##VIDEO ID:gbMVAgFDfoI## and the first person that I have on on the list is Jared luer you come to the microphone introduce yourself please give us your address and uh and then we will we will go and I will try to lose use the timer I'm I'm new to using the timer so if I if I flub it up practice will make perfect right my name is Jared Lucker I live on 311 16th Avenue um in Rochester welcome thank you for having us during the pandemic my family and I experienced homelessness as a result of a Confluence of factors beyond our control in addition to this experience I recall vividly when I was a child having to live with my dad in his car as he struggled to save for a down payment as a single father thankfully we had family friends grit a little bit of luck and prayers to help us out in our time of need that being said there was nothing easy about those circumstances what those experiences taught me was that they could happen to anybody those with a job and those without from the Practical questions of where to eat and sleep to the doubts fears feelings of failure and shame it is a fate I wish on no one especially a family we came to R Chester to escape those circumstances and we welcomed with open arms by a great Community with opportunities abounding jobs safety and a fresh start on a solid foundation this community has meant everything to us and I wish to see us thriving together in the same way for each and every citizen I want to thank you all for taking the time to examine this pressing concern and I'm absolutely certain that with people as smart as talented and as passionate about our community as you all that this issue will be solved in due course thank you for your time thank you I need uh Steph to tell me how I clear this so that I can give the proper timing to the next person oh it automatically cleared I think all right uh I'd like to invite Erin sinwell to the podium please welcome hello my name is Erin sinwell and I'm the executive director of Family Promise Rochester we have a a shelter in Rochester for families experiencing homelessness I need to say my address 3305 gazelle Lane Northwest sorry I forgot that part um and I'm just here tonight um to let you know that um what what you're going to hear from the you know from the presentation in the steering committee tonight that while the target audience that the steering committee has been working on is um adults single adults experiencing homelessness that we are very supportive of their initiative I feel like that they've done a great job informing the entire um kind of homeless Community Network on the work that they are doing and they've asked for input from everyone not just those that are exper um not just those that are serving adults uh we definitely have seen seen an increased need of families experiencing homelessness over the past two years currently we have 26 families on our weight list but it's usually between 25 to 40 families so we are very supportive and we are excited to hear um what what the county thinks of this and we encourage partnership thank you thank you very much uh Reverend jerk Canon let speak let me see if I can start this I'm sorry to be so inept but I'm I'm I'm new to using it and I'm still counting down from counting up well this is kind of embarrassing isn't it have some technical assist I'll be your timer well they I want it for people to see to so oh you might hit the button at clear guess what you hit the button Mark clear okay all right your patience is greatly appreciated would you mind introducing yourself absolutely I'm Reverend Jenny Canon sorry for the illegible handwriting and I am I live at 2822 Sunset Lane Northeast but serve as one of the pastors at Christ United Methodist Church at uh 4005 Avenue Southwest here in Rochester and I am here to affirm and thank you for the work that's been done so far on any path home and to let you know that it is really important to the faith community and particularly to the community that I am most familiar with at Christ United Methodist Church to continue to see efforts to address housing and homelessness in a compassionate and fair and just way in our community we are so grateful for the partnership with the county and the city and also with our incredible service providers and this is a really important issue to our community we have a meal each week where we see many folks who are unhoused in our community and see how important it is to continue to find ways to be connected and feel that they are not falling through the cracks and so I think a collaborative effort is a really important uh process and the right path forward and we affirm our support for any path home I want to thank you and all the people who are part of leading this and look forward to seeing where it goes into the future and how we can be of support thank you very much all right I'd like to invite Kathy Peterson welcome Kathy Peterson 831 33rd Street Northwest I am a former Rochester Public School teacher and I just want to say the almighty has made all of us but each one of us is unique we are each unique and I was at the NAACP meeting the other week and their idea is that we want to have a United Rochester what if we have a United Rochester that we all see ourselves as a family and if we're a family wouldn't we want all people to be treated well we are a compassionate group I belong to compassion Rochester and we treat people the way we want to be treated so when we talk about homelessness do we think of them as lesser people because they're homeless no this is ridiculous we need to say them as one of us as one of our family members We Are One for All why can we not see that we are all here for a purpose so my idea I came up with what if just what if we wanted to help the homeless could we give money and have the city or I don't know if they wanted to give a little boost to the person that's doing that it could be a a religious organization that does it it could be a group of people that want to do it but we all want to make one for all and wouldn't that just be awesome we would have if everybody in in our town is taken care of we are all better because of it all of us one for all and just because you have a college degree or you belong to this or that you are no better off than the person who is suffering got another idea we you are out of time though so summarize quickly please oh shs summarize that idea quickly I'm I'm out of time okay I'm sorry maybe this time I'll get it right Reverend Luke Stevens Roger please hi uh Luke Steven tryer 1605 6th Avenue Southwest and minister of First Unitarian Universalist Church here in Rochester um grateful to be with you grateful for your service to the county in interesting political times so bless you for your public service I'm also grateful to be part of a group of Faith leaders in and around Rochester that have been very interested in gaining knowledge and connections about how do we address housing and homelessness in collaborative ways that are about belonging and dignity in our community as well as practical to helping folks find Housing Solutions so I simply want to say a quick few things about my support for any path home and this continued collaboration one one of my earliest memories as a child was collecting cans with my mother in a local park in North Mano shortly after um we moved there my dad had a back injury and then started working for the city there but we had very little funds little did I know as a three-year-old that those cans and the County's recycling program were helping to put some food on our table each little can a little more food for me and my brothers as you know poverty has many levels and varied needs mine was extremely minor in the grand scheme of things and yet it was extremely impactful in my life and the life of my family another memory was about building faith-based Partnerships in Minneapolis through Beacon Interfaith housing collaborative um where I slept outside with youth uh Plymouth Church in Downtown Minneapolis raising awareness about how we could build collaborative relationships among all the different sectors City County Faith communities and service providers as well all that to say something I know you well understand as many others experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity is varied and has different needs and it's Partnerships and community and care for one another's dignity that helps move us forward so I'm grateful to be part of that and glad to continue as we find collaborative ways to do that work together thank you thank you uh Ryan Stack so my name is Ryan Stack I live at 539 North North Broadway Avenue Apartment 206 and I actually experienced um homelessness back in 2015 when I had um a mental health crisis and places like you know the landing um were not there you know and so um and so uh I relied on family to to house me during my Mental Health crisis until my Mental Health crisis went um went way off the charts to where I pretty much was living at generals until they could find me suitable housing and um fast forward to 20120 during the pandemic um when I was you know needing to for my own health health reasons health safety to move out of my uh then foster care provider into my own place I um had extensive help with uh Dan ffield and the landing to find housing and I'm uh in support of this uh any path initiative and I've received many um Services you know from Christ United Methodist Church peace United Church of Christ and um the Salvation Army and others and I could speak on behalf of the people that are homeless is that um even though we have more services today we still don't have enough so thank you thank you Ryan Tanya Tanya rer hello whoops my name is Tanya rigger as many of you guys know I'm on the um the resident commissioner um on the HRA board and um I I didn't have anything planned but I of course I've got to say something you know um I just I'm really proud of this community because since I've lived here I've seen things come about I the shelters The Landing um as a part of the board there's a lot of progress I think being made and I I love that and and that just it inspires me um to be a part of this community that we're doing something and that we're excuse me supporting the need out there um as you know I also was homeless um and the interesting thing is that anybody could become homeless we all know that right I mean I'm I'm surrounded by people who are suffering and on the verge and what I would like to see is more strategic programming that I plan to actually share what they've done here in the future it's a part it's a piece of the puzzle that I think is missing that had I had the Strategic programming that I fought for I might be further advanced than I am right now I'm still struggling I'm not out of the Woodworks yet and you know um being homeless and even housed cuz I was housed under a friend's roof I mean that was a rocky situation too but it takes a toll you know and um I just support the work that you guys are doing and I'd love to um you know this is everywhere and that's that's why it's a big deal what happens in our communities it affects us it affects us all it affects our families it affects our neighbors it affects us all and that's why this count this County this city needs to do something I mean exactly what um they were saying earlier about um family I guess you know it's really is because it does make a difference and it matters thank you thanks is there anyone else who would like to use the public comment period getting around the room welcome chairwoman cascaden members of the commission my name is Kathleen Harrington and I'm with the Rochester downtown Alliance and I'm here to say thank you thank you for the work that you have led for the work that you've done for many years and I am so pleased to say on behalf of stakeholders I serve um how how grateful we are for your collaboration with the city um this solution does does require great collaboration between governments nonprofits and the private sector so I'm all I want to say is thank you very much we are here to serve you in this Mission as well we must get to a point where this is not an issue in this in our community thank you thank you is there anyone else who wishes to use the public comment period we're g we'll allow Karen to finish her comment you were so gracious about me cutting you off