2026-10-13 - City Council

00:03two.

00:06>> Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday,

00:07October 13, 2026 study session of the

00:10Olympia City Council. For the record, we

00:13have a quorum with all council members

00:14present with council member Gilman

00:16joining us remotely tonight. So, we have

00:19two business items on our agenda. The

00:22first is item 2A, which is the briefing

00:24on the community events permitting

00:26process and resource review. and I am

00:29going to turn it over to city manager

00:31Bernie uh to get kick us off and get us

00:33started.

00:34>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members.

00:36Again, for the record, Jay Bernie, city

00:38manager. Before I turn it over to Scott

00:41and Dawn to walk you through some really

00:43great work by an interdep departmental

00:45team that pulled together to evaluate

00:46our processes around event permitting

00:49and our support for all of our community

00:50events. Um, one of the items I that was

00:53highlighted in our our our Friday based

00:55budgeting evaluation and and

00:56opportunities report was to look at all

00:58the fees and revenues that we charge

01:00around events and what how we support

01:03events as well as any other process

01:05improvements that may lead to cost

01:07savings. But this conversation was

01:09actually already underway by staff

01:11before we ever saw it in the PBB report

01:13because we've been talking about our

01:14support around events for quite some

01:16time. So they um worked out a process

01:20interdep departmentally to uh do an

01:23evaluation to sure that we were

01:24efficient in our in internal processes,

01:27equitable in terms of the fee structure

01:29and to evaluate the work life balance of

01:32staff that support these events, many of

01:33which take place uh over weekends. And I

01:37also want to mention that as we have

01:39this discussion tonight, we value all of

01:41our community event partners. Festivals

01:44and events are deeply embedded. They're

01:45an important part of our community life.

01:47They provide opportunities to celebrate

01:49our history, diversity, and culture, and

01:52they foster a sense of belonging,

01:53inclusion, and connection. Uh they are

01:55all very well attended and valued across

01:57our community. So, this evaluation that

01:59that staff undertook and that we're

02:01going to talk to you about tonight is

02:02not about decreasing or eliminating

02:04events. rather as we've reduced staffing

02:07due to budget constraints along with

02:09welcoming a lot of new uh events in our

02:11community. It's ensuring that we have

02:13what we need to support them internally

02:15and evaluating our fees and process to

02:17ensure they are equitable for everyone.

02:19So we will have some discussion

02:20questions at the end of the presentation

02:22and we're also I think Scott and Don are

02:24happy to take questions along the way as

02:26we go. And with that I'll turn it over

02:29to Scott and Don who will help you

02:31introduce the team that completed the

02:32evaluation and walk you through their

02:33findings.

02:37All right. Thank you, Jay. Good evening,

02:39Mayor Payne, members of the city

02:40council.

02:43Today, we are going to walk through um

02:46how we got here, what uh what

02:49preliminary actions we've already taken,

02:51which is quite a few actually, um some

02:54future considerations, and then some

02:56discussions and questions.

02:59So Jay queued this up really nicely, but

03:03I want to start with this. Um, our

03:05conversation today is not because we're

03:07in a crisis, and that's a good thing,

03:10right? So, we get to actually have a

03:11conversation without worrying about um,

03:15uh, you know, needing to make a decision

03:17next week or next month even um although

03:21maybe some decisions in the next month.

03:23Instead, we have an amazing pallet of

03:24events that bring people together,

03:27increase a sense of belonging for many

03:28people, support the economy in varied

03:31ways, and in the end really makes

03:33Olympia unique. I hope that we can keep

03:36that framing throughout the discussion

03:38as we update you on some of the growing

03:40pains that we're feeling because in the

03:42end, our community loves events and our

03:43staff loves supporting the events.

03:45Genuinely enjoys um supporting the

03:48events and we understand the the

03:51important role that events play in a in

03:53a healthy and happy community.

04:00So why did we take this on? Well, the

04:04first piece we knew that our event hosts

04:06were tasked with a really wildly um

04:09process. Uh the form was long, not

04:13always relevant um and uh and and

04:17challenging for them. We also created a

04:19lot of touch points for our various

04:22event hosts um if they needed something

04:26from parks or from streets or from

04:29police. they're they're going through

04:30multiple people to um get their

04:34information and there was no central

04:36clearing house for making sure that that

04:37stuff was happening in a timely manner.

04:40Um staff felt it too. We had undefined

04:42timelines um expectations

04:45and it wasn't anybody's fault. I I want

04:47to be really clear about that.

04:50We've grown tremendously uh in in events

04:53in the community. Um and we'll talk

04:56about that a little bit. And so it's

04:58just it is growing pains. Um and then

05:01most recently as a result the result of

05:03the priority based budgeting process um

05:06conducted last year, special events were

05:08specifically identified as an area for

05:10the city to explore uh improved or at

05:13least some intentional cost recovery.

05:22Uh this team that you see up here um

05:25definitely cross departmental um touches

05:28all many well all of our departments um

05:31uh we spent over six months really

05:34grinding through um and it felt like we

05:38weren't making progress for months and

05:40all of a sudden we'd have a

05:41breakthrough. Um, and what we learned is

05:44like let's not get paralyzed by

05:46perfection because events are very

05:49complicated. They're nuanced. Um, and no

05:52two are going to be the same. It's

05:54really going to be hard to come up with

05:55a one-sizefits-all approach to this. Um,

05:59we want consistency where it can happen

06:01and we want flexibility where it can be

06:03appropriate. So, talk about walking both

06:05sides of the fence, right? Um, I do want

06:08to take a quick moment to to lift up the

06:11team. Some of them are behind me here.

06:13Um they took a really complicated cross-

06:16departmental issue um competing

06:18priorities, inconsistent practices,

06:22uh factoring in community expectations

06:25and real financial pressures. And then

06:27in the end they wrangled all of that

06:29into identifying some coherent problems

06:32with tangible improvements and and I'm

06:34really proud of them. It was it was hard

06:37to come to some of these meetings

06:39because it was such a grind. Um but they

06:41came out the other side and I think they

06:43should be really proud of what they

06:44accomplished.

06:46We identified four issues. Uh one was

06:50our own internal communication. So it's

06:52kind of nice to know that we were part

06:53of the problem because we can control

06:55that. [laughter]

06:58Um

07:00and so we needed to um come up with some

07:03clarity around ownership

07:05responsibilities and response uh

07:07expectations

07:09uh throughout the process. Uh resourcing

07:11clearly I think you've probably already

07:13felt that from me here. Um demand for

07:15community event services can exceed

07:17city's available resources.

07:19Where that is really obvious is small

07:24work groups that are asked or tasked

07:28with responding to event needs virtually

07:31every weekend from May through

07:34September, you know, maybe there's a a

07:36break or two in there. Um but when

07:39you're asking the same four or five

07:40people um to be doing that and they have

07:43a regular job, you can you can feel the

07:45impact, right?

07:47Um our fees are inconsistent almost

07:49embarrassingly so. Um that's a result of

07:52many years of of uh growth uh of events

07:58um different values being placed on

08:00events and it's something that we

08:02recognized needs needs to be we need to

08:05be transparent about and have a

08:06conversation about as a city.

08:10Um and then our timelines. Uh we had

08:14a lack of formal timelines for um not

08:17only ourselves but also for our uh uh

08:22event hosts. And so we needed to shore

08:25that up to to benefit everybody.

08:32So um I'm going to kind I'm going to

08:35walk through some slides pretty quickly

08:37here. We can come back to them if we

08:38need to in the end. But this first chart

08:42shows

08:43how our events peak on our staff

08:46throughout the year. You can see that um

08:49from 24 to 26

08:53were averaging, you know, somewhere

08:54between 26 and 30 events. Uh uh in in

09:002022 coming out of the pandemic, we had

09:0215 events which felt manageable. Um

09:06anecdotally we don't have great numbers

09:08for this but before the pandemic we were

09:10probably somewhere around single digits

09:13um for events that we had to support in

09:16the community. So events tremendous

09:18interest lots of benefit um but there

09:21are impacts and it kind of hit us upside

09:24the head um uh

09:27since we didn't have a plan to deal with

09:28it because we didn't know we had a

09:30problem.

09:33Scott, we have a question or a comment

09:35from Council Member Madron.

09:37>> Yeah. I'm just curious to just back up a

09:40second and like how do we how are we

09:42defining events? I assume publicly

09:45available to the community and they're

09:47for everybody, so not private events,

09:49but are we also talking about things

09:50that happen on the Capitol campus? Um uh

09:54or are they just things that happen, you

09:57know, in city jurisdictions? So, if you

09:59could just put a little bit of

10:00definition around behind these numbers.

10:03what we're talking about tonight and the

10:05research that we did are only events

10:06that come through our process. So that

10:10doesn't mean there isn't other things

10:11that impact. So for example, when

10:14Capitol campus has events that can

10:16impact police, but it doesn't come

10:18through our process because it's not on

10:21either city property or city right away.

10:25So think about the events that are

10:27closing our streets.

10:30Most of our events do close streets at

10:32some to some degree. Those are the ones

10:33that we're talking about. So, if it

10:34comes through our process, big or small,

10:37those are what we're talking about here.

10:39Not not private events. Not that those

10:41don't have impacts. You could add those

10:44mentally on top of what we talk about

10:45today.

10:48Yeah. So, these are just those public

10:50events that came through ours.

10:55So you'll see here over the last couple

10:57years um each one of these uh the next

10:59four charts or so are going to show 24

11:02and 25 numbers. Um you'll see that this

11:05is an overall view of the number of

11:08labor hours that uh the events have

11:11required of the city. Um the growth

11:15you'll see the little asterk there that

11:17uh fire did not have data for us in

11:212024. Um, I went through and and

11:25verified that the the jump in numbers

11:27from 24 to 25 is not as much related to

11:31event requirements as it is we finally

11:33have the data from fire. The the fire

11:35data is almost identical to the numbers

11:37that are up. So, it's pretty consistent.

11:39Um, you could probably reverse engineer

11:41that and say in 24 the numbers would be

11:44similar if we had the fire data.

11:52These are the labor hours uh for

11:55transportation.

11:56Um, and I want what I want to point out

11:59is if if we went back to

12:03this here and you look at the May

12:04through September events

12:08and now you come forward here and you

12:09look at the transportation labor, you

12:11have 800 almost 900 labor hours almost

12:15exclusively being asked of them May

12:18through September. It's a real short

12:21period of time and almost all of that um

12:24and Sarah can verify uh with a with a

12:26head nod or a thumbs up for now that

12:28most of that is weekends. Yeah. So, it's

12:32an impact and she's the smallest group.

12:34I've called I've called the

12:35transportation group our poster child

12:37the whole time. They're the ones that

12:39are um not that others don't have

12:41impacts. This is this is one very

12:43impacted group.

12:48Um, these are their labor costs. Again,

12:50might be relevant later as we go through

12:52this, but you can see transportation

12:55labor costs are at uh or their o

12:58overtime costs. Sorry, let me back up.

13:01This is a different slide.

13:04Sarah has a budget of about 20,000 for

13:06overtime in transportation, of which 16

13:08almost 17,000 was spent on event um

13:12support. So her 20,000 budget has

13:17probably been 20,000 well before the

13:20event started. That's for longline

13:23striping and all sorts of other things.

13:25And now um because of the growth growth

13:28of events, um she's underfunded.

13:31Again, I want to point out even if we

13:34doubled her uh overtime costs, she still

13:37has a small group. The impact on them

13:39and their work life balance is still

13:41there. So, something to consider.

13:44>> Scott, we have a question from council

13:46member Green.

13:47>> Yes.

13:48>> Thanks, Mayor. Um, could uh could you go

13:51back to one more

13:52>> that one? Um, why the drop between 24

13:55and 25 even though events there was more

13:59events?

14:01>> Do you know Sarah?

14:14We can come back to that for you if if

14:16if if it's interesting, you know, I'm

14:18I'm sure that she could dig into that

14:20and figure out why.

14:22>> Thanks.

14:24>> We also have a question from council

14:25member Bar.

14:26>> Thank Thank you, mayor. Could you just

14:28tell me what is included in

14:30transportation?

14:32I mean, are we talking about buses? Are

14:34we talking about road transportation

14:37management? Um, this is kind of a broad

14:41area and I just wanted to know what what

14:44types of expenses are included.

14:49>> Sure. So, um, I'm Sarah Green, the

14:52traffic operation supervisor. Now, um,

14:55so transportation is streets, signs and

14:58markings, and signals and lighting. So

15:01these numbers would be for um signs and

15:05markings and signals and lighting

15:06because they're lumped together. So all

15:08work in intersections, all call outs

15:11after hours for intersection where it's

15:14light lights and flash and then sign

15:17knockdowns, longline striping

15:20um and special events.

15:23>> And then during events, special events,

15:26road closures, right? and you know um

15:29doing the parade routes and all the

15:31signage that needs to happen to do that.

15:33That's that's that's the team that comes

15:34out of transportation. That's these

15:36costs here that you see. That's all part

15:38of this.

15:39>> Great. Thank you.

15:43>> I don't want to take

15:49>> great example of the cross departmental

15:51effort here.

15:54Okay,

15:56Council Member Green, did you get your

15:57question answered?

15:58>> Uh, yes and no. Uh, if Yeah, if you find

16:01follow-up information that kind of

16:02explains that, I would love it, but I'm

16:03also not going to lose sleep over it.

16:05>> Okay. And Council Member Barrett, you're

16:07good. All right.

16:13So, police labor um

16:17speaks for itself. These are their labor

16:19hours. So you're talking about 12 1,200

16:22hours in um overtime required for

16:27primarily for for

16:30community safety at the events. Some

16:32traffic control uh as a part of that

16:39and then fire for uh 2025

16:44um would be their life safety

16:47requirements. So they fire has a couple

16:50different roles in in events. Uh one um

16:55we have a lot of tents, we have a lot of

16:56food trucks, there's a lot of safety

16:58concerns around that and making sure

17:00that the public is safe. So fire gets to

17:03do all of those inspections. Um and then

17:06of course there's just the response for

17:08general safety that falls on them as

17:11part of their regular work.

17:14>> Scott, can I add something there,

17:15>> please? And this is another again small

17:18work group, big impact. So you got two

17:20fire marshals, right, that cover events.

17:23And so I heard that quite clearly when

17:24you think about two individuals covering

17:27all these events across the whole

17:28summer. Um there's work to do there. Uh

17:30I don't think we're at a point in time

17:32saying, "Hey, we need to add a bunch of

17:33fire marshals, but we do need to address

17:35some way, shape, or form the work life

17:36balance in some way." And some

17:38conversation I'm having with the chief.

17:42Uh before I move on, this will this will

17:44be the uh

17:46last yeah last chart of of slides.

17:50Those are the three work units that are

17:52impacted the most by this. You know,

17:54parks, parking, and uh waste resources

18:00were kind of built for it. And so our

18:02impacts are different. Um, for example,

18:05parking, whether it's an event, whether

18:07it's construction, whether it's a

18:09private function, you just go through

18:11parking to reserve your your meters and

18:14they go out and they bag them and that's

18:17that's what they do. So whether it's a a

18:20special event or not, their rates are

18:22all the same and they're kind of built

18:24for it. Parks, you know, a lot of our

18:26events are some are in parks, but not

18:29all are in parks. Um, and so when we

18:33have events and parks, we have systems

18:35for that. We have seasonal staff

18:36already. Um, we have uh fees that we can

18:41um apply when they're using park

18:42properties. Um, and as as we'll get to

18:46later, that's part of the inequity is

18:49some of us have fees readily built into

18:52how we do business and others have kind

18:54of been caught off guard by this and we

18:57don't have a great fee structure for

18:58them.

19:01So, our key takeaways, um, community

19:04event work is not historically budgeted

19:06by all departments. As it's grown here

19:08over, let's just say since the pandemic,

19:10as it's grown, it's it's become a a

19:12fiscal impact. Um, scope and scale of

19:15events impact the core work of

19:16departments. So, I think with Sarah's

19:19group, it's a really great um

19:21illustration of that. um when you have

19:25staff working either in overtime or comp

19:28time situations now they need to take

19:31time off to rest and recover after that.

19:33So then their regular jobs aren't

19:35getting done you know Monday or Monday

19:37Tuesday the following week and it just

19:39snowballs. So really good example there.

19:42Um and of course that's going to impact

19:44employee morale and work life balance.

19:46Um fees not charged consistently and

19:49equitably. Uh, and the city is always

19:53seeking ways to accommodate the

19:55requests, which is probably we create

19:57the problem ourselves to a degree.

20:01>> Scott, when you talk about fees, are we

20:04looking are there things that we're

20:05considering when we do fees size? And

20:09>> we're going to kind of wrap with fees

20:10and and let you stew on that a little

20:13bit.

20:14>> Okay. [laughter]

20:17Um, so there's some good news here and

20:20that is that we've been able to make

20:22some changes already and Dawn is going

20:24to speak to that. So, one of the key

20:27things that we really wanted to focus on

20:28were actionable items that we could take

20:30control of and start moving towards

20:33consistency and efficiency in the moment

20:35because we also understood that there

20:37were a lot of things that were huge um

20:42impactful items that we weren't able to

20:44as our team um move forward with. And so

20:48some of the things that we tackled

20:50initially were our internal

20:51communication systems, our external

20:53communication systems, um some of the

20:55resourcing and then that timeline

20:58clarification. So one of the things that

21:01we had initially done was sent out a

21:03survey to all of our external event

21:06hosts requesters to seek their feedback.

21:09What's working for them? What's not

21:10working from them for them? Um and we

21:13imple we integrated that feedback into

21:17updating the event application that is

21:21currently available online. So we took a

21:2414 15 page application and got it down

21:26to like I think eight pages or something

21:28like that. Um just trying to make that a

21:30little bit more clear clear and um

21:34simple to to weed through. As well as um

21:38going through the website and improving

21:40our resource materials and the

21:42information that is readily available to

21:44the individuals coming in that would

21:46like to, you know, apply um or have

21:50questions about maybe this would be a

21:51great place to put up an event and and

21:54things like that. Um so that was all

21:56part of the internal communication. Um

21:58external comm communication also we are

22:02we are moving working on developing the

22:06the portal that will allow our

22:08application process to not be so paper

22:11and email based. We have a system within

22:13the city that's established and used for

22:15other department departmental work and

22:17permit work that we are um developing to

22:22accommodate events as well.

22:24um on track to launch that portal in

22:28hopefully early 2027 or maybe even at

22:30the very end of this year so we can

22:32start rolling that out for our events.

22:34Um which is a exciting exciting um

22:37streamlining opportunity. Um, as I

22:40mentioned the webpage up updates, um,

22:44one of the things our event hosts would

22:47would ask frequently in email is I would

22:50want an event, you know, this particular

22:52weekend in July. Will that work? And

22:54I'll be look at the my calendar and be

22:56like, well, you know, I've got three

22:57other things that weekend, but you know,

22:59we will do our best to accommodate. And

23:01so I made the the calendar visible so

23:04individuals that want to come in and at

23:05an event know what it is they're asking.

23:08And so we were able to do that. Um

23:11so we had gone through as Scott has

23:12talked about um we really dug into what

23:16is the actual you know cost to our

23:18various departments and having a single

23:21source of pulling all that information

23:24together so we could get a really clear

23:25picture on what it is this team is doing

23:28what it is that impact is both

23:30financially as as well as human resource

23:34wise. Um another um key element that we

23:38were encountering and Sarah's team took

23:40the brunt of this one was this the

23:43number of street closures that we have

23:44for events and um there were a lot of ad

23:48hoc routes like we want this piece we

23:50want you another group was like well we

23:51want to do this little thing over here

23:52and and it was always just kind of

23:54trying to navigate how that was going to

23:56work within our street systems how that

23:59was going to work with businesses with

24:01safety and access and so we had the

24:04discussions about picking four or five

24:08different standardized routes that

24:11applicants can choose from instead of

24:13just laying out a suiting map for them

24:15and them being able to just design a

24:18route. So um and that piece has really

24:22um

24:24eased some of the the potential

24:25conflicts and frustrations on both

24:27sides. So just having that very clear

24:30communication up front um and we are

24:32able to work within those four or those

24:35handful of standardized routes. Um and

24:37that has gone really well. Um and then

24:40once again just clarifying timelines

24:42when when does a city need information

24:44of various types from the event

24:46organizers? When can they expect to you

24:48know get a contingent permit or a

24:50permit? You know just really being clear

24:52and communicating as much as possible at

24:54all points. So those are some of the

24:56things that we have done and continue to

24:58push forward on. So

25:01>> thanks Don. We have a question or

25:02comment from council member Vanderpool.

25:05>> Yeah, I guess a thought that I had about

25:07the rout you talked about standardizing

25:10the routes. Um and I made note about

25:13resourcing from the top of the slide.

25:16I'm curious about um as we're looking at

25:19the calendar I saw May through August is

25:22the big seems to be the most like

25:24compact time and so I'm wondering were

25:27there any thoughts about some of the

25:29areas like Washington and 5th where you

25:32it's used constantly it seems like for

25:34events about just keeping it closed for

25:37the summer for three or four months

25:41and just keeping it as a pedestrian

25:44street during the summer months. instead

25:46of having to shut it down and reopen.

25:48Shut it down, reopen.

25:50>> That wasn't part of the discussions that

25:51we were having. Um, but that's a

25:55discussion we could certainly have. I'm

25:56not sure where that would would land.

25:59Um, but that wasn't part of the the

26:01direction we had gone with any of that.

26:03So,

26:04>> okay.

26:07Yeah, I think that's what we're hoping

26:09to hear a little bit tonight is kind of

26:10what your immediate reaction as you hear

26:12some of this and what are some things

26:13that might pop up for you and this idea

26:15of I know council member Vanderpole, you

26:16and I have talked about this very idea

26:18of kind of if we had festival streets

26:19and what if during a period of time they

26:21just remain closed and when there's not

26:23an event happening they just become a a

26:24bigger pedestrian corridor and then when

26:26we're doing festivals events they're

26:28already preset. So I think there's some

26:29more work on things like that those

26:31ideas and concepts that we can explore

26:33uh moving forward for sure.

26:36Thank you.

26:37>> Um, we would have to do like a traffic

26:40analysis if we were to do something like

26:42that, right? I would hope. Okay. All

26:44right.

26:46>> Mayor Prom.

26:51>> Yeah. Um, Council Member Vanderpole has

26:53been very persistent about this idea.

26:55Um, even prior to knowing about this

26:58presentation and and just striking right

27:00when it's right. Um, it's something I'd

27:03be really in support of. Uh it's uh also

27:06not it'd be new to this area, but it's

27:08not you know it's a proven concept and

27:11so that I could see it relieving uh a

27:14lot of um to-dos for many people

27:18as well. I'm curious about uh events and

27:22you know if we ended up having a

27:23festival street maybe it would uh we

27:26wouldn't have to do this next thing but

27:27we also have events that just we know

27:29they're going to happen every year. the

27:31event organizers, you know, they have

27:33long tenurs putting on these events. And

27:35so I wonder if uh you know, how much in

27:38advance people can put in their permit.

27:40Um so something something to think

27:43about. I mean it can they put it in for

27:45maybe a couple of years and so maybe you

27:48could uh alleviate some um some burdens

27:52there. Of course uh

27:55there'd have to be a way that we do

27:56that. if it's a new event and then they

27:58want to do five years, you know, that's,

28:00you know, maybe a no. Um, and then, um,

28:04I'm also thinking about, uh, making it

28:10easier or some some sort of

28:12encouragement to have people do their

28:14events. I think probably depends on what

28:16types of events uh, during a shoulder

28:19season. So, um, on the lodging tax

28:22advisory committee, that is something

28:23that, uh, we think about a lot is, uh,

28:27what what visitors are coming in to, uh,

28:30to our great city from November to about

28:32April, um, during times that we don't

28:35see as much activity. And so, that's

28:37something, uh, that I'd love to find

28:39some sort of, uh, encouragement or

28:41incentivization to do. And also, I think

28:44that would be helpful for staff, too.

28:46So, just some things I'm thinking about.

28:47Thanks,

28:53additional comments.

28:56All right,

28:57back to you.

