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Homeless Services Quarterly Report for February - April 2018
<br />May 1, 2018
<br />Page 8
<br />representing the public housing agency, was successfully approved to chair the CoC Board for
<br />the next two years. Hafsa Kaka, Homeless Services Manager, holds a seat for the Procedural
<br />Review Committee and Deputy City Manager, Robert Cortez, will hold a seat in the Commission
<br />to End Homelessness.
<br />On February 22, 2018, Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez, Acting Deputy Chief, Kenneth
<br />Gominsky, and Homeless Services Manager, Hafsa Kaka, met with U.S Department of Housing
<br />and Urban Development (HUD) legal representative to discuss incidents involving persons
<br />associated with homeless encampment at the Civic Center Plaza and HUD employees at the
<br />Federal building. In order to increase safety for HUD employees at the Federal building, the City
<br />of Santa Ana has committed to train HUD staff on safety precautions. Additionally, the Homeless
<br />Services Manager followed up on legislative lobbying to pursue additional funding from HUD, to
<br />address homeless services in the Civic Center. This was followed by a meeting with Deputy City
<br />Manager, Housing Division Manager and Homeless Services Manager with HUD Field Policy
<br />Representatives encouraging City of Santa Ana to secure collaborative funding relations with the
<br />CoC.
<br />On February 28, 2018, leaders from Orange County's corporate, philanthropic, faith -based,
<br />government and non-profit gathered at UC Irvine, to kick off the "United to End Homelessness," a
<br />community -wide initiative led by Orange County United Way to ensure integrated and sustainable
<br />solutions are implemented for persons experiencing homelessness in Orange County. Santa Ana
<br />was represented by Mayor Pro Tem Martinez, Housing Division Manager, Judson Brown,
<br />Homeless Services Manager, Hafsa Kaka and Terri Eggers, Senior Community Development
<br />Analyst. The campaign is in close collaboration with efforts by Orange County's Association of
<br />Cities (ACCOC) to engage all 34 cities in a collaborative county -wide plan to develop 2,700 units
<br />of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) within the next two to three years. Santa Ana attended
<br />the Permanent Supportive Housing Technical Steering group led by ACCOC, to collaborate and
<br />discuss allocations of PSH sites with the housing and city officials.
<br />On March 1, 2018, the City of Santa Ana hosted Emilio Ramirez, representative of cities across
<br />the State on the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council with the Housing Community
<br />Development (HCD), overseeing Housing First guidelines and regulations of resources. The tour
<br />was led by Housing Division Manager, Judson Brown, along with Homeless Services Manager,
<br />Hafsa Kaka, Senior Community Development Analyst, Terri Eggers and Corporal Juan Montiel
<br />with the Santa Ana Police Department Homeless Evaluation & Assessment Team (HEART). A
<br />tour of the Plaza of the Flags was provided to highlight the City's homeless population, the
<br />Courtyard Emergency Shelter and a tour of the Orchard PSH project. Most importantly, during
<br />the tour, staff highlighted concerns regarding HCD's decision to restrict funding from No Place
<br />Like Home (NPLH) to more than 49% of units into Permanent Supportive Housing, which will
<br />negatively impact local cities with extremely limited resources to develop more Permanent
<br />Supportive Housing. The message was well received and Santa Ana is working with Corporation
<br />of Supportive Housing to continue the advocacy against limiting PSH from NPLH.
<br />On March 30, 2018, the Honorable Judge David O. Carter held a status hearing with County
<br />Officials, Orange County Catholic Workers and City of Santa Ana in regards to the homeless
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