we'll give you we'll pretend you're your sister now okay um you know homelessness affects everybody and it affects the person who's homeless I would think in a very emotional way what if we had a type of Mentor mentee relationship I don't know if it would be one on-one if it could be a group of people if they could come together and talk about their experience talk about what they're suffering about and how maybe somebody could help them what would that do to give them the impetus to go on and to do better and to have a better mental state because oh the mental state is really I mean we're we're all everything with our minds and if our mind was solved and peaceful what that could do to helping ourselves oh it just anyway a mentor mentee you know the public school has a strive program which is awesome and so anyway I think Rochester could have a One forall Mentor program thank you is there anyone else who would like to use the public comment period can I say one more thing real quick no we will have many opportunities with you tanan H we'll listen listen listen is there anyone else who would like to use the public comment period I actually broke the rules and letting Karen speak twice so there will be consequences I'm sure um is there anyone else who would like to use the public comment period seeing none we'll conclude the public comment period And I will call the County board meeting of August 20th 2024 to order and we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance IED aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all our first order of business tonight is a public hearing to amend the uh chapter 1400 of the county Z zoning ordinance to add cannabis business regulations uh Mr Dunn will give us the uh orientation this is a hearing we will not be making the decision this evening but if any of you are uh at a public hearing if you want to comment on the proposed ordinance there it is a public hearing and you will have that opportunity as well so Mr dun yeah good afternoon Matt or evening or whatever time it is uh good day Madam chair commissioners Dave Dunn Olstead County Housing and planning director and here to introduce our cannabis text amendments uh just to kind of get us started we are asking to postpone or leave the public hearing open and then postpone action until September 17th as we're still working on a couple of the technical details as far as how some of the documentation got put into the packet so we wanted to make sure that everybody had that opportunity but I know that the public hearing will be open this evening and if anyone has any comments but I did want to just kind of highlight three pieces of this legisl or this zoning code Amendment and so one I just wanted to let you know that it is highly regulated by the state so as we go through this and we talk and I know that a lot of you get questions about what is this what is that a lot of those uses in fact all of them were set up at the state level so it wasn't something in which we decided that we wanted to have a meso business or whatever it might be uh the second thing I just want to highlight is this is the first time that we will be using what's called an interim use uh which is a it's not new in the sense of planning but it is new for us uh what that will do is when we talk about an interim use versus a conditional use an interim use allows us to put a Time limitation on that use so if we have an interim use for a period of three years at the conclusion of that three years for an interim use to continue they would have to come back here and get approval uh a conditional use historically would be once that conditional use is approved so long as those conditions are met the use can continue so that is one other change that you'll be seeing in that and you've already seen and then I know one last thing that had been kind of asked uh that we' been asked about is kind of whether or not uh cannabis should be grown indoors or outdoors and the ordinance as it reads allows it to be grown Outdoors the reason for that is that uh the direction that we have been given from the state is that cannabis should be treated like any other Agricultural Product and therefore we can't regulate where or how it is grown just like we can't regulate that corner beans are only grown indoors so with that I will uh if there are any questions or else uh if there's anyone else here who wants to speak I'm here to answer any questions you might have members are there questions from Mr dun commissioner C uh thank you uh Madam chair uh and Mr Dunn I I I'm reading this and uh with respect to for instance tobacco uh our tobacco ordinance really covers every inch of hestad County uh if enacted as written would this also cover every inch of hestad County would the Proviso that other local governments could could uh enact an an ordinance more more strict if you will than than ours is that the way this is written well thank you for the question because it is a really good one and I'm going to try to answer them and to look to Tom to give me the either thumbs up or to make the correction uh so the way that this is written since it will be part of the zoning ordinance this will just be applicable to the areas in which we have zoning jurisdiction so all of the areas uh the three townships in which we have direct jurisdiction over and then the remainder of 15 townships will be able to set their own zoning ordinance guidelines that are either as strict or more strict than what we're going to bring forward as far as kind of that difference I think that's the difference between a public health regulation and then a zoning regulation Tom right that's that's spot on you you'll recall when the board was asked and approve the prohibited use of cannabis in public places ordinance last fall just like Dave described it you know I characterize it you're either wearing your public health hats or you're wearing your planning hats and when you're wearing your public health hats as as you did last fall that public health authority like with Tobacco For example is countywide including inside the city limits of all the cities and the townships in the county however you're wearing your zoning hats if you will at this time and so when it you're wearing your zoning hat it's only in the areas outside the Incorporated limits of the cities where the county has authority to act in a zoning context so um Mr dud and Mr Canan I think given the the large audience it might be helpful to review the fact that this is one of many uh times that we are looking at cannabis regulation and Mr Canan has just referenced the previous action of the board relating to the public health side of cannabis um you want to just give us a little bit of context for the benefit of of the people who are here yeah I think as uh the legislature legalized cannabis use in 2023 and then as they're moving toward ret and other uses being allowed starting in 2025 what we are doing is setting up a a set of different regulations as to how we are regulating cannabis in our community and so it's everything from how we treat it at our parks and how we treat it uh in our zoning code and then how do we treat it on the lenser side in a LEL of everything in between and i' turn to Mr grany who's kind of our cannabis star to make sure that I didn't miss any pieces of that as well thank you Dave um Madam chair Commissioners yeah Dave is correct and you know I'd also share that um not not only did we bring the ordinance forward to the board to consider previously but we'll be bringing further language to the board here later this fall uh to make some additions to the Cannabis ordinance that was initially passed so you're exactly right that we need to take this in in bite-sized pieces really and make sure that we're addressing uh a number of different areas and avenues as it relates to cannabis here and at the same time um in some situations waiting for continued guidance from the office of cannabis management from the state of Minnesota uh so that's why we're doing it when it makes sense and when we have the guidance that we need to make sure that we're falling within the parameters that the state sets as well thank you Commission senum uh thank you again let me just follow up uh to my question the basis of it and and I'll I'll be pretty direct uh I uh I think that the advertising of low potency M cannabis across from the rec center in in I'm in my what I view is a very profuse sort of way is is inappropriate to that area that is occupied by all kinds of of miners children hockey players swimmers Etc etc etc uh I'm not sure if that's a public health hazard or a zoning issue but but if it is a zoning issue then my concern would be with the city and and convincing them on a zoning uh perspective as opposed to a public health hazard is that right yeah it would be I mean it's yes I mean I think we would say that would be a sign issue and then when you start to talk about uh sign content it's very dicey as far as what's out and what's not and how and all of those other kind of First Amendment issues that may come up with it so it is one in which they look at uh the sign from a Content perspective it's very difficult but then looking at it from you know how much and how large can it be and you know uh I I I agree with you in your kind of your concerns uh but I know that becomes a challenge it would be for us if we were uh if that was within our jurisdiction we'd have the same challenge okay thank you other members questions um Madam chair uh so commissioner snum I I think you were um making a comparison between the low potency hemp deriv cannaboids and then cannabis product so Mr Dunn could you uh kind of clarify how Z how zoning or this particular um zoning would apply to those two um different products that that I I right I guess what I'm what I'm getting at is that um that hemp derived cannaboids were legalized well before um cannabis was and so I'm not sure that the zoning um necessar that this cannabis-based zoning NE necessarily applies to the hemp based cannaboids you know my joke is I always say if I say I'm so glad you ask that question it's because I don't know the answer and I'm trying to buy some time so uh I'm so glad you asked that question commissioner and yeah I mean the there are so many different nuances to this so I think yes the different type and where it's derived from and everything else and I don't have a really good answer right now but certainly we can kind of look back into some of that and then as it comes to uh you know the zoning components as well what I can tell you is that a lot of it is there's you know within the different regulatory pieces there's things that we just have to do and there's just regulations in which we you know it's not the decisions that we are making or not do we support the legalization of cannabis because that ship already sailed so then it's how do we Implement that in our community Madam chair can I just my comments were made on the precept that this would graduate if you will into into if you will high potency you know whether that business got a license for the full-fledged cannabis so um may not are you are you stating commissioner that we don't know that that particular business would um will will be licensed to sell cannabis but should it be licensed you'd have deep concern about what kind of signage and advertising any cannabis licensed business could have when it's proximate to recreational activities where children and and youth are involved exactly thank you yeah and Madam chair that that is a real that's a high density youth area we'd all know that is there are other high density youth areas in the community too Mr grany did you wish to speak actually I'd prefer that Mr Canan spoke about this he's um yeah he'd be the best one to hear from right now thank you I can give a little bit more background on this so in 2022 the legislature decided to legalize lower potency hemp products I think almost everyone would agree the roll out was um kind of not well thought out um and almost immediately lots of retailers started selling lower potency hemp products uh been working with public health and the Sheriff's Office on lots of issues related to cannabis we've estimated I think that there's about 180 retailers already in Olstead County that sell lower potency hemp products I think everyone's also an agreement