28:59>> Ah, we do. Okay, council member,

29:01>> thank you. Uh just

29:05having reviewed those slides,

29:08I think I understood you I was adding up

29:10the numbers, but the cumulative number

29:12is like $251,000

29:14of impact or was that just one item? I

29:20uh

29:21>> we'll actually have a slide that'll give

29:22you the cumulatives so you have to do

29:24math.

29:25>> So you're you're getting to that. Yeah.

29:26Yeah. Yeah. I uh that first slide with

29:29city resources to support community

29:31events was 251,000

29:34and ironically all the subsequent slides

29:37almost added up to that. So I I I don't

29:39know if if that's what they were but um

29:43yeah. Yeah. So uh just just to point out

29:46that 251 is for two years

29:48>> for two years.

29:49>> So you've got 2024 and 2025.

29:53>> Thank you. Yeah. Um,

29:56and and I I don't want to get ahead of

29:59uh myself, but

30:01uh it it seems to me that, you know,

30:04this becoming such a burden on the

30:07community. Not not a burden, but these

30:09events are so robust that uh they're

30:12taxing to city services and and so one

30:17one approach would be just um that we

30:20pay for some services and not others,

30:23you know. I mean, yeah, you've you've

30:25identified a whole

30:28grocery basket full of services, but we

30:31could theoretically pay for some

30:33services and not others and just say,

30:35look, you know, the city's being very

30:37generous. We're providing you with

30:39>> if I can, we're very close to the end

30:42and that is like that is exactly the

30:44type of feedback that uh that I think

30:46we're looking for. Um, and if I can give

30:49a little bit more context before we get

30:50there, I think um your input will all

30:54right

30:55>> be super valuable.

30:59>> Um, and uh just the thing that I thought

31:02of as a couple of these ideas came

31:04forward is like this is always going to

31:06be a living, you know, we're going to

31:08evolve and that's the important part

31:10here is that we don't think that this is

31:12ever going to be these are now our rules

31:14and this is what it will be in

31:15perpetuity. That's just not the way this

31:17is going to work. It's there's always

31:18going to be an evolution.

31:22So, our future considerations

31:31um similar to our uh our parade routes,

31:35um we're considering having pre-approved

31:38site plans. That just makes it easier

31:40for uh event hosts to know where they

31:42can request and what we can accommodate.

31:45um transitioning to a digital

31:47application process. Um if that is

31:50successful, it will allow real time

31:52feedback for both the event host and for

31:57staff to be able to have communications

31:59um and being able to look at information

32:02in in real time as questions are asked

32:05and answered. Um a defined

32:08decision-making authority. Right now,

32:10it's been really unclear who has who has

32:12the authority to say no to certain

32:14things um or to approve maybe some

32:17really squirly requests. So, um working

32:21on defining some decision-m matrixes. Uh

32:25on on the resourcing side, um one

32:28option, um I think council member

32:30Barrett, this would be in the in the

32:33realm of things that we do and things

32:35that we don't do is requiring private

32:36traffic control instead of putting it on

32:38our staff. Um that's not uncommon or

32:42unheard of in other communities. It's an

32:44option. Um the use of seasonal staff

32:46particularly for transportation

32:49um might be a way to bridge some gaps

32:51and and um provide a better work life

32:55balance for that small group and maybe

32:58also take care of some other things that

32:59need to get done in the city. Uh

33:03we are talking about a transfer of the

33:05community events process to CPD since it

33:07is a permitting process and they pretty

33:09much do all other permitting for the

33:11city. um that would that would align

33:14nicely with the digital application

33:16process if it all goes through

33:19um a revised and equitable fee schedule

33:22um which is going to be our next slide

33:24and um uh having those fees be um

33:28somehow defined by the community event

33:31scope scale and attendance.

33:36Okay, this is very important.

33:40These numbers are

33:42illustrative and not a fee proposal. And

33:45I don't want us to get hung up on these

33:48numbers because uh the numbers um to a

33:51degree are forecasted for 2027.

33:54Um the 2025 event charges are what we

33:57actually recovered in in 2025.

34:00Um so we're not asking for you to select

34:02a cost recovery percentage tonight. What

34:04we're asking you to do um is we're

34:07asking whether or not you agree that we

34:09should develop a more equitable,

34:11predictable approach that balances

34:13community benefit with the city's

34:15responsibility to manage resources. I

34:16mean, that's really where it comes down

34:18to. And so we're showing you this. The

34:22next slide is going to have some

34:23criteria uh that we have come up with,

34:25but we're showing you this just so that

34:27you can generally see that um that we

34:32are recovering less than 33% of our

34:35outgoing costs related to events. Um

34:38primarily that's labor um but not

34:41exclusively.

34:47Uh you can also see that the inequity in

34:51who who we're charging and how they're

34:52being charged. Um and I did the math for

34:56you. So uh if you are an event in that 5

35:00to 10,000 range, you're paying about 48%

35:04of our cost recovery.

35:07But for some reason, if you are in the

35:09up to $5,000

35:11um or up to $25,000, you're closer to um

35:16you know, anywhere from 10 to 25%.

35:20So, there's definitely some imbalances

35:22there. And it's because of a long

35:26history of legacy events and agreements

35:30that were made um

35:3320 20 years ago, 25 years ago, maybe

35:35before that. And so these aren't easy

35:38questions to be answered. Um and there's

35:41going to be impacts. And so how do we do

35:44this in a fair way um where we can look

35:46each event in the eye and say this is

35:49why we're charging the way that we're

35:52charging now. But we haven't done a

35:56we haven't done an intentional process

35:57around that for a long time.

36:02>> Yes. Council member Madron

36:05Scott. I could you go back a slide? I'm

36:08just wondering if you could just walk

36:10through like column by column what we're

36:12looking at with this table here. I'm

36:13just a little bit confused.

36:15>> Okay. So, uh first column is um what the

36:20cost to the city was for the event and

36:25of that. So, for example, we'll take

36:27just arbitrarily the second row 1,000 to

36:305,000. There were five events in that

36:32range.

36:34of those events, we recovered 1300,

36:37$1,348.

36:40But our total costs for those uh we

36:44forecast if we charged in full for all

36:46of our labor and everything based on

36:47what we know today would be $14,600.

36:51And then you can and then the rest of it

36:53I think is self-explanatory.

36:55If you landed on 75%, 50%, 33%, those

37:00are the different

37:01>> super helpful. What are the ways that we

37:04currently do cost recovery? It is, is it

37:06through the charging of fees or billing

37:08for services?

37:09So, so that third column there, you

37:12know, what what are the mechanisms we're

37:13currently using to recover costs?

37:16>> Uh, it depends on the department. So, uh

37:19I'll use parks as an example. We bake

37:22our cost recovery for our labor into our

37:24park use costs. And so, we're

37:28comfortable, we built our budget around

37:30those. Um I think parking and waste

37:32resources are very similar to that. Um

37:36police, fire, and transportation have

37:41some different rules around what they've

37:42been allowed to charge for. And it's

37:45just

37:46a hodgepodge of conversations that have

37:48happened over the years in terms of

37:53commitments that were made to different

37:54events and and maybe even a uh

38:00discomfort with

38:02doing too much of a cost recovery.

38:05>> Okay, that that's really helpful to

38:06understand that full context and kind of

38:09why we are where we are, right?

38:11>> It's it's absolutely where we are.

38:16And thank you. Just to add

38:17[clears throat] to that, you know, we

38:18have some events that have long-standing

38:23memos by past city managers or city

38:25councils that says, you know, we will

38:26only charge you this, right? And they

38:29have those. And sometimes when we have

38:30conversations, I've had them and out

38:32comes the memo, right? That says, well,

38:34we were told this 15 years ago that this

38:36is all we pay. And then others I think

38:39um Scott really hit it on the head. You

38:41know, as we over the years tried to just

38:43in want to make sure that we encourage

38:46and we do everything we can to support

38:47events. I think we just haven't

38:49recovered and we haven't really paid

38:51attention to it like we should. And some

38:53departments are doing better at it than

38:54others. Some departments didn't know

38:56that they could really bill for some

38:58things. And so, you know, as I enter

39:00this conversation, I asked the question,

39:01where are all the ways and who are all

39:03the groups that aren't doing cost

39:04recovery? and what might this look like

39:06if we did it right. Right. So again, the

39:08the highlight here is, you know, $53,000

39:12is what we took in in 2025 and it didn't

39:14even hit what would be a third of our

39:17cost. And so when we get to the end here

39:20and we talk about well things that we

39:21could do, like for example, Scott

39:23mentioned seasonals, right? We could add

39:26some seasonals in transportation. and

39:27those seasonals could be dedicated to

39:29doing events which then relieves

39:32um the transportation's regular team to

39:34do their Monday through Friday jobs and

39:36they're not doing the weekend gigs as

39:38well, right? But to do that, we either

39:41need to come up with more general fund

39:42or or maybe we decide we're going to

39:44charge a higher fee structure to try to

39:46recover more of our cost there to kind

39:47of pay for some of those things. And I

39:49think that's what we're wrestling with.

39:50And so and before we as a staff just

39:52decided, hey, let's let's just up our

39:54cost recovery. I know we all know we'll

39:58hear that. You'll hear that. And so we

39:59want you to kind of hear this with us

40:01and then kind of help us figure out

40:02where we want to go. And again, as Scott

40:04said, we're not asking you to pick one

40:05tonight, but kind of highlight the

40:07problem and then kind of see if we can

40:09continue down a path of more cost

40:11recovery. And if and if it does, if we

40:13do, what does that look like? To Council

40:16Mayor Barren's point, I do think that we

40:19want to contribute in some way to the

40:21events. you know that you know what are

40:22the how much does the city contribute

40:24versus the events contribute right how

40:27much do we want to contribute to support

40:29to the events maybe we don't want to do

40:30100% cost recovery because we want to

40:32make those make sure those events happen

40:34and they're affordable to the event

40:35providers but what's the sweet spot

40:41>> we have a question or comment from

40:42council member Vanderpool

40:44>> um going back to future considerations I

40:47have a couple extra quick questions

40:49around resourcing

40:51Um so

40:54um h for the the the the organization

40:59running the event how much this is

41:01requiring private traffic control. How

41:03does how much how much does that look

41:05compared to what's going on now? How

41:07much we're

41:09on average? I mean it depends on clearly

41:13based on looking at this it it depends.

41:16But I'm curious about this private track

41:18traffic control and I I have a follow-up

41:21question after that. What's

41:23>> uh so I can't answer that question and

41:25it's probably part of the reason it's on

41:27future considerations and not already

41:28implemented. But let's just double check

41:31with Sarah that she doesn't happen to

41:33know that off the top of her head.

41:37I know that

41:39spring

41:46should have brought back. Uh Arts Walk

41:48in the spring used a private contractor

41:51for traffic control for um Luminire.

41:56>> Luminary.

41:58>> Yeah, the Luminary on Friday night. Um

42:01and their cost um was

42:11was um less than what we would charge as

42:14city staff.

42:17>> Okay.

42:17>> Um by how much I I can't say for sure,

42:19but in speaking with the park staff who

42:23hired them, they were happy with them. I

42:26think OPD was happy with them and there

42:28was a difference in cost and it was

42:31lower to have the private traffic

42:33control to come in.

42:34>> Okay. And we would we would I would hope

42:37that if we do do that, we would probably

42:38approve it just like we did in that

42:40example,

42:41>> like a traffic control plan.

42:42>> Okay. Yeah.

42:43>> Yeah.

42:44>> Um

42:46I don't know if you could answer this.

42:47It might maybe Scott answer the Scott

42:49question, but um the transfer community

42:52events to CPD, what I'm curious about

42:56what that looks like under FTEES and and

42:58who who would how much time is that

43:01going to take to do

43:04Fantastic question and that is why it is

43:07on future considerations and it's a

43:09discussion.

43:10>> So, um it's it's an idea at the staff

43:13level. There have been conversations,

43:16but it hasn't been fully vetted. Um but

43:19if if it were to work, it would it would

43:22work seamlessly with moving to the the

43:25digital application process that would

43:27be in a system that they're already

43:29using.

43:30>> Okay. So, how much time that would

43:33require

43:34um if done right, it could be a quarter

43:39of an FTE, you know, if it if it works

43:41out the way we think that it's going to

43:43with streamlined communications and the

43:45ability for other departments, you know,

43:48they're going to be the the the herder

43:49of cats, but we're going to have other

43:52cats in all the other departments still

43:54doing work.

43:55>> Okay, I appreciate the analogy. Thank

43:58you,

43:59>> Council Member Barry, followed by city

44:01manager Bernie.

44:03>> Uh, thank you. Yeah, you know, one thing

44:06that is kind of difficult to measure is

44:09just being someone who participates in a

44:12lot of these events, some events uh feel

44:16much more resource absorbing of kind of

44:18high-end

44:20um costs than others. And you know, I I

44:26don't want to call anyone out, but

44:28having having worked uh with an

44:31organization during Lakefair, I

44:33witnessed a woman having a stroke and

44:35needing EMS services and the next night

44:39four police officers running to uh

44:42something bad that was happening. And

44:44so, you know, it just seemed to me, wow,

44:46there's a lot of resource being used in

44:49very professional manner. Uh, and uh, I

44:53I do think that when I when I think

44:56about all of these events, other events

44:58are kind of tame by by comparison. I

45:01don't want to um and I and and by the

45:04way I love Lakefair you know I we'll be

45:07back next year even [snorts] but um is

45:11is there uh

45:14is there some calculation of kind of

45:19uh event by event kind of how

45:24resource driven one is versus the other

45:27even though they're both they're all

45:28maybe you know, 48 hour events or, you

45:32know, however long they are.

45:33>> Council member Baron, I'm I'm going to

45:35thank you for segueing into my last

45:36slide.

45:38>> Um,

45:39>> I thought we'd done.

45:40>> So, here's [laughter] so here's so

45:42related to the chart. And by the way,

45:43that chart was the most nervous um uh

45:46slide of my entire presentation because

45:48I I didn't feel good about it and I feel

45:50like we got through it. So, thank you

45:52guys for the grace. Um,

45:54>> Scott, we have a

45:56>> Oh,

45:56>> from city manager Bernie. Just before

45:58you jump to council member Baron's

46:00question, I want to circle back to a

46:01couple of questions that council member

46:02Vanderpool asked just as a followup. One

46:05is the one thing to remember on private

46:07transportation is some groups aren't

46:11being charged for transportation related

46:13costs right now, right? So if you add

46:17that, it will be a new cost for some

46:18events, right? That they'll have to

46:20absorb. So just that's just something to

46:22think about what it costs. I don't know.

46:23The size of event, scale of event makes

46:24a big difference. Um, so that will there

46:27could be an impact if we just went all

46:28private. Some that already pay us or

46:31offset some of our costs will absorb it.

46:33Some that haven't experienced it in the

46:35past. We'll have to kind of figure that

46:36out. So that's just one thing to

46:38consider. And then on the position, so

46:40one of the things that I've been talking

46:42with Tim Smith about is a part of the

46:45reason we're talking about moving it to

46:47community development and Scott

46:48mentioned is a there's a permit portal

46:50already that exists there and a team

46:52that knows how to use it and maybe we

46:54can modify it so that event permits

46:56could go through that portal with with a

46:57team of people who understand it and can

46:59help people navigate it. U but he would

47:01still need some FTE. We talked about a

47:03quarter, but the other conversation that

47:05we're having to the budget process as

47:07well is um more assistance for

47:09potentially Inspire and ELTAC and and

47:12the admin costs and there might be a way

47:14to package some things together into a

47:16position that could do multiple things.

47:18So, we'll start to talk about that a

47:19little bit more next week when we get

47:21into budget enhancements with the

47:22council. But just a sense of scale of

47:24things, um that's how we've been

47:26thinking about it, but to to Scott's

47:27point, we haven't fully landed that

47:28plane yet on what it would cost.

47:33appreciated. Um, the analogy I'm

47:36thinking of is you're creating boxes to

47:38put the cats in because cats like boxes.

47:44I feel like this is going to come back

47:46and get me. [clears throat]

47:48Um, okay. So, fee structure. So, it's

47:50just some goals and and I hopefully this

47:53kind of ties it up in a bow. So one uh

47:56consideration with a fee structure is to

47:58promote and support community vibrancy,

48:01right? So how do we make help help make

48:03these things happen? And taking that

48:05angle I think is going to be really

48:07important because we we want these to

48:09happen, right? Again, this is not a

48:11discussion about how to reduce or

48:13eliminate. This is how do we support and

48:15make sure that

48:17um

48:18event host expectations and community

48:20expectations meet our resources. um

48:23ensure an equitable access. So fees

48:25should consider the benefit of events

48:27and provide broad access to a broad

48:29spectrum of the public. Um achieve a

48:32reasonable cost recovery. So reasonable

48:35is probably a good word to use is 100%

48:37reasonable

48:40probably depends on how affluent your

48:42community is. Um but it doesn't I would

48:47argue that may not be realistic. Um it's

48:50a it's an it's an amazing goal. Um and

48:53then ensure fairness and consistency. So

48:55predict create create predictability and

48:57fairness for the event organizers. And

48:59again, whoever is responsible for

49:01telling them what they're getting

49:02charged, being able to look them in the

49:04eye and being able to explain with some

49:06rationale that

49:09they know they being the person

49:11explaining it has the backing of our

49:14council and our executives.

49:19So, that gets us to the end. Thank you

49:22guys for navigating that all with me.

49:24We've got some prompted questions up

49:26here which you can say, "Hey, let's take

49:30that one on." Or you may have your own

49:32questions that you want to throw out for

49:36further discussion. And we do have OPD,

49:40transportation,

49:42and OFD here if you have any specific

49:45questions for them.

49:51All right. Thank you, Scott. Uh, Council

49:54Member Green.

49:55>> Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Scott and

49:58Don and and all of you. Uh, just I just

50:00want to commend you on the the work that

50:02you've done to get here so far. I know

50:04in large organizations like this, these

50:06are super complicated and have to touch

50:08a lot of departments. And uh, and I just

50:11I think the direction you're going with

50:12a lot of this is just uh, shows a ton of

50:14progress. Um, I'll just say for me, I

50:18think moving towards um some consistency

50:21with the fees would be really important.

50:22And I recognize there's a lot of um

50:24history, there's a lot of past

50:26relationships, there's a lot of old

50:27memos, but uh what I think of often is

50:30um this very hypothetical scenario where

50:33uh an entity owned some baseball fields

50:35and like cut a deal with the with with a

50:37small uh baseball league and then all of

50:39a sudden couldn't do that anymore and it

50:41was very traumatic. Uh and then and then

50:43now you're killing the baseball league.

50:44I would hate to see us that happen with

50:46an event of we we've we've um

50:50not recovered costs for so long and then

50:52at some point we have to for whatever

50:54reason um and then suddenly it's a

50:56really big deal. I would rather see us

50:57move towards some consistency. Um and

51:00like you say a and some equity. I mean

51:03it's it's uh

51:06there's a lot of love for long-standing

51:08events and they're awesome but the way

51:09events become long-standing is they have

51:11to start as new events. And so finding

51:13ways to support uh the new events in the

51:15same way that we support past events I

51:17just think is a really big deal. Um

51:23but I yeah I mean I agree with you that

51:25I don't think 100% is possible. I also

51:28think as we did do that, I think what

51:30we'd find is that uh in the same way

51:32that uh that event used private traffic

51:35control is that it when we are clear

51:39about our fees and consistent with our

51:40fees, it just empowers folks to say,

51:42okay, is it cheaper for me to hire

51:44private security and a private

51:45ambulance, you know, contract with an

51:47ambulance crew rather than rely on OPD

51:50or an OFD or or hire my own

51:52transportation or pay the right like it

51:55just it gives people those options, but

51:57um but doesn't make it 100% of the time

52:00that the that the city and the and the

52:02teams are going to need to be

52:03responsible for it. So, so that's for me

52:05where I'd love to see us move is just to

52:06some uh consistency that's uh on the way

52:09to cost recovery. I don't I again I

52:11don't think 100%'s reasonable, but uh

52:13but I think everything that you you've

52:15done up to this point uh you know, I

52:17feel like you have a really clear sense

52:19of where this needs to go. So, I just I

52:21look forward to seeing how um that

52:23continues to play out as you continue to

52:25to dial these in.

52:29Thank you, Council Member Gilman.

52:35>> Thank you, Mayor Payne. Um, boy, the uh

52:40the current version of the audio and

52:42video is incredible. This is this is a

52:44great improvement. [clears throat]

52:45Um, I I first I want to thank and

52:49appreciate the community event workg

52:51group that I don't think we would have

52:53gotten to this conversation to the

52:55process improvements that have been

52:57described or to having these decisions

53:00in front of us without bringing together

53:03folks from each of the departments. Um,

53:05so I I applaud that effort. I agree with

53:09all of the goals that were just outlined

53:12for um adjusting the fees.

53:17And um and then I I think that we might

53:20also consider making sure that we're

53:23explicit about having some sort of uh

53:26cost inflator inflation kind of measure

53:29so that we're not again promising any

53:32sort of fixed rate for anything that uh

53:35for any services that we deliver.

53:38super appreciative of this work. Thanks.

53:43>> Thank you, Council Member Madron.

53:47>> Yeah. Uh plus one on all the accolades

53:48for the team that has done the research

53:50around this. Um, and I also want to put

53:54a plus one on what Council Member Green

53:56was just saying, uh, in terms of, you

53:58know, not wanting to just suddenly

54:00spring something on a long-standing

54:03event in our community, be like, "Oh, by

54:05the way, next year you're going to have

54:06to pay X amount of dollars to be able to

54:08continue to do this." Um, and

54:10recognizing that there are some new

54:12events where, you know, that, uh, fees

54:14like that could be a significant barrier

54:15for them to even get started and get

54:17going. Um that being said, um uh I think

54:20a phased approach is probably going to

54:22be really important to not just dunk

54:24everybody into cold water, um in terms

54:27of um you know, uh creating barriers to

54:30events. Um but I I also think that cost

54:32recovery is important. I don't think we

54:34should have a goal to get to 100%. I

54:37think that we as a city get a lot of out

54:39of these events, too. We have people

54:41downtown spending money. You know, it's

54:43it's really great for our local economy.

54:45That's good for us as a city. And we

54:46need to recognize that value that these

54:48events bring to us um and to our city

54:51budget. Um and I think one thing to

54:53consider also in terms of um you know I

54:57know you all have a lot of work to do to

54:59parse out like you know how much might a

55:01a fee be for X type of event versus this

55:04one. Uh I think one consideration could

55:06be is whether or not the event itself is

55:08monetized. Um you know we have a lot of

55:11events where nobody's making a dime. Um

55:13you and uh uh it is it uh and then we

55:16have other events where uh you know they

55:18have vendors or uh you know other things

55:20that help help pay for the event itself.

55:23And so um just thinking about like the

55:26financing structures of individual

55:28events and where um you know they're

55:31that they're able to bring in money to

55:33offset their costs and whether when

55:34whether they're not able to do that and

55:36it is really just people pitching in

55:38their their own money to make it happen.

55:40So that's a couple of things that come

55:42to mind for me. Um otherwise um I just

55:47appreciate that this is happening and I

55:49think it's important to reach a a

55:51balance um among how how we do this as a

55:55city so that it is equitable in our

55:57approach and we don't have the

55:58appearance of treating one organization

56:01better than we treat another. Um, and I

56:04think it's also just really important

56:05that we think about um, uh, as you've

56:08talked about the the impact on city

56:10staff. You know, what like uh, the city

56:12manager was talking about where we have

56:14two fire marshals that are working just

56:16about every weekend because of um, the

56:19demands that are put on them. When I

56:21think of that example, I think does it

56:23always have to be a fire marshal? Can

56:25other city staff get trained up? Um, so

56:29I'd be supportive of a seasonal employee

56:30approach and also just diversifying

56:33skill sets within with existing

56:34employees as well. Um, so it's kind of

56:37my stream of consciousness thoughts uh

56:39that I hope is helpful.

