Ron Peabody has issued a statement saying that Compassion Knoxville did not achieve the goal set out by Knox Co. Mayor Tim Burchett and Knoxville Mayor Daniel Brown.

He says service providers should not have been involved, and calls for the mayors to reject the plan and reconvene the Compassion Knoxville Task Force, "without any homeless service Provider participation," "to find out what the people of Knoxville and Knox County want."

UPDATE: Compassion Knoxville responds, see press release in comments...

Peabody's full press release after the jump...

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release, August 19, 2011
FORMER COMPASSION KNOXVILLE CO-CHAIR RON PEABODY RELEASES REVIEW OF COMPASSION KNOXVILLE’S FINAL REPORT

It is with a heavy heart, and great disappointment that I issue this statement. The Compassion Knoxville process did not achieve the main goal set out by County Mayor Tim Burchett and City Mayor Daniel Brown.

In February, Mayor Burchett and Mayor Brown, asked me to serve as Co-Chair on a Task Force that became known as Compassion Knoxville. Our task was simple. To devise a process to allow citizens in Knoxville and Knox County to voice their concerns and make comments on ways to address homelessness in our community, and then create a set of recommendations that faithfully represented those comments.

On the Compassion Knoxville Web site on the "About" page is this statement:

"Will my ideas matter?" "Every comment will be used to develop the recommendations of Compassion Knoxville. These comments will guide the Topic Groups as they develop the recommendations."

From the beginning of my involvement in the Compassion Knoxville process, I fought to keep the Homeless Service Providers, and specifically the key Ten Year Plan leaders out of the process, because our task was to hear from the public, not those groups that had a self-serving interest in the outcome. I was concerned they would overrule the citizen input. Because of the design of the Task Force and the numeric superiority of Homeless Service Provider and Ten Year Plan supporters on the Task Force, I was out voted, and the Homeless Service Providers were allowed to participate in the second phase, the Topic Group process.

The final Compassion Knoxville report contains many recommendations that do not appear in the public comments. If they do not come from the public comments, where did they come from?

There are 44 individual recommendations in the final Compassion Knoxville report.

1) There are 17 recommendations that do not appear in the public comments.

2) There are 11 recommendations that appear less than 5 times in the public comments

3) There is 1 recommendation that appears 16 times in the public comments and only 12 of them support the recommendation, (Housing First).

4) The remaining 15 recommendations are solidly supported by the public comments.

Now that we know what the Homeless Service Providers want, it's time to determine what the citizens of Knoxville want. I urge Mayor Burchett and Mayor Brown to reject these findings, and re-convene the Compassion Knoxville Task Force, without any Homeless Service Provider participation, and instruct them to stay true to their original mission. To find out what the people of Knoxville and Knox County want. To faithfully translate the community’s comments into solid recommendations on how the public wants to deal with homelessness in Knoxville and Knox County.

Review of the Compassion Knoxville final report

A) SERVICES

3) Service Providers must fully engage in participation in the Knoxville Area Homeless Management Information System (*HMIS*) to effectively/ efficiently coordinate service.

HMIS appears only once, in over 1800 comments.

4) "Decrease transient populations by limiting free food and shelter unless client accepts case management".

This idea does not appear in the public comments. In over 1800 comments there are three comments that suggest that food should be limited. No comments that put food together with shelter and case management.

5) "Provide more case management programs, budgeting classes, and training on how to save on energy costs to assist people who are struggling and about to lose their housing to prevent people from becoming homeless".

Budgeting is referred to 3 times in the comments. The word energy appears three times and only once in reference to energy costs.

6) "Provide agencies with more funds to distribute to families and individuals who have experienced a documented uncontrollable circumstance and are facing homelessness because they cannot pay their rent, mortgage or utilities, e.g., Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs across the nation.".

This idea does not appear in the public comments. There are about 5 comments that speak of funding to help people that are about to be homeless, but none that suggest distributing funds to agencies, and having agencies distribute to families or individuals.

