H.B. 308 Homeless Services Amendments: transcript

Um, Senator Erlin, I just get upgraded Or Representative Erland? I, yes. Uh, I do need your votes. I'll, I'll say whatever I need to say to to, to flatter you and now you're leaving, so.

Well, thank you Madam Chair and Committee. Uh, appreciate the chance to be here. Uh, in the interest of time, I won't do much grandstanding, I think because I have a, a rock star of a, of a guest here with me. Uh, this is Nick Coleman. He is the interim coordinator in the state for homeless services. And, uh, this bill directly impacts the office that he and, uh, future coordinator, Representative Clancy, uh, will be, will be entering into. The purpose of this bill is to lay the groundwork for success for, for when these, uh, um, for when these servants are, are installed and, and hard at work. And with that, I will, uh, turn my time to Nick. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, thank you Madam Chair, members of the committee, the bill sponsor as well. We worked hard together on figuring out what's the right balance in adjusting this section of code. And specifically, it really clarifies the responsibilities of the coordinator to be the executive director, um, of the Office of Homeless Services and to really place them within that structure so that they're directly connected to the staff and the work of the office further clarifies some of the regular responsibilities of the coordinator, which is to manage crisis statewide, as you can probably appreciate. And it trims down a little bit on some duplicative reporting, and I really wanna stress that it's, it's duplicative in the sense that we've added on some requirements and we report these federally as well. So these, these measures would still be captured in our, uh, obligations. They just wouldn't be double layering it. And that's why, uh, when this was in the house, we had representatives from the Utah League of Cities and towns, major service providers, continuums of care that came and spoke in support of this. Um, it does, uh, reduce some of our, uh, staffing requirements specifically for the Utah League of Cities and towns where they help to administer the Shelter Cities Advisory Board and the Shelter Counties Advisory Board is managed by the, the Utah Association of Counties. We've worked with both of those groups just to make sure that they have the ample amount of staffing themselves to be able to handle those administrative, um, uh, requirements. They've, they've said yes, they do. And so our, our staff is able to, to step back. We'll still be part of those meetings, active engagement, um, but we won't be necessarily providing all the administrative support for those groups. So, uh, in some, uh, this bill, it, it really just aims to clean up some of the, some of the code that we've had built up over the last few years. Um, it does yield a cost savings mostly from the staff time saved. And so we'd ask for your support, but we're very grateful to the bill sponsor for helping us come up with this. Thank you.

Okay. Senator Kwan. Thank you Madam Chair. I, I think I've spoken on every single bill, so I need to speak on this one too. Thank you. Oh, okay. No, I do, I really do appreciate the time. Um, and, and I appreciate this cleanup here. As we, um, change from a coordinator to, to an executive director, I do see here that some of the specific language in, um, what, um, duties or what areas, um, should be covered are, are taken out. And it, it appears that the lines 2 72 to 2 75 talks about that specific goals will be, um, sort of not, but, uh, that the executive director will, um, look at those specific goals. Um, first of all, is that a correct reading?

That's a correct reading, Senator. Okay.

Thank you. And then, so we had a presentation today, and you may have heard it on specific vulnerable populations in term of, of homelessness. Is that something, specifically something that, um, has been or will be, um, discussed, uh, within this, uh, office or, yeah,

Sure. Thanks Senator. So, um, we take that question really seriously and it, I I think, uh, chair, you, you mentioned this earlier, um, I, I really do believe that this, um, is a responsibility that our office and the role the coordinator can help to take on. Um, I think that we do this in a lot in just our regular sort of operation. Um, we're in contact with service providers all across the state. And so yes, we want to be able to create a little bit of flexibility for the coordinator to set some measurable outcomes for themselves in consultation with the board and members of the community. So this doesn't remove anybody from the table. Um, it just creates a little bit of flexibility for the coordinator to define those goals.

Yeah. Madam Chair, I think yes, as, as you had mentioned and I had mentioned too, there's a, a better place maybe, perhaps, and I think this may be it for them. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. I, I, I agree. I think this is the right place and I hope that you'll, uh, take the proposal that was put in front of you, uh, or in front of this body and say, how do we start incorporating that into our long-term thinking and planning? Because it is important and there is potential out there. Um, but it needs to be holistic. I, I won't never forget, uh, someone telling me about, we built some, um, fac office facilities or something that were high security services during the Olympics. And what happened afterwards is we immediately tore them down. Uh, and now what we need are more high security. So thinking about this, not just for the Olympics, but before, during, and after the Olympics, in terms of really good long-term planning that we, we have come to depend on. Utah's to do is really important. Um, but it needs to be part of our overall plan.

