 Look, homelessness is a crisis that we've been dealing with in Columbia for quite a long time. And listening to the folks in our community and looking at what's going on across the country, we realize, you know, we've got an addressing issue. And right now we have close to about 250 unsheltered folks in our community that have a wide variety of issues that's caused homelessness for them, mental health being one of the top ones, addiction being another one and then other circumstances that range in various directions. But we need to find a place to help them not only have a place to hang their hat, but to be able for us to help make sure they get the wraparound services that they need, which is part of a comprehensive plan. This is only a step, folks, moving forward. This is going to be a multi-step issue that we're going to deal with over a period of time. It's not going to be something that solves all our problems and certainly won't provide all a resource for all our needs at one time. But it is going to be something that's ongoing that we're invested in to make sure that we have an opportunity to not only take care of the folks that are unsheltered and make sure they get the round the wraparound services, but at the same time restore some of the quality of life issues. Because the one thing we have is one of the most compassionate communities in the southeast and I think we've seen that for years, but with things that are continuing to bubble up and some of the issues that we're dealing with from crime to defecation in public spaces and exposure and things like that that really make it very uncomfortable and push people back who want to be there to help and be part of that. So we'll have to deal with that. As you know, homelessness is one of the top issues that has been discussed throughout the city over the last six to eight months. Probably more than I've seen ever before and that's why we have a task force. That's why we're getting input and this like we said this is step one in a multi-step, but I have great faith in our task force members, our council members have worked with that. With that I'd like to introduce Dr. Auditi Bussells, our capable chairwoman of this task force and thank you for what you've done so far. Thank you. Well thank you so much mayor for your support as we embark on this endeavor to address the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, the unsheltered homeless population. Before I begin I'd like to take a moment to recognize our task force members that are in the audience. Members will you please raise your hand. Thank you all so much. The discussions that we've had, the brainstorming that we've done, that is what's led to the changes and initiatives we are announcing today and it absolutely would not be possible without the task force. Again as mayor said this is just the beginning of our journey to address and prevent homelessness and while we may not have all of the answers today in the spirit of transparency and the urgency of this issue it was especially important for us to update the public on what we've been working on. One of the first things we embarked upon as the task force was to really understand and examine the landscape of homeless services in the Greater Columbia area and we've learned that although there are over a hundred services dedicated to addressing different facets of homelessness in the Greater Columbia area until today there has been no specific option for the chronically unsheltered and so today I'm pleased to announce that the Inclement Weather Center will now be known as Rapid Shelter Columbia and will be open 24-7, seven days a week, 365 days a year, year-round, however you want to say it. It will serve as a Rapid Shelter and a Resource Center for our chronically unsheltered homeless and in addition to this change as you see depicted in the easels behind me the city will be investing in 50 pallet homes or Rapid Single Occupancy Shelter homes that will be available by November 1st in a village style format. These pallet homes will serve as a short-term approach to housing until individuals are triaged into permanent solutions. Pallet shelters are trauma informed, they're effective, they're rapid in implementation and they provide housing for those experiencing homelessness with dignity and compassion. The Rapid Shelter Housing Campus where we are all standing here today will have security 24-7 and will be a safe and secure facility. We will be leaning on our partners such as Transitions, United Way, et cetera to help us make this possible. They are key to this new plan to address the unsheltered population's needs and our city staff will be providing details shortly. One of the other things that we've learned through the task force work is the importance of accountability. Accountability is key to making a difference for our chronically unsheltered population and until today the city has not had a single individual or entity responsible and most importantly accountable in terms of the outcomes associated with reducing homelessness. In the next several weeks the city will be hiring a homeless czar to coordinate a line and connect city services that will work with homeless individuals. This homeless czar or coordinator will be responsible for managing all city contracts with homeless providers developing measurable outcomes to hold the city and our partners accountable and creating an infrastructure right here on this campus that allows people to access services seamlessly. The goal is is that this would then become a one stop shop in terms of being able to triage people into the services they need. The homeless czar then of course will also be the point of contact and responsible for overseeing the rapid shelter campus under the guidance of the city manager. This is just the beginning the task force is working hard and addressing many other facets of homelessness. They will be proposing an updated