The Fayetteville City Council’s Homelessness and Mental Health Committee met Tuesday to discuss policy recommendations members plan to present to the council at a work session next month.
An advisory board to the City Council, the committee is tasked with developing policy recommendations that address the “entire spectrum of homelessness” in Fayetteville, according to Chris Cauley, director of the city’s economic and community development department.
Three recommendations the group presented Tuesday:
As an offshoot of a national program under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the local continuum of care aims to connect those experiencing homelessness with community agencies and nonprofit groups that can provide support and housing resources. It partners with the city and county but doesn’t receive direct funding from either, Cauley said; all CoC workers are volunteers.
The city could work with the county to provide the agency with funding for an executive director position, which would be a paid professional that could, in Cauley’s words, “help coordinate homelessness across the spectrum, including the city, the county, the hospital system, the judicial system, the health department — all those pieces that have a part to play in what we do for homelessness in our community, and have somebody who is in charge of helping coordinate all of that.”
City Councilman Mario Benavente, who chairs the committee, said directing funding for the CoC should be a top priority among the committee’s recommendations. He wanted to highlight this recommendation, which was third on the list in the presentation the group was preparing for council.
“The first two are just kind of good suggestions,” Benavente said, “but three is the one with actual legs, additional slides, real thought and consideration behind it, and I want to give it that weight as opposed to being the third thing on that list.”
Cauley said it was important to consider reinstating the joint city and county homelessness committee as well, since the two will need to work together on redirecting funds toward a CoC paid position. The CoC receives funding from HUD through grants to partner agencies, and that funding has been historically redirected to the county. It then goes into the county’s funding for homeless support programs.
The grant limit from HUD on CoC funding has increased from $22,000 to $50,000, and Cauley said putting that funding directly into CoC, instead of diverting it to the county, could help pay for the position.
The committee ultimately approved the recommendations and are aiming to present them at the November City Council work session for the council’s approval.
Evey Weisblat can be reached at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com.
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