Uh, we would've been slightly offended if you'd asked everybody else good questions and not us, so thank you. We appreciate

Senator Owens. Thank you Madam Chair. I would move that we pass out House Bill 3 0 8. Okay. There is a motion that we pass out House Bill 3 0 8 Homeless services amendments with a favorable recommendation to the Senate floor.

No. We appreciate your support. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, committee. Thank You.

Uh, so, uh, today I have with me Nick Coleman. He is the interim state coordinator for the Utah Office of Homeless Services. And, uh, I'll just give you a brief overview of what we're gonna look at today. It's, uh, uh, it's almost time for our, uh, friend Representative Clancy to take a new position as the coordinator for this organization. And, uh, one of the things that this build helps to do is set up the chess pieces so that he, uh, is set up for success, uh, when he takes that role much in the same way that, uh, Nick has been running the organization successfully. So, um, in the interest of time, I think I'll, I'm, I'm just gonna pass, um, pass the baton to Nick and let him explain some of the high level, uh, goals that this bill achieves.

Thank you. Thanks, representative Chair, members of the committee. Appreciate your time this afternoon. Um, just wanna set here at the beginning that, that voting known this bill won't also change the fact that we're gonna take Representative Clancy. And thank you, by the way, for, for letting us do that. Um, we're really looking forward to it now. The bill, um, as presented, um, really has, uh, two main goals that we're trying to achieve. The first is to make the Office of Homeless Services a more responsive partner to our community members and our providers. Many of them are here in the audience today, including the Road Home Switch Point, shelter, the Homeless, our Continuums of Care, slu and Utah, Utah League of Cities and Towns Domestic Violence Coalition. These partners have, uh, worked with us with representative, um, on making sure that this bill is balanced and that we're able to be a responsive agency, and also that their contractual obligations are not overwhelming in terms of the administrative burden of reporting. Now, the second part of that, and, and it's sort of the last part of my sentence there, the governor last year in May of 2025, launched the Grit Initiative, the Government Reform Innovation and Transparency Initiative. And he asked agencies to identify opportunities to find efficiencies internally to help tune operations so that we could reduce costs. And although this was an identified as one potential area, it is an opportunity for our office to willingly raise our hand and say, Hey, we think we have some efficiencies to gain. And those specifically come in the form of reporting standards for, um, our contracts. Now, I want to be clear, we're not losing any data here. We're not risking any sort of data being lost in many cases. These are actually reporting measures that are already being provided to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD and our office receives a copy of those reporting measures. So, in fact, in many cases, providers are double entering some of these measurements, and we really want to be able to fix that in the way that we implement our policies. And I think most importantly, it also moves, uh, future coordinator, Clancy Representative Clancy, into a position where he would be situated within the Office of Homeless Services and further clarifies that his role would be acting as the Chief Administrative officer of that, of that division. So, cleans up a bit, makes it a little easier to administer contracts, makes it easier to report on those, um, and it produces a little bit of a, of a cost saving as well. So we would thank the representative for his time and willingness to engage with us on this. That concludes our presentation now, and we'd take questions or, uh, whatever you'd like to do next.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, with Line 2 23, what is an example of how the coordinator would coordinate a statewide emergency and crisis response for those experiencing homelessness?

Thanks, representative. That's a great question. I'll, I'm happy. Yeah, you Go ahead. I'm still, I'm still pulling it up. Sure. So that's line 2 23. Um, this is really codifying the responsibility of the coordinator in a day-to-day function. Um, now I've, I've been in this role for about 30 days and will be for another 30 days. But in looking at how, uh, former President Neer Hauser ran this role, you'll get calls from all over the state saying that we have a crisis, uh, we need support. Um, so it's not just a, a Salt Lake City issue, a Salt Lake County issue. We have calls come in from across the state, and this really just codifies that responsibility of the coordinator and, and make sure that the role truly understands its purpose.

Thank you. May I ask another question, Mr. Chair? Yes. Um, in lines five 12 to five 13, is it the proper role of government, the state's year to date progress toward reaching a functional zero level of homelessness for each type of homelessness? And, um, subpopulation?

