibly Viable and/or Possibly Available (numeric address order) 295 - 625 South School Avenue - Near service core - Near Jail - Buffering would be difficult and limited - Good site access - Would have to be develop acceptable ingress and egress - A variety of existing structures ranging from 1,116 to 29,033 sf - A total of 9.55 acres - Very expensive to purchase - Would have to add some modulated structures 1022 10th Street - Adjacent to service core, across the street from Salvation Army - Near Jail - Nice buffering could be built - Great site access - Great ingress and egress - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - Good land footprint - Best overall location, but has an operating concrete plant DRAFT > Martbut Report - 31 1060 Goodrich Avenue - Adjacent to service core - Near Jail - Some buffers exist, but more buffering would have to be constructed - Good site access - Ingress and egress is good - Land layout is good - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - List price is $350,000 - All the benefits of 1003 N. Washington with better ingress and egress, but site is small 1502/1562 North Lime Avenue - Near service core - Near Jail - Would be hard to add additional buffering - Good site access - Poor ingress and egress - Existing 34,000 sf of connected structures - Layout of existing structures not ideal, would need remodeling - Has been on the market a long time - 1562 list price is $750,000 1761 17th Street - Adjacent to service core - Near Jail - Would need to construct buffering - Great site access - Poor ingress and egress - One existing 4,300 sf structure - Great land footprint (2.1 acres) - Modulated system could work ($650,000 to $985,000) - Active Loyal Order of Moose Sarasota lodge DRAFT > Martbut Report - 32 3941 Butler Avenue - Has the benefits of 1923 Myrtle Street without some of the negatives - Far from the service core - Far from Jail - Great land layout - Excellent ingress and egress - Great buffers and can add more buffers - Opportunity to integrate neighboring properties into supportive housing - List price is $700,000 for southern parcel and $390,000 for northern parcel - Location would increase operating costs Not-Viable and/or Not-Available (numeric address order) 32nd Street and 301 (Northwest Corner) - Ruled out - too small of a land foot print 301 and Laurel Street - Ruled out - too small of a land food print 710 North Lemon Avenue - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print 1012 North Orange Avenue - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print 1325 North Lime Avenue - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print - Could be used in conjunction with 1502/1562 North Lime Avenue 1326 Mango Avenue - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print DRAFT > Martbut Report - 33 1401 Fruitville Road - Ruled out - list price is $7,000,000 1501 Orange Avenue (vacant land to the south) - Ruled out - owner has long terms plans for property - Great location 1761 12th Street - Ruled out - existing location of City of Sarasota Public Works Department - Near perfect location 1864 17th Street - Ruled out - not fully available - Ruled out - would require extensive renovation - Great location 1872 18th Street - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print - Ruled out - new owners want to keep property 1923 Myrtle Street - Ruled out - too many negatives - Far from the service core - Far from Jail - Structure locations on property reduce usable land space - Very poor ingress and egress - No true buffers and would be hard to add buffering - Location would increase operating costs 2192 Princeton Street - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print - Ruled out - list price is $1,197,000 DRAFT > Martbut Report - 34 2020 Main Street (adjacent space) - Ruled out - land foot print too small - Outstanding location 2046 Dr. Martin King Jr Way - Ruled out - environmental timing issues - Great location and owned by the City of Sarasota 2220 8th Street - Ruled out - list price is $1,540,000 - Ruled out - land foot print very small 2200 Ringling Boulevard - Ruled out - existing location of County Health and Human Services - Ruled out - would require extensive renovation (costly and take a long time) 2260 Ringling Boulevard - Ruled out - too expensive - Too much land - Too much structure - This is an ideal site, if a smaller portion of the building could be used, it would then be doable 4644 North Tamiami Trail - Ruled out - list price is $2,250,000 - Ruled out - significantly higher operating costs - There would be many operational challenges that would likely raise costs 6926 