56:44>> I think the city has a long history of

56:45phasing in anything. So I think we're

56:48good at that and I I I I think our group

56:50recognizes that's probably the most

56:52realistic application whatever we land

56:54on. Um, I also regarding your comment

56:58about events that are monetized versus

57:01not. What I love about that and having

57:03been spent my entire life in a

57:05profession that always had fees that

57:09were reduced from base fees. It creates

57:11an abs it creates chaos because

57:14everybody's trying to qualify for the

57:15lower fee. Establish a base fee and then

57:18have a commercial rate or some other

57:21rate above that, but have the base fee.

57:24Um, so, uh, just planting that seed for

57:29future discussion. I think that's like

57:32personally I think that's the way to go.

57:34Professionally, I think that's the way

57:35to go. I think it makes it a lot easier.

57:40>> Mayor Proton Win.

57:43>> Yeah. Um, this is a lot of work. Um, and

57:49uh, some of us like to get pretty

57:50granular in the city work, and I think

57:52this is kind of one of those topics that

57:54gets us there. Um, it's, uh, the events

57:57are fun, but just peeling back and and

57:59and getting just a little glimpse of,

58:01uh, all the work that makes it happen

58:03is, uh, really interesting, and I'm glad

58:05we have an opportunity to hopefully, uh,

58:08help improve the process. So, I'm just

58:11going to go right down the list here.

58:13So, uh, uh, okay. Okay. So, I guess the

58:16first one, the first part of the first

58:19bullet uh point I'd say is that I'm

58:23still not completely clear on and this

58:27is not necessarily like unless you have

58:29it right in front of you. Uh something

58:31that you uh have to respond to right

58:33now, but I would like to see like see an

58:36application, you know, for permit fees

58:39like uh what what are the different uh

58:41fees that we collect? When do we say no

58:45to I don't think we say yes to every

58:47event, right? Um so like when do we say

58:49no? On what grounds do we say no? I know

58:53this because someone came to me and said

58:55why did they say no? I said I don't

58:57know. [laughter] So so I'd I'd love to

58:59see that. So just a more details. Um

59:03uh oh uh same with the you know how we

59:07then address some of the long-standing

59:09memos and stuff. Um that'll be it would

59:13be great to see kind of like what are

59:15the nature of those types of memos and

59:18uh uh and you know whenever this comes

59:20back around uh and what are you know how

59:23are we proposing to handle that uh uh

59:27the second part of the second part of

59:30that bullet's a bit of a leading

59:31question isn't it? Yes I agree. Um uh

59:35the second bullet uh you know I think it

59:38really depends. I yes I do think that I

59:41want to say yes the city should

59:43contribute some portion to community

59:45events. I think we also do that in kind

59:48quite a bit too. So um it really

59:52depends. I don't get super excited about

59:54events that uh bring in like all of

59:59their own food vendors that are not uh

1:00:02food carts that already exist in Olympia

1:00:04or or popups from restaurants that

1:00:07already exist in Olympia. I don't find

1:00:09that necessarily to be

1:00:12a gain. I find it to be competing with

1:00:15businesses and um you I don't really

1:00:18like that so much. You know, like we

1:00:20have so many coffee places. Why do we

1:00:21need a food truck coffee place that's

1:00:23not even from here? These are the things

1:00:24that go through my mind when I'm at some

1:00:26of these events. um that uh yeah but I

1:00:29think that if there's uh some sort of um

1:00:33some way of assessing what the benefit

1:00:36is to the city then I uh I think that we

1:00:39could contribute uh contribute more um I

1:00:44don't think that we should treat all the

1:00:45events uh this equally um I think we

1:00:50should give them equal consideration and

1:00:52in how we consider it the events are

1:00:55different they bring about different

1:00:57benefits. Uh they also bring about

1:01:00different issues um to address or or uh

1:01:03or or more work and uh I think we should

1:01:06treat them differently but give them all

1:01:07a fair shake. Um that makes sense. And

1:01:11then uh are you open to pursuing some

1:01:14modest budget increases?

1:01:17Yes. Emphasis on modests. Oh, let me

1:01:22just jump back up to the bullet there.

1:01:24So, um, because Inspire and, uh, the

1:01:30lodging tax grants are heavy on my mind

1:01:33right now. Um,

1:01:35you know, I don't want to think about

1:01:37this like oversimplify it, but I just I

1:01:40don't want to get into a place where we

1:01:41have we have these, you know, these

1:01:43annual events and then we say, you know,

1:01:48you actually have to cover the cost of

1:01:49that. Um, and then, um, and then I just

1:01:54want everyone to know that there's a

1:01:55very real case for them just adding it

1:01:58to their Inspire grant application

1:02:00amount or their lodging tax grant

1:02:02application amount. So, um, yeah. So,

1:02:06just something that I caution around.

1:02:09Um, okay, let's see. Oh, yeah. Emphasis

1:02:13on modest, but I'm open to it. Um,

1:02:18I don't really like seasonal work. work.

1:02:19I like I like it when people have a full

1:02:21job, but that's fine. That's for another

1:02:23time. Um, let's see what other questions

1:02:26or suggestions do you have for Yeah, I

1:02:28really uh just want to highlight the I

1:02:31know it came early on, but I really

1:02:32really want to highlight the Festival

1:02:34Street. There's uh you know, when this

1:02:36has come about in the past, I was I've

1:02:38been uh not fully supportive, but I'd

1:02:41say, "Okay, we don't have time for that

1:02:42right now. That sounds fun." But, you

1:02:44know, that's kind of been my attitude.

1:02:45And I I really think that it could solve

1:02:47a lot of issues here. uh possibly. And

1:02:50then um just wanna just want to

1:02:52underscore the the idea of like maybe a

1:02:54multi-year permit. Um

1:02:58uh and uh you know this is where a

1:03:01proven event that has been going on for

1:03:04a long time uh could get like if we can

1:03:06do this uh could get a multi-year permit

1:03:09a little bit easier because we know what

1:03:11the impact is. We're used to working

1:03:13with them. Um, and so then maybe they

1:03:16can get a multi-year permit and then we

1:03:19could uh just do a cursory review, you

1:03:21know, before it comes up and and address

1:03:23anything new that might might come into

1:03:25play. Um, but yeah, uh, I think this is

1:03:28just a job well done. Thanks for letting

1:03:30us dive a little deeper into this area.

1:03:33Um, and uh, you're all clearly everyone

1:03:36that spoke tonight is clearly very

1:03:38passionate about this. Yes. Thank you.

1:03:44All right, I see a few hands. So, we

1:03:46have Council Member Vanderpool followed

1:03:48by Council Member Barren, followed by

1:03:49City Manager Bernie.

1:03:52>> I'll be fairly brief. I mean, I I will

1:03:54just uh close this out for me. Um, I

1:03:57appreciate the focus on equity around

1:03:59the fee structure. Um there's probably a

1:04:02variety of ways to go about that, but uh

1:04:05I would say that um

1:04:08I am I appre well I just just a total

1:04:12appreciation of trying to think of how

1:04:14do we meet all these variety of events

1:04:18and scale and costs and thinking about

1:04:20all of that. I really do appreciate the

1:04:22the diving deep into that because that

1:04:24does help us as a council think about

1:04:26what do we do next as as I assume this

1:04:30is going to come back. I guess that's my

1:04:31other part of it is and I'm glad the

1:04:33slow transition got brought up because

1:04:35it for some of these older agreements it

1:04:38will take time it seems. Um

1:04:42I guess what what what are the next

1:04:44steps from here? Like get all this

1:04:46feedback from us. I'm just kind of

1:04:47curious on city manager.

1:04:50>> Go ahead, city manager B.

1:04:52>> Thank you. Great question. So, I think

1:04:55some of it you're going to see in our

1:04:57budget conversation. So, the reason the

1:04:58word modest is up there is we've thought

1:05:00of a few kind of low hanging fruit that

1:05:02may not be super costly that we might

1:05:04like. For example, if we added some

1:05:06seasonals in transportation, right?

1:05:08Seasonals, they're short duration kind

1:05:10of three-month work group, so that

1:05:12they're not super expensive. They're

1:05:14they're not all they're not fully

1:05:15benefited positions. So we can talk

1:05:17about things like that that might be

1:05:18some really quick easy help for some

1:05:21groups around the work life balance

1:05:22issue. Um so we'll talk about some of

1:05:24this during the budget process. This

1:05:26transition of permitting to community

1:05:28development may need a little bit of

1:05:29funding to make that work. So we'll

1:05:31tackle some of it maybe now and then I

1:05:35think the rest of it it's we're going to

1:05:36have to we're going to get back together

1:05:37as team want to hear the feedback

1:05:38tonight and then figure out what does it

1:05:41look like for us to transition over time

1:05:43to a different fee structure. And so

1:05:45having this feedback from all of you

1:05:47will help us get there and move in that

1:05:49direction and we'll come back to you on

1:05:51a followup with that in the future. But

1:05:53it's going to take some time to work

1:05:54through because we agree that I think

1:05:56someone said like dip it in cold water.

1:05:58We definitely don't want to do that. We

1:05:59don't want to drop shock on all of our

1:06:01event partners and uh cause a lot of

1:06:03concern. So we want to be thoughtful in

1:06:05an approach. So we'll take some time

1:06:06with that.

1:06:10>> All right. Thank you, Council Member

1:06:11Barrett. Or are you finished? Council

1:06:13member Bar.

1:06:14>> Yes. One last thought since it got

1:06:15brought back up. Um uh I appreciate you

1:06:19bringing up festival streets. That's one

1:06:21of those things I've been talking about

1:06:22for a long time, but um uh I think if if

1:06:27you if you pursue looking at festival

1:06:29streets, I think a way to approach it in

1:06:32my mind is the way we do spaces that are

1:06:34rented out by the parks department.

1:06:36Right? we have uh if we're going to do

1:06:39something like that, um I would I would

1:06:42hope that we would allow it so that we

1:06:45are able to fill the space more

1:06:47consistently because the more people you

1:06:50have on the street, the safer it is,

1:06:52right? And so, um I would be really

1:06:55excited to see that come back around one

1:06:57day. [snorts] Thank you.

1:07:02>> Thank you, uh Council Member Barrett,

1:07:04followed by City Manager Bernie.

1:07:05>> Yeah. Thank you. Um, so, so first of

1:07:09all, I think we need to be a partner.

1:07:11We, the city need to be a partner that

1:07:14helps take these events to the next

1:07:15level always. You know, we love I I I

1:07:19don't think there's a a person around

1:07:20this table that uh doesn't love these

1:07:23events and and support them

1:07:25wholeheartedly, but uh in our actions,

1:07:28we we need to really be cognizant of the

1:07:32fact that we're not harming them. and

1:07:35how can we build policies that actually

1:07:38enhance and and bring them to the next

1:07:40level and build more events for the

1:07:42community that u that are of benefit. Uh

1:07:46second, I I agree with um Councilwoman

1:07:50Madron that I think some of the events

1:07:53are monetized and you know they're quite

1:07:56monetized actually and um so those I'm

1:08:01I'm not I there may be a a kind of a

1:08:03two-tier structure that we should

1:08:06consider

1:08:08um because uh they many of them take

1:08:11quite a bite of profit out of vendors

1:08:14and whatnot that that serve those

1:08:17events. Um

1:08:20the uh

1:08:22I do think that there's an opportunity

1:08:24with you know just taking the lodging

1:08:28tax as an example certainly

1:08:32uh some of these events could I'm sure

1:08:34verify that that there's beds and heads

1:08:36and beds you know that

1:08:40uh which is what this tax was really

1:08:43designed for is bringing people to the

1:08:45community and um So there may be an

1:08:48opportunity to for for organizations to

1:08:51to apply for funding to uh to pay for

1:08:56things that are uh on on the city uh

1:09:00agenda. Uh some cost recovery is

1:09:05appropriate, but I don't think we can

1:09:08raise these fees a shocking amount. it.

1:09:12I I think we can raise quite a bit more

1:09:16money than we are um receiving now, but

1:09:20you know, u I I I just think we need to

1:09:24be really judicious about what that

1:09:27increase is. And uh we're we're so far

1:09:30behind. I think it's just not realistic

1:09:33to think that we're going to get to 100

1:09:34or 75%.

1:09:37you know, looking at increasing those

1:09:40fees to, you know, 40% or whatever might

1:09:44be more realistic. I I and I pull that

1:09:47figure out of the hat. Um

1:09:51uh one thing I did want to um

1:09:56I I I want to reiterate that that that

1:09:58that concept of fees for some things and

1:10:02not others. I think I'm not sure that we

1:10:05need to bill for everything that we do

1:10:08and we just need to figure out we're

1:10:10going to that we're going to eat the

1:10:11cost of certain bigger ticket items and

1:10:15you know I don't know when when we're

1:10:17talking about police and fire protection

1:10:19are these things that the city just

1:10:21needs to to do or not? You know, I I

1:10:25just kind of raised that as as something

1:10:28that I think needs some thought and

1:10:29maybe we should continue doing. I did

1:10:32want to ask um the city manager a

1:10:34question about liability

1:10:37and um

1:10:39uh I'm probably going to in the future

1:10:42become more of a broken record about

1:10:44this because I I've been thinking about

1:10:46uh city liability on our sidewalks, city

1:10:49liability on so many things and on these

1:10:52community festivals. Have have we been

1:10:55um have people been injured and and

1:11:00[groaning]

1:11:00you know sought compensation from the

1:11:02city on liability issues? I I just kind

1:11:05of want to get a sense of that because

1:11:06that's another cost that uh that that

1:11:11might be more realistic and I I don't

1:11:13know to what extent these organizations

1:11:15have blanket insurance coverages or or

1:11:19whatnot, but I I just wanted to ask this

1:11:20question.

1:11:22>> Yeah, I'll answer it in two ways. is

1:11:23one. I'm going to look at Dawn a little

1:11:24bit too, but um for the majority of our

1:11:27events, we require insurance, right? All

1:11:29of them.

1:11:30>> All events.

1:11:30>> All the events. So, we require liability

1:11:32insurance at different levels. The

1:11:34bigger the event, the more you're doing,

1:11:36the more complicated the insurance can

1:11:37get. But we don't allow events and

1:11:40festivals to operate within the rights

1:11:42away without some liability insurance to

1:11:44protect us. Now, that's for things that

1:11:46could go wrong as a result of their

1:11:48event, not necessarily if someone has a

1:11:50trip and fall on a sidewalk. If they

1:11:52trip and fall on a cord that's part of

1:11:54the event, that's their insurance. If

1:11:55they trip and fall on a bad sidewalk,

1:11:56that's still us. That's still

1:11:58potentially us or the adjacent property

1:12:00owner. Um, but we do we do ask for

1:12:02insurance that helps a lot um with this.

1:12:04But I'm not aware specifically of anyone

1:12:08who's had a trip and fall that's been

1:12:10part of an event that we've then paid

1:12:11out on. But I will say part of why we're

1:12:15seeing sidewalk work, for example,

1:12:16downtown right now is we have had some

1:12:19significant trip and fall claims in the

1:12:21downtown core specifically. Um, over the

1:12:24years, we've had some pretty serious

1:12:26injuries. And so, um, where we have the

1:12:29events, I think it's important that

1:12:31we're also looking to make sure the

1:12:33infrastructure in the areas that we're

1:12:34hosting them is maintained and

1:12:36maintained well. And so, that's also a

1:12:38part of this consideration.

1:12:41>> Thank you. I was just curious about

1:12:43about that issue and I think that

1:12:46summarizes my comments. Thank you,

1:12:47Mayor.

1:12:48>> Thank you, Council Member Barren. City

1:12:50Manager Bernie, followed by Council

1:12:51Member Green.

1:12:53>> Yeah, just a couple things. One is on on

1:12:55seasonals, you know, we love to bring on

1:12:57full-time staff whenever we can. But

1:12:59I'll just comment um that in parks and

1:13:02public works in particular, we do bring

1:13:04on a fair amount of seasonals every

1:13:06summer. summer is the busiest season for

1:13:09some of their work as they as they do

1:13:10painting, striping, weed control. Uh we

1:13:13have all of our wreck programs in the

1:13:15parks department. So we do bring in on a

1:13:17lot of seasonals every year. So what

1:13:19we're talking about is just maybe

1:13:20augmenting um more particularly in the

1:13:22transportation, a few extra seasonals to

1:13:24maybe be dedicated to this. So I just

1:13:26want to comment there and then the

1:13:27saying no because Don and I both caught

1:13:29eyes at the same time. Um I don't know

1:13:32that we're great about saying no. And I

1:13:34and that's for two reasons. and Scott

1:13:36mentioned that um and Don did we're

1:13:39trying to really support the community

1:13:40and events that they want to host and

1:13:42there's a remark remarkable great ideas

1:13:44that come from community members for

1:13:46events and some of them have been new

1:13:47that have just been outstanding but I

1:13:49think we're at a point so there was a

1:13:51slide there where they showed that

1:13:53there's one one weekend has already has

1:13:55three events in one weekend what I am

1:13:57hearing from our team is can we stop

1:13:59there can we not have four five six

1:14:02events on a Saturday Sunday over the

1:14:05same weekend and we we need to put some

1:14:07clarity around that and could we try to

1:14:10see what we could do to um schedule

1:14:13events um over a certain period of time

1:14:16and then they're all planned in that

1:14:18period of time and I think Mayor Pam you

1:14:19mentioned something like that um so that

1:14:21they're not um lumped up the way they

1:14:24are. Can we spread some out? Can we work

1:14:25with event hosts to do some of that work

1:14:27to maybe change their dates a little

1:14:29bit? So, I think I do think there's some

1:14:30work around the edges that we can do

1:14:32there, but I do think there are

1:14:34certainly some weekends right now where

1:14:36we are probably going to have to say no,

1:14:37we can't take on another event on that

1:14:39Saturday or Sunday. The only area that I

1:14:42could think of where in the past we have

1:14:43said no is when it comes to beer

1:14:45gardens. Um, we don't typically like to

1:14:49host beer gardens. I think OPD would say

1:14:51they don't they don't love it when we do

1:14:52beer gardens, but certainly if we

1:14:54already say yes to one beer garden for

1:14:56one event, they we typically are not

1:14:59going to say yes to another beer garden

1:15:00on the same during the same time. It

1:15:02just causes too much um activity for

1:15:06police and fire to have to to to deal

1:15:08with during that time. But but I think

1:15:10that's the exception right now when we

1:15:11are saying no. I think things like that.

1:15:17>> All right, Council Member Green. Yeah,

1:15:19thank you, mayor. Uh, I just want to add

1:15:21an additional ask uh if if we're going

1:15:24to do any uh consideration of or even

1:15:26any research on sort of the festival

1:15:28street idea because like it's lovely,

1:15:30it's fine, but when I think about uh all

1:15:34week through the summer, uh I just I

1:15:36think there my ask would be there all

1:15:39for there to also be some research

1:15:41around what is that impact to downtown

1:15:42businesses. I think it's slightly

1:15:44different than a traffic study of uh you

1:15:47know, great, you got a lot of foot

1:15:48traffic on the weekends cuz it's a

1:15:49beautiful weekend and there's a lot

1:15:50going on. But if I'm a a small coffee

1:15:53shop or a restaurant or a retail shop

1:15:55downtown and it's the middle of a

1:15:57Wednesday and no one can park in front

1:15:58of my business and I'm not seeing anyone

1:16:00walk by, I feel like that would be

1:16:02really hard for me. So, I would just do

1:16:03that ask of if we're going to do some of

1:16:05that research that we also just take

1:16:07into consideration those impacts during

1:16:08the the less busy summer times, which

1:16:11are probably weekdays.

1:16:17Thank you. Um,

1:16:19I really appreciate tonight's

1:16:21discussion. Um, I haven't heard anything

1:16:23that's given me heartburn, so I'm just

1:16:26going to say ditto to um, you know, the

1:16:28things that my council members have

1:16:30shared. Um, and I'll go down the list

1:16:33here. Um, I do think that we should

1:16:36pursue a new, uh, consistent and

1:16:38equitable approach. Um, I think the key

1:16:41word in that equitable is important

1:16:43because we need to make sure that, um,

1:16:46we're thinking of it as being fair. So

1:16:49giving each event um what it needs to be

1:16:53successful, not necessarily an equality

1:16:56approach from the perspective of oh we

1:16:58should support new and more established

1:17:01events. Um I think that's too

1:17:03simplistic. I think we need to consider

1:17:06what it is that they bring to the

1:17:07community. Um

1:17:11I think that we should um strive um for

1:17:15a costneutral process um even though we

1:17:18think it will be uh um unlikely that we

1:17:22can get there. I think council member

1:17:24Green's point is well taken that um we

1:17:28don't want to have to um have an issue

1:17:31uh later in the future where uh suddenly

1:17:34we realize um that we do need to

1:17:36recuperate those costs. Um and so I

1:17:40think we should figure out a way um to

1:17:43strive towards that if we can. Um I'm

1:17:46open to pursuing uh modest budget

1:17:49increases. um keyword being modest. Um

1:17:54I agree with you know some of the uh

1:17:57approaches that are listed here. So some

1:17:59of the seasonal um approaches to hiring

1:18:02things like that. The permitting review.

1:18:04I'm open to the multi-year permitting

1:18:07review processing. I'm also supportive

1:18:09of the idea of a festival street given

1:18:12that there aren't any significant

1:18:14impacts to uh traffic flow in downtown.

1:18:17Um [clears throat and cough]

1:18:20I do have some questions about so much

1:18:24of this is operational right. Um so my

1:18:27questions about we talked about next

1:18:29steps briefly but when this comes back

1:18:31to us you know it would be helpful for

1:18:33for me and I think for all of us to

1:18:35understand really what's operational and

1:18:38what is going to require council action

1:18:41um and what is it that it's just for us

1:18:44to know um because right now as we're

1:18:47having our discussion I'm thinking about

1:18:49okay so what potential actions are going

1:18:52to come before us for decision making um

1:18:54and what are the things that are simply

1:18:56just sort of going to happen as

1:18:59operational decisions and it'd be

1:19:00helpful to know that. Um [clears throat]

1:19:04and uh yeah, lastly I I mean I just want

1:19:08to express my gratitude to the entire

1:19:10project team. I I think um you know I

1:19:14really appreciate the foresight here in

1:19:16getting ahead of any potential problems

1:19:19and um and really getting to work on

1:19:21this before we have to address a crisis.

1:19:24So, I just want to thank you all for for

1:19:26the work that you've done and uh job

1:19:27well done.

1:19:31>> All right. Any additional comments?

1:19:33Council member Vanderpool.

1:19:37>> I do want to I guess quickly respond to

1:19:40that. Uh uh I really do appreciate that

1:19:43about the small businesses especially

1:19:44during the work week um uh with the

1:19:47festival street. Um there are all of

1:19:51them all the various versions I've

1:19:52looked at over the years. There are some

1:19:54that are uh the ballards are like

1:19:57literally tied to the time of the day,

1:20:00right? Where um and that's much more

1:20:02expensive than what I'm asking. uh

1:20:04retractable ballards is very expensive

1:20:07process but uh where they would go down

1:20:10during the you you know uh open to

1:20:13traffic during the uh uh mornings and

1:20:17then the afternoon it closes right those

1:20:19are types of things that it it's and

1:20:21then down in Portland it it's not every

1:20:23street it's certain streets right where

1:20:25there's a natural attraction to people

1:20:27walking and so uh if we do pursue that I

1:20:31do think we should try to rightsize it

1:20:34to the needs, right? And just kind of uh

1:20:36I mean pilot to a certain extent to see

1:20:39how things go, but definitely uh ensure

1:20:42that the the storefronts on the that

1:20:45street are aware and not just be like,

1:20:47"Oh, by the way, here's a notification.

1:20:49We're going to do this tomorrow." You

1:20:50know, uh very deliberately. So, yeah.

1:20:56>> All right. Well, thank you very much.

1:21:01Appreciate you all.

1:21:03Thanks for the opportunity.

1:21:05>> Yeah.

1:21:07>> Yes.

1:21:08>> All right. So, that concludes uh item

1:21:112A. We're going to move on to our final

1:21:13agenda item for the evening um which is

1:21:16to receive an update on the one

1:21:18community plan. And uh Ashley Chambers,

1:21:21our housing director uh from community

1:21:24development is presenting this evening.

