Springfield lays out plan to address homelessness with $3.8 million grant

Unveiling their draft allocation plan, the city is asking Springfieldians to weigh in on how to spend a multimillion dollar federal grant addressing homelessness.

Out of the national grant, Springfield was allocated $3.8 million in a new grant called the Home Investment Partnerships Grant. The funds for the program come from the $1.9 trillion ARPA grant that was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March of last year. More than $5 billion of those funds were set aside for homelessness prevention through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Eligible uses for the funds include acquisition and development of non-congregate shelter, tenant based rental assistance, supportive services, HOME-ARP rental housing, administration and planning, and non-profit operating and capacity building assistance.

This differs from other HOME grants, which focuses exclusively on affordable housing for low-income households.

For this grant, qualifying populations include:

• Those experiencing homelessness

• Those at-risk of becoming homeless

• Those fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,

stalking, or human trafficking

• Those who are at great risk of housing instability

To create a funding plan, city officials consulted with 20 local service providers, many of which are part of the Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness. According to the 109 individuals consulted, the largest gaps in service to these qualifying populations are affordable rental housing for low-income individuals and for more emergency shelter beds and services.

At a Tuesday meeting outlining the plan, senior city planner Bob Atchley said the goal is for those experiencing homelessness to go through a "continuum of housing" from an emergency shelter all the way to home ownership.

More: Driven by shootings, Springfield's violent crime rate is up in 2022

"What we're seeing and what we're being told, is that we have a gap at the shelter level and also at the affordable housing level. And anytime you have gaps in the continuum of housing, it's really hard to get people to a higher level," Atchley said at the meeting.

Based on these factors Springfield's draft HOME-ARP allocates the following out of the $3.8 million grant.

• $2.2 million to acquire and develop non-congregant shelters

• $1 million to develop affordable rental housing

• $400,000 for supportive services

• $190,000 for administrative planning

While most of the funds would be allocated towards the acquisition and development of shelters, Atchley said the city would likely partner with an outside organization to run any shelter program. Also, HOME-ARP guidelines require any shelter build to be non-congregant, meaning any family or individual would be afforded their own space in the shelter.

Despite these limitations, city officials say the funding will be significant.

"The opportunity presented by this allocation of HOME-ARP to make the sizable investment to fulfill a long-term solution is vital to strengthening the community’s homeless system of care," reads the draft allocation plan.

The Housing Inventory Count is a point-in-time inventory of programs that provide beds and units dedicated to serve people experiencing homelessness. The 2021 HIC identified 1,026 beds in Springfield. This includes the emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing beds. Of those beds, 702 were provided year-round, and 324 were short-term.

According to city staff, approximately 300 unhoused individuals in Springfield need more emergency shelter beds than is now provided.

This is based on a biennial HUD-required point-in-time survey in which a census is taken of the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.

The latest point-in-time survey found 583 unhoused individuals in the city. The need for emergency shelter beds is based on the point-in-time-count of 66 unsheltered individuals, 73 sheltered in crisis cold weather shelters and 158 hotel placements of the COVID vulnerable.

More: Homeless residents, advocates urge more city resources in Springfield

But point-in-time data is known to undercount the actual number of those experiencing homelessness in a given area. When explaining the point-in-time data, the city's draft allocation plan states it is "not a reliable predictor of how many people will be

homeless or receive housing resources in a year" but can be used to "provide key information on the state of homelessness."

When asked why the city used point-in-time data as the basis of the allocation, Atchley said it was the data required by HUD for the grant.

Advocate criticizes plan

The use of point-in-time data was criticized by The Connecting Grounds pastor Christie Love, whose church provides many services to unhoused Springfieldians.

"Reports like this make the scale of the problem seem so much smaller for people who are not engaged with this population on a regular basis. These numbers make it seem as though the problem is being addressed and the need is small… when in reality the opposite is true," Love wrote on Facebook after the meeting.

According to an ongoing count of unhoused individuals collected by The Connecting Grounds, there are 1,259 individuals in Springfield experiencing homelessness as of May 20. These include 576 who are unsheltered, 94 living in cars, 34 in hotels, 113 staying with family or friends, and 442 staying at some kind of shelter.

At the Monday meeting, Springfield resident Linda Simkins noted that The Connecting Grounds was not one of the 20 service providers consulted to create the grant allocation plan.

Atchley said their omission was "not intentional."

Love has often been vocally critical of how the city assists those experiencing homelessness, but recently gave a presentation before city council members. Her church has also applied for ARPA funds allocated to the city for Connecting Grounds services.

In her response to the allocation plan, Love said she had been "quiet" in recent weeks but felt compelled to speak out to criticize the plan.

"Language matters and when city reports share numbers that nationally as well as locally under-report on the severity of the sheltering crisis and calls the data accurate… it leads to a misconception that there are not great needs around us daily. It paints a picture that the current system is meeting the needs which sadly is far from true."

Public comment

The Draft HOME-ARP Allocation Plan is available for public review and comment until 5 p.m. June 23. Copies of the plan may be obtained at any of the branches of the Springfield-Greene County Library located within the city limits of Springfield or via the City’s website. Written comments may be sent to batchley@springfieldmo.gov.

Once the 30 days of public review has ended, the plan will be taken up by city council — conducting a public hearing on June 13 and a final vote on June 27.

In addition to the HOME-ARP grant, Springfield received $40 million ARPA funds to be allocated to a variety of city priorities. Out of those funds, Springfield's city council has allocated $8 million to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and $6 million toward retention payments for city police, fire and health workers.

There remains $26.6 million that has yet to be allocated.

Councilmembers have promised to adhere closely to the results of a community survey conducted last year, which found "homeless and housing services" the second most popular answer behind public safety issues.

The city has received 67 proposals or applications for funds — adding up to a total of $215.5 million of requests. Of that, there are 15 different proposals addressing homelessness, adding up to $70.3 million.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield lays out plan to address homelessness with $3.8 million grant