Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
01/28/2008 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB231 | |
| SB233 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 231 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 233 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 231-LOW-INCOME HOUSING; HOMELESSNESS
CHAIR DAVIS announced the consideration of SB 231.
1:35:13 PM
MARK ROMICK, Director, Planning and Program Development, Alaska
Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC), Anchorage, AK, said that in
2005, Governor Murkowski appointed the Governor's Council on
Homelessness and tasked it with a number of recommendations on
how to address the issue. The Housing Trust was one of its major
recommendations and this bill is a culmination of that effort by
the council and other advocacy groups.
1:37:02 PM
DAN FAUSKE, CEO, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC),
Anchorage AK, said the issue is getting worse with high fuel
costs. He said he supports SB 231.
1:37:55 PM
JEFF JESSE, CEO, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Anchorage
AK, said he was on the Homelessness Council. Although all our
low income housing dollars come from the federal government, the
majority of those funds are used to serve 70 percent of those
with area median income and above. But when you look at the
numbers of people in desperate need of housing to avoid
homelessness, most of those people are at 50 percent of area
median income and below. The reason is that every low income
housing project has to pencil and if you're a developer and
you're trying to put one of these projects together, they
usually have blended funding that gets convoluted. Somewhere in
the business plan you have to show some revenue source from
actual tenants. If you target higher income population you'll
have better luck demonstrating on your business plan a better
likelihood that this project will pencil.
In addition, he said, people at 50 percent of median income and
below are usually in that category for a reason: substance
abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, all those things
that make it difficult to get a job in order to afford a decent
place to live. In order to be successful in housing even if they
get it, they need support services, treatment and employment
programs, et cetera, to be able to stay in their houses. The
issues are how to help these projects pencil for lower income
people and how to create a system that incorporates support
services into housing. They looked around the country to find
successful ways of dealing with these issues. Many evidence-
based studies show that first getting people into housing and
then providing support to be very effective. Denver, Boston, Los
Angeles, and New York have made significant inroads on their
homeless problems by looking at this housing-first model. The
idea is partner up social service providers that don't know how
to get affordable housing to pencil with the housing providers
that don't know how to provide support. They can accomplish this
by combining capital funds to buy down the cost, contributing
social service funds that have a 5 year commitment and working
with AHFC on project basing section 8 rental vouchers so they
can be included in the business plan. This legislation
implements that model by creating the Housing Trust Fund. This
bill is essential even to hold on to the housing programs
already in place.
1:46:26 PM
STEPHANIE WHEELER, Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives, and Chair of the Statewide Homelessness Ends in
Alaska- Advisory Team, Anchorage, AK, said Homeless Ends is a
group of local policy makers to address this issue. Its two
goals are increasing affordable housing through the creation of
a housing trust fund and promoting locally delivered family
services. Families are the fastest-growing homeless. Because the
shelters are often full, families move from place to place,
which affect school attendance and learning ability. She quoted
a study stating that about 4,000 children went homeless during
school year 2004-2005, sleeping in shelters, campgrounds, tents,
and vehicles. To illustrate this impact, an average elementary
school in Anchorage contains about 435 children; 4,000 children
represent more than 9 elementary schools filled with children.
Research also shows that these children get sick twice as often,
have symptoms of anxiety, have more learning problems and are
twice as likely to repeat a grade because of frequent absences.
A housing trust would prevent families from entering into the
cycle of homelessness.
1:51:09 PM
BILL HOGAN, Deputy Commissioner, Family and Community Integrated
Services, Department of Health and Social Services, Anchorage
AK, said the department supports this bill. Housing is the
number one issue for all of these compromised groups that have
been mentioned by others testifying. Stable affordable housing
will reduce the incidence of a multitude of the social problems
mentioned.
1:53:14 PM
MARIE DARLIN, Coordinator, AARP Capitol City Task Force, Juneau,
AK, said that 11 percent of homeless Alaskans are over the age
of 65. She made note that there is no consumer member required
in the composition of the council in SB 231. She recommended a
change of wording in the bill regarding designated substitutes
for commissioners who are unable to attend. She also questioned
why membership is only for two-year terms instead of three. AARP
supports the bill.
1:56:41 PM
SENATOR THOMAS clarified Ms. Darlin's concern and agreed.
1:57:03 PM
SENATOR ELTON also expressed concern about the language
regarding substitute members and that there would always be more
state employees than public members. The bill only allows for a
substitute for a state member and he wanted to take a couple of
state employees off of the council and add a consumer member.
MR. ROMICK said that one of the four public members appointed by
the governor is a consumer of affordable housing (page 3, lines
15 and 16).
CHAIR DAVIS asked if there ought to be more than one consumer on
the board.
SENATOR ELTON said according to the bill, the governor can
choose someone with other kinds of expertise, but that doesn't
ensure that it will be a consumer.
CHAIR DAVIS said that will be addressed in a committee
substitute.
2:02:23 PM
MR. JESSE said his office is supportive of consumer input and
will work on the bill to reflect that.
SENATOR ELTON said that according to the bill, the fund will be
capitalized from four different entities. The history of the
Mental Health Trust is that it likes to get things going, but
doesn't continue to participate. He asked if the Mental Health
Trust will continue to contribute if state funding has a bigger
role.
2:05:08 PM
MR. JESSE said the trust has invested heavily in housing and
continues to, but it's unlikely that it could sustain this over
time. The trust has an annual allocation, and is not an
endowment model. AHFC has generated earnings in excess of what
it costs to run its programs, so it makes sense that the
revenues from housing would be used to deal with the homeless
problem. The Rasmussen Foundation and the trust both contributed
a million dollars each, but it's unlikely that they can continue
to do so.
SENATOR THOMAS said he'd like to see the Department of Labor
involved in helping to get people back on their feet.
2:12:04 PM
CHAIR DAVIS said she would draft a new CS and bring the bill up
again next Monday.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|