1:22:06Yep. Floor is yours.

1:22:10>> All right. Is this on? Okay, good. Um,

1:22:12well, good evening, uh, mayor and

1:22:14council members. Thank you for having me

1:22:16tonight. Um, I'm Ashley Chambers. We met

1:22:18briefly last week, um, and a couple

1:22:20times since, but, thank you for having

1:22:21me. Um, before we begin on this plan, I

1:22:25do have to tell you I'm still in my

1:22:27first 90 days. And so, I have tied a

1:22:30very pretty ribbon on this presentation,

1:22:32but it is not my work. And so, I do want

1:22:34to honor the staff and um the work that

1:22:37this community has done that it is not

1:22:39mine. I just get to present it to you

1:22:41tonight. Um, and this work is hard. And

1:22:43so, I do want to acknowledge that that

1:22:45this work is um political as you all

1:22:49experience. Um, and our staff are often

1:22:51in the middle of that political nature,

1:22:53whether they're not doing enough or

1:22:55they're doing too much or everything in

1:22:57between. Um, they are often in the the

1:23:00very receiving seat of all that work.

1:23:02And so, um, I do want to honor them and

1:23:04their experience in this work. Um, and I

1:23:07think it's important to acknowledge

1:23:09that, uh, this work is getting harder,

1:23:11not easier. um the closer we get to um

1:23:15working on this or encampments closing

1:23:17um it it maybe become becomes harder the

1:23:20more funding is challenged the more

1:23:22federal government critiques this work

1:23:25um it's getting harder and many of our

1:23:27staff and our peers um are burning out

1:23:31and so I think that's really important

1:23:32to sort of frame this work um and I

1:23:36think also um the people who do this

1:23:39work are incredible and they stick

1:23:41they're sticking with it and um despite

1:23:44the uphill battle, they continue day in

1:23:46and day out and their passion is so

1:23:48commendable. So, I'm going to start that

1:23:50presentation with all of those things

1:23:51and lay the foundation for you all. Um I

1:23:55also want to point out that there is no

1:23:57silver bullet to solving homelessness.

1:23:59And so, um we've done a lot of work as a

1:24:01community and I say we meaning not me

1:24:04but we collectively. Um, but there

1:24:07really isn't a great onesizefits-all

1:24:10solution. And I think that's really what

1:24:11makes this work complex and hard. Um,

1:24:14and also I think uh that

1:24:19um tonight's presentation is is

1:24:22hopefully going to peel back the hood a

1:24:24little bit and dive into sort of the the

1:24:26how, the why, and the what um and really

1:24:29get to the heart of um sort of looking

1:24:32collectively as an overview of the work

1:24:35that's been done. Um, as I'm sure

1:24:37hopefully you saw, I I did print out a

1:24:39couple things for you. There is 36 pages

1:24:42of um things that this community has

1:24:46done and I will tell you that it is not

1:24:48comprehensive. Um I have been diving

1:24:50into eight years worth of things and I

1:24:54am still getting email after email from

1:24:57different community members um different

1:25:00regional partners um different divisions

1:25:03and departments. And so I think it's

1:25:05really important to know that this is a

1:25:07work in progress and it is not done yet.

1:25:09And so, um, what you have before you,

1:25:12I'll call it like a really good draft,

1:25:15if you will. Um, and so this work is

1:25:17continuing. So, please just know those

1:25:19things.

1:25:21So, this work, the one community plan,

1:25:23is really a broader um part of a broader

1:25:26strategy across the city um that aligns

1:25:29with actually four plans that the

1:25:30community has and probably more, but

1:25:32these are the four major ones. Um, so

1:25:34the one community plan really addresses

1:25:36housing and homelessness. We do have a

1:25:39housing action plan. We'll talk tonight

1:25:40a little bit about how those two work in

1:25:42sync together. Um and then the public

1:25:45safety plan about safety and trust and

1:25:47building a community together. And then

1:25:49also our economic development. Um all of

1:25:52these areas overlap um in this work to

1:25:55really create some key shared housing

1:25:57community um outcomes which is housing

1:26:00stability, equity and access, economic

1:26:02and neighborhood vitality, community

1:26:04safety and well-being um prevention and

1:26:07root cause solutions and then

1:26:08collaboration and data driven um action

1:26:11together. And so those are sort of the

1:26:13key areas that all those plans work

1:26:15together to create.

1:26:19So, a couple key things to the one

1:26:20community plan that I feel like um

1:26:22deserve honor is this was really um

1:26:24developed throughout 2018 and 2019 um

1:26:27and adopted. And so um the vision for

1:26:30and mission and role really is that we

1:26:33would respond as a community to

1:26:34homelessness in a way that is

1:26:36compassionate and um provides

1:26:38accountability so that we become a safe

1:26:40and healthy community. Um that we live

1:26:43into a vision of homelessness is rare

1:26:46and brief. Um, I think that is a vision

1:26:48statement for sure and one that we all

1:26:50hope for. Um, and that housing really is

1:26:53available and affordable. And then our

1:26:55role as a city is to serve as first

1:26:57responder, connector of services leader,

1:27:00funer, and innovator.

1:27:03So, a couple things about how we got

1:27:05here. Um, this plan really started as a

1:27:09response to the homelessness emergency.

1:27:12um and that was through an emergency

1:27:13declaration originally in 2017, but

1:27:16really as a community we saw

1:27:17homelessness um grow exponentially. I

1:27:20think we are definitely not the only

1:27:21community across the United States. And

1:27:23we'll kind of dive into a little bit

1:27:25about the housing history and why that

1:27:26really um was a time in which um hit. Uh

1:27:30and then also um community planning and

1:27:33efforts. Um the one community plan was

1:27:35really adopted in 2020 which um I'm

1:27:39guessing it was probably delayed due to

1:27:41a fancy thing called COVID and like many

1:27:43communities um grappling with even more

1:27:46challenges to this effort. Um and then

1:27:49really since then um 2020 to now this

1:27:52has really been implementation and

1:27:54evolution. Um as I mentioned this work

1:27:57is hard and there really isn't a

1:27:59template for it. Um there's lots of

1:28:01things that have been tried in this

1:28:03community as well and things have

1:28:05changed exponentially. And so it's

1:28:08really important to remember that

1:28:09because this plan was created and

1:28:10written in 2018 and we didn't have some

1:28:13of the same laws or rules or efforts,

1:28:15funding sources. All of that has been an

1:28:18evolution um over that span. And so some

1:28:22of the things you'll see in here we've

1:28:24as a community abandoned. um we've

1:28:26picked up maybe different best

1:28:28practices. Um we learned from other

1:28:30communities, tried new things, things

1:28:32didn't work. And so that's not unusual

1:28:35though. I think that is um all across

1:28:37the US communities are trying different

1:28:39things. Um and I also think it's

1:28:41important to know there's a lot of

1:28:42different tools and it's sometimes just

1:28:44figuring out the right one for the

1:28:45specific community. Um, and so kind of

1:28:48where we're going from here, just to

1:28:50sort of uh give you a a behind the veil

1:28:55is that today we're talking primarily of

1:28:57the overview. So you'll notice in this

1:28:59there wasn't a lot of data, a lot of

1:29:01outcomes. It was what have we done? Um,

1:29:03part of that is because data sources

1:29:05have been a challenge. Um, it has been

1:29:09kept by different entities throughout

1:29:10the course of this work. Um, some of

1:29:12those entities may not be in existence

1:29:14anymore. Some are some are digital safe,

1:29:18some are on spreadsheets. There is no

1:29:20one place to get the data. Um and so

1:29:22that is something to keep in mind. Um

1:29:24but I also think one of the key things

1:29:26is what data are you looking for and

1:29:28what is our community looking for and

1:29:30what data do we have available and sort

1:29:32of reconciling that. So my hope is that

1:29:35um tonight is the overview and kind of

1:29:37key metrics of where we are and then in

1:29:39early 2027 coming back with a more

1:29:42comprehensive narrative with some of

1:29:43those data points identified. Um and

1:29:46then hopefully after that we'll do this

1:29:48more often than every eight years. Um

1:29:50and it will be an annual report and

1:29:52we'll update um more frequently um and

1:29:55in a way that's helpful for those

1:29:57identified data points and adjust as

1:29:58needed.

1:30:02So, really quick because it's money is

1:30:04always on the mind. Um the 2027 budget,

1:30:08this is not a new slide. Um we saw this

1:30:10earlier in finance and budget

1:30:12presentations, but I I'm putting it back

1:30:15in here to remind you um of all of the

1:30:18different places in which we pull

1:30:20funding from for this work, whether it

1:30:21be housing or homelessness. um that that

1:30:24we have um not only general fund

1:30:26contributions, but we have HUD CDBD

1:30:29dollars. We have um a home operating

1:30:32fund that pulls from many different

1:30:35sources, whether that's um our own

1:30:37programming through rental registry um

1:30:39or some state grants. Um we also have a

1:30:43dedicated funding source. Um and then

1:30:45also the expenses related to this work.

1:30:48Um we do have um I think 10 11 staff um

1:30:53full-time staff um doing the work of

1:30:54housing and homeless and I'll talk about

1:30:56that in just a moment. Um and then we

1:30:58also have just the general operating

1:31:00expenses um as well as capital

1:31:02expenditures um for this work.

1:31:08So, this work is primarily and I I will

1:31:10say primarily with the caveat um our

1:31:13housing division leads these efforts

1:31:15around housing and homelessness. Um and

1:31:18so because my role is new, I wanted to

1:31:20give you sort of um how that looks and

1:31:23and what areas that um supports. Um and

1:31:26so we sort of have three wings under our

1:31:28housing division. We have kind of

1:31:29housing policy and initiatives. Um so

1:31:32that's Justinda, Christa, and um

1:31:34Anastasia who work um as grant

1:31:36administration

1:31:38um looking at policies and also a lot of

1:31:41financing contracts and things as we

1:31:44roll out funding different programs. We

1:31:46also have our homeless response team

1:31:48which is um Kim and her outreach um

1:31:52specialists and program specialists and

1:31:54they do an incredible job. They're out

1:31:55on the ground um doing community

1:31:57outreach and we are currently recruiting

1:32:00and have a new staff starting um next

1:32:02week as we um work to close uh the

1:32:05jungle. And so that is a staff that has

1:32:07been um approved for that work. And then

1:32:10we also have our rental registry. And so

1:32:13that is um Sarah and her team who are um

1:32:16getting all of our rentals across the

1:32:18city um inspected and ensuring that

1:32:20landlords are registering um and also

1:32:23work on tenant relationships as well.

1:32:29And while we're at the heart and sort of

1:32:32the connector, um one of the things to

1:32:34know is there is not a city department

1:32:36or division that really does not touch

1:32:38this work. Um we may be the one hurting

1:32:41the cats as it was mentioned. Um but

1:32:43there are many cats to this work and so

1:32:46um you know everything from municipal

1:32:48courts to finance and budget. We keep

1:32:51the city attorney and legal fees or

1:32:53legal team busy um our planners um our

1:32:56permit specialists um all across the

1:32:59city um is really important and they

1:33:02help us do this work as well. And so we

1:33:04just kind of help draw the strings that

1:33:07keep that work moving forward. Um I do

1:33:09think it's important as we move into

1:33:11this next slide to note that the three

1:33:13things that the city has that are the

1:33:15dream things that any community could

1:33:17have in the work that we do is uh one

1:33:20dedicated funding. Um that is so

1:33:22important to this work and continuity of

1:33:24the work and predictability because of

1:33:26all those funding sources. Um I think

1:33:29that the other thing um that we have is

1:33:31dedicated staff to do this work. um it

1:33:34is um so important. Um there is so

1:33:37little that can be done without um key

1:33:40staff and the role that they play. Um

1:33:42and the other thing is a support of

1:33:43leadership and counsel. Um missing any

1:33:46of those things and this work just

1:33:47cannot continue. And so I just want to

1:33:49say that that is really hopefully

1:33:51reflected in many of the things although

1:33:53they weren't necessarily called out

1:33:55individually um in this plan. But if if

1:33:57any of those brackets if we summarized

1:34:00all of this work, it would probably be

1:34:02connected to those three things.

1:34:07So within the plan, there are three

1:34:09focus areas. Um focus area one is really

1:34:12about our homeless response. It's how do

1:34:14we increase and streamline our response

1:34:16so that it's rapid and that people um

1:34:19when they're ready or maybe we're going

1:34:21to them um and responding um with those

1:34:25services. The second one is expanding

1:34:27housing um options and preventing

1:34:30homelessness from the beginning. And

1:34:32then the third is how do we increase

1:34:33public health and safety? And so all of

1:34:36the work, all of the strategies are in

1:34:37alignment with one of those three

1:34:39buckets.

1:34:42Before we get going, I I'm assuming at

1:34:44this point you know that we speak a

1:34:46different language in housing and

1:34:47homeless. Um, and so I thought it would

1:34:49be beneficial in case we use an acronym

1:34:52or you're curious about what different

1:34:54things mean that we start really with

1:34:55some definitions. Um, and so we talk

1:34:57about coordinated entry. Um, coordinated

1:35:00entry is a system response um that many

1:35:03entities are a part of. And it's really

1:35:06the idea that um, no matter what door

1:35:09you step into once you're homeless, you

1:35:12are connected into a system um, that is

1:35:15working to help you leave homelessness.

1:35:17Um and so uh coordinated entry is that

1:35:20system if you will um that is tracked

1:35:22through thirsten county. Um and it

1:35:25includes um getting people onto a

1:35:27housing wait list if you will or just a

1:35:29wait list for services. And so um many

1:35:32entities sit down every other week and

1:35:35work on providing the resources or the

1:35:37housing um and and prioritize

1:35:40individuals in our community um into the

1:35:42right resources, if you will. Many

1:35:45people don't know that exists, but it

1:35:46does exist in our community as well. Um,

1:35:49one of the ways in which coordinated

1:35:50entry is successful and the things that

1:35:52our city does um, as we work through the

1:35:54jungle encampment um, in uh, closure is

1:35:58that we use a tool um, called a heat

1:36:01assessment. It is a housing engagement

1:36:03and assessment tool. It's a mouthful,

1:36:05which is why we call it heat or we'll

1:36:06call it sometimes a heat wave. Um it is

1:36:09a tool that really looks and asks a lot

1:36:13of questions of individuals experiencing

1:36:15homelessness. Um it asks them uh their

1:36:19own experiences. Some of that is based

1:36:21on their trauma um about what services

1:36:23they need. um and it really prioritizes

1:36:26them based on vi vulnerability so that

1:36:29when we use coordinated entry or the by

1:36:32name list um they're given a heat score

1:36:35and that heat score is related to their

1:36:37vulnerability. So, for example, if you

1:36:39are a 75year-old woman who's homeless

1:36:42for the first time and um has sub some

1:36:46substantial medical needs, you might be

1:36:49prioritized more than a 35year-old male

1:36:52who has been living on the streets for

1:36:53longer. Um and that's just based on

1:36:55vulnerabilities. And so, um there's a

1:36:58lot of ways in which that's measured,

1:36:59but that's sort of giving you two very,

1:37:02um basic level understandings of where

1:37:03that falls. The other thing is HMIS,

1:37:06which stands for homeless management

1:37:08information system. This is a HUD system

1:37:11um that many entities use, not all, but

1:37:14many. Um and really that's probably one

1:37:16of our best tools we have for

1:37:18understanding where people are, where

1:37:20they've moved to, where they've moved

1:37:21from. Um and it really just is about the

1:37:24data. So it is using um individuals who

1:37:27uh and and reporting on that individual

1:37:29that they're accessing services. Um and

1:37:32so the best probably data that we have

1:37:34around numbers is through our HMIS

1:37:36system. Um it is not none of these tools

1:37:40are you know hundred right like there

1:37:42there's there's work to be done in all

1:37:44of them. Um but they are the tools we

1:37:46have and so we use them. Um and we will

1:37:49talk a little bit more about the

1:37:50database. Um and um also it it does help

1:37:54when more systems and more connecting

1:37:56and services use that system because

1:37:58then we can see oh they have a case

1:38:00manager already assigned through um

1:38:03Catholic services or they're already in

1:38:06the coordinated entry system. We don't

1:38:07need to redo a heat assessment if you

1:38:09will and so it's a way in which we're

1:38:11not duplicating efforts in our

1:38:12community.

1:38:14The by name list um is uh it's sort of

1:38:19two things. One is coordinated entry

1:38:21uses also a by name list although we

1:38:23call it a name byname list in this

1:38:25community and so that is people on that

1:38:27list for housing. Um in the work that we

1:38:31do specifically you might hear our um us

1:38:34talk about the jungle encampment by name

1:38:36list. That is a separate list that is

1:38:38specific to our ERP funds. And that list

1:38:41is people who solely live in the jungle

1:38:44who are on their own list. We try to get

1:38:46them on both our by name list and

1:38:48coordinated entry. Um, so that one they

1:38:51have more housing opportunities, but

1:38:53also we know that our ERP jungle list is

1:38:56specifically tied to those funds and

1:38:58people will move into ERP funded units,

1:39:02but then those units, we still want them

1:39:03on that coordinated entry list for

1:39:05longer housing solutions like permanent

1:39:07supportive housing or affordable housing

1:39:09options that meet their needs.

1:39:11Um

1:39:13hopefully all of you know by now

1:39:15regional housing council um that is the

1:39:18regional team that um is many of our

1:39:21municipalities coming together to do

1:39:23this work. Um we often refer to it as

1:39:26RHC. So if you hear me say that it's

1:39:28RHC. Um, permanent supportive housing is

1:39:31a type of housing that is a long-term

1:39:34housing solution that has some level of

1:39:36wraparound services that is entirely um

1:39:39the goal is to keep people housed once

1:39:41they provide once they're in housing.

1:39:43And then you may see HRT, that is who we

1:39:46refer to as our homeless response team

1:39:48in the housing division.

1:39:53So focus area one um and as I mentioned

1:39:57this is really about the overview. We

1:39:59won't go line item or strategy by

1:40:00strategy. It's really the goal tonight

1:40:02is to provide um just an overview of the

1:40:05work being done and the key areas that

1:40:08are um kind of maybe overview

1:40:10categories.

1:40:13So some key accomplishments is that we

1:40:16have built a regional system that RHC

1:40:18model um is very unique. while other

1:40:21communities are doing it. Um we uh

1:40:25really believe homelessness is um a

1:40:27regional issue. Um folks don't stop at

1:40:31city lines. Uh as I'm sure you know, you

1:40:33see a sign, but it doesn't stop you from

1:40:35entering across a border. And so housing

1:40:38in a region is just as important as

1:40:40housing in one city limit. Um and so

1:40:43that's a really important thing. I also

1:40:45think one of the things we'll talk

1:40:46about, especially as we look at um the

1:40:48impact of the funding um because of RHC,

1:40:52there has been a lot more work, a lot

1:40:54more housing units than maybe would have

1:40:55happened if we did this on our own. A

1:40:58lot more services are um provided in our

1:41:00community by pooling our resources um

1:41:03and prioritizing as a as a a regional

1:41:05approach. Um so some key things is that

1:41:08many of our providers participate in

1:41:10coordinated entry. Um, we did as a city

1:41:14adopt an economic development strategy.

1:41:17Homelessness and housing, um, I've heard

1:41:19it said that, um, housing is where jobs

1:41:22go to sleep. Um, and so that's really

1:41:24important to an economy is that, um,

1:41:26they are so intricately connected to the

1:41:29ability for families and households to

1:41:31spend money, um, and to shop locally or

1:41:35to buy groceries. And so they're so

1:41:36intricately designed that having these

1:41:39two plans overlap is actually really

1:41:41important. Um we are uh also have

1:41:46created a transition team that

1:41:47coordinates regional efforts as well for

1:41:49the jungle. While the jungle is located

1:41:51in our city limits, this work again

1:41:54doesn't stop at the at the city limit

1:41:57signs. Um and then the city declared an

1:42:00emergency to address the public health

1:42:02emergency. As I mentioned, you know, one

1:42:04of the three things is a really

1:42:05supportive council and um leadership and

1:42:08our emergency declaration acknowledges

1:42:10that work and also says we're willing to

1:42:13sort of lay it out on the table and

1:42:16commit to this work. And so I think that

1:42:18emergency declaration is really

1:42:19important and it will be coming to you

1:42:21November 10th for a a renewal. So you'll

1:42:23see that's coming soon.

1:42:26One of the things that I um really think

1:42:29is important as we talk about

1:42:30coordinated entry and the system

1:42:32response, there is not just one entity

1:42:34or effort doing this work. As I

1:42:36mentioned, homelessness is complex and

1:42:38what I may need as a homeless person is

1:42:40very different than the person sitting

1:42:42next to me. Um and so this um was

1:42:45designed through thirst county and they

1:42:47just released it. Um but it really shows

1:42:49our system response um and a lot of

1:42:52data. So our system response through our

1:42:54HMIS system shows in the last year we've

1:42:58had 7530

1:43:00people on and in that system. Um and

1:43:03those are not necessarily rep some of

1:43:05those names represent a household. So

1:43:07those are individuals but often those

1:43:09represent a household because minors

1:43:11aren't on that list or um it's just one

1:43:13household member. Um and I think it's

1:43:16really important to know that the annual

1:43:18inflow of new individuals was 379.

1:43:22um those are new people who entered that

1:43:24system. Um and this is also showing the

1:43:28bottlenecks. Where is our system stuck?

1:43:30And you'll notice it's sheltered and

1:43:32housing outcomes is where bottlenecks

1:43:34occur in our system. Um the numbers at

1:43:37the bottom really are reflective of um

1:43:41the number of people who we have

1:43:44separated out into those categories. So

1:43:45unsheltered, we had as of June 30th, we

1:43:48had 279

1:43:50individuals who were unsheltered on that

1:43:52list. We had 556 sheltered individuals.

1:43:56We had,430

1:43:58individuals who had housing outcomes.

1:44:01That's a really um great number. Uh and

1:44:04then other outcomes are things that

1:44:06maybe that person dropped off the list

1:44:07and we just don't have an update. They

1:44:09haven't checked in somewhere. They

1:44:11haven't received services. Um maybe they

1:44:13were incarcerated or hospitalized. And

1:44:15then we also have people who pass away.

1:44:17Um and so we don't know we're about 2835

1:44:21of those individuals necessarily what

1:44:22their outcomes are. Um I do think it's

1:44:25really important to um note that there

1:44:28are about 287 days um on average to once

1:44:33you enter the system to when you leave.

1:44:36So, even if you got on that list, um,

1:44:39and that's an average. Some people are

1:44:41more, some people are less depending on

1:44:43the right housing types that we have

1:44:45available. Um, I also think it's really

1:44:47important to note, um, that we have only

1:44:50557 shelter beds um, in our community.

1:44:55And so, this is why it's a bottleneck.

1:44:57We don't have enough for 7,500 people to

1:44:59stop living on the street or entering

1:45:01homelessness.

1:45:06So, a couple other key data points that

1:45:09we use in this work is our point in time

1:45:10count. And our point in time count is um

1:45:14a HUD requirement for any community that

1:45:16receives funding. And it's really uh

1:45:18historically it's been one night,

1:45:20although now it's within a few days. Um

1:45:22always we count the one night as that

1:45:24one day. Um and really the goal is um

1:45:27around that is it captures a moment in

1:45:29time. It's like taking a picture instead

1:45:31of a movie. um we call it sort of a

1:45:34shadow of the issue and so usually in a

1:45:36community um it is not as maybe um

1:45:41reliable as an HMIS system and also I

1:45:44should say that even the HMIS system one

1:45:46people could be accessing services and

1:45:48people who with services who aren't

1:45:50reporting in HMIS and also that doesn't

1:45:53mean that everyone is in that system for

1:45:55that reason or utilizing services in any

1:45:58way.

1:45:59>> Um

1:46:00>> we have a question from Mayor Promwin.

1:46:01Oh yeah.

1:46:05>> Uh thank you. I'm really enjoying this

1:46:07presentation.

1:46:08Um I mean not the topic. Um though I

1:46:13have a question. You said uh the slide

1:46:14before was 500 and something shelter

1:46:16beds.