that we're going to have our hands full simply making sure that you know the Cannabis product businesses and again making the distinguishing uh a u making a distinction I should say between cannabis products which are higher potency and more likely to cause the adverse impacts if you will relative to the lower potency hemp products that we're going to be focusing our oversight efforts to the extent that state law allows that on cannabis products and not on Lower potency hemp products um that may come at a future stage but potentially you've already already authorized 14 um cannabis product you know businesses to potentially be licensed in Olstead County between the public health staff and the sheriff's office staff you know that's going to keep them awfully busy we feel as we get our hands on you know what it's going to take for local registration compliance checks handling cannabis um temporary event permits all of those issues are coming as Mr Dunn alluded to in a future installment on ordinance changes in the fall fall but so back to your question the focus really once we get to the meet of this on September 17th will be on cannabis products and not on Lower potency hemp uh products which we'll address in the future if in fact there's a desire by the board to do do so I hope that's helpful thank you members any other questions Mr dun have you completed your presentation yes just as a reminder to open the public hearing and then keep it open until the 17th thank you thank you so we have it we're opening the public hearing is there anyone anyone in the audience that wishes to testify on our pending cannabis zoning ordinance I'm required to ask it three times is there anyone in the audience or online who wishes to testify on our pending cannabis zoning ordinance is there anyone online is there anyone in the audience who wishes to testify on the pending cannabis zoning ORD ordinance second I have a motion and a second to continue the public hearing until September 17th all those in favor sign is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I those oppos same sign motion prevails all right we are going to move now to our consent agenda and for those of you who who studied this agenda carefully before you arrived we've had an addition made to the agenda which is item J here's our consent agenda approve the omster County Board minutes from August 6th approve the gambling permit for parents of graduating seniors Inc approve the gambling permit for Stewartville Sportsman Club award contracts for the grah arena Roofing and rainscreen project award a contract for the Olmstead waste energy fa facility owf boiler number one tile conversion project approve the joint Powers agreement and contract for the 2025 resident survey approve the Olstead County public facing fees set the county truth and Taxation dates for the 2025 budget adopt the re revised resolution for the lccmr grant for Lake zumbro Park and finally a establishment of an amount for a bond cash or security to be filed by a losing candidate in a primary election who requests a discretionary recount of the primary election results pursuant to Minnesota statute section 204 c. 36 sub division two is there any is is there a motion I move to approve the consent agenda is there a second second second have a second I have a second a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda is there any discussion he none all those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying I I those oppose same sign the motion prevails we have no discussion items and so we're going to move on then to our information item of the update on the any any path home initiative good evening Madam chair Dave D Olstead County Housing and planning director and uh tonight I have the awesome opportunity to share the work that a a coalition that we have been a part of any path home is doing in our community and so we are here to give an update on the work that we are doing uh and to share some of that information with you all tonight come on up you're not I'm not alone in this and so I have Courtney Doug stead with Three Rivers Community Action Agency and uh Alex boss from did I get it you did all right uh from The Landing and and just to congratulate Alex also in his new role as executive director uh they will be doing most of the presenting tonight I think I have a couple of slides at the very beginning and the very end so one again thank you all for being here and thanks to the people in the crowd for being here for tonight's update so we just wanted to kind of give you uh some background of the items that we're kind of touching on here just a little bit of our background in history and the things that got us started uh some introduction work some system mapping that's really been going on and then kind of the next steps our request for tonight really is the support for our shared purpose and that is that everyone has a home you will hear that over and over and over again not just in our presentation but the work that we're collectively doing in our community uh talking starting to talk about what some of those needs are as we start to look at transforming our system just a little bit and what does that look like what that need and then to answer your questions so we are here and we're excited and as we kind of get started to talk about it we thought we'd just take a little step to talk about where we've been uh before we talk about where we're going and so this has really been going on now for several years and it's started back in 2022 and it really was uh as we started talking about some opportunities for State funding wanted to get together a group of shelter providers in the community a lot of people who are in this room started talking about what's our needs what does that look like and what do we do if there's some shelter funding available uh during that time of course in 2023 some funding did become available we were able to submit an application uh we're fortunate enough that the women shelter was able to get some was able to become funded so they were able to move forward with a desperately needed facility in our community uh but then it kind of got us here talking and going back to the drawing board just a little bit and I think one of the things that we learned through this process is that maybe we weren't even asking ourselves the right question uh maybe that we shouldn't really be focusing on what does that mean for shelter but what is it that we can do to end homelessness and so from that we really started talking about what do we need as a collective community in order to really have an impact to get to that build for zero that we had talked about the last time we were here but really to get to the point where we have the resources in our community that are necessary to make the uh homelessness rare brief in non-recurring so so I'm going to talk a little bit about a field trip um that our steering committee of Representatives of the an paath home um Collective took uh we decided to look around the local communities um in the Minnesota area that were doing things differently doing things unique and in a way that was seemingly successful uh one of the areas we highlighted was henan County and we were able to make a connection with representatives of the social services specifically the housing departments there um and in late April uh a number of individuals from the any paath home steering committee went up to hennipin County to meet with these staff um and what we really wanted to understand is is what were they doing differently what about their methods was was unique from what we were doing because I I don't think we looked around our community and saw anybody not you know really trying and finding unique ways to be helpful um toward ending homelessness but what were they doing that was being effective where we were not and so what we found were some reoccurring themes uh the themes uh started with a byy name list and so what that really amounts to is understanding the people in your community who are experiencing homelessness in that moment as individuals not as this percentage of people who fit these intersections or this percentage of people who fit really knowing the people the way we want to understand all of our community members and I'm sure as representatives of this community you feel that way you're responsible for different sections but as a whole wanting to know the people who make up your community and So what hennipin had done is created an understanding of the people who are experiencing homelessness in their community and they dubbed that The Chronic index so that was the title they gave um what we've decided to kind of go with at this point is just staying with by name list and understanding that we know individuals in this community by name what they were also doing is that they had taken time to really beef up their case management and and that is kind of putting the byy name list in action it's saying that we have people in our community experiencing homelessness and we have people who understand case management and the services in this community anyone experiencing homelessness who wants it can have a case manager who's going to be their advocate in action that person working to make connections for them and put that burden on the system as opposed to the burden continuing to be on the individual which is a big thing that we've we've talked about in previous meetings I know um with all of you as well is that understanding that right now we have a system that asks people already in dire straight struggling through homelessness to move all over town to move amongst agencies and I will get to that a little bit later um but case management was a huge piece moving on from there was a coordinated shelter system so while The Shelter Systems in Rochester do talk to each other I wouldn't say that the system up until now has been coordinated it's not thought through to the extent where an individual doesn't have to go to this shelter to find out the status find out there's maybe not room and then go to this shelter and find out maybe there's not room and then you know in our system what do I do after I've run out of options so coordinated shelter system a shelter hotline that makes it easier on people who want to utilize that shelter the next thing and and we talk data and and what I want you to hear I guess when we say the words data is story it means that we understand that person as an individual and we've come to know their story and we've come to build trust um so that we can be helpful to the person who is struggling with homelessness right now but again we can only solve a problem that we can see we can only solve a problem that we understand um as an indiv idual person experiencing homelessness so data is the way forward for that and we have a collection a subcommittee of our steering committee that is dedicated to doing data a lot better in this community um and again the big pivot for them every every new group they made every collection of of lived experience everything was housing focused um everything was that the idea that essentially you can't stop being homeless unless you find housing you can't stop being homeless unless you find housing with supports and services and and feel that sense of community that only really housing can bring if we continue to do housing with 90day limits if we continue to do housing with limits of 180 days six months a year and a half that's not really true housing right if you access the housing and you kind of abide by any rules any of us would if we took out a lease at an apartment if you abide those rules that should you know remain your housing so everything in hennipin was housing focused and again kind of the last point on here but one of the overwhelming and probably most important themes of what henip got right is that lived experience people who had that expertise of having existed in these systems navigated good systems bad systems and in between systems that was kind of a leading voice in the understanding and and the changing of how things were being done so prioritizing lived experience was was crucial to what's happening in in henpen so we came away from that and we knew uh that we wanted to move ourselves and our community into something called a collective impact we knew that we did not want to function out