In this episode of Making a Difference, we look at the last 20 years in the area of affordable housing and homelessness in Springfield. Both have been continuous red flags in the Community Focus Report, which began in 2004.
Michelle Garand is the vice president of Affordable Housing and Homelessness at Community Partnership of the Ozarks and has worked in this area for nearly three decades. She talks with Emily Fessler, Continuum of Care director for Community Partnership about the need for more affordable housing in Springfield and about the city's unsheltered situation.
Michele Skalicky: Thanks, guys, for coming in today to talk about homelessness and affordable housing.
Emily Fessler/Michelle Garand: Good to be here, Michele.
Q. How long have you worked in this focus area?
A. (Garand): I started working with the Continuum of Care, which is our regional planning body, I think, in '99. So it's been quite a long time.
Q. And what about you, Emily?
A. Almost three years. And then prior to that, I worked in public health.
Q. Looking back over 20 years of the community Focus Report, affordable, safe housing has been a red flag in many of those reports. Let's talk about that first one. What have you guys seen regarding affordable housing over the years, and where are we at now?
A. (Garand): So as you know Springfield has an aging housing stock, so we've seen properties declining over the years and an insertion of rehabilitation just hasn't been there. So we've seen the number of affordable units declining over the last 20 years. So the demand for affordable housing is continuing to grow while the number of safe, decent, affordable and accessible housing declines. So I think the latest housing study reported 9,000, a little over 9000 units and a deficit for folks that are living in poverty.
Q. 9000? A deficit of 9,000? Wow.
A. (Fessler): 8,960, so almost 9,000.
Q. That's a lot. So what do we need to do to get to a point where we have enough affordable housing for folks who need it? I know that's a $10 million question.
A. (Fessler: If we had the answers to that, we would have $10 million.
A. (Garand): It's always money and time.
A. (Fessler): t's definitely something that I think will take a long time. I think, because there's such a deficit for the demand that we have, it's not something that we're going to be able to fix within one or two years. I mean, it's going to take a lot of investment. I do think we have some really great people in our community who are working towards addressing that. And so I think we've seen a big shift in momentum towards really looking at affordable housing and what our housing quality is in Springfield and some of the ways to address that. And so looking at how do we clean up blighted properties, for example, what is right to council look like for tenants, you know, so that we can keep tenants in their homes and families in their homes. What does risk mitigation look like, you know, to keep folks housed? Because if we just continuously have folks that are getting kicked out of their housing, we're just perpetuating this cycle where we can see more and more folks entering housing instability and we're not addressing some of those things. And so I think a huge thing that the City (of Springfield) particularly is looking at right now is rental inspections and licensing programs. Right. So what are some of the things that other communities are doing to address affordable housing that we could look at implementing here in Springfield?
Q. I've heard in the past that, you know, people get vouchers for housing, but there's no place to put them. Is that a continuing problem?
A. (Garand): It's an increasing problem, yes.
Q. Let's go back to affordable housing. What has been done to address that need so far? I know that there have been things like Eden Village and Maplewood Village. Did I get that right?
A. (Garand): Maplewood Villas. Yeah. So those are low income housing tax credit properties, the Maplewood Village. And so those are sort of a key issue in our community right now. We have a number of those Li-Tec units and developments that are now expiring, so the affordability period is now ending. And looking at either maintaining affordability — that's up to the developer — or assisting those individuals living in those units to find alternative units, and that's an uphill battle.
Q. And I know it's not just, you know — of course, it's important to have that affordable housing available, but there are so many things that contribute to people being able to afford a home. I mean, it's not just availability, it's income, you know, and it's, you know, skills, skill set and that kind of thing. Talk about just the overall picture of of how we're doing as far as getting people into a stable situation.
A. (Garand): So I, I took a minute to look at the 2004 Community Focus Report. That's the first one housing was entered, and looked at the most recent. And so housing costs have gone up from $89,000 as median up to $270,000, something like that. And so when you're looking at that exponential growth, you're not seeing the same exponential growth for the majority of households in Springfield, so we're getting priced out of the market. And so we have folks that are moving in and buying up properties. And you know, there's a gentrification issue at hand as well. And so we're seeing people coming in and buying units now, fixing them up, selling them or renting them at prices that the majority of our community can't afford.