1:46:18Is that to mean like in at night to

1:46:21sleep out in the morning or is that a

1:46:24broader sort of am I not thinking about

1:46:27it correctly? I just want to make sure

1:46:28my understanding.

1:46:30>> Yes. It it can mean several things. So,

1:46:32our tiny home villages would fall within

1:46:34there.

1:46:35>> Um, our uh general shelters where you

1:46:37leave at night, I mean, leave in the

1:46:39morning, come back at night. Um, it

1:46:41could it could mean all of those,

1:46:43meaning there's an actual bed and a

1:46:45shelter available. Um, when we talk

1:46:47about housing units, um, we are not when

1:46:50we're talking about permanent supportive

1:46:52housing, that wouldn't fall within that

1:46:53because that would be a housing type,

1:46:54not a shelter bed.

1:46:56>> Okay. Thank you. That's really helpful.

1:47:02Um so in our point in time count uh

1:47:06similarly by percentage um we see

1:47:08similar data as we do around HH HMIS.

1:47:11One thing that the point in time count

1:47:13is really helpful in is looking at

1:47:14trends um in specifically unsheltered

1:47:17and sheltered homelessness. So if we see

1:47:19for example some communities are seeing

1:47:22and even ours an increase of of

1:47:24individuals 55 and over who are

1:47:26experiencing homelessness. So, this is

1:47:27where some of those demographic shifts

1:47:29can be really helpful in understanding

1:47:32um what's happening sort of out on the

1:47:33streets, if you will.

1:47:41Some other really key pieces of our

1:47:42point in time count, like I said, is is

1:47:44more around um the demographics. And so,

1:47:47you'll see that most of the demographics

1:47:49in our community are between the ages of

1:47:5125 and 64.

1:47:53um we do have um a quarter of the

1:47:56individuals um counted were under the

1:47:58age of 25. Um and so that's a really um

1:48:02you know important number to note. Um

1:48:04and then a majority are men although

1:48:07there are some women or they didn't

1:48:09answer. Um and then uh

1:48:14this last quarter we had our best

1:48:16quarter yet for getting people housed.

1:48:18One of the key pieces of that is the

1:48:20work around the jungle. We'll talk a

1:48:22little bit more about that kind of on a

1:48:23later slide. Um, but we had some beds

1:48:25opening up and we were able to move a

1:48:28lot of people over the summer. Um, which

1:48:30is really great.

1:48:37We kind of talked about a lot of these

1:48:38things and then um, as I created the

1:48:40slide, we got this really that really

1:48:42great system response with a lot more

1:48:44updated numbers. So, some of these

1:48:45things um are just really looking at um

1:48:4949% of our system exits were directly to

1:48:52housing. Um and so that's a really great

1:48:54number actually when you look at um a

1:48:57response. Um we had 50.8 of the system

1:49:02exits were to homelessness. Um and so

1:49:05even though that feels like a lot when

1:49:07we um look that's a 23% decrease from

1:49:11last quarter though. So, so our system

1:49:13is working. There are improvements, but

1:49:15we do have um a lot of really key data

1:49:19input outcomes in our HMIS data. That is

1:49:22really great when we look at it from a

1:49:23quarterto quarter system. Some key

1:49:25subopuls is that we had 45 veterans

1:49:28identified in our HMIS system. Um many

1:49:32people um including the government

1:49:35accountability office said it's it's

1:49:37directly related to the amount of

1:49:38resources that we've given veteran

1:49:40homelessness. And it's one of the areas

1:49:42we've identified um kind of nationally

1:49:45that um and as those resources have come

1:49:48there, they've been eliminated. Veteran

1:49:50homelessness has been eliminated in many

1:49:51communities. Um there are 341 people who

1:49:56were identified in our point in time

1:49:57count that were fleeing domestic

1:49:59violence. And one of the things to note

1:50:01and I and I don't have it in this jungle

1:50:03transition update that I gave you all um

1:50:06but we have seen a a large portion of

1:50:08our individuals in the jungle were also

1:50:10fleeing domestic violence.

1:50:14>> A a a large number of individuals in the

1:50:17jungle have also been identified as

1:50:19domestic violence victims.

1:50:22>> Ashley,

1:50:23>> we have a question from council member

1:50:25Green.

1:50:27>> Thank you, Mayor. If you want to finish

1:50:29this slide, that's fine. My question is

1:50:30on the prior slide.

1:50:31>> Oh, go ahead. I think I'm I've wrapped

1:50:34this one up.

1:50:35>> Um I don't know if you know, but you

1:50:37know that uh the ages 0 to 17 youth. Do

1:50:41you have a sense or do we know from the

1:50:43data are most of those youth uh with

1:50:47family members or is there a percentage

1:50:48or a number of those that are on their

1:50:51own uh individually navigating this?

1:50:54>> We could find that out. I don't know

1:50:55that off the top of my head, but we

1:50:57definitely can track that data and see

1:50:59what what we can find out. I know um I'm

1:51:02guessing a lot of these numbers are also

1:51:04um we can also look and see if the

1:51:07district because they do keep track of

1:51:08of that information as well, so we can

1:51:10add some of that data into

1:51:12>> Okay. Yeah, I would appreciate that. I I

1:51:13just I think often about um particularly

1:51:16as we do work with uh with the school

1:51:18district and and think about that of you

1:51:20know I feel like there is this subset

1:51:22that doesn't get talked about a lot who

1:51:23are youth trying to attend school doing

1:51:26all of the things while also navigating

1:51:27this on their own and I mean certainly

1:51:29it's challenging with a family but I

1:51:31just always feel like I'm curious what

1:51:32that number is of of um our young people

1:51:35who are trying to do this by themselves.

1:51:37>> Yep. Absolutely. We can look at that

1:51:39data point.

1:51:43So, one of the biggest challenges,

1:51:45>> one moment. We just have another

1:51:46question from Mayor Promwin.

1:51:49>> It's a quick ones. I'm very interested.

1:51:52Uh,

1:51:54working off of uh council member what

1:51:56council member Green was asking, does

1:51:58this take into account folks that are uh

1:52:01Mckin Vento homeless like couch surfing,

1:52:05especially when it comes to young

1:52:06people?

1:52:07>> Yes. So, couch surfing, no. Usually our

1:52:10point in time count does not it ites

1:52:13that

1:52:14>> um typically and I apologize I don't

1:52:16know what our point in time count how it

1:52:18works with Mckin Vento but yes usually

1:52:21point in time counts do include those

1:52:23numbers.

1:52:23>> Okay. Um and then uh under uh gender

1:52:29there's a tiny tiny amount and at the

1:52:32end on the right and then it says

1:52:34culturally specific. Is that to mean

1:52:35like twospirit

1:52:37or I mean are you talking about race?

1:52:41>> That is a really great great question.

1:52:43Um I will have to follow up on that

1:52:45because this was data pulled from

1:52:47another report so I'm not quite certain

1:52:49what they referred to specifically in

1:52:51that.

1:52:51>> Oh okay. Sure. And then um when folks

1:52:56are doing uh a point in in time count,

1:53:00how how does one know if it's domestic

1:53:03violence? I mean, unless they do they go

1:53:05up and ask them or

1:53:07>> Yeah.

1:53:08>> Oh, wow.

1:53:10>> Oh, they do it through the the heat

1:53:11assessment, not the

1:53:13>> So,

1:53:13>> walking around

1:53:15>> both. Um, yes. So, the heat assessment

1:53:17is comprehensive and does include

1:53:19questions around domestic violence and

1:53:21um questions around how you became

1:53:24homeless and what were contributing

1:53:25factors. The point in time count has a

1:53:27much shorter list. Um, and so usually

1:53:30sometimes those that data point is

1:53:32pulled from HMIS and then others is it's

1:53:35a short survey and so some of that data

1:53:37is captured through through a a

1:53:38question. So individuals go out and ask

1:53:40these questions to individuals they find

1:53:43on the street.

1:53:44>> Oh, okay. Interesting. And then um do

1:53:47you have racial data as well?

1:53:49>> Yes.

1:53:50>> Okay. [clears throat]

1:53:51>> Not in this slide necessarily, but we do

1:53:53in general track that as well.

1:53:55>> Okay. Thank you.

1:53:57>> Thank you, Ashley. Um I'm curious if you

1:54:00can tell us [cough and clears throat]

1:54:02that. So we're bucking or reversing the

1:54:06trend that we see in terms of the exit

1:54:08to homelessness.

1:54:10What's driving that? Is it just that we

1:54:12have more units or what what's causing

1:54:15that to to change?

1:54:18>> Yep. So I think this is really important

1:54:19to note. It's quarter 2 data. So it's

1:54:22just looking at data from the previous

1:54:25quarter. Um, part of that is probably

1:54:28weather changes. Um, I think also some

1:54:31of that is, um, unit availability, um,

1:54:35tiny home availability. Um, and that

1:54:37unfortunately can be positive where

1:54:39people got housing outcomes. Some of

1:54:41that could be the return to

1:54:42homelessness. Um, and so when we get

1:54:45people in with limited spaces, usually

1:54:48someone left for a good reason or not,

1:54:55which brings me to great segue. Um, the

1:54:58homeless response, you'll hear a term

1:55:00called functional zero. And one of the

1:55:02biggest challenges we have in

1:55:03homelessness is the question around is

1:55:05it working? And I think that's really

1:55:08um, an important question and also one

1:55:10that's really hard to define. And one of

1:55:12the reasons why it's so hard to define

1:55:14is that the inflow into homelessness

1:55:18um and the outflow don't necessarily

1:55:20match. And so if we got 580 people

1:55:24housed tomorrow, but we had 700 people

1:55:26enter homelessness today, that net would

1:55:29be 200 some odd people that are still

1:55:33homeless. So it would seem like we

1:55:35didn't do anything. And so this is one

1:55:37of the most challenging parts about the

1:55:39homeless response system is it's really

1:55:41hard to measure if we're making a

1:55:43difference because we can have all the

1:55:46housing outcomes but if the inflow isn't

1:55:48also stopped and that's where prevention

1:55:50and rental assistance and eviction

1:55:52prevention all of those things come into

1:55:54play. Um and so when we talk about

1:55:56functional zero it's really about um the

1:55:59ability of our system to match the

1:56:01inflow and outflow to create zero. There

1:56:04will never fully be no homelessness

1:56:06ever. Um there never has been in the

1:56:08history of the universe. Um ever, right?

1:56:12It's always been there. But what maybe

1:56:15changes that is that is our system set

1:56:17up so that homelessness is rare and

1:56:19brief. And that really is looking at

1:56:22your functional zero number. And I think

1:56:24this is where from the beginning I said

1:56:26this is an uphill battle and it's

1:56:27becoming harder. And so to prepare you

1:56:30all, our inflow will likely increase in

1:56:32the next year or two or longer as a many

1:56:36people are losing SNAP benefits or other

1:56:39things where that money was utilized for

1:56:41rent and now it's not and they're

1:56:42feeding their family and they're being

1:56:44evicted. And so um we could be doing all

1:56:47the right things and having really great

1:56:49outcomes and also

1:56:52so much of the inflow is just outside of

1:56:55all of our control. And so that's really

1:56:57important to note and really I think if

1:57:00there was ever a talking point for the

1:57:02public it's that that it's really hard

1:57:04to measure if it's working or not um

1:57:07because so much of it is outside of our

1:57:09control.

1:57:13So a couple other key area um things in

1:57:16the last eight years is that we really

1:57:18have expanded shelter and housing

1:57:19capacity. While we have limited space,

1:57:23um some of the key areas is that we've

1:57:26supported Unity Commons shelter and

1:57:27housing. We've established multiple tiny

1:57:30home villages and now two remain Quint

1:57:32Street and France Anderson. Um we've

1:57:34expanded shelter options beyond downtown

1:57:36Olympia. Um and we have um strengthened

1:57:40regional and supportive capacity um

1:57:42overall in a system of many of those

1:57:44things did not exist prior to 2018.

1:57:49Oh, and the bottom one, that's the most

1:57:52recent. We have a now a temporary permit

1:57:54for safe parking um that rolled out and

1:57:57went live this week. So,

1:58:03um we have created an encampment

1:58:06response. Um 500 people have been housed

1:58:08and 14 encampments closed.

1:58:12I don't I haven't looked across the

1:58:13state, but I can tell you that is a

1:58:15pretty amazing number. um the fact that

1:58:19this work has been consistent and it has

1:58:21evolved and changed um but that there is

1:58:24a strategy that is um holding people

1:58:27accountable and also humane and just and

1:58:29compassionate I think is a kudos to all

1:58:32this work not only of our homeless

1:58:33response team but also the work of all

1:58:35of you who have set that standard. Um

1:58:37that is not something that many

1:58:39communities have. um they will just go

1:58:42clear camps and they will um maybe cause

1:58:45more trauma and damage and those people

1:58:48just move everywhere, right? They don't

1:58:50have anywhere to go and so um that is a

1:58:52challenge but also something that this

1:58:55community has ensured does not happen as

1:58:58best their ability.

1:58:59>> Ashley, we have a question or comment

1:59:01from Council Member Green.

1:59:03>> Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Um,

1:59:06so I get asked a lot, uh, is housing

1:59:10first still, is it a failed model? Is it

1:59:13still the right model? I mean, a lot of

1:59:15cities are many years into this work

1:59:16now. Is that still seen as the most

1:59:19effective, most impactful or Yeah,

1:59:24>> I think if we're looking at statistics,

1:59:26the answer is yes. I think the hardest

1:59:28challenge with Housing First is that

1:59:30Housing First was never fully funded.

1:59:32And so it's really hard to look at just

1:59:35one data point and say, is it effective,

1:59:37people still go back to the streets?

1:59:39However, when it's fully funded and it

1:59:40has all the tools it needs, absolutely.

1:59:42Statistically, it is um the best model

1:59:46that we have. Is it perfect? No. And I

1:59:49think that's really the challenge is

1:59:51with any response system, right? Like if

1:59:54we had all the tools we needed, we'd

1:59:56probably have way better outcomes. But

1:59:58>> yeah,

1:59:58>> we all know nothing gets fully funded,

2:00:00right? So, um, and that's just hard. I

2:00:03mean, it's hard to make that happen. You

2:00:05all know you have to make these budget

2:00:06decisions as well. How do you

2:00:07prioritize?

2:00:09>> Thank you.

2:00:12>> And I I also should caveat that with I

2:00:14think a lot of people think housing

2:00:16first is housing only. Um, and I think

2:00:19that housing first models when they're

2:00:21set up right, they actually have

2:00:22wraparound services and the outcomes

2:00:24that you see, even if someone moved into

2:00:26a housing first unit, um, and they maybe

2:00:29were using at that time, usually within

2:00:3160 to 90 days, those individuals have

2:00:34stabilized enough to actually do the

2:00:36work to to make significant life

2:00:38changes. And um, that is one of the

2:00:40things that we have seen in our work as

2:00:43well. Um, and our homeless response team

2:00:45will tell you that as well is that

2:00:46people do um, respond well. And for the

2:00:49most part, we don't see many exits. I

2:00:52won't say none, but sometimes um, I and

2:00:55I don't remember where this data is

2:00:56from, but there's data that shows that

2:00:58it takes five to six times of someone

2:01:01making that decision to re-enter a

2:01:03system before it sticks. And so, um, you

2:01:06know, there's a lot of complicating

2:01:08factors in that.

2:01:12So I think it's really important to know

2:01:14we've closed 14 encampments and one

2:01:16still remains. It is our largest one. Um

2:01:18we believe there is in early estimates

2:01:23about 300. We have now by name list we

2:01:25had um 287 individuals identified. Um

2:01:29that being said we do know that there

2:01:30are some individuals that maybe our team

2:01:32hasn't um confirmed at this point. So

2:01:35it's it is you know upper 280s 290

2:01:39level. Um some really key early data um

2:01:42is that we have as of today I heard 37

2:01:45people housed in I think we started

2:01:48offering housing in August. So in six

2:01:50weeks we have housed 37 individuals. Um

2:01:53so which means we have 240 I'm going to

2:01:56do math here at late at night after a

2:01:58full day of work. What is that? 246

2:02:00individuals now instead of 248. Um and

2:02:03we have completed heat assessments on I

2:02:07think 33. weekend was today's number.

2:02:10Um, and so

2:02:13131. Um, and so obviously we still have

2:02:17more heat assessments to do and we have

2:02:19some heat assessments that have gone

2:02:21inactive, which means we haven't made

2:02:22contact with that person to keep them

2:02:24active on the list. Could be because of

2:02:26a job. Um, maybe they weren't there when

2:02:28our team was there. And so we are

2:02:29working to reactivate about 63

2:02:31individuals as well.

2:02:37Some other key areas in focus area one,

2:02:39and I'm not going to go through all of

2:02:41these, um, is that we really have worked

2:02:43to expand crisis behavioral health and

2:02:45hygiene response. Um, there have been

2:02:47many efforts in this space. Um, one is

2:02:50showers and laundry services through

2:02:52both our tiny homes and then also

2:02:54Sergio's Day Center. Um, one of the

2:02:56grants that our, um, city has had is

2:03:00actually providing, um, uh, and

2:03:03strengthening the trauma response for

2:03:04both our crew teams and our police

2:03:06department, our neighborhood policing.

2:03:08They've received 624 training hours

2:03:11around those key areas. Um, and had 21

2:03:14specialized training sessions covered

2:03:16through that process.

2:03:21Some other key things around economic

2:03:23development that have um occurred since

2:03:252018 is that um there is a journey to

2:03:27jobs that was funded. Um we had 93

2:03:30people enrolled and 22 people gained

2:03:32full-time employment through that

2:03:33program. Um that was funded um with

2:03:36COVID relief dollars. Um one of our

2:03:39sites uh from Xanderson works um

2:03:42directly in a uh workforce development

2:03:45pipeline. Um and then also there have

2:03:48been multiple um efforts and um entities

2:03:52who have stepped into this space to

2:03:54support um the one community plan.

2:04:00So focus area two. Should we pause for

2:04:02questions on one or keep moving?

2:04:10>> I do have some comments that maybe I'll

2:04:12mention now. Um

2:04:13[clears throat and cough]

2:04:15so you had um mentioned the data from

2:04:20the HMIS uh system and I'm just curious

2:04:23about

2:04:26uh reports uh on the data because you

2:04:30said at the top of your presentation

2:04:31that you know hopefully we don't take

2:04:33eight years. I agree. A lot of this data

2:04:36is new.

2:04:38>> Um, and I'm seeing it uh for the first

2:04:40time. And so I my question though around

2:04:44it is you said it's difficult to measure

2:04:46because it's outside of our control in

2:04:49terms of uh the influx that's coming in

2:04:53of of people who are falling into

2:04:54homelessness. My question not really

2:04:57just for you but to all of us really is

2:05:00um you know picture

2:05:05900 people trying to get onto a small

2:05:07lifeboat, right, which is the city of

2:05:10Olympia. At what point do we recognize

2:05:14that our resources are limited

2:05:17[clears throat and cough] and we need to

2:05:18make some policy shifts or adjustments

2:05:21uh to be a little bit more um

2:05:25stable with what our capacity in uh is

2:05:30as an organization. So, um, that's I

2:05:35don't know if that's a rhetorical

2:05:37question for now, but it is just

2:05:38something that I'm thinking about in

2:05:40terms of what this looks like going

2:05:43forward, especially if we're

2:05:44anticipating an increase in the influx

2:05:46in the coming years. Uh, council member

2:05:49Vanderbull,

2:05:50>> I think that's what focus area 2 is

2:05:52really important about is uh thinking

2:05:55about prevention, right? um at the

2:05:58regional housing council. One of the

2:05:59things that was uh right before I got on

2:06:02uh when council member Drum was in my

2:06:04position uh at uh the regional housing

2:06:08council was we were looking at the

2:06:11language around preventing folks from

2:06:12falling into homelessness more or less

2:06:14than we are now. Right? thinking about,

2:06:16you know, how do we how do we uh create

2:06:19the stability in people's lives so that

2:06:22sometimes that's some of that is ten

2:06:24protections. Some of that is um funding

2:06:27to keep people

2:06:30rents from, you know, helping with the

2:06:32rising cost of rents or keeping people

2:06:36um from losing what shelter they have,

2:06:39right? Those are those are the things

2:06:40that I I I think help stop the bleeding

2:06:44in a lot of ways.

2:06:46Um I mean this this last weekend I was

2:06:49at an organizational meeting talking

2:06:51about um social housing and different

2:06:54other models that international use but

2:06:56we don't do as a country. And one of the

2:06:58things that we talked about was the

2:07:00cliff that people run into where the

2:07:03national programs are being cut here in

2:07:06the United States and there or someone

2:07:09will have uh can only make a certain

2:07:12amount of income and then all a sudden

2:07:13they're off the program and then they're

2:07:14in homelessness and now they're in our

2:07:16world, right? And so for me, I think

2:07:19that

2:07:21uh to help stop that

2:07:24I guess the inflow is to think about how

2:07:26do we keep people from falling into it

2:07:28in the first place, right? Um

2:07:31thinking it thinking about it in a

2:07:34proactive way, right? And I also agree

2:07:37that some of it is um some of it is

2:07:40support that we have to ask the state to

2:07:42help us with, right? Realistically,

2:07:45because we are a city. We're not the

2:07:47state government who sets the taxes and

2:07:49sets the priorities on all of these

2:07:50things and funding that we don't have.

2:07:53So, yeah.

2:07:54>> Yeah, thanks for that. I Yeah, I

2:07:57appreciate that perspective in terms of

2:07:59prevention, but I I do think that there

2:08:03are absolutely um factors that are

2:08:06outside of our control. And I think

2:08:08sometimes those conversations are

2:08:10difficult for us to have, right? Because

2:08:13we want to help everyone. But I think

2:08:16there has to be um a reckoning with what

2:08:20is actually realistic for the city um as

2:08:25things continue to potentially get worse

2:08:28uh in this space. And so I just think

2:08:30it's a a conversation worth having. Um

2:08:34Council Member Gilman.

2:08:37>> Thank you, Mayor Payne. Um, I had um

2:08:42similar concerns, but I I uh uh approach

2:08:46it in a slightly different way that I I

2:08:49I don't think that that there's a

2:08:51capacity a carrying capacity limit that

2:08:54we can declare, but I I think that we

2:08:59can shift how we respond if if it's

2:09:02clear that we we will never stand up

2:09:04enough housing sorts of resources to uh

2:09:08to get to that functional zero. And and

2:09:11and so another way of looking at at that

2:09:14same concern about capacity is to say if

2:09:19if our um if our if our resources and

2:09:24our experience to date have shown us

2:09:27that we're we're we're not getting ahead

2:09:30of um new people entering the system.

2:09:34then maybe we're we we put more energy

2:09:36into how we manage the situation, how we

2:09:40create safely shared spaces downtown and

2:09:43that these conversations about helping

2:09:45people navigate a system that doesn't

2:09:47actually have any openings become sort

2:09:50of secondary. So I that's that's what

2:09:52this initial presentation's making me

2:09:54think about.

2:09:57>> Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Gman.

2:10:00Council member Madron,

2:10:03>> just like we can't permit all events, we

2:10:06can't help everybody. Um I I I one of

2:10:08the the comments I just wanted to make

2:10:10in response to um the line of thinking

2:10:12that you are bringing up, mayor, is just

2:10:14the approach to the jungle and just the

2:10:17fact that we've designated the by name

2:10:20list and that is the threshold that we

2:10:23have essentially declared for being able

2:10:25to close that encampment. So, I think

2:10:27we're already in this limited situation

2:10:30heading down that path. Um, but again,

2:10:33you know, that this is one part of our

2:10:35community. Um, and it is a growing

2:10:37crisis. Um, you know, as we were just

2:10:39talking about people losing access to

2:10:41their food benefits, health benefits,

2:10:43things like that. So, um I don't have

2:10:45any specific tangible things uh to offer

2:10:48for you except to say that I see that

2:10:51that is starting to get baked into the

2:10:54uh the approaches that we we have right

2:10:56now. So, um probably a lot more to

2:10:59discuss there, but uh good conversation.