15th Street East Sarasota - Ruled out - too from service core and jail - Ruled out - in Manatee County - Ruled out - too small of building - Ruled out - too small of land foot print DRAFT > Martbut Report - 35 7200 Health Drive - Ruled out - too from service core and jail - Ruled out - in Charlotte County Boulevard of the Arts - Florida Avenue - May Lane - Coconut Avenue Block - Ruled out - land would be too expensive - Ruled out - new owner has plans for property - A great location near the service core East of IH-75 Properties (20+) - Ruled out - high purchase costs - Ruled out - high construction costs for utility extensions - Ruled out - high relocation costs of other agencies - Ruled out - higher operating costs - If money was not an object, there are many properties east of Interstate Highway that might work if the existing service agencies within the service core could be relocated to same “campus.” At the minimal, we would need to relocate the Salvation Army, First Step, the Crisis Stabilization Unit, part of the Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Campus, at least one court, part of the State Attorney’s Office, part of the Public Defenders’ office, part of the Sheriff’s operation and Resurrection House. Building a “campus” where all homeless services are located under one roof is the ideal model and is what San Diego, San Antonio, Phoenix, Reno, St. Louis and Dallas have done to address their homeless problems. It should be noted that all 6 of these campuses were built within or on the edge of the CBD (Central Business District), with construction costs ranging from $35-125 million (in 2013 dollars). Future Site of County Emergency Operations Center - Ruled out - turning dirt on construction is set for 4Q/2013 - Far from service core North Gate Business Park (5 different properties) - Ruled out - properties are very expensive - Ruled out - bad access - Far from service core DRAFT > Martbut Report - 36 Payne Park / Payne Park Auditorium - Ruled out - since an existing park - Ruled out - too small of a building Sarasota Airport (several sites on and near the SRQ Airport) - Ruled out - significantly higher operating costs - Ruled out - high land costs - Ruled out - many operational challenges that would likely raise costs Venice Properties (Old Albertson’s, Old K-Mart, Venice Airport and Circus Arena) - Ruled out - high construction costs - Ruled out - much higher operating costs - Similar challenges to East of IH-75 sites - Operationally would not work well since 71-86% of homeless adults are in North County - If money was not an object, properties in Venice might work if the existing service agencies within the service core could be relocated to same “campus.” At the minimal, we would need to relocate the Salvation Army, First Step, the Crisis Stabilization Unit, part of the Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Campus, at least one court, part of the State Attorney’s Office, part of the Public Defenders’ office, part of the Sheriff’s operation and Resurrection House. Building a “campus” where all homeless services are located under one roof is the ideal model and is what San Diego, San Antonio, Phoenix, Reno, St. Louis and Dallas have done to address their homeless problems. It should be noted that all 6 of these campuses were built within or on the edge of the CBD (Central Business District), with construction costs ranging from $35-125 million (in 2013 dollars). DRAFT > Martbut Report - 37 Exhibit 3 Program/Agency Site Visits, Tours, Meetings and Conference Calls (partial listing) John Annis Community Foundation of Sarasota County Vice President Community Investment Wayne R. Applebee Sarasota County Human Services Policy Coordinator Hon. Suzanne Atwell City of Sarasota City Commissioner Hon. Joseph A. Barbetta Sarasota County County Commissioner Karin Barbito Trinity Presbyterian Church - Community Assistance Ministry (CAM) Director Michael Barfield ACLU of Florida Vice President Melissa Barrett City of Venice Homeless Advocate Tom Barwin City of Sarasota City Manager DRAFT > Martbut Report - 38 Brandon Bellows The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness IT/HMIS Manager David Beesley First Step Addiction Recovery Programs President/Chief Executive Officer Danny Bilyeu Congressman Vern Buchanan Field Representative Hon. Jim Blucher City of North Port Vice-Mayor Kathy Bolam Sarasota County Resident Ruth A. Brandwein National Association of Social Workers - Florida Legislative Chair Hon. Jim Brown Town of Longboat Key Mayor Marlon C.J. Brown City of Sarasota Deputy City Manager Colonel Steve Burns Sarasota County