of disorder and confusion where every agency um is working different goals elected officials aren't agreeing on the goals um and it creates a space of chaos for the end user um we thought we were probably already operating out of individual impact where agencies were doing really good work um individually and uh sort of working their programs but we weren't all in alignment of what the end goal is um we wanted to move and this is a part of us moving into a coordinated impact where we're all agreeing that the shared purpose and end goal is that everybody in omstead county has a home and we're moving towards that same goal and then ultimately we hope that by the end of um sort of the process of planning through this is that we get to a collective impact and that's really when not only is everybody moving towards the same goal of everybody having a home but they also understand their role in the process so we are as efficient as possible to get somebody from A to B um and that's really where any path home was birth right and so we came up with the name any path home um because we wanted to make it clear that any path should lead to home that there is no one right way to get there or hoop to jump through that we are all pointing any any point of entry in our homeless response system is pointing people and leading people into housing um at this point we we're going to talk a little bit about the steering committee which is a group of partner agencies working together but any path home that's not all it could be um and that and that really takes all of us so what we want you to focus on today is we're listening through some of the strategic planning that we've done and some of the dreams that we have for this is not necessarily getting caught up in the how we're going to achieve everybody having a home but really focusing on seeing these things through the lens of the agreement and the shared purpose that everyone does and we can work through the how together so oh sorry go ahead this is a really difficult difficult slide here transition I get I get to talk about all the wonderful agencies doing wonderful work um the biggest thing I want to highlight right here on this slide is the fact that this is the steering committee as it stands right now and again the mission is that everyone has a home the how we get there is is going to have ups and downs it's going to have difficulties um this is not some final draft of of agencies that we want input from uh this group of steering committee members actively seeks information and input from um all agencies that touch in homelessness all agencies all volunteer groups all Community groups that want to be impactful and serve so I'm not going to read them off tonight but this is the list of steering committee uh organizations U moving from there some of these some of these are going to feel a little bit redundant but uh we're just hitting things home so any path home timeline as um most of you are aware it's been involved in this timeline is that kind of April to July we were working really hard to system map to understand what it is we've got going on right now um taking that field trip to henpen to really understand what's going well in other communities um moving to August now we've had stakeholder sessions and we've received some initial recommendations and now we've come and sort of brought some of those initial recommendations to you where we we will be a little little bit on here um but the important important part of the stakeholder uh sessions was understanding what do nonprofits that maybe don't focus on single adult chronic homelessness but do family work do youth work uh what do the schools think of some of the things that we've seen most importantly though what we had an opportunity to do was to meet with individuals part of a group called the table which is a lived expertise group of individuals in our own Community who have been able to offer their voice um to their experiences with the current system um and offer recommendations as we continue to grow our improved future systems uh September to December we're really looking to work further in recalibrating that system and having that sort of final Charter that we ask the city county and uh steering committee nonprofit Partners to agree to um me it is okay these these speaking engagements where you're going going back and forth very tricky for me um 2024 goals as as I addressed some of these create a clear picture of our current and desired system um have a clear consistent hmis data management process I'm not going to get way in the Weeds on hmis essentially what we have in the state of well in the entire country is something called the homeless management information system it's a database where that data or story is captured and able to be utilized for funding opportunities able to be utilized for nonprofits to be most impactful in supporting people with resources and housing um our state specifically is in a transition period we've moved from one provider provider to another there are many providers across this country of hmis ours just happens to be in a transition point right now um another significant goal is having those partner agencies those steering committee agencies really start to understand that clear and defined role and what that looks like then is that Collective action model where they are in alignment but they are also understanding their part uh to play in serving people experiencing homelessness uh with that comes identifying gaps and continuing to enhance and understand our current tools and the ways that could be maybe pivoted 5 degrees to be even more impactful um and really just working to understand the needs of the individual that's going to those are the common themes we're going to hear over and over is that understanding of people as individuals and that everyone deserve everyone should have a home and that's kind of where we're going to end up time and time again awesome so we knew that our existing system already had some really good work and that's sort of been identified and brought to the table tonight a little bit we know that we have individual agencies in this community that are doing great work you heard from some of them tonight we have amazing community members who are engaging in great efforts in this work and you heard some of them tonight so we know that is uh something that's really working for our County when we're looking at this uh goal we also know that agencies are successful and excelling at individual tasks right the agencies and um supportive Community efforts are doing um well at the tasks they have and we also know we have many individual examples of success because people experiencing homelessness are resilient they're Brave they're resourceful and they're Community Driven and as it turns out the way to succeed at solving homelessness is to provide people with housing we also know that our system has some opportunities we'll call them versus challenges we know that our current system is not a system there's not one agency that has all the tools needed to assist someone so we need to create a coordinated effort and as Alex mentioned burden should not be on the person experiencing homelessness if it's there's a problem that's a systemic problem then it requires a systemic solution um agencies currently compete for resources and we need every agency to thrive and uh additional housing and other resources are needed so we do need that robust spectrum of additional housing options that work for all needs um and then we also need to ensure that housing is connected to Services because we know that's the secret sauce in all of it um Alex is going to give us an example of what it really looks like real time for somebody in our current RIS um homeless response system and then what we desire it to look like with those adjustments yeah so really my key takeaway um that I'm hoping all of you have after this slide is that any path home is needed that we do need to make adjustments that this just doesn't work because essentially what I want to walk through with you and this is not every story this is not every person who's ever experienced homelessness is story this is just a story to really help us illustrate our points um so we kind of start with an individual who's in homelessness this individual is going to be named John John came to Rochester seeking a job opportunities which fell through upon arrival John is an individual who found shelter uh through his vehicle um he able was able to utilize the warming Center um after eating lunch at the Salvation Army obviously there are other lunch options other places John could use overnight shelter or daytime shelter but over the next few days John uses several service agencies to get his basic needs met uh he completes a coordinated entry assessment which is uh synonymous with a housing assessment uh for these purposes um but he's advise that because of whatever circumstances it's unlikely he's ever going to rise to the top of the list uh just sort of anecdotally the the situation where that might happen is that somebody doesn't have a qualifying Factor like a disability they might not have um something that may qualif ify them for a Housing Opportunity and so in this case John is advised he's not likely to get housed through the coordinated entry system um at this point Jon's had to share his story four five could be six times and at this point like any other human being he's tired of talking he's tired of sharing his story he's in a spin cycle where these different agencies that he's spoken to know different pieces of a whole story of what his experience has been up till now and maybe at no point did anybody body really come to understand where John's coming from what barriers even exist to him securing housing um what positives exist right now all of these agencies individually in their silos have met with John have understood his story have really tried to help with what they've got available individually but as a collective as a community of nonprofits Faith Community whatever it might be volunteer groups we weren't working collectively we weren't even working in coordination and so John has a choice he can sustain this and continue in a spin cycle or he can sort of try a different community and I don't think that that's really what we're trying to line up um in the community we have right now um but in this scenario John does you know wait it out he goes through the spin cycle over and over and he secures housing he's in an apartment unfortunately we know that based on the success rates we have right now with people who are going through maybe a similar scenario that problem isn't the end of Jon's homelessness experience because he just ended up in housing he didn't end up in housing that had supports he didn't end up in housing that had Community he didn't end up in a situation where he had somebody with a proven track record of um going through homelessness and securing housing to walk alongside him uh where we are working to have lived experience uh lived expertise Partners um in that realm and so what we see is somebody who entered homelessness in our community and inevitably went around and around telling their story until they were at a Breaking Point point and and truly in our community right now this would be sort of a success story because the person did secure even temporary housing but I don't think this is the best we can do I'm not going to dig too deeply into this slide but all of you have it available to you and can kind of look at the chaotic nature of the bouncing back and forth the left and right of the arrows and just kind of picturing yourselves if you've ever bounced in systems um what it feels like to kind of go back and forth as a veteran I can kind of speak to my experiences with the Veterans Administration and what that felt like to bounce back and forth and trying to do the right thing right John is striving for housing John is striving for employment John is trying to do these things but the system is letting him down and it's putting undue burden on him an ideal response system this is John's story sort of in a better system so John came to Rochester seeking uh employment opportunities it fell through he went to lunch at the Landing the very next day um seeing a new face the staff M of the landing member of The