The City of Billings - Community Development Division has been facilitating the Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness’ efforts to develop a ten-year plan to impact homelessness since April 2006, when the City Council adopted Resolution 06-18409. City staff has completed the draft plan, Welcome Home Billings, and the FY 2009-2011 Action Plan. The Action Plan identifies comprehensive action steps and commitments made by members of the Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness to implement Welcome Home Billings.

In addition, the Billings Area Resource Network (BARN), made up of 33 social service organizations, is being given the opportunity to participate in two-year plan development meetings, to be held on October 1 - 2, 2009, to identify commitments to implementing Welcome Home Billings. The BARN’s FY2009-2011 Action Plan will be available for review by October 8, 2009.

Staff is currently soliciting public comment through various community meetings and a City Council public hearing. The public comment period extends from September 18 through October 19, 2009. The plan is available for review in hard copy / color format in the City Clerk’s office and is also available online at: www.ci.billings.mt.us/homelessplan. A more concise version of plan goals is also available online at: www.ci.billings.mt.us/homeless-strategicframework. The plan will be placed on the City Council agenda for action on October 26, 2009.

The Council must hold the public hearing on the plan and then may:

• Close the public hearing and consider a separate action to approve the plan on October 26, 2009; or
• Continue the hearing and action to future meetings.

Additional City financial resources have not been allocated in this community plan to impact homelessness. Community Development staff time to facilitate the project has already been allocated via Resolution 06-18409.

National Initiative
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has challenged states and cities nationwide to create ten-year plans to end chronic homelessness. USICH is primarily responsible for providing leadership and facilitation of efforts which are targeted to assist homeless individuals and families. USICH provides planning for federal activities, monitoring assistance for the homeless through federal and local channels and technical assistance for communities, as well as delivering information on federal resources for the homeless. 350 cities across the nation have dedicated resources to develop and implement plans to impact homelessness.

Montana Initiative
The Montana Council on Homelessness is a state-level council appointed by the Governor of Montana under Executive Order. The initial council was appointed in 2004 by Governor Judy Martz after a team of stakeholders attended a 2003 Policy Academy on Chronic Homelessness. The initial Council enlisted over 100 volunteers and crafted a draft ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness and to reduce homelessness overall by 2014. Governor Brian Schweitzer amended the Executive Order and appointed new members in 2007. The 2007 Council has reviewed, revised and adopted the state’s ten-year plan. The goals of the Council have included prioritizing and enhancing access to mainstream services and to permanent affordable housing for persons who are homeless, as well as preventing homelessness and strengthening political will. One of the Council’s strategies was initiating a relationship with a city, through which state-level technical assistance and resources could work in concert with community-level efforts to address homelessness.

City of Billings Initiative
The City of Billings was chosen as a pilot project by the Montana Council on Homelessness to begin a ten-year planning process, with the ultimate goal of creating a plan to end chronic homelessness in Billings that can be replicated in other communities. The initiative was dubbed Welcome Home Billings. Strategic planning sessions were facilitated in Billings by the Montana Council on Homelessness in November 2005 and March 2006 to coordinate the efforts of over 80 individuals interested in addressing homelessness on a local level.

Staff from the City of Billings’ Community Development Division approached Mayor Ron Tussing regarding city support for the initiative and acceptance of the “pilot project” challenge. Mayor Tussing responded with strong support. A resolution was drafted to support the initiative and the Billings City Council appointed twenty committee members to spearhead efforts to develop a ten-year plan in April 2006. The Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness (the Committee) has been meeting monthly since June 2006 and has been successful in efforts to gather data, implement national best practices, and involve the community in planning efforts.

The Committee’s purpose is to review results from strategic planning sessions held in November 2005 and March 2006, written by the Montana Council on Homelessness, and to establish a ten-year plan for City Council review as a pilot project in order to impact chronic homelessness in Billings. The Committee also acts as a conduit to the Montana Council on Homelessness regarding the City of Billings as a pilot project to address chronic homelessness.

The Committee has been dedicated to inclusive community participation. Membership of the Committee represent broad stakeholder groups including housing and service providers, civic and business leaders, economic and work force agencies, faith-based organizations, philanthropy groups, homeless individuals (participants), and other interested parties.


Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness Accomplishments

• Creation of the Billings Area Resource Network – a group of homeless service providers working together to increase service and grant coordination, 2006.

• Billings Addendum to the Continuum of Care point-in-time survey in January 2007.

• Understanding Homelessness in the American Indian Population: Roundtable Discussion in February 2007, the first of its kind in the nation.

• Cultural Competency Training: Understanding the American Indian Perspective – June 2007, attended by 78 individuals.

• Creation of the Committee’s ten-year planning priorities.

• Social Enterprise Conference featuring Pioneer Human Services, February 13 & 14, 2008, attended by 132 individuals.

• Continuum of Care Discussion - March 10, 2009, attended by 35 individuals.

• Project Homeless Connect events – March 31, 2007, March 28, 2008, January 30, 2009, generating nearly $259,948 in donations and in-kind services. In 2009, 47 service providers assisted 438 participants.

• Compilation and comprehensive analysis of homeless data from the Montana Continuum of Care point-in-time surveys for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

• Garnering $562,640 in grants to support the efforts of the Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness and the Housing First Project.

• Billings Metro VISTA Project, seven AmeriCorps VISTA members working on capacity-building to address poverty and homeless issues in Billings, July 2009, valued at $247,525.

• Housing First Project, four units to house homeless families in Billings, opening November 2009.

• Homeless Individuals and Families - An average of 600 homeless individuals have been counted in Billings during the point-in-time survey. Nearly 2,400 homeless individuals are estimated to reside in Billings annually.

• City of Billings Residents and Visitors - Residents and visitors to our city see homeless individuals and panhandlers daily. It also costs tax payers an estimated $54 million per year to serve the homeless, including the chronically homeless.

• Community Neighborhoods and Businesses - Efforts to impact homelessness are expected to benefit neighborhoods and businesses.

• Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness Appointees - Each member of the Committee has made commitments to implementing Welcome Home Billings.

• Billings Area Resource Network (BARN) Members - Organizations participating in the BARN serve the homeless and those experiencing poverty. BARN members, representing 33 local agencies, will be given an opportunity to commit via two-year planning processes to implement Welcome Home Billings.

• Montana Continuum of Care Coalition - Welcome Home Billings includes policy recommendations regarding the allocation of federal homeless funding (Continuum of Care) and more objective, inclusive processes. Recommendations also include geographic considerations for eastern Montana.

• Montana Council on Homelessness - The Governor’s council has chosen Billings as a pilot project to develop a ten-year plan to impact homelessness that can be replicated in other communities. The City of Billings has met this obligation by developing Welcome Home Billings with a "Strategic Framework” that can be replicated in other communities to develop action plans to impact homelessness across Montana. The City of Billings is also implementing the “Housing First” project to obtain local cost-benefit data to compare the costs of serving homeless families prior to and post housing placement.

• State Department of Health and Human Services - Contract administrator and grantor for a $300,000 allocation in Food Stamp Bonus funding for the homeless initiative to be used for deliverables such as a plan that can be replicated and demonstration project (Housing First).

• Corporation for National and Community Service, Montana Field Office - AmeriCorps Grant administrator and grantor for the Billings Metro VISTA Project (MVP), which has placed seven VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members in Billings. Members are tasked with comprehensive capacity-building assignments to support poverty and homelessness initiatives.

• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness - Federal agency responsible for coordinating national response to homelessness and to create partnerships to reduce and end homelessness.

Welcome Home Billings is consistent with strategies identified in the Community Development Division’s Consolidated Plan for Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Program funding:

• Strategy #1 - Promote the preservation of the existing supply of affordable housing in the community.

• Strategy #2 - Promote the preservation and revitalization of the community’s older neighborhoods where the affordable housing stock is located.

• Strategy #3 - Promote new affordable housing opportunities.

• Strategy #4 - Work as an active partner with non-profits, neighborhood groups, and others to address housing, community, and neighborhood needs.

• Strategy #5 - Improve the economic conditions of lower income households in the community.

The Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness’ plan to impact homelessness, Welcome Home Billings, has been designed to increase overall collaborative efforts and resources to assist the most vulnerable population in our community.