Q. And let's move on to homelessness. That's an issue that has continued to persist in Springfield. There are, you know, a number of unsheltered folks in our community. Michelle, you've worked to combat that issue for a while. What have you seen over the years, and how are we doing today? Emily, you can weigh in on that too.
A. (Garand): Well, I can speak to the past. So I'm the Ghost of Christmas past on this, but I think there's some key factors that are still, that still continue. The city's investment from the beginning has been there and working in partnership with the city to address the issues. They are a key partner, and they've done a great job. And then that has actually grown, again exponentially, for our continuum of care. And we're seeing not only the planning department, for example, being interested and engaged, but now it's going up to city councilmen and the mayor and the city planner or the city manager, excuse me. So we're seeing that engagement, and unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in homelessness, especially unsheltered homelessness. And Emily certainly is the expert there, but that collaboration piece, just with all of our agencies coming together has been really magnificent too, and it's continued over time. That makes it very easy to get partners in place quickly, when there's new funding that arises, to be able to expand options for for folks that are experiencing homelessness.
Q. And I know it's hard to know at any given time, you know, how many unsheltered individuals there are. But, Emily, what are you seeing as far as that number goes?
A. So I actually did come prepared with some data because I had a feeling this question was going to come up. So I think publicly, a lot of people look at the Everyone Counts campaign, which is a snapshot of one night in January. We don't like using that information. It's a very specific definition provided by HUD, and it is only one night. And so as I think many of us know, homelessness changes on a day to day basis. So the numbers we get one day are going to be very different than tomorrow, because we always have people that are gaining housing, but we also have people that are always losing their housing. And so it's hard to always provide a comprehensive number. But what the continuum of care does is we look at different categories of homelessness. So when we look at category 1, which is literal homelessness per HUD, and then category 4, folks who are currently fleeing domestic violence situations, we're looking at 437 households as of the beginning of January and so that's about 908 people. And so if we look at breaking it down into sort of subpopulations, overwhelmingly the households are families. So we're talking, you know, individuals with children in their homes. And then we're also seeing a drastic increase in seniors experiencing homelessness. And so we've sort of coined the term of the silver tsunami nationally because as we spoke to is that housing is continuously increasing, but that income is not increasing at the same rate. And so now we have seniors who have never experienced housing instability a day in their life, now entering homelessness for the very first time, because they're on a fixed income, and they don't have the ability to supplement that income to account for the increased rents or mortgage payments that they're seeing.
Q. 970 — is that higher or about the same as what we've seen over the last few years?
A. (Fessler): It fluctuates different times of the year. We definitely see it depending on on rent cycles, whether there's a whole host of factors. But I would say it has been slowly increasing, at least in the time that I've been here. And I genuinely do believe it's not just our community, it's a nationwide problem, and there's so many compounding factors. So when we're talking about the development of affordable housing, there's a whole other side of construction costs, right? Supply chain that was impacted greatly by the pandemic. And so that then, of course, you know, property managers have to account for that and when they're paying for rents. And so just sort of the the demand, is far greater than what we have availability and resources. And so I think that's why we're starting to see an increase in that unsheltered number, particularly from just a few years ago when I did some research on homelessness in my undergrad, was that the numbers were smaller, but it was also because we didn't have as many people on the streets that you visually see, and it's simply because there just aren't enough beds to accommodate the amount of people that are incoming to the homeless service system. And so the more we can do to prevent that, the more we can provide prevention and diversion programming to keep people in their homes and off of the streets, the better we're able to address the folks that are chronically homeless, that are that we typically see down on the square or as you're driving around Springfield. So I think most people will probably agree that you've seen more of that lately. And I think it's just a matter of the fact that the the need is outgrowing our resources.
Q. And I know I'm jumping around here, but with seniors becoming homeless, there are some unique challenges. Talk a little bit about that. And you know, what are some unique needs that they have and how are those being addressed?
