20250328-004A: FY2025-2026 DACC Budget Recommendation — original pdf

Recommendation

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN COMMUNITY COURT ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDATION 20250328-004A March 28, 2025 Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget Recommendations Date: Subject: Motioned By: Kate Garza Seconded By: Nicole Golden Introduction The DACC Advisory Board would like to thank the Austin City Council for its exceptional support of DACC, especially within the last two years. Investments in housing-focused Clinical Case Managers and social service dollars for wraparound supports, expanding DACC’s jurisdiction, and the implementation of DACC’s Mobile Court have had an immense impact for the people DACC serves and the community overall. DACC has made great strides forward this year and also continues to see significant demand for their services. Keeping in mind the anticipated limitations the City faces in the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget process, and the urgency of top need for DACC, the DACC Advisory Board is focusing budget recommendations this year on one item to continue a critical grant-funded rapid rehousing and case management program that’s at risk of ending without investments from the City. Losing the 6 case management FTEs and associated programmatic funding would have detrimental impacts that would ripple across all of DACC’s Homeless Services and their ability to serve as part of the City’s emergency response system at the current level provided. Recommendations: 1. Fiscal Year 2025-26 Priority: $2,187,348 of ongoing funding in Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget for six grant-funded clinical case managers and programmatic funding to continue connecting clients to long-term, stable housing. 2. Future Considerations: Plan for ongoing funding to augment DACC’s Intensive Case Management capacity by adding two housing-focused case manager FTEs and corresponding programmatic funding to continue connecting clients to housing. Description of Recommendation to Council Category 1: Support for City Council Initiatives 1. $2,187,348 of ongoing funding in Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget for six grant-funded clinical case managers and programmatic funding to continue connecting clients to housing. Six FTEs, including 5 housing-focused Clinical Case Managers and 1 Clinical Case Manager Supervisor, and funding for housing expenses for clients served by these case managers were initially funded by Emergency Solutions Grants – CARES Act funding, which ended in 2022. These staff and programmatic expenses are now funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was previously slated to end in December 2024. Grant terms have been updated to permit expenditures through the end of 2026; however, there is only enough remaining ARPA funding to cover this program through the end of 2025. Ongoing funding should be identified for these staff and resources to maintain current service capacity of serving approximately 100 individuals per year. If ongoing funds through the City are allocated in the fiscal year 2025-26 budget, continuity for the case management and housing resources would be ensured. Justification for this request includes:  Directly responsive to Council Resolution 20250130-083: This Resolution called for, “Starting with the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget,” to, “explore sustainable funding sources, partnerships, and opportunities to prioritize ongoing investments in a balanced homelessness response system,” including but not limited to identifying, “which homelessness programs that are currently funded by ARPA should continue and how they will be funded.”  Longstanding Board consideration: Understanding the need for this service capacity at DACC and for Austin’s broader Homelessness Response System, as well as the planning required for this size of an investment, the Board has identified this upcoming need in our last four budget recommendations as follows: o o o o Item 6 in the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget Recommendation Item 2 in the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Budget Recommendation Item 3 in the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Budget Recommendations Item 3 in the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget Recommendations   Fully staffed program with active clients: All six positions with this program are currently filled, with active clients being served on caseloads, some working toward gaining connection to safe and stable housing and others who have been housed and rely on the program for housing expenses and continued case management services. Some case managers with the program have been with DACC for multiple years and bring valuable expertise that benefit DACC clients, as well as the department. Without these staff, capacity to continue case managing the individuals currently served, along with funding for ongoing housing expenses, would drop off abruptly.. Impact to DACC’s Homeless Services Unit and Walk-in Services: All of DACC’s Clinical Case Managers across the Homeless Services Unit, including these grant-funded staff, are masters-level clinicians. To ensure seamless operations, there is cross-training and shared responsibilities across all staff, including helping with coverage for DACC’s Walk-in Case Management Services, which serve over 60 people per day. This avoids soaring wait times and potential clients being turned away due to capacity issues when assigned Walk-in Case Management staff are sick, on vacation, or training. If these 6 FTEs are no longer part of DACC’s team, service availability will be affected across all case managers’ caseloads, reducing the time they have to work with their clients working toward obtaining safe and stable housing.  DACC’s role as part of City’s emergency response system: DACC has proven to be a pillar of Austin’s emergency response system for serving unhoused individuals in times of crisis. DACC was one of the only local services providers for unhoused individuals that maintained in-person services throughout the pandemic, including adjusting services in real time to meet the evolving needs. COVID exposed the immense need for human power as part of our response efforts, and those needs continue today. In addition, DACC plays a vital role in the City’s response to extreme weather events. DACC serves as the sole embarkation hub that coordinates registration, crowd care, and connection to transportation for individuals seeking a safe place to sleep when Cold Weather Shelters (CWS) are activated. Most nights DACC serves 200-300 people, but those numbers can be much higher. For example, DACC served almost 450 people during the CWS activation on February 19, 2025. The Board would like to express deep gratitude for the DACC staff who stay late, and acknowledge that thanks to their services, the community can stay home, safe and warm with their families, and know that our unhoused neighbors are getting high quality care. The Board urges Council to recognize this tremendous contribution by DACC and the urgency of ensuring it is not reduced in future years as our changing climate continues to test the City’s emergency response infrastructure. 2. Future Considerations: Plan for approximately $729,116 of ongoing funding to augment DACC’s Intensive Case Management capacity by adding two clinical case manager FTEs and corresponding programmatic funding to continue connecting clients to housing. Consistent with DACC’s five-year plan to expand staff sustainably each year to address growing needs for services over time, these funds would enable DACC to hire two housing-focused case manager positions, along with an additional vehicle and corresponding social service dollars per case manager. On average over the last several years, DACC has consistently had a waitlist of between 200-300 people wanting to engage in housing-focused Intensive Case Management services, which has increased further in the last year. Council has fulfilled this request the last two budget cycles to help DACC respond to the growing need for services in the community and work toward the five-year staffing plan. Understanding the urgency of continuing the ARPA-funded program identified in item 1, the Board is highlighting this as an ongoing priority for future budget years but asking that priority be given to retaining existing staff and programmatic funding. Please see Item 2 in the Board’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget Recommendation for more context around this request. Rationale: DACC is serving Austin’s most marginalized residents and stabilizing their lives to the benefit of the entire Austin community. The Downtown Austin Community Court Advisory Board wholeheartedly and enthusiastically supports DACC’s services and its request for resources to continue assisting its clients. The Downtown Austin Community Court Advisory Board urges City Council to allocate funds and explore all available means to avoid setbacks, to maintain and ultimately increase DACC’s efforts over time to address homelessness in Austin. Vote 6-0 For: Against: 0 Abstain: 0 4 Absent: Attest: Dr. Anu Kapadia, Vice Chair ___________________________________