Landing or any day Center Public Library any entity I feel hard bad having that in there as a representative of the landing but um I did not type the slide up either um seeing a new face the staff member of The Landing asked John a few questions helped him fill out a simple hmis entry form and and what I want to point out in that system is that a simple entry form a simple understanding of John's story in the immediacy and in a one-time frame where that information is coordinated across those partner agencies so that John isn't asked four times uh later that day that that information is entered into hm and John's name is placed in the by name list this helps so that he is uh in real time understood by our community to be existing right now with us in homelessness real time we can pull that data and have that understanding that JN is in our community this is where he came from this is what his barriers are he's received services from these agencies already and his story is known you do not need to go and ask him to do another set of releases another set of forms capture his information all over again from there kind of stepping away from John into the provider side an engagement team of providers meet weekly to highlight the status of all people who are currently on our byy name list are currently experiencing homelessness in our community and helping everyone understand where they are on that housing Journey what barriers exist what strengths exist um and what opportunities might exist amongst the providers a few days later that engagement team meets John has assigned a specific case manager who operates out of the landing which is chosen specifically because we understand JN has now built some Trust trust and rapport with that agency's staff specifically so again understanding the individual as they are and their preferences trust is not easy to come by we all know that in our lives and we should explicitly know it with somebody who's struggling with homelessness right now every inch of trust from a provider side is is earned um next day that case manager is able to meet with John and work on an actual housing plan with you know understood steps of what is going to be needed at the time we Access housing let's start getting that stuff done and checked off while we we continue to search for units and meet with providers for available units in this case it takes a few weeks so John does spend a few weeks in this scenario using probably our overnight shelter options our daytime shelter options but he has a case manager he can call on and connect with who knows him this case manager is not overburdened for those probably who have questions about what our our case ratios will be we did learn from hennipen that 15 to 20 to1 is a good ratio getting into the weeds sorry uh after in this scenario after a month John with help from his case manager finds a housing option that matches J's unique needs I want to emphasize this slide because what we will run into time and time again is this understanding that I have a unit why doesn't this person just want this unit you know this unit is available this person that I'm trying to work with should just want this unit and that's we know this we know this in our lives that's not how that works just because an apartment was available doesn't mean I just took that apartment just because this house is available doesn't mean we all have an understanding of our preferences our choices and when we are a housing system that works against that and likes to pretend that that people don't have choices or that they don't deserve choices and that they don't have preferences we're really working against ourselves if we really want homelessness to be rare one time non- reoccurring all these things we're working against that and so again this ideal system takes into account the understanding of who Jon is as an individual what his preferences are and what he's looking for in housing from there instead of ending at housing and saying we're good John's housed check him off the list take him out of the system we're good it doesn't end there we continue on to community John continues to be connected with professional and nonprofessional supports this increases a sense of belonging which increases the likelihood of a sense of community the goal is that eventually if Jon feels comfortable and wants to choose this path that Jon is then brought back into the system in a role of advocacy in a role of leadership to be able to connect and be a voice of some who navigated a difficult system and secured housing and is now able to support people on that Journey as well um again not going to dig deeply into this one but I I'll hope to highlight uh to all the County Commissioners the idea that arrows are generally flowing much less chaotically um and that is sort of the system as we we hope to see it is this understanding that yes there'll be a place for shelter overnight day shelter um but that we can take a lot more of the burden as the system and ask much less of people who are already struggling with homelessness and really letting their voices lead that planning and that system that we want to see in our community um I think you've kind of covered this but I'll dig into it a little bit more that idea of hmis data um data is our story data is the way we really understand who we've got in our community and what they're going through what their experiences are uh utilizing hmis will help us navigate both this coordinated entry housing list and our buy name list that comprehensive list of everyone in our community who current currently struggling through homelessness um it allows us as a provider to take that burden Again by pulling regular reports understanding what housing exists versus what housing is needed by the people we're serving so that when we are advocating for new units when we're advocating for new properties we're doing so in a really well-informed way so that people such as yourself understand that you're not wanly being asked for this or that ask it's a thoughtful thing that we can show you the data to support um you know major part of hmis is allowing agencies to communicate about the work being done because what happens then is that we're not asking a person to tell their story four or five times we're not asking a person to sign three releases four or five times we're again putting the burden on the the system and the agencies to make sure that that person is able to navigate out of homelessness with all the support and a lot less of the burden so just to kind of summarize the five pillars of our sort of revised um learnings and the revised homeless response system that we would like to see are entry an entry point data and the story of the person connection Housing and Community and I'll very briefly just um rearticulate those so that point of entry remember that any path home so any path leads to housing there isn't just one agency working on this no matter where you enter it's moving towards housing so there's uh upon entry there's diversion if possible um so making sure that we can um connect to services and support to prevent ongoing house um homelessness and then also ensuring that basic needs are met so this is the place where our shelter system is really important right so we want to still make sure basic needs are met with that food that clothing and that shelter while we're moving them towards housing um that uniform data collection which basically is this person tells their story one time and then the system is updating so that any agency can connect with this person and work together um for housing next is the story so this is really really important we keep using the word data but what we really mean is story so everybody has a unique story we heard some of them today and what a sacred honor to be able to be told somebody's vulnerable story that they've been through with homelessness so the more we understand somebody's story it enhances our chances of matching that person with successful housing um people are the experts of their own stories so we need to ask people what they need and then we need to listen and then we can respond to those needs because solutions to homelessness are unique um and then collection of those stories so again that's that real time um where we know and any agency knows and the engagement team knows where somebody is who they're currently being served by um and and how to move them into um connection so case management connection this is where as soon as that entry point is there's an immediate connection with a case manager from one of our agents agencies that's working again this person is not working through a siloed pathway right all pathways are leading to housing so we're enhancing our understanding of the story because that Outreach staff and that case manager is connecting with these individuals and understanding the story on a deeper level um they're not having four or five case managers they're just having one um and then we're developing those individual housing plans so we can ensure success by asking the person what would it take to be successful in housing and then we're assisting the person through the housing process we heard a little bit about that in the comment uh the public comment portion too walking side by side with somebody through this whole process um and then there's regular meetings among all connection providers so any of the supports that this person has are meeting regularly um to assist each other and to create accountability so we're all moving in the same direction and then comes Capital H housing right so the point is we move from entry to housing as quickly as possible um we are creating awareness of Housing Programs so that every agency knows what's available in the community for housing in real time and that way we can match the individuals to those housing opportunities faster and more effectively that are good fits um we are increasing available housing options so again we have that spectrum of robust housing for people to choose from and then we're ensuring people are ready for that housing success so we're making sure that the system is doing everything we need to do so that we are not a barrier to somebody receiving those housing options and we're taking into consideration that choice and then comes the really exciting part this is community with a Capital C because it doesn't end with housing we know that the solution to homelessness is irrefutably housing linked with Services um so we have follow-up assistance what other services are necessary we have periodic check-ins we have those peer mentors that was mentioned so we're building relationships among people that have shared experiences because we know that when we have spaces with folks who have had shared experiences especially when they're traumatic ones there is a deep rooted sense of community that is built and a Reliance on relationship and what we don't want is for people to have to choose between housing and the experience of community so we want to make sure that both are included and that's where we have opportunities for volunteers and other people um who can come alongside this person in authentic Community integration um but none of this comes before housing right we know uh that housing is first so that folks can work on the other pieces without having to worry about their survival so this is where we all come in where any path home is no longer a group of agencies that are sitting at a table we can do this but we can't do it in isolation we can live in a city where all people have housing this isn't a dream because there are examples of cities that are already doing it and we don't have to agree on the why everyone should have a place to call home though I hope that we could we just have to agree that communities are healthier cities and counties are stronger and safer when all people have a home and if we can land there then we can solve homelessness in Olstead County we thank you for your support and we thank you for showing your constituents how much this matters to you I'm also very excited for you all that you get to say you are on the County Board when Olstead County committed to solving [Applause] homelessness I don't know how you follow that because that was so allow the board to ask them and if they have any questions well we actually had a couple