RICHMOND, Va. -- Nonprofit leaders blasted the City of Richmond's new plan for addressing the homelessness crisis as "misleading and wildly inaccurate."
On Friday, Richmond City Council laid out its recommendations for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney's office in increasing services for the city's homeless population.
“These recommendations are going to be the footing, or the foundation really, for a very, very great and effective system," Councilmember Stephanie Lynch (5th District) said during an interview with CBS 6 Friday.
In a memorandum released by the full legislative body, councilors raised concerns about the city's homeless community amid a wave of evictions and a lack of resources to help them move toward housing stability.
The council said it was "painfully aware that the needs far outweigh the capacity" and renewed calls for the city administration to establish a year-round shelter and a physical housing resource center.
Councilmembers acknowledged there are "inherent challenges and barriers" in homeless people accessing the region's current system of support due to the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care's (GRCoC) coordinated point of entry.
In light of these concerns, the council requested that the mayor's office:
- Increase funding for case management services
- Increase funding for direct cash to pay for rent and hotel rooms for families in crisis
- Establish a memorandum of understanding with regional partners and surrounding localities to support the city's inclement weather shelters, housing resource center, and year-round shelter
- Analyze the role of Homeward in the GRCoC as well as Homeward's "operation of the Connection Line as the sole coordinated point of entry"
For context, Homeward is the planning agency for the GRCoC. The GRCoC is a network of nonprofits that offers services, including year-round shelter beds, to homeless people. Homeward helps secure federal funding for the system. The City of Richmond is an existing partner within the GRCoC. The Homeless Connection Line is a phone number that those experiencing homelessness, or are days away from homelessness, can call to try and gain access to the region's support system.
Richmond's Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders, the mayor's top appointed city official, showed support for the council's recommendations.
“Obviously, we have the housing crisis line, we have outreach workers who go out and work with folks who work in the community, but having that physical first point of entry is really important," Saunders said in an interview with CBS 6 Friday.
But in a statement to CBS 6 Monday, Homeward raised concerns about the council's memo, calling it "misleading and wildly inaccurate in many respects."
Homeward leaders acknowledged a lack of resources to meet the needs of the homeless population but welcomed more support from the city, mentioning that just 5% of the GRCoC's budget is made up of funds from Richmond.
"Even so, our region’s system is nationally recognized as a model for delivering homeless services and we work diligently to leverage public and private funds, including significant federal allocations and extremely limited City funding," Homeward said. "In 2022 alone, this system served over 6,800 people, including providing emergency shelter for over 2,100 people and helping over 3,000 people access programs or services that prevented homelessness."
Nonprofit officials took issue with two specific parts of the council's memo:
- Homeward said the Homeless Connection Line is actually not the sole coordinated point of entry into the GRCoC, because there is also an outreach street team and a domestic violence hotline. They mentioned that four other nonprofits also help operate the Homeless Connection Line.
- Homeward said there already is a formalized regional partnership to address homelessness within the GRCoC which includes Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico counties.
"As a partner in this regional system, the City of Richmond collaborates with others but doesn’t dictate homeless services policy that is set by a community-based process of all stakeholders that is grounded in what we hear directly from people with lived experience of homelessness and housing instability," Homeward's statement read.
The nonprofit also singled out Councilwoman Lynch in its statement, claiming that she "continues to criticize, gaslight, and undermine the efforts of GRCoC partner agencies when she refuses multiple invitations to engage with us in this work."
Lynch serves as the chair of the city council's education and human services committee and has been consistently vocal about expanding the city's resources including advocating for the city to implement its own year-round shelter, pushing for additional entry points into the regional shelter system, calling for a homeless state of emergency to be declared following the death of an unhoused woman on a city street, and raising concerns about the city's own inclement weather shelter system when there were delays and inefficiencies.
When asked for a response to Homeward's statement, Lynch redirected CBS 6 back to the council's initial letter, specifically the part which states: "We remain committed to exploring options that ensure a ‘no wrong door’ pathway for all individuals experiencing homelessness. We are committed to continuing partnership with GRCoC partners as well as ensuring that all individuals are reported through our Homeless Case Management Information System, but are interested in exploring options to fully leverage our federal funding, data, and homeless service continuum to best serve our unhoused residents."
Homeward said it welcomed additional support from the City of Richmond but concluded the recent memo was not helpful.
"Highly inaccurate memos that attempt to undermine this difficult and necessary work are counterproductive and only hurt those individuals and families experiencing homelessness," Homeward said.
Read the council's memo here.
Read Lincoln Saunder's response to the council's memo:
Thank you for your continued collaboration as we work to identify and work towards solutions for our unhoused population. We are awaiting final estimates on shelter costs and will present the cost of our entire package of service expansions at the Organizational Development Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Currently, funding for these efforts includes a $1.75 million FY 2024 appropriation, in addition to a one-time FY 2023 balance of approximately $2.1 million in City general fund and $600,000 in federal funds.