feeding ordinance that will require providers to register in advance of that service and hold them liable for cleanup after providing that service. They're also continuing to look at solutions for how to provide services after 5 p.m. And then the task force is also continuing on working to understand regional needs as Columbia continues to be that compassionate city that's actually one of the only places in the greater midlands that has a low barrier shelter like transitions. And finally we've been working closely with CPD and our existing provider partners to address the criminal activity that's been associated with some individuals experiencing homelessness. In our security contract with transitions which we've had for many years we've explicitly requested that the organization address the security of the periphery of the facility. We're also working with CPD to identify and address hot spots such as the blue store remains best and enforcing our ordinances around criminal activity more consistently. The chief will detail some of these efforts shortly and I'd also like to note that the pathways unit which includes five mental health clinicians embedded in CPD have been implemented and underway and we've already received positive feedback. Our approach to homelessness recognizes that Columbia is known as a city that cares and wants to help its neighbors but also recognizes that we have tough decisions to make to address the root causes of chronic unsheltered homeless. I thank our task force my colleagues the city staff and our homeless community organizations and providers for the open dialogue that we have continued to have around ways in which we can improve how we serve our city. We have much work to do moving forward but I believe that this is the right short-term path to take so that our unsheltered homeless don't have to choose between living on the street or jail and can live with dignity. Thank you and I will now pass it over to city manager Wilson to give you an overview of Rapid Shelter Columbia. Good afternoon everyone. I want to thank Dr. Bussells and Ed McDowell for y'all's leadership on this mayor's homeless task force. I think everybody has noticed the rise in homelessness not only in our city in our region but throughout the country. The issue of homelessness is front and center as an epidemic that is growing daily. It's a difficult issue to respond to with very challenging barriers to overcome. There is the mental health and substance abuse side to the economic hurdles that life throws at you that can lead to a major change in someone's everyday life. But either today there is the caring and compassionate dedication that we as a city, a region, and state must follow through on. Our service providers have been doing the heavy lifting to try and change the lives of all the people facing homelessness in our great city. I understand from listening to our service providers that the work never ends and they are doing the most they can with the limited resources that they're given. Communication, that's the biggest takeaway for me as a member of the homeless task force learning the importance of the provider to provider communication that goes on to help individuals in their biggest time of need. We as a city, region, and state need to help with that communication process identifying needs of individuals and getting them services that they need quickly. The smaller the window of need is the greater our chance to set a person's life back on the right path to a great quality of life. The challenges that the city and region are stepping up to lead on is being the 24 hour facility facilitator for services. Connecting individuals in need with the services they might need from our service providers and state and county departments homelessness doesn't go away after five p.m. So we need to be ready to continue the care at all hours. For far too long we've relied on our CPD to be our frontline service contact. The coordination with CPD and our wonderful service providers is as a strong history a strong relationship that they have built for many years as they have worked to find the best services for people in distress. The city recognizes that we need to have alternative outlets for responding to individuals needing mental health services and access to basic resources. In addition to the recent investment city council made with our pathways units we're working with our state partners to identify infrastructure permanent infrastructure that will allow us to have mental health services available permanently and to include every aspect of services that might be needed to set a person back on their path. I want to thank our Richland County State Delegation and Representative Kirkman Finley who have been very supportive in helping us craft a long-term plan in funding and a funding strategy for continuing to provide the destination for these wraparound services. Many state departments need to be involved from Department of Mental Health to Veterans Affairs to DMV. We're also calling on our surrounding municipal and county governments to be a part of this regional care plan. Casey, Irmo, West Columbia, Blythewood, Lexington, Forest Acres, Richland and Lexington County we can be a strong foundation together to create not only the interim plan but the best permanent outreach that is most effective in helping people in distress. Again I want to thank the Mayor's Homelessness Task Force echo Dr. Bussell's appreciation there for all their work on helping us generate ideas, strategies and solutions and we look forward to continuing the communication to identify long-term solutions that address the need for collaboration. I'd like to invite up my colleague Reverend McDowell. Thank you all so much for being here today. To our Mayor, City Manager, Chief, my fellow council members, all who have gathered here, what are we doing here today? That's the premier question. What are we doing