A. (Garand): I think that accessibility piece is key. So when I mentioned that we have an aging housing stock, these are not accessible homes across the board, generally speaking. And so when we're looking at an infusion of funding, whether those were stimulus dollars or programs like Restore SGF or of course, the Springfield Community Land Trust, that's really the focus there is, is making sure that individuals can age in place. And we have a large coalition, It's called the Home Team, Housing opportunities must expand. And that's really what they're looking at, is individuals that have physical, physically disabling conditions or are seniors and ensuring that, as Emily said, they can stay where they are. Emily also mentioned diversion, and that is something that is relatively new to our community, and that came about really through the pandemic just before maybe, because we know it's so much cheaper for households to maintain the housing that they have or quickly rehouse them versus engagement with the homeless service system. And so that is another thing for seniors. They are prioritized for us — seniors and disabled — with those diversion programs, because really, there's just not a lot of options out there.
Q. Yeah, I know Housing First has been the model that's been followed for several years now. Explain what that is and and how that's working.
A. (Garand): I love it. It is the neatest thing since sliced bread, and our continuum has engaged in it wholeheartedly. I'll let Emily explain it, but it really is probably the smartest thing that we've seen out of the federal government to target funds to the right folks.
A. (Fessler): Housing First is an evidence-based philosophy. So there's tons of evidence about why this model is, you know, working more effectively than, I think, some other housing models. But really, what it looks at is it's looking at housing first and then wraparound supportive services second. So Housing First doesn't mean housing only, but Housing First means that we're going to put a roof over your head. And then after that, we're going to work through all of the barriers that you have to maintaining that roof. And so for certain programs, maybe it's you have to have employment or you have to be sober first, those types of things, than, say, you're not worthy enough of a house. And I think a lot of times when we look at the psychology behind homelessness, we're looking at folks who are in survival brain. And so you don't have the ability to make, like, smart, rational choices and decisions for yourself in the long term. If your focus right now is food, water, shelter, right. That's the very basic Maslow's hierarchy of needs is food, water, shelter. And so if we can provide you that food, water, shelter first, then all of those other pieces we can work on after that. So employment benefits, income, all of that will come after. But we have to again first meet that very basic need. And so what we've seen is a lot of people then be able to maintain their housing a lot easier because we've used that Housing First model. And so again, it doesn't just mean we put you in a house and we say goodbye. It's we put you in a house and then what we do is we work through all of the challenges to make sure you can maintain that housing permanently.
A. (Garand): So just if I may add, one of the the other greatest things that came out of the Hearth Act from HUD was the coordinated entry system. And so with the Housing First philosophy as the foundation for that, we provide assessment for every individual that is seeking support through any of those federally funded programs. That way, we can prioritize individuals that do have the highest need so that we can provide those wraparound services. It's much more data driven now and more efficient and effective for the folks that need housing the most.
Q. Is there still a need for emergency shelters outside of the cold weather, and what are we providing here in our community as far as that?
A. (Garand): So the first thing that I would say before Emily engages is that during that same Hearth Act from the federal level, they really shifted the focus from emergency shelter regarding funding and switched it more to permanent supportive housing projects and that kind of thing. That was — I understand why they did that, but there's still a critical humanitarian need that we're not able to address with federal funding. Now, I think we're seeing some shifting with that under — but definitely critical need. And that is evidenced through the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter. And those numbers are skyrocketing.
A. (Fessler): Emergency shelter is both a great thing and also sometimes I think sometimes there's unintended consequences we don't think about. And so, for example, I think we've seen the number of unsheltered homelessness grow. And so the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter system as a beautiful initiative, really incredible grassroots program, is really acting as a Band-Aid for a much larger problem that we have. And so while a great program, by no means should it end, not saying that, but the reality is it's because there's not enough emergency shelter beds. And so I think definitely looking at expanding emergency shelter beds is a critical need for our community. But I also think of it more as like a funnel. So you have all of these individuals that are experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and then you have a smaller amount of emergency shelter beds. But once you're in that emergency shelter, where do you go from there? And so there's different pathways that an individual needs to have access to, whether that be moving into transitional housing, a sober living program, direct to permanent housing or into a housing program that's a federal funded housing program. But if you don't have enough of those options or those pathways, you get a bottleneck that gets kind of held up right there. So then you have all these people sitting in emergency shelters with no path forward. And so what we have to look at is if we're going to look at expanding emergency shelter beds, we also need to look at expanding all those different pathways to meet their individual needs, to get them out of emergency shelter moving forward. And so when we talk about the need for emergency shelter, it's great because, again, we're addressing those very basic food, water, shelter, which are necessity and critical when we live in a place like the Ozarks, which is really cold during the winter. But on the other end of that, by addressing and having more beds, we're also creating a much larger bottleneck to get people into programming for permanent housing.