7) "Provide access to mainstream benefits in a central location (one stop resource and referral center). e.g., Wichita, KS; Montgomery Co, MD; Broward Co, FL; Glendal Homeless Coalition."

The word central appears about 12 times in the public comments. Interestingly, comments that advocate a central service idea are equal to those that want a decentralized center, at about 3 comments each.

8) "Continue to support efforts by Compassion Coalition, who has been a key player in providing support to individuals/families in our community."

The idea that we should continue to support the efforts of Compassion Coalition appears once in the public comments.

9) "Knoxville Community Development Corporation should require landlords participating in public housing assistance/ voucher programs to make their housing energy efficient, including weatherization, to reduce energy burden."
This idea does not appear in the public comments.

B) SAFETY

1) "Establish a facility that serves as both a wet shelter and mental health center for homeless persons as an alternative to jail and/or hospitalization. The center should provide appropriate medical services, medication and case management."

The idea that our community needs to develop a "Wet Shelter" does not appear in the public comments. The term "Mental Health Center" does not appear in the public comments. The word "Alternative" does not appear in the public comments.

3) "Add emergency homeless and mental health services to 311 phone service."

This idea does not appear in the public comments.

5) "Regularly provide training to homeless service agencies addressing scenarios that might challenge safety and Knoxville Family Justice Center. All provider agency staff will be trained in aggressive behavior management and other safety techniques such as at Seattle’s Crisis Solution Center."

This idea does not appear in the public comments. One comment suggested "Professional training for lay people"

6) "Provide a mobile health clinic that would serve in the mission district and have the ability to serve other areas where the homeless congregate. This unit would provide immediate medical care for those that need it instead of transporting to hospitals."

This idea does not appear in the public comments.

C) FAMILIES

4) "Provide more emergency shelters and transitional housing programs for families with wrap-around holistic services available on-site such as at Family Promise of Knoxville. ‘

There are many comments about aiding homeless families, but no comments suggesting additional shelters.

6) "Keep children in their home schools and educate parents to know that this is their option, e.g., city shuttle."

This idea does not appear in the public comments.

D) JOB TRAINING

1) "Establish a central coordination point for all homeless services."

The word central appears about 12 times in the public comments. Interestingly, comments that advocate a central service idea are equal to those that want a decentralized center, at about 3 comments each.

2) "Use the case management model to…..Provide basic adult training and educational services that will create employment opportunities through GED, soft skills/job readiness training. Coordinate employment services through labor unions, subsidized programs, and career-related skills training.

Generally accurate, except that Unions are not mentioned in the public comments and the word subsidized is used only twice, and neither time in this context.

E) HOUSING

1) "Practice the Housing First model for all subpopulations of the homeless, establishing and maintaining a continuum of housing that includes emergency shelter, transitional, permanent supportive, and independent housing."

The term "Housing First" appears about 16 times in the public comments. 12 comments were in favor of the concept, 2 appear to be against it, 1 said if it was financially viable, and the other doesn’t take a position. 12 favorable comments do not translate to a mandate for the Housing First concept.

PSH or Permanent Supportive Housing is mentioned about 19 times. In these comments, there are 12 that support PSH, and 5 that don’t support PSH, with 2 that are neither. Transitional Housing appears 11 times, and all the comments recommend it. This does not translate to a mandate for PSH. Interestingly, there are also 6 comments that suggest small individual homes for the homeless, such as half-way houses, and group homes.

3) "Developers of new housing for the homeless should select sites throughout Knoxville and Knox County that are appropriate for the needs of potential residents and can be developed in a cost-effective manner. This includes existing facilities as well as new construction."

This idea does not appear in the public comments. The "Scattered Site" concept, which this item refers, appears about 10 times in the public comments. 7 comments are for a large scale site process around the City and County, 2 comments are for small scale units around the City and County and 1 is against.

4) "The City of Knoxville and Knox County should condition the award of HOME, Community Development Block Grant, and other capital funding for housing upon compliance with a proactive and approved neighborhood notification policy. Define a process and plan for neighborhood notification that complies with fair housing laws."