more slides so I don't know why they left us so quickly uh but as we're doing this work and you can hear just how amazing our partners are in the community honestly if that's been the thing that I've enjoyed most is getting to know this group many of them are here tonight and it's it's they're amazing people and as part of the work so then you can see here some of the people we have been connecting with so this isn't being done in isolation by a group of 10 agencies it's really being done in a community effort and so we've connected with people with lived experience because we want to hear we want to honor those stories and understand those Journeys we had a meeting last week with partner agencies I think we had had a room full at uh down at Wood Lake and it was a wonderful morning and we were able to connect and and while this is starting with those uh agencies that primarily work with single adults this is something that as we continue to transition will be something we'll work with families on we'll work with youth the plan here is to spread this across all of those populations and so getting that feedback very early on in the system was essential uh we met with some Community leaders ership group so I think several of you may have been at that meeting and probably other people in the crowd tonight so just again trying to uh get these connections and get this feedback because we know this is not a county effort this is a community effort and so in order to do that we really want that Community feedback along the way and last week uh many of the people here were able to see the beyond the bridge documentary I know all of you now do have that link so if you hadn't had a chance to see it yet go right ahead it's an amazing story and uh we didn't know it at the time uh as we were putting together our kind of road map but so many of the things really matched up almost like checkbox checkbox checkbox so it was really an exciting thing to see and to hear about how the work that we're trying to do in building a system really is being successful at other places so they did ask me just at the end to talk about building and reinforcing the system uh and so as we really are kind of talking about this today there really is that kind of our next step in this process and so as we're looking at that these are the things that we think as we look to move forward these are things that we start to say okay what do we need to do in order to transition this and so the first thing I want to talk about is that this is not you know there will not be a 25 FTE ask tonight although if you were willing to give 25 or 20 we would take them uh but really first and foremost it's how we recalibrate our resources within the community already we know we're doing a lot of these things so as we talk about doing them together and doing them smarter and doing them wiser and so these are things that we've identified that we need to solve for right away to build the system we need leadership and so one of the things that uh has been amazing is this has been a great group of agencies but what we know is when we go from planning and coordination work into implementation this is a full-time job to coord these efforts and so we do need to kind of appoint that uh role somewhere in with somebody uh the second thing we need is we need somebody to be collecting those stories you know we had talked a lot about data tonight in the presentation uh it is the key to understanding the level of the issue at any given time so we do need to have that good data we have some now but it can be better and then we need to re get the Housing Resource coordination and and really do a couple of things there and so it's number one it's getting more housing resources and we'll be talking about that over the next few months as a part of our HRA board work we're looking at how do we recalibrate and how do we kind of work within this system and make modifications to what we do and the housing resources that we have available and then it's also a little bit externally as well in working with the community and finding more housing opportunities out there for private property managers landlords partnering with people who are maybe will to take a chance and really willing to just rent their property and also try to do some Community good so those are the three kind of things that we really need to do when we go from those kind of individual dots to kind of connecting all of those dots together and then once that's built we know we'll need to reinforce it now we don't know what all of these things will look like I can't tell you all the things that are going to happen but I think that we'll need two things for sure as we talk about how do we grow into this and we'll need to do Outreach and I think that was one of the things that you heard uh loud and clear tonight is Outreach and connections you know it's relationships with people it's that ability to understand that story and make that personal connection and then we need more housing options uh I think that this group I know and the work that we do in housing in the HRA side we're very aware of the housing options that are available and the limits that we have we need to continue to push and strive for as many different unique and Innovative housing options and solutions not just from our side because again this is not a county issue this is a community issue and so we all need to be doing this work together so that's kind of where we're at and then our next steps are really to continue this work so you've seen you know I had a slide in at one time here that it said it was like the halftime report uh because that's really about where we're at in this work we have done some amazing system mapping we've identified these kind of core needs and where we want to go but we really have two things now that are next and one is that byy name list that you heard an awful lot about tonight and then the second one is we want to do some documentation of what are all those housing resources available today again how are we matching the the needs in the community with the Assets in the community uh the other two things there are a little bit technical but are going to be extraordinarily important one is identifying what is that backbone agency so as we take this from a thing a project that we're all working on collaboratively into implementation in longer term where does that sit who does the administrative work for that who manages the organization who does that person report to we don't have any answers to any of that today but those are those are questions that it's now time to start to think about and ask ourselves and again this isn't a county thing it's a community thing and so we're working as a coll a collaboration of 10 agencies plus more to try to figure out where some of these things fit and then finally we'll be back here at some point in in early 2025 to talk about a charter so once those things are laid out we will be coming forward to actually say these are the things that we want to be responsible for as the county just like the other nine organizations will be coming forward to their boards or city council and asking for approval for their roles in this organization as well now we know that's going to be challenging because it's hard enough to get one entity to proof something let alone 10 but we really think that is going to be the key to success in implementation and we know that will take time and it will take energy and there are always days where you think is this really going to work but I think that's where we really as we kind of look into the future and as we kind of figure this all out that's going to be the key to our success and so lastly I just we had created this QR code last week so for people who maybe are here and want to continue to learn more about this uh we wanted to put it up there so if you wanted to just snap a picture of that and put your name and email in there we would be more than happy to provide you with updates as we go along this journey together and so with that I just like I said I want to say thank you for your time tonight and for your support all along in this project and then uh we'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have invite your other speakers to come back up um let me just uh I'll open it up certainly to my colleagues for questions but uh your leadership in in advancing this discussion across the 10 agencies is really appreciated and Three Rivers sponsorship of the beyond the bridge film is really welcome thank you um many of us got to see it last week uh audience may want to know that it's going to be available online for the elected officials and the candidates for those positions for the next week or so till next Sunday so we're really encouraging everyone to see that hour and a half documentary because it really does tell the story and very much similar to what you're outlining for us uh as a as a community so thank you for your leadership and and moving this forward really appreciate it so members um what questions do you have for the for this team um I'll start first with a couple questions about the by name list you know we talk a lot about data privacy in the world we work in and so I'm curious how you're thinking through how you're going to openly share that across 10 agencies and that information and then also thinking about the subpopulation of the group we're speaking to that really wants absolutely nothing to do with organized programs and systems and really need a lot of assistance and help have you have you and probably getting too far into the weeds but thinking about that any response to how you're going to manage some of that well I'm so glad you asked that question uh but I I actually do think uh the data is important and I think I'll let I think several of you and I don't know Alex if you want to comment on kind of some of the work that's done because it is a there's already some work done in that area through the system to make sure that you have all of the uh approvals and authorizations and the ability to share information but I'll let you comment on that so again we have we have the benefit of of some wisdom from our partners in hanpen County but one thing that we've always operated under um and one I've shared about the engagement team um as an example that team already actually exists and includes Partners like Three Rivers the Salvation Army um zra Valley Health Center the landing and the way that that group meets right now is that we do have a shared release that exists it's built into our database hmis so as we are all licensed users of that system we're all licensed to share information that has been shared to hm um there are instances when somebody is experiencing homelessness and wants to say get on the buy name list or get on coordinated entry and they want some identifying information left off that is uh something that's afforded them I think some of the changes that we'll see in the way we want to operate is that the individuals helping people get onto the buy name list have a lot of of stuff kind of put on their plate to explain that if you opt not to have say this information shared it will sort of preclude or prohibit from having access to these resources but it's also our duty to explain why again Marine Corps veteran so signing can be a scary thing right why it doesn't have to be a scary thing to sign on to this and it's our job as providers to really explain that in such a clear way that somebody doesn't have to wonder you know anything about what's going to happen to their data um that we are really working with that to be able to make sure that we can provide them all of the benefits of being a part of any path home rather than the select benefits allowed if we only know this piece of information or if you really want your data siloed just with my agency these are some of the things that wouldn't be available to you unfortunately so it's our responsibility to really explain that is that sufficient for point one yeah thank I can answer point two um I have never met anyone who wants to be homeless or stay homeless but I have met lots of people that don't want to navigate through a confusing system with prescribed programming that doesn't fit their needs so I think what we're saying is that everybody wants a home and what we need to do and what we're