Ad Hoc Central Fort Lauderdale Committee. Issue #2: Lack of Personal Property Storage

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1 Recommendations Ad Hoc Central Fort Lauderdale Committee Issue #2: Lack of Personal Property Storage The Ad Hoc Central Fort Lauderdale Committee supports the establishment of a personal property storage area(s) in the central Fort Lauderdale area, where the majority of unsheltered homeless are located. This may be either a large centrally located facility or smaller scattered site locations convenient for the homeless. It is important to engage the homeless, business community and Fort Lauderdale officials in formulating a plan so that the concerns of all can be addressed. No one knows more about what the homeless need than the homeless themselves. Business groups can play a positive role in helping to address the issue of homelessness. Instead of advocating for criminalization measures they can put resources into solutions to homelessness, such as scattered site lockers. When cities work with homeless persons and advocate for solutions instead of punishment everyone benefits. Background The January 2017 Broward County Homeless Point In Time (PIT) Count identified 2450 homeless individuals in our community, 957 of whom were unsheltered at the time of the count, 488 in the City of Fort Lauderdale. These individuals often have no alternative but to keep their belongings with them while on the street. Our community, as many other across the country are doing, must develop an approach which will be an appropriate balance between the property rights of the homeless and safety and sanitation issues of the greater community. Often spurred on by complaints from local residents, the business community or neighborhood gentrification, many cities have increased their laws or ordinances banning camping, loitering and panhandling. Several cities have conducted sweeps of homeless encampments and removed people s belongings without giving proper notice, or offering a storage alternative, and often the property was not returned or it was disposed. These actions have resulted in many class-action lawsuits being filed against cities, including San Diego, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Portland and Denver. Lawsuits often allege that the homeless are treated like criminals and police and city employees are taking the belongings without cause. The class action members have often prevailed, as in the above cities and several others. These lawsuits have not only resulted in

2 judgments for individuals, but have also nudged municipalities to forge longer term solutions to address the complex problem of homelessness. In many instances courts have ruled that the seizures were unconstitutional and cities were ordered to finance Transitional Storage Centers (TSC) and other services for the local homeless population. A TSC is defined as a secure facility where homeless people can temporarily store their possessions until the homeless episode ends. TSC s benefit both the homeless individual and the community. For the homeless, being able to store belongings can be transformative. Storage bins or lockers allow them to safeguard important documents, especially identification and other paperwork that can be difficult or expensive to replace, as well as personal items and keepsakes. TSC s also remove the social stigma of carrying one s belongings around with them, thereby identifying them as homeless. This is a barrier when seeking services, housing or employment. When a person is on the street without safe and secure housing, their personal possessions are in constant danger of being lost, stolen or seized. TSC s also alleviate some of the problems that lead residents and businesses to complain about the presence of homeless people in their communities. Belongings are no longer left in front of stores, in parks and on the street. In Portland, neighbors at apartment buildings and condos nearby, initially resistant to the concepts of a TSC, have said the service has made a huge difference in the cleanliness and appearance of the area. Program Design A review of the literature identifies two primary models of Transitional Storage Centers: 1. Large free standing facilities operated by Homeless service providers on their property, or land owned by the municipality. 2. Small scale storage initiatives, where a few lockers or bins are available at local businesses and service providers throughout a community, easily accessible to the homeless. Storage is generally either lockers, or large bins like those used for recyclables. All have the ability to be secured by either combination locks or nylon cable ties. Lockers are either installed in permanent structure or moveable modules, such as shipping containers. Examples of large TSC s:

