CITY OF DANBURY
 Danbury Housing Partnership
 155 Deer Hill Avenue
 Danbury , Connecticut 06810

Minutes of May 1, 2008

Present: Barrows, Lemme, McLachlan, Nolan, Sangut, Scalzo, Schierloh, Sistrunk, Sullivan, Zaborowski, Elpern, Radano

Absent: Coelho, Lima, Payton, Pitts, Shepperd, Valeri, Yamin

The meeting of the Danbury Housing Partnership was held in City Hall, conference room #3c, on May 1, 2008. Chairman M. Nolan called the meeting to order at 3:05pm. The minutes of April 3, 2008 was reviewed by all present members. A motion to accept the minutes of April 3, 2008 was made by P. Schierloh, seconded by P. Scalzo, passed unanimously and placed on file.

There was no public comment.

Chairman Nolan reported to the members regarding the Washington Summit meeting held on March 8-10th in D.C. for jurisdiction leaders. This was a very informative meeting for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. It is the specific agency that heads up the Homelessness Plans throughout the United States. Representatives were present from all parts of the country that provided peer to peer discussions regarding best practices going in various communities from large places such as New York City to medium size communities such as Danbury to rural communities. There was a cross section of several people and different types of practices discussed throughout the summit meetings.

The local initiatives happening in Connecticut and continuing to partner with the various populations that we are serving has proven to be successful for our State. A booklet was provided to all participants on all the various federal programs offered for homelessness with families. A new movie that the Partnership should take advantage for showcasing in Danbury is called “Where God Left His Shoes”. This movie was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and provided a very powerful message similar to the Will Smith movie “In Pursuit of Happiness”. The movie “Where God Left His Shoes” involves a veteran homeless family that becomes homeless on Halloween and involves their plight continuing through Christmas and the challenges that they have.

The producers of this movie have partnered with the America’s Home Project- Road Home Campaign. When this movie is shown in a particular City or Town, any monies that are donated through the phone number or e-mail address placed at the bottom of the movie screen, a portion of the money raised through donations will be placed back in the community through the non-profits who are listed on the Campaign for America’s Road Home project. The Chairman would like to sign up to showcase the movie in Danbury which could be used as a viable fundraiser for the Housing Partnership.

The Chairman also solicited monies from the Non-Profit Rental Housing Corporation of Danbury that Mr. Nolan is also President of, and shared the goals to utilize HMA services for the senior housing case study in cooperation with HVECO. The Corporation voted to spend up to $5,000.00 to have the assessment completed. Mr. Schierloh made a motion to send a letter of appreciation to the Non-Profit Rental Housing Corporation for approving funding for the Senior Housing Feasibility Study. The motion was seconded by C. Sistrunk, passed unanimously, with one abstention from Mr. Nolan.

Ms. Sistrunk shared with the Partnership an issue that originated from the subcommittee structure and the Non-Profit organizations as homeless housing providers and social service providers. The Homeless Consortium is unhappy with the process of the Housing Authority with the specific/ primary issue being the Section 8 reorganization. Internal inspectors of the Housing Authority conducted all housing inspections for Section 8 lease up. The Housing Authority has hired an outside contractor to conduct these inspections with a significant cost saving factor, but has resulted in challenging customer service for turn around inspections.

There are presently three major issues that the Housing Authority is addressing:

  1. Inspections turn over complaint is valid. The quality and protocol can be lost going from a public/ internal control to an outside private contractor. Ms. Sistrunk indicated that a meeting will be held on Friday with the private outside contractor. There are a total of 800 federal vouchers that have inspections and a total of 500 and counting and another 100 planned state vouchers that all required inspections, and only one company to do this all. The issue is time. There is no internal person to handle any personal touch, especially when an applicant finds an apartment and needs to have an inspection conducted before the voucher is lost. This is a challenging rental market and time is an important issue for conducting such inspections for approval. A staff member has been designated to become a regular consortium member and meet once a month.

  1. Understanding the grievance process is a process that is regulatory driven.

In the case of advocacy, if your candidate is not spared the lease enforcement, which may also include termination of assistance, there is always the question of fairness of the process. There are provisions to provide opportunities for due process even beyond an informal level. The Housing Authority will meet with the consortium to explain this issue.

  1. The Housing Authority is committed and has put into practice the homelessness and veterans preference. This has been done in a meaningful way. Staff is meeting every Wednesday and part of this process, in addition to their reporting on their key indicators like collections and re-certifications, etc., they must also report on how many preferences have come through by way of day to day contact. There are 3 preferences:

  1. veterans
  2. homeless
  3. residents of Danbury

For all persons who are applicants, an addendum, will be included to ask if the applicant is a “preference”. A preference will allow a ranking to coming off the wait list. In terms to be consistent with Fair Housing Laws, the Housing Authority is not going to automatically place these preferences “ahead” over the next person on the list. This is a ranking preference which adds points based on the 3 preferences. This requires certifications if there are advocates or case managers involved. The Housing Authority will meet with the Homeless Consortium to talk about the process of certifying these preferences so that this will go smoothly.