Thanks, representative. I think, uh, there are communities across the country that have focused on this idea of functional zero. And I think it's an important measure for members of the public, the legislature, others that understand what this formula means. It is measuring the number of folks who are returning to homelessness, those who are new into the system, and then those who are exiting. It's a really pretty simple, um, sort of add and subtract formula. And what it tells us is whether we're being efficacious in our flow through homelessness, meaning we're getting folks out of homelessness, um, or if we're stagnant or, or in the opposite direction. It's an interesting measure. It's actually being reported right now. It's data that we've got available online, uh, through the Office of Homeless Services and found some, some use for it.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

That's right. Chair. Um, so on the reporting measures in our contracts, which you're referring to, I believe, um, those would be also duplicative reported to the federal government. Um, there is a, a standard in there where the, the coordinator is asked to come report, uh, uh, twice a year to the legislature as well. Um, we found no shortage of opportunities to sort of report on our progress. Um, and so we'd like to continue doing so this bill wouldn't change anything about our, our, our purpose there.

Janet Heming from Yale Crest Neighborhood Council. Thank you. Committee members I wish to speak in favor of this bill. It will empower the Homeless Services coordinator to do his job without unnecessary impediments. It also sets important data reporting requirements as well as functional goals. I'm an elected member of a community council on the east side of Salt Lake, which doesn't see a lot of homelessness. Nevertheless, I believe Salt Lake belongs to all of us. As such, we have a stake in this city's vitality. The bill gives the homeless services coordinator, the tools he needs to advance policies that will hasten solutions to homelessness and give relief to those trapped in this cruel and toxic web. Thank you.

Good afternoon, chair and members of the committee. My name is Michelle Flynn. I serve as Executive director and CEO of the road home. Uh, thank you all. I hope you're doing well today and appreciate your service to our state. Our agency provides shelter and housing support services to more than 7,000 people in four cities across Salt Lake County. We support HB 3 0 8 because it provides clarity and accountability that a system of our size requires as a provider. I wanna be clear. This bi, this bill helps the system function the way it's intended. It doesn't create more bureaucracy, and in fact, it helps streamline it. It ensures that our resources follow our outcomes by clarifying leadership and streamlining our data and reporting by refining how we measure successful exits, we can be better stewards of public dollars and move Utah families and individuals into housing with supports faster. We look forward to working with Utah's Office of Homeless Services to help implement these changes and create a streamlined and accountable data reporting system. We thank Representative Erland, who's my representative, which I'm very proud of for his work, uh, with OHS to strengthen the foundation of Utah's Homelessness response. And respectfully urge your support. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Laurie Hopkins, and I serve as the Executive director of Shelter, the Homeless. Um, uh, our nonprofit and many others work very closely with the state Homeless Coordinator and the Office of Homeless Services. And we support HB 3 0 8 because it upholds accountability, but also decreases administrative burden and duplication of processes. I respectfully encourage the committee to vote favorably. Thank you so much.

my name is Heather Hogue and I represent the Utah Homeless Network Steering Committee, which is an organizational body that is mentioned in this, um, uh, this piece of legislation. And I also recom re represent the Mountain Land Continuum of Care, comprised of Utah County, Summit County and Wasatch Counties. I'm here to speak in support of this bill. We are in favor because it reduces the administrative burden, while also demanding accountability from the agencies that are receiving funding and that are serving a vulnerable population. You know, in the nonprofit world, we have to balance accountability with practicality, and this helps to streamline the reporting elements that we are doing, um, without adding additional cost to service agencies who have to track every dollar twice or in some cases three times for what's coming in. Um, we're also in support of the language that encourages collaboration with the local homeless councils in the Office of Homeless Services. We know that the boots on the ground, people in communities, particularly in urban, suburban, rural communities, um, like the counties I represent, um, they often know what's best for their community. And so encouraging this level of collaboration and strategic planning, and also in quarterly updates and clarifying roles will be beneficial to my community. And, um, I would like to encourage you respectfully to vote yes, please.