3 Think Dignity, San Diego. TSC was initiated with funding from the City of San Diego as a result of a class-action lawsuit. This nonprofit organization operates a 4000 sq ft TSC currently offers 304 lockers and 130 storage bins. The organization leases the city owned land for $1/month. Initial storage locker cost was $136,000. They are two level moveable modules, in case a location change was necessary. Their current operating budget is $114,000. This covers salaries, supplies, maintenance, equipment, insurance, rent and utilities. Ongoing funding sources are the City of San Diego through the Housing Commission, donations and grants. Think Dignity operates with one full-time employee that acts as the site manager and security. It also has three other part-time staff that works as intake specialists and offer client support. They hire homeless and previously homeless individuals whenever possible. Volunteers of America/City of Pomona Homeless Services, Pomona, CA TSC was initiated with funding from the City of Pomona as a result of a class-action lawsuit. The center features four shipping containers, located on the organization s property, that accommodate 388 lockers. Initial cost of containers was $90,000 paid by the city. First six months of operations cost $73,000, annual costs are $140,000. There is one full-time staff and 3 part time staff, many of whom are welfare-to-work recipients. The city pays the $140,000 operating costs. Central City East Association, Los Angeles A nonprofit group serving local businesses opened the center in 2002 with about 300 bins, later expanding to 600. The city paid for 500 more bins last year. The organization owns and operates the TSC center independently. The Girls Think Tank (GTT), San Diego Unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the new lockers, in combination with the remaining on-site storage bins, will enable the TSC to serve more than 400 homeless individuals. The bins that were previously in use provided space for 353 homeless individuals to safeguard their belongings. Nonprofit organization operates the TSC located in a parking lot owned by the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC). Storage is retrofitted bright green cargo shipping containers with 304 lockers. Originally they offered bin storage, in 2015 expanded to lockers. SDHC administers the $138,750 in funding from the City s General Fund that

4 GTT receives to operate the TSC. The original TSC opened its doors in February 2011 as a result of a legal settlement that required the City to provide a check-in center for Downtown homeless San Diegans to safely store their belongings. The settlement resolved a Federal class action lawsuit that alleged the City violated the constitutional rights of homeless individuals by destroying personal property they left on public streets. The initial operation of the TSC was funded by $100,000 from the settlement. GTT pays $1 a month in rent under a lease agreement with SDHC. The agreement requires GTT to use the difference between the rent and the $1,800 per month market value of the lease ($1,799 per month) for program funds to operate the TSC to ensure that costs, such as utilities and insurance, are paid. In addition, SDHC required as conditions of the lease: Daily staff of at least two individuals to include security personnel; No queuing and/or loitering within a one-block radius of the premises; and Installation of green vinyl screening in the fence surrounding the premises. Other examples of TSC s across the country: St. Petersburg, Fla. set up a free storage center in conjunction with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The center offers about gallon bins. The Bin/Chrysalis, Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization which offers 1400 storage bins Small scale storage initiatives A small locker project created and run by Denver Homeless Out Loud, a community organization working on behalf of individuals experiencing homelessness. The wall space available will accommodate four lockers. The City of Denver is piloting a small locker program consisting of 10 metal storage lockers installed near a local Rescue Mission. This is the same part of town that has been the site of repeated sweeps or enforcement actions by city public works crews and police to clear out encampments of homeless people. In Virginia, the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN) has offered a non-city-funded homeless storage program for the past 15 years. It is part of a drop-in center where individuals can eat, sleep, shower and pick up their mail. Program Operation

5 All organizations contacted in preparation of this document have staff onsite. Some use volunteers, but all have dedicated paid staff for program operation. All programs have set hours of operation. Operation hours are usually early morning and late afternoon/early evening. Most programs operate 5-6 days per week, some are open every day. All have rules pertaining to storage usage. Most have user agreements that collect basic demographic and contact information, and include the Terms of Storage Use. Rules pertain to frequency of required check-in, zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use, and prohibiting sleeping, loitering around the property. All programs had rules prohibiting the storage of illegal substances and weapons. Some had wait list policies which required those on the wait list to check in weekly by phone to keep their place on the list. Most programs had no time limit on storage, but some did. Some also disposed of belongings if there was no contact for 90 days. An example of rules from the Think Dignity program follows this summary. Lessons learned from organizations running storage centers 1. Having a dumpster onsite is critical. Used when people first bring their belongings and have to scale down, as well as when they give up the storage and decide not to take everything with them. Abandoned items are also discarded in the dumpster. 2. Combination locks rather than keys. Easier to change the combination between lock users than track down keys that may be lost. 3. Security camera installation on TSC property, for the safety of everyone.