This idea appears once in the public comments. There is no basis for this suggestion in the public comments.

F) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

1) "Build collaborative relationships between individuals experiencing homelessness and the business community, faith-based community groups, and elected officials.

This idea does not appear in the public comments. The word collaborative does not appear in the public comments, the word relationships appears 4 times, but not in this context.

2) "Encourage empathy and action through the telling of stories by and to all socio-economic levels of our community."

This idea does not exist in the public comments. The word "empathy" appears 3 times, and not one of them in this context. The word "stories" appears once, and not in this context.

4) "Develop an effective and efficient use of all media."

This idea does not appear in the public comments. There is one reference to "Use media to market homeless individuals to tell their story."

6) "Face groups with fears directly."

This idea does not appear in the public comments. There are about 4 comments that talk about "alleviate fears" or "caused no fear" or that speak to "Safety Fears".

G) MENTAL HEALTH

1) "Develop a safety center that diverts mentally ill and/or addicted persons from incarceration in criminal justice facilities by providing comprehensive assessment and linkages to treatment services."

The term "Safety Center" appears only twice in the public comments. One comment is for the idea, and the other is against the idea stating, "...Alternative jail on Central (Safety Center) violates civil rights by creating 2 tier justice system..."

2) "Stop institutions, mental health hospitals, jails, and foster care from discharging individuals to the streets through comprehensive discharge planning that links persons with appropriate community resources."

This idea appears only twice in the public comments. One comment reflects this idea, and the other comment says, "The systems do not work well together. Example: long waits to access mental health & drug treatment; people are discharged to the streets from hospitals, jails, foster care, etc."

5) "Increase the availability and accessibility of inpatient and outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment for the uninsured."

This idea appears only once in the public comments.

H) FUNDING

1) "Increase capacity of the Knoxville Area Homeless Management Information System (?HMIS) to include more mainstream service agencies (Knox Community Development Corporation, Adult Protective Services, TN Dept. of Mental Health, etc.) and require all government-funded programs to participate.

This idea does not appear in the public comments. The HMIS system is referred to only once in the comments, "Support HMIS (Homeless Management Info System) to collect data and assess needs."

2) "Support local agencies already preventing, reducing, and attempting to end homelessness by allocating funds that are sustainable through city/county/ state/ federal and private grants and case management paid by TennCare."

This idea does not appear in this form in the public comments. Sustainability is mentioned about 7 times, but about half of them question the "sustainability" of homeless plans. The idea that anything should be paid for by TennCare or Medicaid does not appear in the public comments.

3. "Conduct studies to examine the impact on various community costs and cost effectiveness of implementing plans like permanent supportive housing and other community interventions. Educate the public and raise awareness regarding how permanent supportive housing is more cost effective and sustainable at preventing, reducing, and ending homelessness."

There are only two comments that suggest that we need to do a study of costs. There are several cost comments from the public. They seem to break down into, a) PSH is cost effective, 6 comments, b) concerned with the social cost of homelessness, 6 comments , c) concerned with the cost or sources of funding for PSH and homeless plans, 13 comments, d) the need to create a cost benefit study prior to spending any money, 2 comments, and e) folks that want to limit the cost of housing, 2 comments.

4) "Have a central information source for funding to eliminate duplication. Encourage accountability and transparency among all homeless service providers. Structure the Knoxville Area Homeless Management Information System (?HMIS) to collect information on how much money is spent on specific characteristics of the homeless. This could be made available to the public with the consent of agencies."

This idea does not appear in the public comments. HMIS is mentioned once, but not in this context.

COMMUNITY IDEAS THAT ARE NOT REFLECTED IN THE REPORT

There are many. For example,

1) The subject of Baptist Hospital being used as a homeless facility is mentioned 10 times in the public comments, and they are all in favor of it.

2) Reform of some of the Service Providers operations was also mentioned. KARM was mentioned 6 times.

3) The concentration of Homeless Services is a concern and is mentioned at least 8 times.

Please review the Public Comments and see for yourselves. Go to:

(link...)