Thank you. Chair and committee. I'm Jennifer Campbell. I'm the Executive Director of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition. Uh, we represent service providers throughout the state that are working to end domestic violence. I also have the opportunity to serve as the co-chair of the Salt Lake Valley Coalition and Homelessness. I serve on the Utah Homeless Network and also serve as a board member on the Utah Homeless Services Board. Sometimes. I'm just excited I can remember all of those pieces. It's my pleasure to work in this area, and I really support and appreciate this bill for that. Uh, representative Erland has brought forward the clarity on the role of the Office of Homeless Services is an improvement that we are so great to see. We value and appreciate the reduction of administrative burden on reporting, yet understanding we still are holding programs and the office to accountability and also, as was mentioned before, appreciate including the voices of providers and our communities as we look at strategic planning and how we're ending homelessness in the state. I urge your support on this, and thank you.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Jeff Quail. I'm with Switch Point. Switch Point serves UTAHNS across Washington, Twila Davis and Salt Lake Counties. From this statewide perspective, we see the, we see the state coordinator role as essential to effective coordination and accountability. Strengthening this role through this bill will help Utah more effectively and move people towards stability and workforce participation. Our facilities span the full continuum of care from operating and are operating at full capacity from our emergency family shelter. In St. George to housing vulnerable populations, including seniors in Salt Lake County, demand continues to outpace resources, which makes statewide alignment and planning even more. Critical switch ports supports upstream investments that stabilize households and reduce long-term public costs. Core crisis response systems like emergency medical services and first responders should remain government responsibilities. Nonprofits like switch points and others compliment that work by delivering targeted services effectively with public support, ensuring no Utah is left behind. We deeply value the Office of Homeless Services and its staff, the nonprofits. As nonprofits, we deliver essential per public services and reduce costs. Strong coordination with DWS and OHS is critical. We believe this bill will help streamline contracting and payment process, improve alignment with state policy goals, and strengthen overall system performance. This is a practical, uh, impactful bill that strengthens coordination and deserves and, and delivers outcomes for Utah, Utah. So we respectfully urge your support. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee, Molly Wheeler, with the Utah League of Cities and towns at the league, we represent the 257 municipalities across the state, which includes shelter, cities and non shelter cities alike. And when we have conversations about the homelessness system, one thing that becomes really apparent is that all of the stakeholders in this space are uniquely, uh, related to one another. And if something isn't going well in the municipalities, they feel it at OHS. They feel it in with our nonprofits and our service providers. And the, the inverse is also true. And so when the office can be streamlined, when the office can operate well and have the tools and resources they need, as well as our service providers, uh, we as cities, uh, do better as collaborators and partners as well. Uh, we appreciate all of the work that has been done by Coordinator Niederhauser, uh, interim Nick Coleman. We're looking forward to working with, uh, Representative Clancy when he steps into this role and also appreciate the work of Representative Erland in, in bringing this bill forward. And we just think better collaboration, better streamlining all the way through is can't, can't lose with that. Thank you.

Mr. Chair and committee members, if there was one thing I learned when I was in your seat

I'm sorry. I'm Scott Howell. Um, one thing I learned, when you have the votes, don't say anything. So thank you very much for your service. We appreciate it.

I make a motion. We pass out HB 3 0 8 Homeless Services amendments with a favorable recommendation

No. I'll waive. We were just advised not to talk after You've got the votes.

Oh, I'm not gonna mess this up. No way. They can't be wrong. Thank you. I wave after that. Maybe I just messed it up. I don't know.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. This bill lays the groundwork for success for when our friend, the incoming Homeless Services coordinator, assumes his office in a few weeks after this session, uh, I've checked with Ledge Research and voting No on this. Bill does not keep the good representative from Provo in our body. So, uh, just wanted to clear that up. This bill makes the office more responsive to Homeless Services providers by, uh, eliminating redundant reporting. It streamlines the office by placing it under the Department of Workforce Services and it designates, uh, the coordinator as the Chief Administrative Officer, which helps with administrative tasks and contracting. It also, uh, is a part of the Governor's Grit Initiative. It saves $45,000 a year by the siloing and Division of Workforce Services and the elimination of redundant reports. And it defines, uh, functional zero homelessness, which is an outcomes based approach to, uh, solving homelessness versus, uh, what is traditionally done now by our good service providers, which is tracking primarily activities. So with that, I'll take any questions.

Thank you. Um, house Bill 3 0 8, uh, updates and clarifies the structure, authority and accountability for the Utah Office of Homeless Services. It makes the state homeless coordinator a direct appointee of the governor, uh, who would serve as the chief administrative o officer of the office and an advisor to the governor on homelessness issues. It also refines the duties of the office, the coordinator, and the homeless service board and related advisory boards to strengthen statewide coordination and oversight. It requires an annual comprehensive homeless service budget and a statewide strategic plan with specific goals and measurable benchmarks. With that, uh, Mr. President pro tem, I will yield any questions?