2:11:05>> All right, are we ready to move on?

2:11:08Looks that way. All right, back to you,

2:11:10Ashley. Thanks.

2:11:12All right. So, now uh we're moving into

2:11:14sort of the housing conversation. So,

2:11:16when we look at um homelessness and

2:11:19homeless response, we um and housing, we

2:11:22often refer to it um on a spectrum of

2:11:25housing and the housing continuum, if

2:11:27you will. And so, I wanted to make sure

2:11:29that everyone is aware of when we talk

2:11:31about different definitions and what

2:11:33we're talking about um that we have sort

2:11:35of some baseline um pieces to that. So,

2:11:39one is that housing affordability really

2:11:41is that um all of us need we need

2:11:44housing affordability and that's that we

2:11:45pay less than 30% of our income um in

2:11:49housing and housing related expenses

2:11:50like utilities um homeowners insurance

2:11:53or renters's insurance all of that is

2:11:54baked into that 30%. Um anytime you

2:11:58extend over that you are at risk of

2:12:00losing housing and so um you know if

2:12:03you're at 35% we're considered

2:12:05costburdened. um as you go up to 55%

2:12:09then your household would be extremely

2:12:10costburdened. Um additionally, when

2:12:13we're talking about sort of affordable

2:12:15housing, it is specific housing that is

2:12:18designed to be kept affordable. Um and

2:12:20so those are kind of two different terms

2:12:22that get interchanged a lot. Um but

2:12:24usually affordable housing has one of

2:12:26four or multiple of four key

2:12:28considerations. One is there's some

2:12:29level of subsidy. Um and there's lots of

2:12:32different ways in which that occurs. Um,

2:12:34there is a long-term affordability

2:12:36mechanism, which means that there's a

2:12:38deed restriction or some sort of

2:12:40covenant on that property that requires

2:12:42it to be affordable for 25, 30, 40, or

2:12:44even now we're seeing 99 years across

2:12:47um, communities. Um, and that it it

2:12:50restricts in two ways. One is that it

2:12:53restricts who lives there based on their

2:12:55income um, and their household um, size

2:12:58and income combined. And then the other

2:13:00is that there is a cap on how much rent

2:13:03could be charged um on those units. And

2:13:05so usually one or more of those are in

2:13:08place on an affordable housing unit. Um

2:13:12in this community and also HUD's

2:13:14definitions um we talk about affordable

2:13:17housing as sort of the definition as no

2:13:20more than 30% of your income. We talk

2:13:23about um affordable housing as being

2:13:25incomerestricted household income up to

2:13:2780% AMI. And I'll talk about AMI in just

2:13:30a minute. And then we talk about

2:13:32lowincome housing, which is um housing

2:13:34at 80% and below um household size. Um

2:13:39at the top you'll see, and you'll see

2:13:40this again and again throughout the

2:13:42presentation, but I want to draw

2:13:43attention to it that housing is on a

2:13:45spectrum. And so typically on a housing

2:13:47continuum, you'll only see it go up to

2:13:49usually about 140% AMI. Um that

2:13:52continuum keeps going. And so that's

2:13:54where after 140% AMI, that's where like

2:13:57the Jeff Bezos, I mean it'll go on and

2:13:59on and on, right? Everyone needs

2:14:01affordable housing, some people can just

2:14:03afford more than others, right? Um and

2:14:05so typically in the work that we do, um

2:14:08they go to 140% AMI um and below. And so

2:14:13usually that bracket starting at the

2:14:15lower end, 0 to 30% is typically where

2:14:18we refer to as sort of the homeless

2:14:20services and housing specific to those

2:14:22entities. um that's where shelters are

2:14:24usually the entry point, but then

2:14:26there's permanent supportive housing

2:14:27that falls within that. Um and that's

2:14:30really where the homeless response

2:14:31system falls in. And then affordable

2:14:33housing um begins also it and so there's

2:14:36overlaps here in the system as well that

2:14:38affordable housing can start at 0% AMI,

2:14:41but traditionally it goes up to 60 or

2:14:4380% AMI for rentals. And then in this

2:14:46community, we've defined it up to 80%

2:14:48AMI for home ownership as well, although

2:14:50most communities have broadened that up

2:14:52to 120% AMI. Um, and then you have

2:14:55market rate. And market rate rentals um

2:14:58starts somewhere um usually about 85%

2:15:02AMI and above. Um and then market rate

2:15:05home ownership starts um a little higher

2:15:07up as well. Each community is a little

2:15:10bit different where the market's falling

2:15:11and there's a lot of variables in that,

2:15:12some of which we'll talk about in just a

2:15:14moment.

2:15:15Um, so we talk about AMI. Um, that is

2:15:18area median income. And so that's taking

2:15:21sort of a set point in the middle, the

2:15:23median of your community. There are some

2:15:25flaws to that. One is that you're using

2:15:28the highest and the lowest point and

2:15:29kind of dropping it into the middle.

2:15:31It's not the average, right? And so

2:15:33that's really important to know. Um, is

2:15:35that it's not the community average

2:15:37income.

2:15:40So a couple things to know. What are we

2:15:42talking about when we're talking about

2:15:44area median income and what does that

2:15:45actually look like in our community?

2:15:47This is very small and I apologize.

2:15:49There's no way to put all this data on a

2:15:51slide without it being very small. Um,

2:15:53but you guys all have copies of that and

2:15:55I'm happy to send this out individually.

2:15:57Um, so when we talk about who this is

2:16:00serving, I think it's really important

2:16:01to note that it's probably most

2:16:03communities, most members in our

2:16:05community. Um, and we'll talk about why

2:16:07that is in just a moment, but 60% AMI or

2:16:0980% AMI. um serves people who are um

2:16:14minimum wage workers, home care aids,

2:16:17child care and food service, health care

2:16:18support, um administrative assistants,

2:16:21office administrative professionals,

2:16:23education and community services and

2:16:25skills trade, um excuse me, skilled

2:16:27trades fall within that. And I think the

2:16:30challenging thing is really defining

2:16:32AMI. Um people always want to like who

2:16:34is it affordable to and that depends

2:16:36really on your household size. And

2:16:38that's why it's so complex to define who

2:16:40is it serving and at what price point

2:16:42because for example my household

2:16:44although it's currently five I have six

2:16:46four teenagers um I probably have

2:16:48different household needs and food

2:16:50expenses than a household of one um and

2:16:53so that's why it takes into account

2:16:55household size um and also income level

2:16:59um because a two-bedroom apartment

2:17:01probably it's doable with six people but

2:17:04it's going to be really cramped um and

2:17:06so we may need more bedrooms so we have

2:17:08more income needed um or our food bills

2:17:11higher or etc. I think also it's really

2:17:14important to note that some of these

2:17:15housing prices um are varied. In rentals

2:17:18we go by bedrooms and a two-bedroom can

2:17:20fit four people and it can fit two

2:17:21people um and then whereas a house that

2:17:25you buy um is by square footage and so

2:17:28they're different price points and so

2:17:30that also can change. So on this chart

2:17:32specifically when we talk about

2:17:33affordable housing costs, we're just

2:17:35looking at what the total should be of

2:17:36that income. Whether it doesn't matter

2:17:38if it's rental or home ownership.

2:17:41Um and so let's say a family of four at

2:17:4460% AMI would make 73,680

2:17:48which would be the threshold. Um that

2:17:50means that their affordable

2:17:52um home price um to buy would be

2:17:55236,000.

2:17:57If you could find a house for that

2:17:59cheap, please let me know. um in any

2:18:02community in this state. And then an

2:18:03affordable housing cost um is $1,842.

2:18:08Um and so I I referenced that um because

2:18:11in a moment you're going to see when we

2:18:13put that on a map what that looks like.

2:18:18>> Council member Vanderbolt,

2:18:20[clears throat and cough] excuse me,

2:18:21followed by Council Member Madron.

2:18:24>> Um I just I circled something on this

2:18:27very glad I have a print out of this. uh

2:18:30at uh three person

2:18:34uh I guess in the middle 80% AMI 88,450

2:18:39um at my day job I sometimes look at the

2:18:41stats uh at LNI for for workers and

2:18:46that's about where I would say most

2:18:48state workers sit at um for a family of

2:18:51three one kid two family two two two

2:18:53workers that's uh $284,000

2:18:58home I'm I'm gonna be honest with you. I

2:19:00have not seen a home that low in Olympia

2:19:02in probably well over a decade. And so I

2:19:05just kind of want to point that out to

2:19:06the public that are listening that uh

2:19:09there's we're probably over 100,000 over

2:19:11that right now at this point. So that's

2:19:14just just for

2:19:15>> state to show where we're at right now.

2:19:17Yeah.

2:19:17>> Yeah. State workers, people who work for

2:19:19the state and live in the community. So

2:19:21just kind of put that into perspective.

2:19:23And we're not just talking about people

2:19:24that are working minimum wage. We're

2:19:26talking about people who work for the

2:19:28largest employer.

2:19:30So,

2:19:33>> thanks, Council Member Madron.

2:19:36>> One thing I've always struggled with

2:19:38understanding AMI, and maybe you can

2:19:40help me wrap my head around this, is

2:19:43assumptions around how many people in a

2:19:45household are working. Um, and one of

2:19:48the things I struggle with is you see a

2:19:50two-bedroom apartment that is affordable

2:19:52at, you know, a certain rent. Um, but

2:19:56sometimes there's assumptions built in

2:19:57that there's two people who are going to

2:19:58be working, who are renting that house,

2:20:00but maybe it is a single parent and with

2:20:02two kids looking for, you know, a

2:20:04two-bedroom place. So, could you help me

2:20:06wrap my head around how size and under

2:20:10AMI

2:20:11relates to assumptions around how many

2:20:14of those people in the household are

2:20:16actually working and providing to the

2:20:18household expenses?

2:20:22>> It's not a perfect system. So, I don't

2:20:24know if that's definable. I think when

2:20:26we're looking at household income, we're

2:20:28looking at how many people are in that

2:20:30household and what is their household

2:20:31income. So, it could be three children

2:20:34and one adult. So, it's the assumption

2:20:36there's one income. It could be four

2:20:40adults to be honest. Um, and maybe two

2:20:43of them are disabled and can't work. So,

2:20:45there's they take into consideration

2:20:46when we look at AMI, what is that

2:20:48household income? Um, and where are they

2:20:51sitting at when they apply?

2:20:55Thanks. I'm at the same level of

2:20:56understanding I was before, but you just

2:20:58validated my confusion, so I appreciate

2:21:00it.

2:21:01>> Yeah, [laughter] it's confusing and

2:21:02there's not a perfect system. I wish

2:21:04there was, right? But we have to work

2:21:06within a model that's not built for

2:21:09everything. [clears throat]

2:21:14>> All right, back to you.

2:21:15>> Next slide. Okay. So now this is where

2:21:17this um I also think it's important to

2:21:20note too that um as your household size

2:21:23grows, your income needs to grow as

2:21:26well. And so it may move you down

2:21:27several brackets, right? And so um a

2:21:30fourperson household at 120% AMI, if you

2:21:33added two people um at the same level,

2:21:35you're now at 100% AMI or lower, right?

2:21:39And so um that's really important to

2:21:42note. So some key things

2:21:46This is a very fancy graph that shows

2:21:48what a fourperson household um looks

2:21:51like. So at the top we have the median

2:21:54household income which is always 100%.

2:21:56So 100% AMI for the median um household

2:22:00in theory should be able to support uh

2:22:04funding 370. Remember the median is not

2:22:07the average. Okay. So this is where um

2:22:11the the median household income should

2:22:13be. Um, current home ownership prices

2:22:16are about 683,000.

2:22:19So about three times what a government

2:22:21state employee could afford, if you

2:22:24will. Um, and then the average household

2:22:28income though, so I did put the average

2:22:30is around 1985,

2:22:33um, is what they could afford. Um, so

2:22:36their monthly income, sorry I said this

2:22:38wrong, is 21.42.

2:22:40uh then their their rental rate should

2:22:43be about 1985.

2:22:46It's important to note that 60% AMI in

2:22:49theory, if you look at where it's

2:22:51falling and where market rent is

2:22:53falling, it's substantially lower than

2:22:54the average household income, which is

2:22:56good, right? But that doesn't mean

2:22:58there's not an affordability gap because

2:23:00averages still account for substantially

2:23:03lower household incomes as well. Um,

2:23:08and so I think it's also really

2:23:10important to note that the average

2:23:11household income, and this is I think

2:23:13the point that council member Vanderpool

2:23:15was getting at, was that our average

2:23:16household income is sitting at about 70%

2:23:19AMI, which means it's substantially

2:23:21lower and the gap has increased even

2:23:24more in affordability. One of the

2:23:26reasons why this chart I think reflects

2:23:28that the market rate and the um

2:23:3460% AMI rental rate are so close is

2:23:37simply because we have so many housing

2:23:38units coming online and we've kept a

2:23:40pretty healthy vacancy rate as a

2:23:42community. When we add more units to a

2:23:45housing market, it helps keep that

2:23:46affordability and market rate lower

2:23:48versus communities with incredibly low

2:23:50vacancy rates. They'll see those prices

2:23:52escalate exponentially. So, the

2:23:54community I just came from has a 10-year

2:23:56vacancy rate of 1.9%.

2:23:58This community sits at 5.6.

2:24:01Um, which is exponentially different.

2:24:03And so, um, whereas here we see a bigger

2:24:07escalation in home prices because

2:24:10there's less homes entering the market

2:24:12overall. And so, I think it's really

2:24:13important to know that the economy and

2:24:15how things are funded really do impact

2:24:17different parts of that housing

2:24:19continuum.

2:24:25So usually there are three key things in

2:24:27housing. The goals in housing and

2:24:29creating um units is kind of three-fold.

2:24:32There are three tools that we use that

2:24:34fall within three buckets. One is

2:24:35preservation. So how do we maintain and

2:24:37protect existing housing. Um, if we're

2:24:40looking at what's happened to our

2:24:41housing market, um, one of the key

2:24:44things that's happened is many of our

2:24:45affordable units, meaning deed

2:24:48restricted, um, rental restricted, is

2:24:50that many of those expired. There is an

2:24:52expiration date when those deed

2:24:54restrictions expire. Um, many of those

2:24:56expired in the 80s and 90s and so we

2:24:58lost and are still hemorrhaging. I think

2:25:01in the next 10 years, they estimate like

2:25:02somewhere close to a thousand units in

2:25:04our affordable housing market across the

2:25:06United States. Um so preserving those

2:25:08units is really important.

2:25:10Producing new units. So one of the key

2:25:13things in why everyone has experienced

2:25:16um this cliff into homelessness in every

2:25:19almost every city across the country um

2:25:22is that we have are still in a recovery

2:25:25mode from the 2008 um housing crisis and

2:25:29we're having the opposite problem as we

2:25:31did then. So back then we had too many

2:25:33units on the market. Um and those units

2:25:36were overvalued, overpriced, and they

2:25:38weren't they didn't hold their value

2:25:40because there was too many. So then it

2:25:43has taken us almost 30 years to get back

2:25:46to the level of production that we had

2:25:48back then and it didn't keep pace with

2:25:50the needs. And part of that's because

2:25:52we've had reforms around finance. Um we

2:25:55also have less risk. So banks aren't

2:25:57wanting to finance the same way they

2:25:58were before. Part of that's because of

2:26:00regulation, but a lot of that also is um

2:26:04because of um the risk management piece

2:26:07that they just can't finance the same

2:26:09level. So, some of that is built in.

2:26:11We've also um had some zoning changes in

2:26:14our country and and work around that.

2:26:16So, many of those thing all those things

2:26:18together combine um really um affect the

2:26:21production of new units. Um and the last

2:26:24piece to the key goals in housing is to

2:26:26stabilize. So helping people obtain and

2:26:29maintain housing. Um part of that's that

2:26:32inflow piece. That's one component of

2:26:34it. So some key areas in those things um

2:26:38is that one of the most impressive

2:26:40things is that there was a goal I

2:26:42believe it was 384 units in 5 years. And

2:26:46this community has helped fund far

2:26:48exceeding that goal. Um if you looked at

2:26:52um we'll look at the the slide in a

2:26:54minute, but we'll show sort of what that

2:26:56has looked like and and that the

2:26:57community has exceeded its goal in that

2:26:59space. Um the investments in affordable

2:27:01housing have expanded. So there's been

2:27:03new housing, preserving existing

2:27:05housing, home ownership, um new domestic

2:27:07violence housing, homeless prevention,

2:27:09rental assistance are all key

2:27:10investments in that work. And then this

2:27:13committee has worked to remove barriers.

2:27:15So, faster and clearer permitting

2:27:17processes, reduced fees, updated

2:27:19policies, streamline emergency

2:27:21declaration processes. Those are all key

2:27:24things that really reduce barriers

2:27:26overall. Um, and then our housing

2:27:28options have diversified. Prior to 2018,

2:27:31um, there were few entities building

2:27:33permanent supportive housing or

2:27:34affordable housing and we've expanded

2:27:36that effort in this community. Um, and

2:27:39then prevention and housing stability.

2:27:40So, some key areas really that have been

2:27:43targeted is stronger tenant protections

2:27:45and rental assistance programs, home

2:27:47repair, those are all key things that

2:27:49help really um create stability and

2:27:53prevent people from entering

2:27:54homelessness.

2:27:57So, when we look at our housing

2:27:58continuum, I think it's really

2:28:00important, especially as we talk about

2:28:01all these different things, is that

2:28:03there are different tools to be used

2:28:05across the housing continuum. And so on

2:28:08the lower AMI, it probably requires a

2:28:10lot more tools. Um, it requires multiple

2:28:13stacks of tools, if you will. Um, and so

2:28:15public assistance is needed, subsidies.

2:28:17Um, and more subsidies are needed on

2:28:19that end because the amount of rent that

2:28:21you can collect is substantially less.

2:28:22So you can't get a mortgage for that

2:28:25like you could a home. Um, you have less

2:28:27that you could mortgage because your

2:28:29longgoing operating is much lower. And

2:28:31then at the higher end market rate,

2:28:33there are tools that we use to open up

2:28:35housing at that end too, which really

2:28:37does help all of housing along. Like I

2:28:39said about vacancy rate, some of that is

2:28:41really important. Um, if you create a

2:28:44bottleneck at market rate, uh, what ends

2:28:47up happening also is that people who

2:28:49could afford more always will pay less

2:28:52and the market caters to them which

2:28:54raises prices as well. And so it is

2:28:56really important you have tools all

2:28:58along the continuum that are helping in

2:29:00different spaces. And so some of those

2:29:02tools like I said are subsidies and more

2:29:04of them on the left side. And as you

2:29:06move up um some really great tools that

2:29:09really target that market rate and sort

2:29:11of the home ownership affordable space

2:29:13is land use and zoning tools which

2:29:15really can help supply and

2:29:16affordability.

2:29:19And I wanted to frame it in that space

2:29:20so you can actually see the tools that

2:29:22we have in our next slides and how

2:29:23they're helping along the continuum.

2:29:26So some produce um or production tools

2:29:29that we use in our community here is

2:29:30land use and zoning. So we've um changed

2:29:33our ADU code. We have middle housing

2:29:35implementation happening. We've changed

2:29:37our processes. Um we have incentives. So

2:29:41those development incentives that we've

2:29:43created, the exemptions for impact fees,

2:29:47um the infrastructure support, uh local

2:29:50housing funding. So that's really like I

2:29:52said that in that lower AMI, you have to

2:29:54have more in that capital stack that's

2:29:56not a loan. So those grants really help

2:29:58to support the ongoing um piece of that

2:30:01housing unit. Uh land and site control,

2:30:04so that's um strategic acquisition or

2:30:06land banking or public lands that are

2:30:08used for housing. Um, and so as we stack

2:30:11all these tools together is really where

2:30:14we're seeing that unit production

2:30:15increase. Um, and some of them only need

2:30:18one or two tools and others need

2:30:19substantially more. Um, so I won't go

2:30:23through all of these, but you can kind

2:30:25of see that all of these tools um, work

2:30:28together. Um, I kind of call it the

2:30:30affordable housing setting the table.

2:30:32Um, and some of these tools work in sync

2:30:34together. So, for example, if you're

2:30:35setting the table for Thanksgiving and

2:30:37you put gravy on the table, but nothing

2:30:39else, gravy is a great part of the meal,

2:30:42but unless you had mashed potatoes or

2:30:44turkey or something else, it may not be

2:30:46the best tool at the moment. And so,

2:30:48some of the tools kind of work better

2:30:50together, if that makes sense.

2:30:53So, then the preservation tools that we

2:30:55have, rehab and repair, adaptive reuse,

2:30:57long-term affordability mechanisms, um

2:31:00our rental registry is a preservation

2:31:03tool. uh creating financial incentives

2:31:06work kind of in every bucket depending

2:31:08on the incentive. Um policy and

2:31:10regulation tools work again in every

2:31:12bucket. It's sort of like the baseline.

2:31:14Um tenant protections, code enforcement,

2:31:18and property maintenance are also tools

2:31:20in the preservation bucket that we have

2:31:23utilized and created many different

2:31:26outcomes and responses to

2:31:30in the stabiliz. There's also um unique

2:31:33tools to that. So um coordinated entry,

2:31:37crisis response, outreach coordination,

2:31:40um rapid rehousing, giving people

2:31:43services, tenant protections can be a

2:31:45part of that. Uh rental assistance,

2:31:48housing stability services like case

2:31:50management, eviction prevention, um

2:31:53housing dispute resolution. Um all of

2:31:55those are stabilization that keep that

2:31:57inflow from occurring.

2:32:03So if we're looking at the grand scheme

2:32:05of what we have done in this community,

2:32:08I think it's really important that um

2:32:10when we look at the city of Olympia

2:32:12projects, and this is not a

2:32:13comprehensive list by any means. Um

2:32:17but these are not only funded by city of

2:32:20Olympia but also our regional efforts as

2:32:22well. Um and we got there much further

2:32:25and faster with that regional support

2:32:27than we would have elsewhere. Um and so

2:32:29we have um if you look there's also a

2:32:33difference between completed units and

2:32:35pipeline. Some of these units may have

2:32:37already had subsidies stacked up or um

2:32:40support offered or have incentives lined

2:32:42up. They just haven't been developed

2:32:44fully yet. So they're in the queue in

2:32:46the pipeline if you will. Um and so um

2:32:49also it's really important to note that

2:32:51our funding is pulled regionally and

2:32:53that means that regionally we've also

2:32:54supported units across the board. Um,

2:33:00hang on. I have

2:33:02I think it's my next slide, but I want

2:33:03to pull out my notes here because I

2:33:05think you guys might have some questions

2:33:06on it. Oh, maybe not. Okay, so in total,

2:33:10if you add all of this up,

2:33:14and of course, I'm assuming none of you

2:33:16were doing back at the table math, but

2:33:18this equals 1880 units either completed

2:33:22or in the pipeline in the next 3 to four

2:33:24years.

2:33:26That is a huge um outcome. Yes.

2:33:30What is the timeline for completed

2:33:31projects?

2:33:34Like because because when I look at uh

2:33:36like permanent supportive housing, I

2:33:38mean I I I don't see Unity Commons on

2:33:40here or or anything like that. So

2:33:42where's where's the timeline for when

2:33:44we're considering

2:33:46completed projects?

2:33:49>> Um a typical development cycle is

2:33:51usually three to five years.

2:33:54>> Yeah. Um, I guess my question is how far

2:33:56back are we looking?

2:33:58>> Um, this is I believe since 2018.

2:34:01>> Since 2018. Okay. Okay.

2:34:04Thanks.

2:34:16>> Yeah. I I'm just picking up what you're

2:34:17saying that like uni commas pro probably

2:34:19should be on here potentially.

2:34:24These are just examples. It's not a

2:34:26comprehensive list, so I just Yeah, I

2:34:28pulled a few. Um I do have a

2:34:30comprehensive list. Um it just printed

2:34:32in like 0.5 font, so I didn't want to

2:34:36hand it out to you and then you're like,

2:34:37what does that say? So I apologize, but

2:34:40I will do um better showing that.

