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Q&A
Home Base program budget and services
2:41:59
ยท
3 min
Council Member Diana Ayala inquires about the Home Base program's budget, spending, and capacity to meet demand. Commissioner Molly Wasow Park and other officials provide details on funding, enrollments, and strategies to address increased demand.
- FY 2025 budget for Home Base is $63.5 million, with $55.2 million in the baseline budget
- Program has seen a 9% increase in enrollments compared to the previous year
- 26 different offices operated by 7 providers for Home Base
- Department is aware of high demand and is considering bringing some services back in-house
- Monitoring the need for potential budget and headcount increases
Diana Ayala
2:41:59
Congratulations on that.
2:42:01
I know that must be difficult.
2:42:05
HRE's home based support supports city, feds, and community clients to maintain stable housing.
2:42:12
It is a network of community based organizations that provide homelessness prevention services.
2:42:16
What is the current fiscal twenty twenty five budget for home base?
2:42:20
Is that amount baselined?
Molly Wasow Park
2:42:24
Hold on just a minute.
2:42:25
I'm pulling that up.
Richard Johns
2:42:39
For home base, the FY twenty five budget is $63,500,000 That amount, in the baseline budget we have a little over, $55,200,000 And, again, we're working with OMB to assess our budget and make sure that we have, you know, funding to meet our needs.
2:43:01
Now here's
Diana Ayala
2:43:03
Do we know what the actual spending to date in fiscal year twenty five is and how much was spent in fiscal year twenty four?
Richard Johns
2:43:11
Yeah.
2:43:11
To date, as of January 31, we spent $44,900,000 and in FY '20 '4, we spent $59,500,000.
Diana Ayala
2:43:21
Okay.
2:43:22
In the January CityFebs oversight hearing, we heard from the public that the demand for CityFebs application renewals and other rental assistance services that Homebase provides, cannot be met with the current staffing level of funded of funding budgeted.
2:43:36
We also we have also heard that CBOs are having difficulty hiring and maintaining adequate staff levels.
2:43:42
As the PMMR notes, in the first four months of twenty program has over 10,600 enrollments which is a 9% increase compared to the same period in the year prior.
2:43:53
How many contracted providers are within home based and what is the current rate case ratio for home based staff?
Molly Wasow Park
2:44:06
There are 26 different offices operated by seven different providers for home based.
2:44:14
I don't believe that we don't structure it as case ratios because people may come and some people may need assistance on an ongoing basis.
2:44:25
Other people will come in, we'll process the case, they will move With respect to the larger issue, we are aware as I talked about earlier that there is significant demand for home based services right now.
2:44:41
We know that our providers do triage cases that somebody who's facing an immediate need potentially looking at immediate eviction is typically seen pretty quickly.
2:44:50
Somebody with a longer term need there may be a wait time for an appointment.
2:44:54
We are looking at what we have asked our home based provider to do, whether or not we can bring some of those services back in house so that they can really concentrate on their core services.
2:45:04
I think there has been some expansion of mission in recent years.
2:45:09
We are cognizant of those wait times and that's something that we're looking at.
Diana Ayala
2:45:14
Does HRA plan to increase the budget and headcount for home base to match the need?
Molly Wasow Park
2:45:18
It's something we'll monitor and coordinate with OMB.