Please note, Emergency Shelters are one part of the safety net – the last resort. We have reviewed several sites and providers and are evaluating the most viable options. At the Organizational Development Committee meeting on September 5, 2023, we will present the following:
Potential sites, some of which might require special use zoning permits.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City and private organizations for operating those sites. This will also include various related contracts.
A coordinated entry process will be prioritized for those with the most urgent and serious needs, which will be coordinated through our current regional system, and prescribed and supported predominantly by federal grants. During periods of severe weather, we recognize the number of regional year-round beds will be insufficient for protecting the life and health of unhoused persons living outdoors. We are evaluating sites and operational options for potential shelter sites. These sites will be focused on immediately supporting public safety on nights and days of highest risk. Please note, these sites will not be focused on re-housing efforts, which is the expectation of year-round shelters.
More significantly, we will bolster the array of other community services to help persons either avoid or quickly exit homelessness. These efforts will reduce the need for shelter beds by reducing admissions and shortening lengths of stay. Our comprehensive package will propose expansions for flexible intervention funding like the Family Crisis Fund, housing navigators, street outreach, case management, and a site for information and referral.
The success of our service expansion depends upon all of our partners, including the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care and its members, Homeward, all regional localities, and most importantly, the many private organizations who faithfully and skillfully serve our unhoused neighbors every day.
Thank you for your continued commitment to work with City Administration on ways to further improve services for some of our most vulnerable residents. We share a common vision: Homelessness is best addressed by increasing the supply of affordable housing. We value your partnership and support in addressing our housing crisis.
It will take time to build a sufficient supply of permanent housing. While doing so, we must strengthen the safety net for individuals and families at risk of or experiencing homelessness. City Administration is taking immediate next steps to comprehensively expand the safety net.
We look forward to presenting our proposals to Council’s Organizational Development Committee September 5, 2023 as well as during the Education and Human Services Committee on September 14, 2023, and to City Council thereafter.
Read Homeward's full statement:
The recently released public memo by Council President Jones and Councilmember Lynch is misleading and wildly inaccurate in many respects, including the ways in which the council members describe Homeward, the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care, the collaborative Homeless Connection Line, and how our region collectively addresses homelessness.
We would welcome the investment of the City of Richmond to align with the work of over 200 community partners delivering proven solutions to homelessness day in and day out and listening to the needs of those with lived experience of homelessness. We know that there are not enough resources to meet the critical needs we hear from our neighbors facing homelessness and our partners hear these stories directly each day on the Homeless Connection Line and through all of the programs operating without significant funding or public support.
Even so, our region’s system is nationally recognized as a model for delivering homeless services and we work diligently to leverage public and private funds, including significant federal allocations and extremely limited City funding. In 2022 alone, this system served over 6,800 people, including providing emergency shelter for over 2,100 people and helping over 3,000 people access programs or services that prevented homelessness.
A vast majority of the money used to address homelessness in our region comes from private donations and federal and state funds. The City of Richmond directly allocates less than 5% of the budget of most GRCoC programs.
The significant federal and state funds that Homeward secures for our region have thorough reporting and transparency requirements. In addition to those reports, Homeward has delivered more than 12 reports to the City of Richmond related to the GRCoC’s and Homeward’s work in the last fiscal year alone while also providing customized data analyses upon request. The most recent report is the GRCoC Annual Report, which is available here [irp.cdn-website.com].
The statement in the memo that the Homeless Connection Line (HCL) is the sole coordinated point of entry for homeless services in our region is also misleading. There are a number of entry points, of which one is the HCL. Additional entry points include a multiagency collaborative Street Outreach team and the Domestic Violence Hotline. The HCL is a multiagency collaborative supported by Homeward, ACTS, HomeAgain, Housing Families First, and Senior Connections.
Another misrepresentation is that there is no formalized regional partnership to address homelessness. The City of Richmond is a partner in our existing regional system, which includes Chesterfield County, Hanover County, Henrico County, and dozens of community-based nonprofits. As a partner in this regional system, the City of Richmond collaborates with others but doesn’t dictate homeless services policy that is set by a community-based process of all stakeholders that is grounded in what we hear directly from people with lived experience of homelessness and housing instability. The GRCoC was established in 1998 to set homelessness policy and response in our region and is mandated to do so by federal law. Furthermore, it’s disappointing that Councilmember Lynch continues to criticize, gaslight, and undermine the efforts of GRCoC partner agencies when she refuses multiple invitations to engage with us in this work.
Homeward remains committed to supporting the GRCoC and our regional system’s collaborative and compassionate efforts to serve our most vulnerable neighbors. Although the extent of this work is significant, we recognize that it’s not enough to meet the need in our region. We welcome additional resources and support from the City of Richmond and look forward to collaborating on efforts that align with proven solutions designed by broad-based community input that is based first and foremost on the input of people experiencing homelessness. Highly inaccurate memos that attempt to undermine this difficult and necessary work are counterproductive and only hurt those individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
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