Sheriff’‘s Office Chief Deputy DRAFT > Martbut Report - 39 Tammy and Frank Burns His Open Door / South Shore Community Church Director / Executive Pastor Hon. Paul Caragiulo City of Sarasota City Commissioner Camille Chapman Family Promise of Sarasota Program and Marketing Assistant Rose Chapman Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Sarasota-Manatee, Inc. President/CEO Hon. Susan Chapman City of Sarasota City Commissioner Dan Clark City of Sarasota Resident John A. Colon Wells Fargo Senior Vice President - Investments Rev. Joe Davis Nightlife Center Founder of Teen Center and Student Ministry Bishop Frank J. Dewane Diocese of Venice in Florida Bishop DRAFT > Martbut Report - 40 Bernadette D. DiPino Sarasota Police Department Chief of Police Hon. Ken Doherty Charlotte County County Commissioner Mary Dougherty-Slapp GCBX Executive Director David Dubendorf Sarasota Police Department Homeless Liaison Officer Sigmund Echtler GoodHands International Inc. Director Hon. Larry L. Eger Public Defender Twelfth Judicial Circuit Claas Ehlers Family Promise Director Affiliate Services Elizabeth Fisher Selah Freedom Co-Founder Wendy Fitton Family Promise of Sarasota Network Manager DRAFT > Martbut Report - 41 Elizabeth S. Flower City of Sarasota Resident Sandra J. Frank, JD All Faiths Food Bank Executive Director Major Ethan Frizzell The Salvation Army Sarasota Area Commander Jim Good Sarasota Hope House Co-Founder Philip D. Gorelick Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Sarasota-Manatee, Inc. Vice President of Programs Elisa Graber iberiabank Community Reinvestment Act Liaison Vallerie Guillory Trinity Without Borders Founder Teri A. Hansen Gulf Coast Community Foundation President/CEO John B. Harshman Harshman & Company, Inc. Broker DRAFT > Martbut Report - 42 Nicole Hartsock The Sarasota Y Youth Shelter Director Pam Hawn Hope Kids Community Founder and Director Kameron Hodgens, Ph.D. Easter Seals Southwest Florida Vice President of Program & Services Angela M. Hogan Charlotte County Homeless Coalition Chief Executive Officer Merrill Hollinger Englewood Business Owner Rick Hughes Goodwill - Manasota Director of Community Outreach Roxie Jerde Community Foundation of Sarasota County President and CEO Sarabeth Kalajian Sarasota County Library System Director Phillip King The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center Executive Director DRAFT > Martbut Report - 43 Alice-Mary (Ali) Kleber Sarasota Resident / Resurrection House Community Activist / Volunteer David Klimut The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness Special Projects Developer Hon. Thomas M. Knight Sarasota County Sheriff Pat Knox St. David’s Episcopal Church - Englewood Jubilee Center Outreach Ministry Coordinator Heather Thomas Lazar Safeguard Properties Community Relations Liaison Roger Lee Sarasota Hope House Co-Founder Major Jim Lilly Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Division Commander Corrections and Court Services Jon Lombardi The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness IT/HMIS Administrator Leslie Loveless The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness Executive Director DRAFT > Martbut Report - 44 Lee Ann Lowery Sarasota County Assistant County Administrator Greg Luberecki Gulf Coast Community Foundation Director of Marketing and Communications Scott Malcom All Faiths Food Bank Director of Operations Hon. Carolyn Mason Sarasota County County Commissioner Michelle Matro City of Sarasota Resident and Business Consultant Cindy Mattson The Salvation Army Case Manager (North Port) Pastor Lynette McCleland The Center of Hope Co-Pastor Nancy McElmeel Sarasota County Resident and Property Owner John M. McKay Former Florida Senate President Former Goodwill Board of Directors DRAFT > Martbut Report - 45 Hon. Kit McKeon City of Venice Council Member Ellen McLaughlin The Sarasota Y - Schoolhouse Link Program Director Dan H. McLeroy Jr. Harry E. Robbins Associates Inc. Commercial Division Jackie McNeil The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness Office Manager Jack Minge, III Coastal Behavioral Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Erin Minor Harvest House Transitional Centers Executive Director Pastors Jim and Peggy Minor The Harvest Tabernacle Pastors Matthew Minor Harvest House Transitional Centers Director, Program Development Marlene P. Minzey First Step Addiction Recovery Programs Vice President - Special Services DRAFT > Martbut Report - 46 Keith and Linda Monda Sarasota County Community Leaders Kim Morrison Kim Morrison Designs Principal Don Musilli Englewood - Cape