2:34:44>> Council member Gellman,

2:34:47>> thank you. I I just wanted to ask about

2:34:49the the 1,800 units. I I understand that

2:34:53that's that's good progress. Um there

2:34:57was a question asked last night at the

2:34:59Coalition of Neighborhood Associations

2:35:01about how does this progress measure

2:35:04against our stated housing objectives

2:35:07that we set in the last comp plan and

2:35:10against population increase? How how do

2:35:14we know whether we're making progress

2:35:16against either need or goals?

2:35:20>> Great question. So, those are goals

2:35:22primarily found in our housing action

2:35:24plan. So, um we will I will include that

2:35:27some of that data in the comprehensive

2:35:29report. Um I don't have that exact

2:35:32number today. Um but we have identified

2:35:34that number and also identified what

2:35:36units along the spectrum I believe that

2:35:38we need.

2:35:45All right, additional comments. Council

2:35:47member Vanderpool.

2:35:48>> Yeah, I'm gonna kind of point out a few

2:35:50things I I saw along the way that I

2:35:52think are very I think are very

2:35:54important to bring up uh as we went

2:35:56through uh civilization preservation and

2:35:59uh uh to produce more units. um is uh uh

2:36:05is is the landm strategy that we're

2:36:06working on is one of those items. Um

2:36:10being deliberate about how we take land

2:36:12that we've purchased as a city and turn

2:36:14it into affordable housing. Having that

2:36:16like that that that pipeline. It's

2:36:18something that we've you gave us a

2:36:19presentation on at land use last month.

2:36:22And I think that that's something that

2:36:24will help us, especially if we work with

2:36:26some of our, uh, I guess, uh, non-market

2:36:30development,

2:36:32nonprofits,

2:36:33uh, uh, land trusts and whatnot to get

2:36:36those units going. I think that's a

2:36:39that's a strategy to to continue to to

2:36:42use. And I think that um

2:36:46uh ultimately I think another another

2:36:49strategy that isn't that's a little

2:36:51outside the city of Olympia but is

2:36:52something that I've heard over and over

2:36:54again that could help us as a city reach

2:36:57that affordability is something like a

2:36:59state bank to help fund some of those

2:37:02projects that we're not achieving now.

2:37:04Right? Um the idea from folks that have

2:37:07been advocating for that to the state

2:37:08legislature is to take all the cities

2:37:11and counties and the state government

2:37:12have all the funding not in private

2:37:14banks but in a public bank that could

2:37:16produce the lower interest rates faster

2:37:19to get the projects moving for those

2:37:21affordable units that were lacking to

2:37:23get get the needs met. It's something

2:37:25that I I I'm going to continue to

2:37:27advocate as something that we need to

2:37:30really think about as we talk to the

2:37:32legislature in the next few years

2:37:33because that's growing in in need. Um

2:37:36because ultimately I think the outcome

2:37:39as I look at this affordable housing

2:37:40tool is to start develop thinking about

2:37:43the development of housing that is mixed

2:37:45income. um that has all of these

2:37:48different groups in in the housing unit

2:37:50itself and in the uh apartment building

2:37:52or um or condo building or however you

2:37:55want to go about calling it. Um in order

2:37:58to meet all the needs in the same places

2:38:00as as we grow as a city because we don't

2:38:03have a lot of

2:38:05we don't have a lot of land bank parcels

2:38:07and if we're going to be looking at

2:38:09strategically meeting all of these needs

2:38:11we we probably should be looking at the

2:38:13mixed income side of things. Um, I think

2:38:16the other part of this that I'm um I

2:38:19made note of when we were talking about

2:38:21preservation is the uh are things that

2:38:24have were that were created prior to us

2:38:26being involved. So like um LITC

2:38:30developments that have expired over time

2:38:32is a concern of mine as a city. um when

2:38:36the LITC developments are, you can

2:38:39correct me if I'm wrong, uh but federal

2:38:41projects that have been created for

2:38:43affordable housing that eventually

2:38:45expire and then go onto the private

2:38:47market and it's lost housing that was

2:38:50originally designed for affordability.

2:38:52That's something that not a lot of

2:38:54cities have a plan for and will

2:38:56inevitably continue to happen. Um

2:38:58especially with a federal administration

2:39:00that doesn't seem to have a value in

2:39:02that. So, um, yeah, those are just a

2:39:05couple points I I notes I made along the

2:39:07way.

2:39:11>> Thanks. Uh, city manager Bernie,

2:39:14>> just a side note that if former council

2:39:15member Cooper were watching right now

2:39:17and he just heard you mention State

2:39:18Bank, he just yelled yes at the TV set.

2:39:21[laughter]

2:39:24>> All right, back to you, Ashley.

2:39:26>> Perfect.

2:39:28>> So, focus area three, public health and

2:39:30safety.

2:39:32I should also mention this is probably

2:39:34um because you just had a reimagining

2:39:37public safety presentation. I did not

2:39:39include very much in this because I

2:39:41think many of these things were recently

2:39:42discussed and it's sort of a duplicative

2:39:45um effort as I mentioned in the

2:39:47beginning.

2:39:49But some really key things specific to

2:39:50homelessness is that um as I mentioned

2:39:53we have increased our crisis response.

2:39:55um our community resource unit, familiar

2:39:58faces and OFD cares programs um all have

2:40:01really supported the efforts around um

2:40:04trauma-informed care and really meeting

2:40:06people where they are and reducing um

2:40:09some of the um the the trauma around um

2:40:12a police response or those types of

2:40:15situations. Um as I mentioned

2:40:17previously, we've strengthened training

2:40:19and capacity. Uh we've connected people

2:40:22to services. These numbers right here

2:40:24are not comprehensive by any means. Um,

2:40:26but the 91 clients served is just one

2:40:28funding source that we had data on um,

2:40:31to date. We don't have, like I said,

2:40:32data on everything, but we do have some.

2:40:34And so that was one funding source. Um,

2:40:38improved coordination. Um, our homeless

2:40:40response team, like I mentioned in the

2:40:42beginning, is working um, with our

2:40:44neighborhood police, our crew, um,

2:40:46particularly on the jungle. Um, all of

2:40:48those efforts are sort of building

2:40:50together. Um, and then we've advanced

2:40:52public safety strategies. Our

2:40:54reimagining public safety is an effort

2:40:56that supports this work. Um, and that

2:40:58creates more um, health and safety for

2:41:01our unhoused community.

2:41:04More specifically, I wanted to take an

2:41:05opportunity today to talk about the

2:41:06Livboard program that was developed to

2:41:09reduce encampments, but that um, has

2:41:11some really great data that that I was

2:41:14able to pull. Um, one is that, um, you

2:41:17can see here over time, um, and our live

2:41:20aboard program, I should mention that

2:41:21that is through, um, when we when we get

2:41:24reports of someone living in a vehicle

2:41:27um, or in a tent, um, that report goes

2:41:30to our staff and they make a um, they go

2:41:32out to that um, person, that unit um,

2:41:35and make contact and then they are

2:41:37trying to provide them with referrals

2:41:38and resources um, and then also complete

2:41:42those heat assessments and get them onto

2:41:44that coordinated entry list for housing.

2:41:46Um, and then we do ask those um,

2:41:50individuals to move their vehicle um,

2:41:52and to also move their vehicles where

2:41:55there's no other vehicles within I think

2:41:56it's 500 ft. And I apologize because I

2:41:58didn't is it 500? I think that feels

2:42:01right. Yeah. Um, and then if they're not

2:42:04compliant with those things, we do refer

2:42:06them to parking enforcement. Um, and we

2:42:08have a no fee ticket process. And so

2:42:10after the third no fee ticket process,

2:42:12that vehicle is towed. And so that is

2:42:14where um we do ask for their compliance

2:42:17and to work within the system but also

2:42:19we do have sort of an accountability

2:42:20mechanism which is another one of the

2:42:22strategies within this plan as well. Um

2:42:25so some really fascinating data points

2:42:28as you can see is um in 2023 we had um

2:42:32five or we had 180 cases um opened uh we

2:42:37had 527 cases in total. In 2023 we had

2:42:41inspections. we had 537 inspections and

2:42:44then each year those have substantially

2:42:46dropped. Um the average case uh length

2:42:50is when we get that complaint and we are

2:42:53working on referrals and resources until

2:42:56it's closed. Um that average case length

2:42:59also has shrunk and so the amount of

2:43:00time people are um kind of impacting our

2:43:04community and also the volume has shrunk

2:43:06each year.

2:43:08Um we've seen the 71 decrease in case

2:43:11volume uh 64% resolution time um

2:43:15increase and then um just the sheer

2:43:18volume of cases overall uh and and you

2:43:21can see up in the top the types. So 71%

2:43:24were live aboard vehicles, 26% were

2:43:27tents or structures and then 3% was an

2:43:30encampment outreach specifically.

2:43:38City Manager Bernie.

2:43:39>> Yeah, thank you. I was just whispering

2:43:41in the mayor's ear that, you know, we've

2:43:43made a lot of progress in lots of areas.

2:43:45The Livboards is an area that we put a

2:43:47lot of time and energy across department

2:43:49into and we're really seeing the

2:43:52benefits of that. Um it's not that we

2:43:54don't still get some concerns. We don't

2:43:56still have some of the boards, but where

2:43:57we are compared to where we were just a

2:43:59couple years ago is is remarkable

2:44:01improvement in terms of um we're because

2:44:04of that we're able to allocate our

2:44:06resources to other things like the

2:44:08jungle. The jungle can get a lot more

2:44:09attention because we're not dealing with

2:44:12180 liaborts.

2:44:13So anyway, I just I know you're all

2:44:15seeing that, but I just it's just worth

2:44:16mentioning.

2:44:19>> I think also it's important to note that

2:44:21we do provide additional support. So, if

2:44:23one of the reasons why people are stuck

2:44:24on the side of the road is because they

2:44:25don't have gas, we do um have some

2:44:27outreach dollars. We provide resources

2:44:29as needed for um that type of situation.

2:44:38We've talked a lot about challenges, so

2:44:39I won't spend a lot of time on this. Um

2:44:41we've talked about staff capacity. Um we

2:44:44have had staff turnover um and a and a

2:44:46large amount in our staff in the last 5

2:44:48years. Um, I think that's really, you

2:44:51know, the risk of of burnout is high in

2:44:53this work. Um, and so I don't think it's

2:44:55necessarily anything that we have

2:44:56specifically done. I think that is kind

2:44:58of the nature of the work. But I do

2:45:00think there are improvements overall

2:45:01that we can make um, just in general.

2:45:05Um, as with anything, um, I think, you

2:45:08know, as we see shrinking state and

2:45:10federal resources to this work, that is

2:45:12a challenge um, that's going to be

2:45:13continued. um we have more need and

2:45:16fewer resources and higher economic

2:45:19pressure impacting lower inome

2:45:21households. Um and so we have more

2:45:23people need help while we have fewer

2:45:25resources to respond. So I think really

2:45:27um prioritizing an impact is a really

2:45:29important piece of this puzzle. Um and I

2:45:32am absolutely not saying that we stop

2:45:34doing anything we're doing, but I'm

2:45:35saying the reality is that um it may not

2:45:39be having the same impact as it once did

2:45:41because the inflow is increasing.

2:45:44So some opportunities that we have um is

2:45:47you know whenever there's no funding

2:45:49sometimes that really just means uh

2:45:52innovation and um doing differently with

2:45:55the same resources and so um uh that can

2:45:59look like innovative funding models um

2:46:01strengthening our the foundation. And I

2:46:03think in the beginning, you know, how we

2:46:05got here, we've been very um responsive.

2:46:08And one of the things that we have an

2:46:09opportunity to do is to sort of um

2:46:12change the model from reactive to

2:46:14proactive. Um so some of these things

2:46:16that we've been doing are more proactive

2:46:18like the liverboard program. Um but

2:46:20other things we have an opportunity to

2:46:21look at at what funding is available and

2:46:24to sort of align or prioritize maybe

2:46:27possibly by funding sources um or

2:46:30looking at what is being funded and

2:46:32align where our needs are with that

2:46:34funding source as well. Um I also think

2:46:36that there are some really innovative

2:46:38approaches across the country that are

2:46:40happening with lower resources whether

2:46:42that is um looking at how we utilize

2:46:44ADUs or safe parking or different models

2:46:47and housing types that are um springing

2:46:50up out of that need for innovation. Um I

2:46:53also think that um it it would you know

2:46:56advocacy is a huge part of this work. Um

2:46:59and a huge request to all of you um as

2:47:02you work with legislators and in our

2:47:04community is advocating for the things

2:47:06that this community needs to to continue

2:47:09doing the work um and to advocate for

2:47:12funding. Um especially in this work, you

2:47:14know, one of the the challenges is there

2:47:16are costs with not doing the work and

2:47:18there are costs with doing the work,

2:47:19right? And the cost of doing the work is

2:47:21substantially lower than the cost of not

2:47:24doing the work. Um you know so the

2:47:27community is going to spend that in many

2:47:30different ways differently right and so

2:47:33advocating for the way in which um is

2:47:36prevention and helpful versus just

2:47:38reactive is is one of those ways. Um

2:47:41and I think it's also an opportunity for

2:47:43us to sort of um look at our data and to

2:47:46say um you know for example um community

2:47:50solutions which works on the

2:47:52foundational built for zero model um

2:47:54there are committees who have

2:47:56essentially created a zero net um in

2:47:59their system and one of the ways in

2:48:00which they do that is to target certain

2:48:02demographics within that. So veterans is

2:48:04one across the country that is um

2:48:06identified and that's why we see such

2:48:08low numbers is that that has been um

2:48:11sort of a response but there's other

2:48:12methods and other communities are doing

2:48:14it whether it's people above the age of

2:48:1565 or people experiencing domestic

2:48:18violence. And so one of the ways in

2:48:19which we can strengthen that is to

2:48:21identify certain demographics and what

2:48:23part of the system might need some

2:48:25adjustments and help creating um a

2:48:28better system response if you will.

2:48:33So tonight we have um some prompts for

2:48:36you. We definitely don't have to cover

2:48:38these all, but these are really just

2:48:39kind of questions around where do you

2:48:42want to see data? We've talked a little

2:48:43bit about some of those things. Um what

2:48:45does success look like? Especially

2:48:47knowing that some of it's outside of our

2:48:49control, but how would we define that as

2:48:51a community or as a as a city? Um what

2:48:54do you see as most important? What

2:48:56should we measure? What key data points

2:48:58would be helpful to know what we're

2:48:59doing is effective or efficient? Um,

2:49:02what would you like to see as a report?

2:49:04Um,

2:49:06are we measuring outcomes that matter?

2:49:08Where are the gaps? What what

2:49:09information is missing? We've talked

2:49:11about some of those things. Um, and then

2:49:14if we came back in a year, what is it

2:49:16that you want to see? We've made

2:49:17progress on. Um, so that's a lot, but

2:49:21I'll turn that over to all of you.

2:49:26Any thoughts as of now? If not, I have

2:49:29some. Okay. Council member Vanderpool,

2:49:32>> this is why everyone should have coffee

2:49:34before their meeting. I'm kidding. Um

2:49:38uh so [snorts]

2:49:42um

2:49:44I think when I think about success, I

2:49:46think of I think of this in two stages,

2:49:48right? So much of our response is is

2:49:51both regional and then the city of

2:49:53Olympia, right? So I think for myself I

2:49:56think of the fact that um much of the

2:50:00success work is our regional approach,

2:50:03the regional housing council and other

2:50:05efforts. Um how how we find funding to

2:50:11close the jungle, getting the state

2:50:13support hopefully for that. Those are

2:50:15things that I I I consider successes in

2:50:17in in the near term and in the next five

2:50:20years, right? being able to successfully

2:50:23uh uh house and close that encampment

2:50:26would make a a significant improvement

2:50:28on the community. Um but I also think uh

2:50:33as a on the uh um land use environment

2:50:36side is the continue as we continue to

2:50:39work on policies as a city on on the

2:50:41stuff that we can do around zoning

2:50:43reform around um uh trying to find ways

2:50:48to work with our nonprofit builders and

2:50:52developers to get housing built in the

2:50:54community. and continuing to think about

2:50:55different ideas and what we can do to

2:50:58get that outcome going around

2:51:01uh the around the city of Olympia. So I

2:51:05when I think of the those two levels, I

2:51:07think homeless response is the regional

2:51:09and I think housing policy around uh

2:51:13affordability is the city of Olympia.

2:51:15And I think trying to that's how I think

2:51:18of it being the chair of both of those

2:51:20things. So, um I would say that success

2:51:27regionally is is getting the jungle

2:51:30closed and those folks housed. Um that's

2:51:33number one. City of Olympia, I think it

2:51:36is continuing to work on those policies

2:51:38that our staff have been very successful

2:51:40at for the last 5 years and I'm

2:51:42consistently um uh surprised by some of

2:51:45the ideas that come by and I and I think

2:51:48we should they continue to support that.

2:51:50Right. and um burnout was brought up and

2:51:53I want to make sure that we are

2:51:55continuing to support those policies

2:51:57that help um our nonprofit community get

2:52:01that housing built as they are looking

2:52:04at a world where they may not have the

2:52:06same level of funding or they're looking

2:52:08for new ways to think about things. So,

2:52:11um those are the two kind of successes I

2:52:14think of

2:52:16broadly speaking.

2:52:20Thank you, Council Member Gilman.

2:52:30Thank you. Um, for me, success is when

2:52:36we're when there's a a a place that's

2:52:38okay for those 7,500 people who are in

2:52:41our system to be uh both during the day

2:52:44and at night. Um, I I don't believe that

2:52:49the livabboard program was proactive. I

2:52:52think it was a response to housed

2:52:55people's uh complaints and being

2:52:58uncomfortable with the live aboard

2:53:00vehicles, but it it it was not a program

2:53:03to serve those people who were living in

2:53:05vehicles. Um and similarly, closing the

2:53:08jungle is is really about a combination

2:53:12of an opportunity of funding and um

2:53:15public pressure from the visible blight

2:53:18of those structures, but not about um

2:53:21addressing the needs of folks. So, I I I

2:53:25guess that my my ver my visions of

2:53:28success have to do with um finding a way

2:53:32that

2:53:34people can feel safe and that there's

2:53:36some physical space that it's okay for

2:53:38them to be in both day and night. Um,

2:53:41and then I I think in terms of

2:53:45actions as we move forward that of

2:53:48course we want to continue to to uh be

2:53:50successful in competing for section 8

2:53:54vouchers for housing trust fund

2:53:56resources

2:53:58for the encampment resolution program

2:54:00resources and and also to remain open to

2:54:05um taking a chance on pioneering new

2:54:08models um new approaches is uh that that

2:54:12aren't part of the sort of standard

2:54:15recipe um from those those funders of

2:54:20affordable housing right now. Um, I just

2:54:22I I think in a time um of such

2:54:26exacerbated

2:54:27economic inequality and government

2:54:30pulling away from supporting the common

2:54:32good that we're going to have to be open

2:54:34to all sorts of things as as Robert had

2:54:37mentioned a couple um a state bank and

2:54:41using more land banking and and and

2:54:44reconsidering again what our standards

2:54:47are for construction and what makes a

2:54:49housing unit. I I just think all of that

2:54:51is going to be important and I I hope

2:54:54that rather than getting just a data

2:54:55update that next year we can launch a

2:54:59reconsideration

2:55:00of now that we have dedicated staff

2:55:04funding stream and eight years of

2:55:06experience. Can we start again start

2:55:10over again by looking at what are the

2:55:12issues and what are the needs? Um that's

2:55:15that's my hope.

2:55:20Thank you, Council Member Gilman.

2:55:22Additional comments,

2:55:24Council Member Barrett.

2:55:27>> Thank you. I um

2:55:29I just have some kind of train of

2:55:31thoughts, ideas about this, but uh it's

2:55:34getting late, but I uh I I I think

2:55:38dwelling try to study these issues uh as

2:55:43much as I can. One of the things I feel

2:55:46is that um that uh you know in the 40

2:55:51years I've lived in the community, the

2:55:53homelessness has always been a piece of

2:55:55the community.

2:55:57Uh I I I think I first really became

2:56:00tuned into homelessness in Olympia in

2:56:021988

2:56:05uh when I witnessed a man at a phone

2:56:08booth that was in the next phone booth

2:56:10over than me with a small child wrapped

2:56:13around his leg trying to find a place to

2:56:15live that night for he and his family.

2:56:19Um but I also at the same time even

2:56:21though it's been here forever I I I also

2:56:24kind of think that we have this

2:56:25mentality that um homelessness is only

2:56:29temporary. You know if we can just kind

2:56:31of take care of people right now it's

2:56:33going to go away in a few years and

2:56:35it'll be better because of various

2:56:37things. And I think we need to change

2:56:39our thinking about certain things to

2:56:41make it um to incre to to build

2:56:45permanent plans into every facet of what

2:56:48the city does to address uh permanent

2:56:52homelessness assuming that it's going to

2:56:55be a permanent uh fixture as opposed to

2:56:58a temporary one. Um and we do some of

2:57:02that. We do some of that but uh but this

2:57:06is what I believe. Uh I think progress

2:57:08is being made. The uh uh thank you

2:57:12Ashley for this presentation. I thought

2:57:14it was comprehensive. It's a you know my

2:57:18limited time on the council. It's just a

2:57:21very great comprehensive look at

2:57:23everything that's going on and and I I

2:57:24thank you for pulling that together. I

2:57:27think we need to also always understand

2:57:30that we don't have an unlimited ability

2:57:33to address the magnitude of the problem.

2:57:36And so we've got to use good judgment in

2:57:38in how we go about uh prioritizing our

2:57:42um

2:57:44our prioritizing addressing the

2:57:46problems. Um I uh

2:57:52uh you know

2:57:55state and federal people may be able to

2:57:58help us to some extent, but

2:58:00[clears throat] they may not either. And

2:58:03so we've got to think pragmatically

2:58:05about what we can and can't accomplish

2:58:07and and act accordingly and understand

2:58:10that that um homelessness affects every

2:58:14facet of the city.

2:58:17Um,

2:58:20one thing that I

2:58:22u I worry about on this issue is that um

2:58:27this kind of a marketdriven problem.

2:58:30Uh

2:58:32forces beyond our control are driving up

2:58:35the homeless population. They're driving

2:58:38up populations that are um seizing our

2:58:41our housing stocks with people who have

2:58:44the money to who can pay for them. Um

2:58:47and there's nothing to matter with that.

2:58:49I and I don't um I I think that Olympia

2:58:53is the next place u for growth in the

2:58:57Puja Sound region. And so we have this

2:59:00dummy double whammy of of our housing

2:59:04being viewed by people from the Seattle

2:59:07metropolitan area and the Kona

2:59:09metropolitan area as being less

2:59:11expensive than where they're looking.

2:59:13And so they're coming here and moving

2:59:15here at the same time it's driving up

2:59:17the price for the people who are here

2:59:19and um creating our homeless issues. Um

2:59:24so you know I I uh I I I I don't think I

2:59:29really have offered much to offer you

2:59:31much help in in giving us focus here

2:59:34except that u I think we need to be

2:59:37razor sharp in our thinking and

2:59:40pragmatic and and use good judgment as

2:59:43we're uh prioritizing

2:59:46our resources and making sure that we

2:59:50can always keep moving the ball forward

2:59:52which Olympia has done a good job of

2:59:55doing.

2:59:57And if we can just continue to um to

3:00:01make progress,

3:00:03you know, you know, as far as the

3:00:05question about uh what we want to uh see

3:00:10next year, I want to see more shelter. I

3:00:14want to see more homeless uh units. I I

3:00:18want to see more housing units.

3:00:21But uh I'm not I'm pragmatic and

3:00:23realistic to to know that we're uh we're

3:00:27it's this is market market driven and

3:00:30this is going to be a challenge that is

3:00:32around until um the those those

3:00:35populations keep uh no longer increase.

3:00:39Uh so I I wish I had something more

3:00:42productive to to suggest, but these are

3:00:45my thoughts. Thank you.

3:00:48>> Thank you, Council Member Marin. Council

3:00:50member Green, followed by Mayor Prom

3:00:51Wyn, followed by Council Member Madron.

