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Unintended consequences of shelter time limit policy on street homelessness
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Council Member Diana Ayala expresses concern about the unintended consequences of the shelter time limit policy, particularly increased street homelessness. She questions how the policy's success is measured given these outcomes.
- Ayala reports observing more unhoused individuals in public spaces, including tents in parks and playgrounds
- She questions whether the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) is tracking these individuals who fall outside the HERC system
- Schaeffer notes that 70% of people who have come through their system have left, and families with children are granted extensions when requested
Diana Ayala
1:19:56
Yeah.
1:19:56
But one of the unintended consequences of the policy, however, was that we started to see more and more, unhoused individuals out on the street erecting tents, sleeping in our public playgrounds, our public parks, and faith based, you know, organizations.
1:20:12
But so are are how do you, you know how can we feel like this policy has been as successful as we intended it to be, say, we, the, you know, the administration, when we have, you know, x number of people, which I don't I'm not sure if that's what actually one of my questions regarding the homeless outreach unit.
1:20:36
If they if they're keeping, num you know, tabs on how many individuals would fall into that category because this is kind of like a gray area, right, because they don't fall within the HERC.
1:20:48
If they're if they're technically outside, then the they're not part of the HERC system anymore, then it would become a street homeless issue which then falls under the purview of DHS.
1:21:00
So are we keeping tabs on that, and are you guys cross referencing so that you're you have a better idea of how efficient this policy is, if in fact it is, you know, leading to folks now sleeping in public spaces?
Molly Schaeffer
1:21:16
Can I just I'll hand it over, to, Iris, but just one thing I wanna make sure is known is, you know, 70% of the people who have come through our system have left?
1:21:27
Before we had this policy, there was still a percentage of people that were leaving on their own, and families with children, when they come back and ask for another 60 day extension, they get it.
1:21:37
And so, you know, I'll turn it over to Iris to talk about the unsheltered homelessness, but I just kind of wanna make those points a little bit.
Diana Ayala
1:21:43
No.
1:21:44
Listen.
1:21:44
I get it.
1:21:44
I get it.
1:21:45
And I again, I've always you know, I've I've I try to be very fair and I look at both sides of the issue because I don't even wanna know what it's like to be on that side of the table.
1:21:53
And I know that it's been ruling for many of, you know, of you who I know, and have had the pleasure of working with.
1:22:00
So I you know, this is not, you know, I I on my part, it would never be like a character assassination, but it but the but the truth is, right, we're working with, with facts is that one of the unintended consequences of the policy is that, you know, folks, many of them, singles, single adults ended up, you know, erecting tents on Randalls, just, you know, this for for months, I've I've had a group of at least 10, 12 men sleeping at Thomas Jefferson Park.
1:22:30
It wasn't until last Friday that I stopped seeing them and I and and and all of last week, the every time that I would drive by on my way downtown, you know, there were police officers talking to them and I'm assuming I'm hoping they were encouraging them to go into a shelter because it was cold.
1:22:47
Once one day it was raining.
1:22:48
I reported, you know, that they were there because I was hoping that the street outreach unit will go there and I, and I also want to just, you know, say that I, I do understand that, you know, many of them didn't really understand what the policy was, that they could go back into the, you know, the intake center and, be reprocessed, but there was, in fact, you know, an overflow.
1:23:09
Right?
1:23:10
And so because they fell out of the HERC system and now ended up in in DHS, I just wonder what what the number is, if it's as significant as, you know, we we we may assume that it is, if it's if it isn't, and if, in fact, you guys are kind of touching base so that you're saying, okay.
1:23:26
Look.
1:23:26
We were able to get 10,000, you know, what, 5,000 people to leave, you know, the shelter last week, but a 1,000 of them ended up on our streets.
1:23:35
How do we fix that?
1:23:36
Right?
1:23:37
Like and I'm and I'm just inflating numbers here.
1:23:38
I'm just making numbers up.
1:23:40
But how what does that look like?