Haze Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Liz Nolan Sarasota County Library System Selby Library Manager Dale Orlando Community Psychologist / Gillespie Park Advocate / Neighborhood Activist Melodie Palmer Hope Kids Community Boardmember Dr. Sarah Pappas Patterson Foundation President Hon. Nora Patterson Sarasota County County Commissioner Rev. Dr. Tom Pfaff Sarasota Ministerial Association Co-Founder and Chair DRAFT > Martbut Report - 47 The Rev. Jim Popham St. David’s Episcopal Church - Englewood Priest Curt Preisser Sarasota County Communications Carol Burmeister Prichard Interfaith Outreach, Inc. Co-founder Mark Pritchett Gulf Coast Community Foundation Senior Vice President for Community Investment David A. Proch Resurrection House Executive Director Randall H. Reid Sarasota County County Administrator Barbara Richards Project 180 Director Lynn Robbins Coldwell Banker Realtor Clyde Roberts City of Venice Resident DRAFT > Martbut Report - 48 Hon. Christine Robinson Sarasota County County Commissioner Susanne Rodriquez Hope Kids and Nightlife Center Supporter and Homeless Advocate Bob Rosinsky Goodwill Manasota President Peter Routsis-Arroyo Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice, Inc. CEO William (Bill) Russell Housing Authority Executive Director Michael Saunders Michael Saunders & Company Founder & CEO Morton Siegel Siegel & Moses PC Principal Steve Scott Sarasota Citizen Hon. Willie Shaw City of Sarasota Vice Mayor and City Commissioner DRAFT > Martbut Report - 49 Hon. Dave Sherman City of Venice Council Member Megan Shore, Ph.D. King’s University College Researcher and Part Time Sarasota Visitor Walt Smith Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida Court Administrator Zulma Solero City of North Port Homeless Services Manager Matt Sperling Gillespie Park Resident - Activist Bill Spitler Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Director Research/Planning Corinne Stannish Sarasota Police Department Captain Support Services Shannon Staub Library Foundation for Sarasota County President Adele Stones Sarasota County Resident MSW DRAFT > Martbut Report - 50 Les Stratford Coastal Behavioral Healthcare Primary Care/Behavioral Health Integration Director Kurt Stringfellow The Sarasota Y President/CEO David Sutton The Salvation Army Director of Programs/Facilities Paul Sutton Sarasota Community Alliance Homeless Committee / Sarasota Police Department Chair / Retired Captain Amy Thatcher Coastal Behavioral Healthcare Director, North County Services Jon Thaxton Gulf Coast Community Foundation Director of Community Investment Pauline Tracy Sarasota County Health Department - Human Services Human Services Manager Phil Turner Angels’ Attic / Throne of Grace Member / Member Jessica Ventimiglia United Way 2-1-1 of Manasota, Inc. Executive Director DRAFT > Martbut Report - 51 Rick A. Ver Helst, Psy.D. Coastal Behavioral Healthcare COO / CIO And Hundreds of Other Citizens and Residents Throughout Sarasota County . . . DRAFT > Martbut Report - 52 Exhibit 4 The Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation The Measuring Stick Moving from Enablement to Engagement After visiting 237 homeless service providers in 12 states and the District of Columbia, the following Seven Guiding Principles were commonly found to be the best practices in the USA. These Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation are used as key measuring sticks when reviewing homeless service providers in Sarasota as well as the overall service network within Sarasota County. 1. Move to a Culture of Transformation (versus the Old Culture of Warehousing): Homeless individuals must be engaged and no longer enabled. Everybody within the services delivery system (eg general public, media, elected politicians, appointed officials, monitors, boards, staffs and volunteers of service agencies and most importantly the homeless themselves) must embrace a culture of transformation. A culture, that through the help of others, homeless individuals can transform and integrate themselves back into society. For moral and fiscal reasons, homelessness must become an unacceptable condition that is not tolerated in the USA. 2. Co-location and Virtual E-integration of as Many Services as Possible: In order to increase success, all services within a service area must be e-integrated. Virtual eintegration improves coordination of services, enhances performance, reduces “gaming” of the system, engages individuals on the margin of society and increases cost efficiencies within and between agencies. Furthermore, whenever financially possible, services should be co-located. Colocation goes beyond virtual e-integration by increasing the number of “service hits” into a shorter period of time through the reduction of wasted time in transit and minimization of mishandled referrals. Co-location also increases the supportive “human touch.” 