responsible for is to make sure that it's a person- centered experience just like all of us have received in our housing and making sure that programming and support is based on what the person is saying that they need and sometimes that takes time too and sometimes trust is needed to be built but we believe that if there is a case manager and agencies working together where this person doesn't have to figure out the system but the system comes to the person that we will see a lot more success with folks who traditionally maybe haven't wanted to navigate the system that we currently have great thank you I another question when I think about resources and you brought it up and have it on one of your slides that in this environment many of you are competing for resources and so coming together and ensuring that you can all have clear roles you know a place that you own and and programs that you can own and Excel at fantastic but I think about you know bringing 10 agencies together and you're signing a charter um there are times that you know if funds come forward and that by going after those funds you're drastically changing directions I mean there are going to be decisions made based on whether funding is coming from foundations the state Etc and where that that goes in the future so how have you thought and maybe I'm getting way too far a couple steps down the line but thinking about you know longer term how do we keep accountability across those groups so that when funds come available that could take them in a different direction that they don't go after that and stay true to what this Vision that you've all agreed on I can I can take that and I think the the answer is all of our agencies still will have our own missions right and and the any path home is a part of all of the missions of which we do so whether that means that uh The Landing maybe provide services that are still amazing they're not quite within that any path home spere that's wonderful now as far as kind of when it becomes more competitive as far as hey the States coming out with the next round of Grants and how do we start to allocate that I think that's where these agreements and having these conversations on front end about how do we want to work together and how do we want to disagree and how do we agree to disagree and how do we bring that up and I think we've already had a couple of those circumstances where we haven't agreed on things and it's actually probably been helpful for us because it's allowed us to hey wait time out what's going on here what's the emotion why is that that way what is the baggage between agencies that maybe is just like all of us we all carry it uh and so how do we work together so but that's going to be the biggest challenge down the road is to get a group of people to continue to work together and to make that work but I also think it's our biggest opportunity thank you members other questions Mr dun the question that I've heard people say and I know people in the audience also have us how many what what are we talking about with our housing shortage how many units of housing do we need how are we going to figure that out how do we know um and uh you you referenced it a little bit uh in your remarks but um what what are you anticipating the true demand is yeah I know that's the first question we always get right or how many people experiencing homelessness in hestad County the information we have right now would be about 320 uh that would be the people who are on what we would consider our by name is list right now today and the reason I call it that is that we do a nice job of putting people on that list but one of the things that happens is everybody who who puts people in the list they do it a little differently so if I wanted to think of a game of telephone and I started with commissioner Wright by the time I got down to the end of the table and saw what was that message or how did it get sent it's a little bit differently so the number right now that we're working with is 320 as we get this started now when you talk about housing units I think you're not just talking about people experiencing homelessness so then you start to talk about you know the 18,000 units that's the market demand for hestad County as a whole between now and 2030 and then you start to break that down to about the 3,000 affordable units that we need and so you just kind of continue to look at this but I think part of what we really want to do by really nailing down this data on the front end is to then understand really what is the need and so that's why as we're kind of saying this is halftime that there's still some work to do here and that's okay because we haven't got everything figured out yet but we know we have a system we know we have some big to-do list items but I think that will really help us understand then what really is that demand and then within that what are those needs so hopefully by the time in six months when we come back here give or take we can say yeah we have uh based on the information we have today we would have uh 47 people who really need housing and having housing that allows pets is of extraordinary importance that's what we're really trying to get to so there's still one more step to get to some of that information so getting down to specific kinds of needs versus uh just units of housing in general needed you know how many with pets how many where it's a couple how many uh where so yeah other services available how many no services available all those kinds of things you're anticipating you'll be able to identify or project some of that much better than we can today so I think that look we're not going to say this is a this is not going to be a science you know where it's like oh we know exactly we have 132.5 units that we need in order to get this done but we can start getting better information and start Translating that into what our need is other questions I've got a question Madam chair um thank you so much for that presentation and for all this work I'm curious if you imagine or if it's been part of the discussion that one agency might uh kind of emerge as a natural leader or the natural leader of this Consortium or is it more a discussion that this group of agencies will lead Collective ly like an egalitarian system I think yes so I think Dave mentioned that we need to really sort of address a background backbone agency that's going to take charge of sort of the Staffing of the any paath home coordinator some of the data coordination and things but we also know that the agency is at the table now in the steering committee and then also as we expand to subcommittees and other things right we all are really good at not all things but maybe some things and so there's a part for everybody to play there's a finger there's an eye right there's a hair and or more than one hair hopefully but right so at some point uh when that person comes up um one agency looks like the clear leader for that one person right and another agency might uh look like a clear um leader in another person's story so I think there's kind of like both and there's some systemic leadership but then there's also some person centered MH you not yeah there's not a lot to expand on with that specifically I think when we talk about that backbone agency we're really talking about some of those foundational pieces es spe specifically the three that David highlighted it's understanding how does that work how do you oversee this thing that is any path home who does that person report to and things like that um but one example I can offer of this projected system is the fact that my organization operates a day shelter each day 140 unque individuals are in that day shelter each day two social workers in our building are tasked with really trying their best to support 140 people's needs that's not to say there aren't referrals to other partner agencies and things like that but the system we're proposing is to say that those two social workers potentially are responsible um for doing their best to really dig into and support say 15 or 20 people individually and that despite not having space for additional ftes for The Landings per se um the county zumbra Valley Three Rivers may have case managers that that live and work and um fall under the supervision of Three Rivers or zumbra Valley but it is their role to come to the landing and see those individuals that they get to work with as case managers and so that in that way when you talk egalitarian there is kind of this flow to everything where um despite that person potentially spending significant hours of their time at the Landing each week it isn't necessarily the agency that provides them supervision um and things like that and so we're really um in a in a great place where we have somebody helping facilitate the work we're doing we have kind of gone over some of these spots that'll feel a little bit like sandpaper but will ideally get us to the best thing possible I don't I don't know that Julie Brock is in the house but she has done a wonderful job uh supporting our steering committee and getting some of this stuff on paper for you all I will add just one thing real briefly I think one example I mean I think the Coalition for Rochester area housing is an example that we could look to I'm not saying for sure that we would look to but in that case the Rochester area foundation plays a role of course and then there's staff and then there's a coalition Leadership Council of which commissioner cascaden is a member so as we're kind of looking those are the different types of things we're looking at that could be maybe uh some models that have been effective in this community and and others as well commissioner right yeah thank you um thank you very much for your presentation it's very good and I really appreciate the fact that you're looking at a system approach to this because I do agree that you have to get a system together in total to fill all the gaps and I think I know from my own experiences that uh a silo approach is only a minor success and it's doomed to fail when you're trying to deal with a bigger picture so I think that's great and the other thing that I'm very pleased about is it appears to be the great community support for this particular model and we have been searching not only us but many communities have been searching for a model this model appears to have great potential and we've heard from uh in the movie some uh communities have great success with it so I'm very appreciative of the optimism that we have tonight to move forward with this kind of approach thank you very much commissioner ttin well I'll start off by saying it's a noble cause and I glad to learn of it um but I'm curious you know what Su what success looks like so if we're going to say Milwaukee is a success what what did they go from and two what is the cost of running that program how long how long of these people that were suffering from homelessness were they able to maintain living in a home and uh what do we see this leading to in the end I can you know it's always see I always know commissioner TI has the best questions I'm not gonna like because they're hard uh and I don't even have to say I was so glad you asked that question but no I think it's a great they're great points right what are what are we going to and what does it look like and how do we demonstrate it and then how do we do it in a way that's fiscally somewhat sustainable as well because we can't you know we we can't do this in a vacuum either so I think that's part of if I'm going to be honest I think that's going to be part of what some of the Special Sauce we have is is kind of looking at it that way as well because I think that we have to be able to maintain balance in all of those areas so now what does it look like I think at the end it becomes that system so if we can get these core functions up then as we're working together we can document that we are connecting people to housing and then we can come back and share that information and we can understand what is the scale of the problem much better in real time and we can judge our progress because I think then it's easy to say hey this is working or this isn't working but right now we can give you antidotal evidence of of cases or people we've housed but what we can't do is I can't tell you how