here today? Well I want to answer it for you. We're planting seeds of hope. Seeds of hope. We've read the data. We know what the numbers are. This city is so compassionate and so concerned about members of this community that we wanted to do something that will engender itself in compassion. Dr. Bussells, we want to thank you and of course Will for being a part of this team. But guess what? You just don't plant a seed and leave it to grow by itself. It needs nurturing. It needs resources. It needs the kind of things that will help it, our city, continue to grow. Is there, is there something we can say poetically or something prophetically? You're on that ground today because lives are going to be changed. Instead of hopelessness, it will, we will build bridges of hope and folk will sense a genuine need for resources and for those things that are needed to make lives enriched. So it's good to be here today as hot as it is but it's good to be here today knowing that I'm a seed sore. My colleagues are seed sores and they are able to plot out a path to genuine Christian living. Thank you so very much. Hey good afternoon. I'm Carl Blackstone with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce and there's a common theme here. If Coretta Scott King said the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members and I'll tell you this, this is a great first step today and I really want to thank the mayor, council, uh, Ms. Wilson for really and the committee itself. Adi, you've done a great job so thank you very much for your leadership there but this is a great first step in really solving one of the biggest problems that we've had in Columbia since I've been at the chamber which is about eight years which that is homelessness and the actions today of building this campus down here is a great opportunity one to give those folks that don't have an opportunity to have a shelter to have a shelter in their own little space and and I think that bringing the service providers here is another example of ways that we can help them the most by not having to traverse around the city that we have folks close by that can help them and give them the resources they need. We have wonderful service providers in this community and they do a lot of heavy lifting and so it's not that they're not doing their job we just have so many folks that don't have the needs and we can help them do that and so this is a regional effort it's going to take a regional effort we have homeless populations all over it's not just downtown but we see it more frequently in downtown and so I think this is a great first step applaud council we're excited I mean there are too many stories to say of how this epidemic has impacted business and it and it's not that businesses don't want to help but they also have to make a living and they need to have a feel like their customers can go into their stores safely especially at night and some just don't have that feeling of safety and so it's important that as a collective team as a law enforcement as council as business leaders around town come together and find a solution so this is a great first step really excited so thank y'all for your leadership good afternoon let me say thank you to Mayor Rickam in chairwoman bustles all of city council and of course the task force members as well and really more even on equal ground our service providers in the city of Columbia the council will know what I mean when I say this to them that this thanks is genuine for me on behalf of the staff to you because they're not falling back this issue of homelessness in the city of Columbia has been going on like in many cities many capital cities many college towns for a long time and there have been different efforts along the way all I know with well intentioned I think where we find ourselves today and what the discussions have been with this council in forming the task force and other efforts is what is a tangible a tangible movement to at least start somewhere with a little bit of a different approach and so I am appreciative to the council for being willing to take a leap of faith with us as staff to try something new we're not standing here saying it's going to solve every problem but in an effort and in response to city council's direct focus on the chronic unsheltered homeless population we will be expanding our provision of service to provide a temporary location here for a 24 seven rapid shelter solution that also maintains the overflow capacity for inclement weather nights and so you've heard the theme here dignity compassion but now I'm going to talk a little bit more about the details which include responsibility accountability expectations and rules and so this solution seeks to add some value again in direct response to address a gap and where it's very narrowly tailored a gap in the service provision for this very specific population who may not be candidates for current shelters who may choose to stay who may choose not to stay in a congregate shelter setting they may be adverse or resistant to service delivery or other reasons that they may just choose to still be on the streets of columbia we are specifically targeting and i want to be clear about that those individuals downtown and on the perimeter in our hospitality districts etc that resists the services that are already in place perhaps though in a congregate shelter environment and so that is what makes this solution a bit different this solution offers privacy of space dignity and compassion as it has been mentioned but if you think about it logically and maybe even anecdotally and of course doing the research as a practitioner of management we've had to talk about the experiences in other communities that have deployed these particular units and this is a difficult population at times to address but what we are finding and learning is that they often do better in single room units and not in congregate