3. Must Have a Master Case Management System That is Customized: Because there are so many different service agencies helping homeless individuals (eg government at multi-levels, non-profits and faith-based), it is critical that ONE person coordinates the services an individual receives and to do so in a customized fashion. The types of service provided is critical, but what is more important is the sequencing and frequency of customized services. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 53 4. Reward Positive Behavior: Positive behavior of individuals should be rewarded with increased responsibilities and additional privileges. Privileges such as higher quality sleeping arrangements, more privacy and elective learning opportunities should be used as rewards. It is important that these rewards be used as “tools” to approximate the “real world” in order to increase sustainable reintegration into society. 5. Consequences for Negative Behavior: Too often there are no consequences for negative behavior of individuals. Unfortunately, this sends a message that bad behavior is acceptable. Within the transformational process, it is critical to have swift and proportionate consequences. 6. External Activities Must be Redirected or Stopped: External activities such as “street feeding” must be redirected to support the transformation process. In most cases, these activities are well-intended efforts by good folks; however, these activities are very enabling and often do little to engage homeless individuals. 7. Panhandling Enables the Homeless and Must Be Stopped: Unearned cash is very enabling and does not engage homeless individuals in job and skills training which is needed to end homelessness. Additionally, more often than not, cash is not used for food and housing but is instead used to buy drugs and alcohol which further perpetuates the homeless cycle. Homeless individuals who are panhandling should be engaged into the transformational process. Furthermore, most panhandlers are not truly homeless but are preying on the good nature of citizens to get tax-free dollars. DRAFT > Martbut Report - 54 Exhibit 5 Robert G. Marbut Jr., Ph.D. Biography First as a volunteer, then later as a San Antonio City Councilperson and a homeless service agency President/CEO, Dr. Robert Marbut has worked on homeless issues for over three decades. In 2007, frustrated by the lack of real improvement, and as part of the concept development for the Haven for Hope Campus, Dr. Marbut conducted a nationwide best practices study of homeless services. After personally visiting 237 homeless service facilities, in 12 states and the District of Columbia, he developed The Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation. Since then, Dr. Marbut has visited a total of 633 operations in 21 states plus Washington, DC and Mexico City, DF. These Seven Guiding Principles of Transformation are used in all aspects of his work to create holistic, transformative environments in order to reduce homelessness. Dr. Marbut was a White House Fellow to President George H.W. Bush and a former Chief of Staff to San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros. He earned a Ph. D. from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas in International Relations (with an emphasis in international terrorism and Wahhabism), Political Behavior and American Political Institutions/Processes from the Department of Government. He also has two Master of Arts degrees, one in Government from The University of Texas at Austin and one in Criminal Justice from the Claremont Graduate School. His Bachelor of Arts is a Full Triple Major in Economics, Political Science and Psychology (Honors Graduate) from Claremont McKenna (Men's) College. Dr. Marbut also has completed three post-graduate fellowships, one as a White House Fellow (USA's most prestigious program for leadership and public service), one as a CORO Fellow of Public and Urban Affairs and one as a TEACH Fellow in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar (1 of 13 USA educators selected). Contact Information: Robert G. Marbut Jr., Ph.D. 6726 Wagner Way San Antonio, TX 78256 www.MarbutConsulting.com MarbutR@aol.com 210-260-9696 November 19, 2013 (5:23pm) C:\Users\Robert G Marbut Jr\Documents\RGMDocsPix\Consulting\Sarasota\StudyPhaseReports\SarasotaStudyPhaseReport.wpd DRAFT > Martbut Report - 55