Thank you. I'd move that house Bill 3 0 8. Be read for a third time.

So, uh, thank you Mr. President. I had to apologize to my house sponsor. He came over today and said, why have you left this circled for a week? And I said, well, it's got, it's got a fiscal note. It's in yellow. Well, it has a fiscal note, but it's a positive fiscal note. And our system flags positive fiscal notes the same as they flagged negative ones. So, um, I feel bad that this should have been passed a week ago. But this bill, um, repeals certain obsolete sections of code amends provisions related to the Office of Homeless Services. Amends the duties of the homeless service coordinator amends certain staffing requirements or certain boards and committees and amends reporting requirements and makes technical and conforming, um, conforming changes. It's, uh, basically moving, um, the office, uh, from one, uh, executive branch to another and there's about $40,000 in savings. And with that, I'll yield to any questions.

Senator Balderree Aye. Lewin Aye. Bra bus? Aye. Call amore Escamia. Aye. Fillmore Fillmore Aye. Grr. Aye. Harper Harper Kins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson a Juab Aye. McKay Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner Aye. Musman Aye. Owens Aye. Pitcher? Aye. Plum Aye. Rebe Aye. Sandal Aye. Stevenson? Aye. Stratton Aye. Bickers Weiler Aye. Wilson Winterton, president Adams Aye. House

Thank you President. I'd like to make a motion that we encircle first substitute house bill 2 58.

Thank you. We debated this bill last week. Uh, ran outta time when we switched to Senate bills, uh, 'cause I was off the floor negotiating on other issues.

Um, there, this is an interesting situation because there was a, a bill in the house. I just wanna be as transparent as I can. There was a bill in the house that, uh, was being run by, uh, representative Steve Ellison. And, uh, it, it failed, uh, but there were some non-controversial provisions in there, uh, that no one really objects to. And so we have recalled this and we put some of the provisions that, um, didn't cause the bill to fail into this homeless bill. And let me just go through what some of those are, uh, real quickly and, um, just pulling that up. So this, uh, well first of all, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna speak to sub two and I'll move that after I explain it. Um, but in sub two, um, uh, which contains the provisions, the non-controversial provisions from Representative Ellison's bill, um, it adds some, some definitions. Um, sorry, I'm having some computer glitches here. Do you have that bill? Okay, I think I've got it. Thank you. It adds, uh, and defines some terms. It permits a service provider to temporarily expand congregate shelter bed capacity to limit, um, to expand the congregate shelter bed capacity limit under certain conditions, and also changes provisions related to a participating local government's tax revenue distributions for homeless shelters. Um, that's a, an overview summary of the additions to the bill that we already passed. And with that, I'll yield to any questions.

Correct? Yeah, my mo sorry. My motion is to delete Senate House bill 3 0 8 and title and body and substitute it with second substitute 3 0 8.

No. I, I'll, uh, yield further The bill. I'm

Thank you, your honor. Suspension of the rules. I move that second substitute house bill 3 0 8 pass. Thank You. The question is under suspension

Yes. The Senate amendments are actually house amendments that we got the Senate to do for us once it was over there. So, uh, we should like these, uh, Representative Eliason, uh, from the representative from Sandy, the representative from Provo and who will soon be the homeless services coordinator and I, and, uh, various other organizations, were able to take some of the best parts of representative from Sandy's bill and put it into my bill to make it an extra great bill. Um, it permits municipality at their own discretion to allow a temporary expansion of a congregate shelter's bed capacity, and it changes, um, some provisions relating to a local government's tax revenue distributions. And, uh, recommend that we concur.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I, I, I would agree with the motion to concur with the Senate amendments. I worked with both of the good representatives from Sandy, um, and, and, and the main changes that were adopted into House Bill 3 0 8 is a couple years ago, the legislature created something called the Mitigation fund. And this is money that goes to law enforcement operations for cities that host a homeless shelter. Currently we have, uh, one city, West Valley City who is doing the hard work of hosting a homeless shelter, but they're not being, they for, because of a technical change. They have not been adopted into that public safety, uh, money as well. So Rep, the good representative from, uh, Sandy was, uh, a great partner in this. And all parties are, are, are good on this provision of the bill and I'm really appreciative of all the hard work that went into it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.