many people we housed in 2022 that are still housed today and if we're not successful and they're just bouncing back are we really having an impact so the successes is that we can demonstrate that and I think that's part of when we talk about building the system and kind of what we need to get to to then say is this successful you know has this worked uh that's what we want to get to and I know that the movie does give a couple I want to say in Milwaukee and Houston they do give some really good data with numbers and I don't know if any anybody if you all remember what those were but they do talk about like yeah it cut it from this to this and so 93% 93% 93% is what I recall so for how long 93 well they didn't say that okay but I think it's the idea yeah I mean in the idea the sustainability components as well and so then you know I think whatever we all choose to do together part of what we're kind of also saying I think tonight is we also know that there has to be a community accountability in our responses collectively and so then we have to come back here in a year in 18 months in two years and tell you hey you remember when we were here that night and we did this nice little map well here's what it means and here's what we've been able to do and here's where we've had challenges that we don't you know that we've had to redirect uh the course of action or whatever it might be so I think that component is needed as well and I think what we're trying to do is get to that point where we can show you all of that I answer that question too sure um I think my answer is a little bit less eloquent than Dave's and mine is that success is when everyone in omstead county has a home and we don't stop until that happens and I think the reason why there's such great community support for this is that everybody in this room feels a responsibility for what's at stake and what's at stake is human lives that call this city their home and so I think we can say we're successful we can say everybody has a home Ina County I think that that's I'm but it's it's not a it's not a finite number of people so if we if we use 340 as a number right now and we're successful and getting 340 people hous permanently and they're on a path to success that doesn't mean that there's no more people that will fall into homelessness so I want to know what it looks like and you know how it goes on forever yeah the the ideal system that we're talking about um it doesn't uh wrap up in three years where we come back and say everybody's nobody's homeless anymore everyone has a home we're disbanding the band is right even if yeah reunion tour in 20 years no what we're going to do is we're going to create a really thoughtful and considerate system that is financially sustainable to ensure that everyone has a home in this community you're entirely right that there's going to be you know 320 people in three years we we get all of those 320 people um to a place where they're in housing that suits them that is great for them we have 100% rate of people sustaining housing for 3 years but during that three years we had 150 people come to this community because they found out that Rochester has created a thoughtful system that has them in mind as individuals and really wants to continue to see people move out of homelessness and into housing um so I I really think the response is that we are going to again not get bogged down with the how but understand that our our purpose is that everyone has a home and we as providers and as elected officials hopefully are all going to come together in aign that that is going to happen I understand the question it's a really thoughtful question and it's one that I think you know as an elected official you got to ask it I understand that um but we as a steering committee are committed to this shared purpose and we're committed to finding the way that it's going to work because when the system is working fluidly and it's not stagnant you're not going to have 150 people homeless all at once right they're going to be working through the system quickly um because it's working better and more efficiently I don't want to take all the time but this is rare for me to ask this many questions it is rare for him to ask this many questions I I can affirm all right so do do we look at let's say we go on on this path and we're having great success or what we feel is great success and then do we do we look at further up the pipeline why in the last few decades now we've seen this change in society where we have so many more people suffering from homelessness as we did compared to what we did decades ago and how do we address that absolutely so this is a snapshot of kind of a larger picture and so the first part of it that we haven't talked about tonight is prevention right and so as we take this and we kind of get these core pieces in place one of those is prevention and understanding where are we spending those prevention assets are they effective you know are we able to make sure that we are able to to actually solve a problem are we just prolonging somebody's and so yeah it's not just this this is that system there's other pieces to it as well and absolutely we've got to we've got to look at that members are there other questions commissioner thank you madam chair I I sit here tonight believing that uh I'm on the front end of something that's really really big and I think maybe we all do and uh and so as I as I think about it I there's a lot of questions we don't know how we're going to do it we don't know how much it's going to cost but I I think we're talking about an attitude that at hestad County homelessness is not an option that somehow we're going to figure it out uh and a whole lot of good people are going to come together and figure this out and that's what's kind of exciting about being in this like embryonic kind of situation that we all sit here in tonight I think thinking about one of the things I'm thinking about if if we're truly one ohed if you will and maybe you said it Mr Dunn I I'm not sure but but it seems like from the standpoint of government at least we ought to be trying attitudinally at least and given whatever partip participation we might get to get like all of the governments of Olstead County to say we're on board with this idea we we're on board with this attitude that that instead County collectively Seven Cities townships uh the County board we're all going to come together and we're going to put a full court press on this um my question really is and maybe you said it I maybe just flew over me but do we do we intend it all to reach out to the Seven Cities and the township Association and says basically say come on board uh help us be part of this you know it has not been part of our kind of our primary uh small group work I think as we continue to grow as we continue to know that homelessness is not just in the city of Rochester but throughout hestad County certainly having those conversations is a part of it uh and so as that kind of occurs absolutely and I love the you know the the thoughtfulness of yeah it's an attitude right and that's what uh that's what's driving this group I think and that's why for me just to be a small piece of it so much fun because you see people who really do have that desire and that attitude and to make change and and every so often you're able to be part of something where you catch lightning in a bottle and you don't really know why but what you do know is you go along with it for the ride and I'm that's what I'm feeling with this group of people and the ability that they have to really end homelessness here at hestad County and Madam chairman I just thinking with respect to the small cities they may not have a lot of homeless people sleeping under their Bridges but but they may in in the end be part of the solution to helping us as collectively one County getting getting our hands around this well I want to point out that in the audience we have four of our Rochester city council members and perhaps we have in addition uh council members from some of the smaller cities that I'm not recognizing but we I did see sha Palmer here and Patrick Keane and Kelly rer Patrick and Norm wall and we had uh you know we had intended to have a joint session and decided to defer that till November so we invited the Rochester City Council Members to come here we also have a number of candidates for office in the audience uh people running for city council people running for County Board we aren't going to give you the opportunity to come into the podium and ask these folks questions but I would guess that all three of these people will be happy to stay in the room and answer your questions as you look to be candidates and wanting to be well informed about our community's needs around prevention and add addressing homelessness so I'm I'm I'm giving you um I'm asking you to stay after class and uh and answer questions um with that I'm wondering Mr Dunn if there's anything further you want to say or members if there's anyone else who wants to pose a question Mr D no Madam chair just again thanks to everybody for being here tonight thanks to all of you for the continued support I think one of the things that maybe the people in the audience don't know is that the Olstead County Board of Commissioners also serves as the HRA board in Olstead County and you have made amazing Investments and housing across the Continuum everything from uh family shelter to affordable housing to new senior housing probably one of the things that we don't do is we don't share that work the Investments that you're all making in affordable housing in our community and make sure that people understand that this has been uh a flurry of activity that's been going on because we know that uh we can sit and admire the problem or we can try to do something about it and I just want to thank all of you for the work that you do about it so Mr dun at our last meeting it's probably in our minutes I believe um Mark Engel reported that the HRA has create is in in the process of creating 139 new units of housing senior housing 10 homes uh for single family homes uh the Roth uh Rochester Old Town Hall Estates which will service transition housing for people coming out of homelessness uh the what am I forgetting but 139 units for one for is a very substantial investment that we've been making over the last year everything from you know transitional housing to senior housing to single family homes and um the housing study that the Coalition is authorized that uh will will help us look at overall how many units of housing do we need of What kinds and what kind of progress have been made been making it the Coalition announced I think last time that of the target for senior housing um we're two-thirds of the way there of what we had projected that we would need for senior housing which I think is around 600 units and then that opens up other housing for other families and individuals to move into so our community has many levels of commitment to housing everyone with a home that meets their needs and um housing is and we're admonished to use the word homes instead of housing we we kind of use it interchangeably but again I would invite uh those of you who are uh wanting to to speak with these three speakers to learn a little bit more about any path home and if you're an any path home um member of the Coalition would you just raise your hand so people can can see that you're here and you might also be willing to answer questions all right so we have people all over the room so um with that um we thank you for your leadership we We Wish You A well and we'll look forward to hearing your progress report later this year normally um end our our business meetings with a kind of a quick reports from the various committees that we've been attending I'm guessing that people are having been here since 11 o'clock this morning there's probably not a lot of energy around committee reports does anyone have a committee report they want make all right so we do have a tradition of ending our meetings with a quote and um tonight's quote is from Mahatma Gandhi the true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members and with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting all those in favor signify by saying I I I meeting is adjourned if you're opposed too bad