settings and we hope that to be the case here if we do it right if we have the partnerships if we still focus on dignity and compassion i think hopefully we'll have a return on this uh very worthwhile we believe investment in return for the investment expectations will be set and the adherence to rules and dignity standards will be strictly enforced we will clearly define how long clients can stay we recognize there must be an incentive to move on to move on to permanent housing and we want to put in place those things to encourage that for these reasons we have chosen a vendor palette shelters who is especially suited to deliver a product that is based upon a model of safety and privacy while helping residents transition to permanent housing palette shelters headquartered in ever at washington are built and you'll see the various uh displays and we can take questions about them as well but they're built with purpose as a public benefit company and what that means is they are not existing to maximize on profits but rather they're purpose driven and their model is based on the fact that 80 of their team members have some lived experiences related to homelessness they have expertise on the journey to stability housing and employment we chose this vendor for that reason as an emergency solution the palette shelters again um will help us pursue our goals which are based on a pathway to permanent housing again temporary to permanent housing via family reunification efforts supportive housing and or affordable housing the model provides the dignity of private space in a healing safe community environment which includes durable comfortable shelters bathrooms laundry community rooms and most importantly service providers the wrap around services and programming is fundamental and key and it will be provided with an emphasis on the coordination of client case management via the hms or homeless management information system that the united way of the midlands um manages in our area it will focus as dr bussell on trauma informed care meal provision transportation no walk-ups and 24 7 security many of the service providers and partners that we have always worked with we hope to continue that relationship the comet salvation army transitions usc housing first and the united way as i mentioned the steps in the process where we are now we've identified the vendor as i explained we are currently meeting with our providers and stakeholders so i don't have all the details because we're literally trying to launch this by november the first and so it's a lot of hard work going on but it's so worthwhile to see potentially a product and an approach that's different the construction schedule has been set and the building prep is underway for approximately 50 shelters we'll be finalizing the shelter operations guidelines staffing administrative procedures for that deployment and launch of the shelters by hopefully november one the overflow capacity that i mentioned and what most people have come to understand as our inclement weather center here will still continue the trigger temperature will be 40 degrees or lower starting on uh november first and lasting through march 31st for those who are not in the cycle yet for um an individual pallet shelter having been assigned to them and we do have 188 beds between our buildings a and b that will still be utilized for overflow inclement weather nights over 3000 beds have been deployed across the country by pallet shelters and we're really excited that will be the first in the southeast um to become a part of this journey some case studies we have for you in sonoma county california boston massachusetts and hosay california and other places but columbia south carolina will be the first in the southeast to try this approach i'm gonna stop there because i could keep going on and on but we do have um some additional details that we can share if you have questions and again thank you city council much appreciated from perspective of police chief miss wilson may recommend and council i'm just always amazed by um the courage and innovation that that um our manager and elected officials um follow to address just incredibly difficult issues and this there's there's probably may may not be more complicated or difficult issue than homeless so um i'm i thank you for allowing me to be part of the task force um and allowing law enforcement and me representing the police department to be at the table and i also um have to say that i've been just so impressed how everyone has recognized that law enforcement is not the tip of the spear to solve this problem we are certainly an important part of the problem but you know when i think of of where we are today i you know words that i think of is compassion empathy accountability and then just a measured response there certainly is an accountability piece to to this and not that's where the police department comes in but we also are looking at it from very innovative um angles the pathways unit is is one of those um that was something that council immediately recognized and generously funded they've already had over 325 um individual referrals and contacts with people in need um on the enforcement end we have seen um accountability at an all new level when it comes to again criminal activity we um we have people in place to get folks to the services they need but we know that we've got incredible service providers that um are addressing a large part of our um homeless population and we have a more of a vulnerable population that really is the focus of of this very innovative approach and we hope that we can be a conduit for directing people to those um to this location where very important services will be made available to them so thank you so much for allowing the police department to be be part of the solution this is an exciting time i think for our city to once again lead the way on and a very critical issue thank you