Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Dear Lawrencians,
More than a year has passed since the City of Lawrence director of homeless solutions, Misty Bosch-Hastings, assumed her position. Time has also elapsed since James Chiselom took over as director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, and Pallet Village has been open for more than six months. The City of Lawrence regularly issues press releases touting its successes. Yet those of us who work informally on the ground with the unhoused are painfully aware of failures: of individuals from Camp New Beginnings and the North Lawrence unsanctioned camp who were promised access housing but had it fall through at the last minute, of people from that location who went to Pallet village but were subsequently exited back into street homelessness due to a variety of reasons, and of people who remain on the streets with little or no homeless outreach.
Affordable housing and accessible adequate shelter options are not available. Closing the Amtrak camp will only repeat the failures of Camp New Beginnings and North Lawrence unsanctioned camp. Closure of this camp will put more unhoused individuals sleeping in front of downtown businesses, more unhoused individuals occupying the parks, and will just cause the other existing camps to grow or new camps to pop up. We believe the Lawrence community is not getting the whole story.
The evaluation of these programs cannot be done on the basis of successes alone. Lawrencians are entitled to the bigger picture. In the city-county strategic plan, “A Place for Everyone,” in the Systems section, the county reported the following goals:
WHAT ARE OUR GOALS FOR SYSTEMS?
• “By July 2024, achieve quality data through the Built for Zero framework
• “By April 2024, launch a dashboard for real-time homelessness and housing data specific to Douglas County
• “Increase participation in the Homeless Management Information System and Coordinated Entry System by 20%”
The county and the city have reported in the past that they are actively utilizing a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which is a requirement for all communities receiving funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Why have the county and city not been required to comply with the timeframes they set for themselves in this plan? The community has received zero data outcomes from the city’s Homeless Solutions Division in reference to what happened to all the unhoused individuals that lost their placement because of the closure of New Beginnings and the North Lawrence unsanctioned camp.
• How many of those campers transitioned to shelter?
• How many of those campers have now transitioned into housing?
• How many of those campers remain at the shelter (Pallet village or LCS) ?
• How many of those individuals transitioned to shelter and have since been exited from shelter and returned to street homelessness?
• How many of those individuals were referred to and are actively engaged in wraparound services?
• How many individuals have the new city Homeless Response Team engaged with since their creation and what wrap around services has this team engaged people with?
If there is a system in which the county and city have access to and have committed to use, why is it that the public is not being provided these answers when we ask. We read about the very abstract successes the city claims they are achieving, but why are we not being shown the actual reports proving these outcomes?
We respect and understand the idea of privacy and anonymity of those being served. We also are not asking for any personal identifiers of those served. We know that the HMIS offers users the ability to run reports to show outcomes, while redacting personal identifiers. Therefore, the Homeless Solutions Division can run reports and provide this data to the community, while still showing respect for people’s privacy. There is no reason the city cannot share outcomes with the community around how successful their programs have been thus far, especially since it is the community taxpayers footing the bill for all these services.
I would challenge you all to ask yourselves, why is the city not sharing these reports? If the city is having as much success as they claim, wouldn’t they want the community to see their success and see where our money is going?
We should demand that city commissioners release data to the public of the successes and failures of these programs. The current Homeless Management Information System makes these data outcomes readily accessible to the subject-matter experts the city employs. We will not be voting for the increase because we have witnessed firsthand the mismanagement of funds and the deficiencies. We challenge all Lawrencians, before you vote for a tax increase this November, demand the data for yourselves. Whatever your position on homelessness, make an informed choice. Hold the city government accountable for how it spends your money.
You can contact the city commissioners to demand accountability for these programs.
Sincerely,
Independent advocates for the unhoused:
Nancy Snow
Mike Eravi
Carlee Shay, MBA
Jessica Roberts
Josh Roberts
Jenn Wolsey
Jarod Wolsey
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