Mr. Nolan requested information regarding the opening of the waiting list back in February/March of the various developments and if the 3 preferences were in place at that time. Ms. Sistrunk indicated that the preferences were not in place. For those applications already in, when going through the pre-application process, the preferences will be established. Some of those who applied may have indicated a preference such as veterans, when the application requested military papers as well as checking off homelessness. With new applications, the addendum will be in place for checking off any of the preferences. This will gives us numbers/volume in the applicant world of those individuals in these special categories.

Ms. Sistrunk provided statistical information on the changes of the homelessness profile and a pending case of a divorce veteran family who is becoming homeless and is also disabled. The pending case study is being reviewed recently as this family’s plight has been brought to the attention of several agencies in Danbury.

Committee reports were provided to Partnership members:

  1. Public Relations, Marketing and Education Committee: Mr. Schierloh reported that a quorum was not met for their meeting. The meeting will be rescheduled. Mr. Nolan indicated that the Washington Summit had a re-messaging of homelessness presentation by Fleshman Hillard, an international marketing company. This company works throughout the United States to take a look at the National Homelessness Initiative and offered some recommendations. This company has prepared for participants to copyright and use within their community a whole power point presentation that can be passed to their committee that can then provide a template with short bullet points to help present our message to the target populations. Mr. Nolan also provided additional information of the movie, “Where God Left His Shoes” and the fundraising/marketing tool and opportunities for the City of Danbury.

Mr. Schierloh would like to aggressively pursue establishing and placing the Partnership website up and running for public use. Mr. Schierloh, Caitlin and Sue would be trained by Wade Anderson to properly place the website on line for the general public assess. Mr. McLachlan would like to coincide the showing of the movie, “Where God Left His Shoes”, just before Project Homeless Connect is offered at the end of this year. The month of October may be the best time period to showcase this movie. Also mentioned was to have some success stories to share at the next Homeless Connect Day. Milena is initiating meetings to discuss issues on how to handle the next December event. Several suggestions were made including providing a hot meal for those participants/general public, security of the homeless personal possessions, keeping the location and utilizing the various rooms of the Elk’s as the focal point facility, haircuts, motor vehicle ID’s, resume writing, phone cards, etc.

Mr. McLachlan indicated to the Partnership that the City is allowing CDBG monies of $5,000.00 set aside for the event. The committee should put together an itemized list of requests and cost factor for each of the items suggested. If this is all completed by October, the budget could be submitted and approved for the appropriate city funding, agencies participation, corporate funding, etc.

  1. Housing and Community Development Committee: Mr. Scalzo reported that the committee met at 2:00p.m. today and discussed bringing together a document to the Partnership with information on housing possibilities/opportunities for years 3-10. Speakers will be invited for the next 2 meetings to assist and collaborate to reach the housing goals. The committee would like to be involved with the Next Step Program and assist in the Fair Housing Plan for the City of Danbury.

Mr. Nolan responded to the extensive application process of the Next Step Program. Site control is needed and ready to go, which is a very important criteria. A supportive housing facility underwriting would need to indicate at least 20-25 units to be strong for underwriting criteria’s and funding/dollars. The money comes from the state bond commission; it is a long term loan with a low interest rate that is potentially forgiven if it doesn’t cash flow out. The people who will live their will have State Rental Assistance vouchers. There is also on site social services support system component. A mix population is readily acceptable with 20% that has the need and 80% that doesn’t have the need, yet the services available are necessary. Various city locations were discussed, rehab vs. new construction, etc. was all discussed among various Partnership members.

A motion was made by C. Sistrunk that the Partnership pursue facilitating a Next Step III application, seconded by P. Schierloh, passed unanimously, with one abstention.

  1. Social and Supportive Services Committee: The meeting for the Committee will be held next Wednesday at 2:00. Members of this committee, public relations and housing and community development are invited to attend this meeting to discuss the Next Step Program in more detail.
  2. Financial Resources and Fundraising Committee: Mr. McLachlan reported that the Mayor’s budget had allocated funding approval for a grant writer. The budget is presently before the Common Council for final approval. The committee would like the Partnership to sponsor a celebration breakfast fundraiser. Monies targeted at these breakfasts for other entities have provided a good funding source and should assist the Partnership. The committee also suggested that the celebration breakfast include recognizing those persons in the community with awards. Ms. Sistrunk made a motion to authorize the Financial Resources and Fundraising Committee to plan and implement a celebrity awards breakfast to benefit efforts to end homelessness. The motion was seconded by M. McLachlan and passed unanimously.

Mr. Nolan provided information on the Senior Housing Feasibility Study and the money allocated to assist in that study provided by the Non-Profit Rental Housing Corporation, the time frame for completion of the new Police Station, the study for the old police station, etc.

Mr. Nolan discussed and updated the Partnership on the Veterans Housing Initiative in approving 5 beds at the Homeless Shelter and 6 transitional beds produced by the Non-Profit Development Corporation of Danbury, in cooperation with the Housing Authority at the New Street property.

There was no report for membership update.

A motion to adjourn was made by C. Sistrunk, seconded by M. Sangut, passed unanimously. The next Danbury Housing Partnership is scheduled for June 5, 2008