3:00:54>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, I I don't

3:00:58have a ton to offer in the sense of like

3:00:59a really clear what is success. I mean,

3:01:01I think, uh, I don't think anyone would

3:01:04disagree with the jungle being closed

3:01:06and all those folks, uh, you know,

3:01:09finding their their their place, the the

3:01:12right housing for them obviously will

3:01:13be, uh, an incredibly successful day. I

3:01:16mean, 14 encampments closed so far is

3:01:18incredibly successful. And so, um, you

3:01:21know, I think there's a a lot to

3:01:24celebrate in this and it's it's seven

3:01:26years of this plan, but it's a lot more

3:01:28years of work. Um, and you know, as the

3:01:32the community still sees and experiences

3:01:36um everything that comes with that that

3:01:39inflow piece, right? Bless you. Um,

3:01:43and so, so for me, when I think about,

3:01:45uh, I found myself thinking a lot

3:01:48throughout this of like when do we take

3:01:51a look at the one community plan and

3:01:54think about uh, we're at a vastly

3:01:56different place now than we were seven

3:01:57years ago in in many many positive ways.

3:01:59I mean, in some challenging ways, but

3:02:01there's there has been a lot of progress

3:02:02that has been responseoriented. You

3:02:05know, we had there was big encampments.

3:02:07We had to respond to them. So, so I the

3:02:09question that just keeps coming up for

3:02:11me is like, okay, so what's what's our

3:02:13next phase? How do we sustain that? How

3:02:15do we sustain the services? How do we uh

3:02:18continue to support uh you know, the the

3:02:21great development that's housing

3:02:23development that's happening of units at

3:02:25all levels? Like how do we support that

3:02:27in continuing when this is when we don't

3:02:29get to call this an emergency anymore?

3:02:31How does that just become part of our

3:02:33our development landscape uh and our

3:02:35housing landscape? Um, and I think we we

3:02:39need to think about I think we have a

3:02:41very patient and compassionate

3:02:44community. And I think what we

3:02:45experience a lot um uh is folks who are

3:02:50experiencing impacts of all of this that

3:02:54are not part of, you know, being served

3:02:57as part of that system. Whether it's

3:02:58folks who are who are living in an

3:03:00apartment complex that a lot of people

3:03:02um, you know, kind of camp near and they

3:03:04experience impacts on their day-to-day

3:03:06life. whether it's neighborhoods where

3:03:07where cars or or uh vehicles end up

3:03:11parked or abandoned or whatever that is.

3:03:13And I and I recognize that the much

3:03:14bigger impacts are the folks living in

3:03:16those situations. But I also think we

3:03:19have to be realistic that we need to

3:03:20think about how we support the community

3:03:22in in recognizing the work that's being

3:03:25done in recognizing um you know that

3:03:29we're all closer to being in those

3:03:31vehicles than we are to you know

3:03:33whatever other magical. So, so anyway, I

3:03:35just think about that. Yeah, being a

3:03:37trillionaire for sure. Um, you know, so

3:03:39I just think about that of like what

3:03:40does that next phase of work look like

3:03:42to um support the the the neighborhoods

3:03:46uh and parts of our city being impacted?

3:03:48Um,

3:03:51excuse me, by some of the the symptoms

3:03:53of this. Um,

3:03:57yeah. Yeah. And then just continuation

3:03:58of like uh I know one of the the

3:04:01challenges for region um that gets

3:04:03brought up a lot in regional housing

3:04:05council is is

3:04:08there seems to be a limited number of

3:04:10partners who can support you know some

3:04:12of the permanent supported housing, some

3:04:13of the case management, all of that. How

3:04:15do we continue to build really reliable

3:04:17partners in that space? Um it it doesn't

3:04:21seem like an easy thing to do or we

3:04:23would have a lot of those organizations.

3:04:25um there's a lot of complexities around

3:04:26it. So I feel like um like I wish I

3:04:30could say like oh I see this moment of

3:04:31success like I see a ton of successes

3:04:33and I see a ton of progress towards

3:04:35successes but where my my mind keeps

3:04:38going through all this is like okay how

3:04:39do we kind of shift now from we needed

3:04:41to respond to this um uh you know again

3:04:45what what was an emergency what

3:04:46continues to be an emergency but it's

3:04:48it's different now right it has a

3:04:49different shape it has a different need

3:04:51so um yeah for me that's where where I

3:04:55keep thinking but Uh, you know, again, I

3:04:58I can't stress enough and I know they

3:05:00don't hear enough from the community and

3:05:02I know they don't hear enough from us,

3:05:03but all of the folks in the in the city,

3:05:06in the county, everybody uh in the

3:05:08nonprofit sector, everybody working on

3:05:09all aspects of this, it is exhausting

3:05:12and there and like I say, there's been

3:05:13some tremendous progress and I know

3:05:15that's hard for people to see when they

3:05:17still see the jungle and they see all

3:05:19that, but um I just hope that that folks

3:05:21recognize there are some of us who see

3:05:23it and certainly of the the thousands of

3:05:25people who have been supported through

3:05:27the system and gotten into housing um

3:05:30and and gotten into some uh some

3:05:32security and and been able to do all of

3:05:35those things. Uh you know, that's been a

3:05:37it's been a tremendous impact. So, I

3:05:38don't want to lose sight of that with

3:05:40all of my thoughts of like, oh, there's

3:05:41still more to do. So,

3:05:46>> Mayor Prom, [cough and clears throat]

3:05:48excuse me, Mayor Prom, followed by

3:05:50Council Member Madron.

3:05:52>> Ashley, really thorough presentation.

3:05:55Um, and I love that you took the time to

3:05:59uh make it uh easy to understand. Um,

3:06:03it's not just it's not just us here that

3:06:06are listening. It's uh folks that all uh

3:06:08that are listening now and and listening

3:06:10later. And we know that this topic is uh

3:06:13on a lot of people's minds. So really

3:06:15appreciate that. And I think this is the

3:06:17first presentation that uh we're hearing

3:06:20from you. you did come to No, it's the

3:06:23first presentation I might be hearing

3:06:25from you. Okay, I better watch out. I

3:06:28better say the right thing. Um, yeah.

3:06:31Uh, really impressed. I'm so glad that

3:06:34you're our housing director. Um,

3:06:37yeah, I I can only imagine when it

3:06:39becomes comprehensive like you keep

3:06:41saying. Um, so, uh, I just have a couple

3:06:44of areas.

3:06:45>> No, [laughter]

3:06:48>> thank you. Thank you for kidding. So,

3:06:51uh, a couple of things that I'm thinking

3:06:54about here. I really, uh, there's a lot

3:06:56that my colleagues have brought up that

3:06:58I I really agree with. Um, I totally see

3:07:02that there is, uh, a shift that could be

3:07:06made. And, um, I wouldn't say it's it's

3:07:09really a course correct, but it's really

3:07:10like getting into that next phase. Um, I

3:07:14loved how uh council member Gilman

3:07:16described uh how it's not about only

3:07:20having a limited capacity to care, but

3:07:22where like what do we do with that care,

3:07:25right? And um and so uh I think of while

3:07:31you're asking about what success looks

3:07:32like, I think part of it is being able

3:07:34to track this success. And I don't want

3:07:36to, as someone who is uh not steeped in

3:07:40the world of housing, I don't want to

3:07:41dictate necessarily what metrics is

3:07:44going to be like success. Uh something

3:07:46we've heard from some council colleagues

3:07:48and uh definitely uh the city manager

3:07:51has brought it up before is being able

3:07:53to uh track uh folks that are making it

3:07:57through the um through the uh like

3:08:01phases of housing, right? Whatever that

3:08:04looks like for them. Um, I would love to

3:08:07get to a place where we could have even

3:08:09if it's a simple one, um, like an online

3:08:12interactive dashboard for folks, uh,

3:08:16that go to our city website. Um, you

3:08:18know, I don't imagine we'd have such

3:08:20granular information that, uh, we we'd

3:08:22put what's appropriate on there. Um it's

3:08:24still sensitive information of course,

3:08:26but I yeah I think uh a lot of the

3:08:29success from uh what was initially a big

3:08:33effort of the one community plan to now

3:08:35a lot has been done. There's things that

3:08:37we've tried, things that have really

3:08:39worked and also things that we uh that

3:08:42haven't and then we've pivoted. And so

3:08:43how can we uh make a space a dedicated

3:08:47space online for folks to to to show

3:08:50that story, right? Um, I think about how

3:08:54clear uh this one pager is for the

3:08:56jungle encampment uh transition plan

3:08:58update and I I think this is great and I

3:09:02would love for it maybe it already is,

3:09:04but I would love for it to be in a place

3:09:06that is super accessible, all the

3:09:08housing stuff in one place for folks.

3:09:11Um, that would be really that would be

3:09:14really helpful. Um, we get a lot of

3:09:16questions on this all the time and it

3:09:17would be great to point to well what's

3:09:19our approach to it. We also have a lot

3:09:21of people that uh you know want to uh

3:09:25well want to ask ask us questions about

3:09:27it and then also uh share a new bright

3:09:30idea and maybe we've tried it before and

3:09:31it would be great to just have a kind of

3:09:33a one-stop shop. Um so uh I think about

3:09:36that being able to track it. Um, and I

3:09:40think about clean and safe and I think

3:09:43well I know that for some folks when I

3:09:45bring up clean and safe there's a lot of

3:09:47feelings around it and I think sometimes

3:09:49people are are nervous uh to bring it up

3:09:52too and uh as if it's uh some sort of

3:09:54code for we don't want to see people

3:09:56struggling or it's it's just an eyesore

3:09:59but I I think clean and safe is

3:10:01important for everyone. Um there are

3:10:03some basic dignity public health pieces

3:10:05and then also we don't want uh we don't

3:10:09want harm to be happening in the

3:10:12community um and anywhere including in

3:10:16uh folks uh including in communities

3:10:18where folks are living outside um and uh

3:10:22and accept it as as okay, right? Accept

3:10:25it as standard for us. And so uh I think

3:10:28a lot about about clean and safe. So,

3:10:31uh, moving into like what success looks

3:10:34like. It looks like cleaner and safer

3:10:37for everyone. And I know that's easier

3:10:39said, uh, than done, but I just, uh, I,

3:10:43you know, I appreciate, um, the, uh, the

3:10:47goal of a functional zero. Um and uh I

3:10:52think that we can we can move towards

3:10:55that goal and we can also

3:10:59you know I think it's okay to say I

3:11:02don't want to see piles pile up of of

3:11:05like rubbish outside you know I don't

3:11:06want to blame you know only folks that

3:11:08live outside about that but that or I

3:11:11don't want to see um

3:11:14you know I I don't want to see uh crime

3:11:17taking place and and when folks are and

3:11:20and I don't want to paint I want to be

3:11:22careful that I'm not painting folks uh

3:11:24uh folks that are uh housing insecure

3:11:26with um uh with with crime. Yeah. So,

3:11:31you know, there's all these disclaimers

3:11:32that you need to make when you're

3:11:34talking about it when when really it's

3:11:35like community members care a lot and uh

3:11:39and I just want to make sure that we're

3:11:42uh moving forward where everyone is uh

3:11:45as much as possible living uh with

3:11:48dignity and that we're um we're

3:11:52preventing uh unsafe situations and

3:11:55addressing them when they're coming up.

3:11:56Does that make sense? Okay. Thanks.

3:12:02>> Thank you, Council Member Madron.

3:12:05>> Hey. Well, um,

3:12:08again, really, really excellent

3:12:09presentation. It's the first time I've

3:12:11seen you present as well. Um, and I like

3:12:14how we were like, we want to see some

3:12:15metrics, and you're like, here's every

3:12:16single metric we have organized in a

3:12:19really digestible way. So, great job. Um

3:12:21I will say one thing and I and I heard

3:12:24these questions come up earlier um uh

3:12:26through Mckin Vento and you know how

3:12:28many of these young people are part of a

3:12:30family but I think if we could get more

3:12:32clear on um families experiencing

3:12:35homelessness um within uh the body of

3:12:39metrics that you're already working

3:12:40through. Um it's a question that has

3:12:43come up um as we've talked with the

3:12:46school board and just the affordability

3:12:48of families for the Olympia community to

3:12:51have you know access to the schools and

3:12:53all that. So um you know families

3:12:55experiencing homelessness affordability

3:12:57for families that's just something that

3:12:59we we can't quite tease out in the

3:13:00numbers that we've had in front of us.

3:13:02Um so I'll just name that as one uh data

3:13:06point or multiple within that category.

3:13:09Um, I also I agree with the mayor prom.

3:13:12I think that this is a really really

3:13:13helpful, you know, way of being able to

3:13:16just speak to our most visible

3:13:18encampment, the largest in the state,

3:13:19the last one we have remaining in

3:13:21Olympia. Um, I think one thing it's

3:13:23missing is a start date. Um, so that we

3:13:25know, okay, as of October 1st, 2026, but

3:13:28how long have we been working through

3:13:29this? So, as this gets updated, um, so

3:13:31that we can just see how much progress

3:13:33is being made over time and share that

3:13:35information with community members. Um,

3:13:40uh, you know, one, uh, there's already

3:13:43been a lot of stuff said. I'm not going

3:13:44to repeat what other folks have said,

3:13:45but another thing that I would add to

3:13:47like what does success look like is

3:13:49that, you know, you started off your

3:13:51presentation and you finish your

3:13:53presentation talking about staff

3:13:55burnout. Um and so in addition to

3:13:58success out in the community, what does

3:14:00success look like internally for us as a

3:14:02city organization uh in the care and

3:14:05tending of our own people um who are

3:14:07working uh through um you know

3:14:09experiencing vicarious trauma and seeing

3:14:11people who are struggling every single

3:14:13day? um what what does success look like

3:14:16for our team here who's doing really

3:14:19really difficult work that is not going

3:14:22to get easier as as the crisis grows as

3:14:24funding decreases. So I don't have

3:14:27anything specific for you but for me

3:14:28that's part of what success looks like

3:14:30is that our our people are doing well.

3:14:32Um and um

3:14:36I'm also curious you know um I it's it's

3:14:39great to be like oh yes another plan

3:14:41that we have created that is not sitting

3:14:43on a shelf we are implementing it that

3:14:45is so clear and everything that you have

3:14:47shared this this evening and you know

3:14:50I've heard people talk about what's the

3:14:51next phase of this and it makes me

3:14:54wonder I mean this plan came together in

3:14:56a very intentional way Stacy's very

3:14:59familiar with all of that um and it

3:15:01makes me wonder what does it look like

3:15:03to revisit this plan with our community?

3:15:06Uh because there was a group of people

3:15:08who came together to to work through

3:15:10this. There was uh work that happened

3:15:12with the community. And um I'm not

3:15:15saying that this is a next year or uh

3:15:18whatever cadence it should be, but what

3:15:21does it look like to dust off this plan

3:15:23and bring it back in front of our

3:15:25community and share all this great

3:15:27information and say now what's missing?

3:15:29Like we've learned so much. um this the

3:15:32situation has changed drastically and

3:15:34just kind of dusting it off and

3:15:36revisiting it. And I think that that is

3:15:39um good for us as a city because it, you

3:15:41know, refocuses us um around what's

3:15:44important. Who knows? Maybe we go

3:15:46through a whole process and we're like,

3:15:47"Oh, actually we landed in the the right

3:15:49place before, but maybe we learn

3:15:50something new, but we also bring the

3:15:52community along with us and everybody

3:15:54gets an opportunity to learn." So, um

3:15:57that's something that I think is

3:15:58somewhere in our future. Um, but again,

3:16:01I know everybody's super busy, so I'm

3:16:02it's not not not a next year thing. Um,

3:16:06and then, um, finally, um, and I've, you

3:16:10know, this has come up in our budget

3:16:11discussions before, but the

3:16:13sustainability of funding is very

3:16:15concerning to me. And um as we get into

3:16:19the budget process, um one thing that

3:16:21you know I've chatted with the city

3:16:23manager about and we've talked about as

3:16:24a council is knowing where the pinch

3:16:27points are a little bit more clearly. So

3:16:30like you know when we approve the budget

3:16:31for next year, if there's a cliff we're

3:16:33facing in June, we should know that in

3:16:36December and have a plan B. Um so so

3:16:39things like that. Um you know, June

3:16:41being the the state budget, the state

3:16:44fiscal year, um all that. Um uh so uh

3:16:48that that's I guess that goes into the

3:16:50bucket is what a success look like is

3:16:52that we have a a really good

3:16:54understanding of what the long-term uh

3:16:59financial situation is for being able to

3:17:01maintain these services or at least

3:17:04where there are potential cliffs that

3:17:06we're facing so that we can um be more

3:17:10proactive about it because I found we're

3:17:12getting to the situation where we're

3:17:14like oh gosh we really hope the

3:17:15legislature sure approves this funding.

3:17:16We really hope CDBG doesn't have any

3:17:18hiccups like you know all these things

3:17:21but um but we know that those things are

3:17:23all potentials that could happen and so

3:17:26um just more proactive uh around it so

3:17:29that as we go to the RHC and we're like

3:17:32oh crap what do we do if this funding

3:17:34doesn't come through there's already a

3:17:35plan in place. So yeah that's that's all

3:17:39I got to say. Um, really really great

3:17:41presentation, Ashley. Really appreciate

3:17:42it. And I see you've got some folks here

3:17:44with you. So, just want to thank the

3:17:46whole team.

3:17:50>> Um,

3:17:53fantastic presentation, Ashley. Um, this

3:17:56is a lot of information that I'm seeing

3:17:58for the first time.

3:18:00you're like you said earlier at the top

3:18:02of the presentation within your first 90

3:18:04days and it's really impressive um the

3:18:08amount of information that you've put

3:18:09together here to present to us. So,

3:18:12thank you for that. Um,

3:18:15success to me looks like we um have

3:18:20addressed uh the issue of homelessness

3:18:23for as many people as we can within our

3:18:25capacity

3:18:27[clears throat and cough] and that we've

3:18:28addressed the impacts not only to those

3:18:30who are experiencing the homelessness

3:18:32but to for those who are also impacted

3:18:35by it. Um, which leads me to uh the

3:18:39conversation around clean and safe. So,

3:18:42back in January when we had our

3:18:44discussion about uh at the retreat uh

3:18:48specifically about the one community

3:18:49plan update, the reason I asked for this

3:18:53uh specifically is because at the time

3:18:54we were hearing a lot about impacts to

3:18:58property owners and businesses on the

3:19:00issue of homelessness. That still

3:19:02remains true. Um, I have said from the

3:19:06moment that I arrived here at city hall

3:19:08that I think we can do better in this

3:19:10area. And I still think that that's

3:19:12true. Um, I am the first person to speak

3:19:16about um, respecting the dignity and the

3:19:19humanity of the people who are

3:19:21experiencing homelessness. And I've said

3:19:22this repeatedly and it's something I

3:19:24believe and it's something I think we

3:19:26should continue doing. However, um I

3:19:30also think that there um seems to be a

3:19:36um

3:19:38a prioritization of many of the other

3:19:41strategies. Um and we talk about

3:19:44balancing compassion with

3:19:45accountability. That's a term or

3:19:47expression that has not come up yet. Um,

3:19:50and when we talk about that balance, um,

3:19:54many people ask the question, well,

3:19:56where is that on the accountability

3:19:58side? And when we're looking at the the

3:20:02potential or influx that we're

3:20:04anticipating

3:20:06and we recognize that there are many

3:20:08things that are outside of our control,

3:20:11well, what is in our control? And that

3:20:13is uh the cleanliness and the safety of

3:20:16the city. One of the things that many

3:20:19people ask is uh you know when they go

3:20:22to other communities or other cities and

3:20:24they come back to me and they ask me

3:20:26questions like well how come when I go

3:20:29to fill in the city I don't see this or

3:20:32I don't experience that. Um and so for

3:20:36me I highly doubt the answer is they

3:20:39don't have homeless people.

3:20:42And so I think we can do better in this

3:20:46sense of doing what we need to do to

3:20:49provide shelter for people and also um

3:20:53making sure that we are addressing the

3:20:55challenges that many of our residents

3:20:57and businesses face. And they are um

3:21:00really looking to the city to um step up

3:21:06uh as am I. Um, and this is not to

3:21:10disregard the work that we have done. I

3:21:12think if we can't be honest with

3:21:14ourselves, um, then I think, you know,

3:21:17what are we all here for? And I think

3:21:19there are areas of improvement that we

3:21:21should be uh unafraid to talk about. Um,

3:21:28I I do think we need to collect some

3:21:32more information on youth experiencing

3:21:34homelessness. I really like the

3:21:36distinction between uh those who are uh

3:21:39under uh who are minors with family and

3:21:42those who are um by themselves alone. Um

3:21:47that's important. Seeing more racial uh

3:21:50demographic and what the breakdown of

3:21:52all of that is looking like um

3:21:55especially with the influx

3:21:58um the housing pipeline. So, as we're

3:22:02moving people uh from shelter to

3:22:05permanent supportive housing into

3:22:06affordable housing unit, um what's that

3:22:10picture look like in terms of the data?

3:22:12So, uh that those phases that we we

3:22:15talked about earlier. Um another is um

3:22:21I'm curious about shelter space um

3:22:24versus the affordable housing

3:22:27development. So um

3:22:30for me affordable housing development is

3:22:33great but it doesn't necessarily do

3:22:35anything for the emergent need for the

3:22:38person who is on the corner now. Um and

3:22:42so what I would like to see more of is

3:22:47is um the information that we saw about

3:22:50how many people are experiencing

3:22:51homelessness, how many shelter beds we

3:22:53have available. um where is there room

3:22:56to prioritize shelter um for people um

3:23:01so that we can house people faster um or

3:23:04at least provide shelter for them

3:23:06because I do believe that it has impacts

3:23:08on clean and safe. It has impacts on our

3:23:11economy. It has impacts on how people

3:23:13perceive this city um in addition to

3:23:18caring for those who are experiencing

3:23:20the homelessness. And so I suppose that

3:23:24um you know, I know I'm coming off very

3:23:26strongly, but I I I just think that this

3:23:28is something that our community expects.

3:23:31They expect uh the balance and um

3:23:35frankly that influx that we're talking

3:23:37about, there are signs that it's here.

3:23:40Um and I want to make sure that we are

3:23:43um addressing it um as fast as we can.

3:23:47Um and that's my feedback.

3:23:52additional comments.

3:23:59>> Yes. Anything from council member

3:24:00Gilman? Okay.

3:24:03Seeing none. Yes. City manager Bernie.

3:24:07>> Yeah. Just as you close up, I know it's

3:24:09been a lengthier night, but I think this

3:24:10has been a great discussion. I just a

3:24:13lot of appreciation. I know you've all

3:24:14shared your appreciation for Ashley's

3:24:15work, but I'll just say it again. um

3:24:18about 90 days in and she's kind of

3:24:20pulled her team together. Um we're

3:24:22learning a lot. I've learned quite a bit

3:24:24from Ashley as she's updated me on on a

3:24:26few things um of kind of where we are.

3:24:28And I think Ashley's point of being here

3:24:31tonight is to just listen a bit, share

3:24:33and listen. And I think you heard her

3:24:34say at the beginning she's going to be

3:24:35back early in 2027 to kind of share some

3:24:38updates based on the feedback you heard

3:24:40tonight. Um talk about where we're going

3:24:42next and that progress. I know probably

3:24:45tonight didn't check every box for every

3:24:46one of you. things you're looking for,

3:24:48but I think we we're heading in a good

3:24:50direction and I think by the time we get

3:24:51to first quarter next year and we come

3:24:53back, we can check a few more boxes of

3:24:55kind of where we're going and where

3:24:56we're heading. So, I appreciate the

3:24:57conversation tonight and um great work

3:25:00Ashley and her team and everyone

3:25:01associated with it. Thank you.

3:25:05>> All right. Well, if there are no

3:25:07additional questions or comments, uh

3:25:10with no further business before the

3:25:12Olympia City Council, we're adjourned.

3:25:25long night.

3:25:30>> Thank you.

3:25:38>> I don't remember what my tomorrow looks

3:25:40like, so we'll see.