Skalicky: Definitely not an easy fix.
A. (Garand): Because that that funnel or that bottleneck is further exacerbated by the fact that we don't have enough affordable housing to move people through that whole system. And so there's bottlenecks at every point in the system.
Q. So, you know, kind of the burning question, what is it going to take to address the needs of unsheltered individuals and families in our community? You guys are working hard, but there's so much that needs to happen, it sounds like, for this issue to be considered fixed.
A. (Garand): Yes. I don't know that we will ever fix the problem, but we can be responsive to to the needs of folks that are experiencing homelessness. And I think that we can do a better job locally with that. Our continuum of care relies heavily on the federal government and funding that comes through for that. However, we do have a couple of agencies that are donor driven and, you know, Salvation Army, Victory Mission that don't engage in that federal program and expanding shelter, diversion and just local support. However that looks, if it is in the city's budget, you know, there's a couple of different tax initiatives that have been passed recently that could certainly address key critical issues within the homeless service system. And, you know, fortunately, we have a whole plan for that. We have it all written up.
Q. When will we know more about that plan and what the tax money that was — tax revenues from the recently passed tax in Springfield will be used for?
A. (Garand): I think this summer is a target date. They're putting together that advisory committee that will make recommendation on use of the funds and how to distribute those. So we just want to be ready. But Emily has already mentioned several of the key things that that we would like to see locally, and that is risk mitigation, addressing blighted properties, of course, diversion and affordable housing expansion. So whatever that looks like in our in our community.
Q. Is there anything else that you'd like to bring up while we're here around the table?
A. (Fessler): I would also just say, you know, Michelle and I working in what we do from the HUD regional planning body perspective is great. And I would also just add that as a community, it takes all partners and pieces. And so I think all of us hold a piece of that puzzle whether you're a federally funded agency, an individual advocate, or a nonprofit that is donor or small grant funded. And so I just would say that, if we want to address this as a community, looking at keeping people out of the homeless service system is key. But then also addressing the people that we do have in our homeless service system requires every sector to be at the table. We're very fortunate in Springfield to have an incredibly collaborative community, and I think we say that a lot of times, but it's like it's very true when you look at other homeless service systems in other communities across the nation, we're very fortunate in that way, but it is a community wide effort. And so it doesn't just rely on those agencies that are doing the federal funding programs or those agencies that are doing the emergency sheltering. It takes every single person to be engaged in this process to to make things happen.
Q. Can one individual have an impact? If someone is wanting to do something, what are some recommendations?
A. (Garand): Absolutely. One person can make an impact because, as Emily said, you bring your treasures to the table. So whether that is time or talent or funding, of course. But we gather collaboratives for almost everything that we do. And so if somebody is coming with an experience or a perspective that can help engage and propel solutions, we definitely want people at that table. Volunteering, of course, we oversee the O'Reilly Center for Hope, and there's always volunteer opportunities to help support individuals with those most basic needs, as well as engaging in housing. Of course, at the funding level, every penny helps, every penny helps to try to make sure that a little family stays in their house, whether that is utility assistance or, you know, COVID really was able to show us sort of the ripple effects of a health care tragedy. And so, you know, people experience that all the time. And one trip in, in a missed paycheck will send a household just spiraling. And we want to catch them before that happens.
Q. So if somebody is interested in helping, whether monetarily or volunteering, who do they need to contact?
A. (Garand): Well, they certainly can contact either one of us through the Community Partnership of the Ozarks website cpozarks.org.
Skalicky: I know you have a volunteer web page.
A. (Garand): Yes, we do have a volunteer page, but we also, you know, homelessness does not happen in a vacuum. And Community Partnership addresses a wide array of community challenges. So even if you don't feel comfortable engaging in housing and homeless services, we have other initiatives that, again, dovetail in prevention and direct services, that kind of thing. So taking a look at our collaborative page, you know, to to see where your interest and your talents lie is, is definitely something that we would recommend. And all the contact information is on there.
Well, thanks to both of you, Emily Fessler and Michelle Grant, for coming in today.
Thank you so much.
Support for the Making a Difference series is provided through a grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
Correction: titles were corrected after the story was published.
