Durango City Council agreed to direct $170,000 from joint sales tax revenues this year toward efforts to support the homeless population.
City Council breezed through an action item at Wednesday’s meeting about funding a homeless support plan through Manna soup kitchen and Project Moxie, the city’s consultant in its homeless plan that is also providing advice about housing issues.
Last fall, the city and La Plata County approved $125,000 from the joint sales tax fund to support homelessness projects, said Ted Holteen, spokesman for La Plata County.
Manna received approval for $80,000 from those funds in 2021. It requested an additional $90,000 from the joint sales tax fund to complete projects addressing homelessness. On Feb. 9, La Plata County commissioners signed off on the use of additional joint city and county sales tax funds for this year, Holteen said. City Council followed suit Tuesday.
Manna Executive Director Ann Morse and Project Moxie homeless plan consultant Jenn Lopez said in their memo to City Council that full funding now – and in 2023-24 – is “more critical than ever given the increase in need and access to increased federal and state resources as a result of the pandemic.”
The money would pay for offices, staff members and a director position and benefit 3,800 community members through services from Manna’s Community Kitchen and Resource Center this year, the memo said.
The approval almost did not pass because Mayor Kim Baxter was hesitant to commit the $170,000 because of a paragraph in Morse’s and Lopez’s memo that said $170,000 would be pursued in 2023-24 as well. Baxter said while she supports the current funding request, she was under the impression it was a singular one, not an obligation to multiple years of funding.
The mayor ultimately supported the approval of the money because approvals in 2023-24 are still open to further discussion.
The funds will contribute to a data system called EmpowOR, which can manage data about cases, workforce development, current services, service enrollment and demographics. The system was scheduled to launch Jan. 1, the memo said.
Morse and Lopez said in their memo that Manna will regularly share data publicly and allow for better case management and tracking of client progress across agencies.
A navigation center will focus on direct placement into housing with environmental, social and government support.
The funding is pertinent because homelessness is growing out of COVID-19’s economic impacts, the memo said. Manna wants to take full advantage of supports in the community “to try and mitigate this increase that could have devastating impacts on the community in the long term,” the memo said.
Government resources are available to develop “bold solutions” to homelessness and prevention, including $400 million in state housing funds with half already committed to homelessness by Gov. Jared Polis, in addition to local actions that can be pursued, Morse and Lopez said in the memo.
Lastly, Manna wants to help with “the eventual ramp down” of the Purple Cliffs homeless settlement and be a part of the process in setting up a managed homeless camp, or another suitable program, the memo said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
