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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-002 Preventing Homelessness at Its CoreRESOLUTION NO. 2014-002 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA, ENDORSING AND MAKING KNOWN ITS SUPPORT FOR "PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS AT ITS CORE "; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, our nation's municipalities are facing untold millions of dollars of tax payer costs to address and respond to homelessness that include constructing emergency shelters, day drop in facilities, transitional housing units, single room occupancy units, case management at various levels, the use of hospital emergency rooms as if they were health clinics, creation and maintenance of parallel homeless court systems and police involvement to deal with "Quality of Life" ordinances e.g. No Sit, No Lie, no panhandling, no feeding, no loitering, no camping etc. ordinances including the creation and enforcement of drug courts, detoxification, treatment facilities, excess reliance on food stamps, excess reliance on general assistance, on Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC); and WHEREAS, our parks and wooded areas have become occupied with people experiencing homelessness thus changing and affecting their intended use for general recreational purposes; and WHEREAS, multiple studies have shown that while 90% of people experiencing homelessness are desirous of work but half of all of these persons are so disabled that they cannot work or even access housing with the federal government stipend (Supplemental Security Income (SSI), presently set nationwide at $710.00 per month, or about $4.22 per hour); and WHEREAS, multiple studies have shown that the other half of all people experiencing homelessness who are capable of work, are unable to obtain and retain base housing even by working 40 hours a week at the current Federal Minimum Wage presently set nationwide at $7.25 per hour; and WHEREAS, several U.S. Conference of Mayors reports have indicated that a full 40 hour a week minimum wage worker cannot get into and keep basic rental housing; and WHEREAS, both the Federal Minimum Wage and the Supplemental Security Income stipend are set by a governmental standards outside . of the jurisdiction of the nation's municipalities, and yet the outcome of these standards create the financial conditions and burden as described above; and WHEREAS, the antithesis of housing is homelessness and the antithesis of homelessness is housing. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is urged to bring this matter to the attention of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate and call upon them to address the Federal Minimum Wage and SSI Standards and that enactment of the change occur over a ten (10) year period that indexes both the FMW and the SSI to the local cost of housing using the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD Section 8 Fair Market Rents thus ensuring that a 40 hour per week minimum wage worker is able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter (including utilities), and transportation wherever that work is done throughout the U.S. and that any person found to be disabled by the Federal Social Administration receive a stipend that ensures that they are able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter (utilities included) and transportation. SECTION 2. All U.S. institutions such as the U.S. military, or where our youth are aging out of Foster Care, or people are leaving our jails or prisons, hospitals, mental health institutions etc., should access discharge needs and immediately design plans for the eventual discharge of any user into a safe housing environment rather than discharging them into homelessness. PASSED AND ADOPTED this' 1" of February 2014. APPROVED: ATTEST: CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA Beth ikenberry, City Clerk (SEAL) FOR USE AND RELIANCE ONLY BY THE CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY this k� i day of FEI, , 2014. SHUFFIELD, LOWMAN & WILSON, P.A. BY: Scott Cook n, Cit� T ;C S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor DATE: � \ QiAl ('�, �-\ I k 6 ) c H APPROVED BY THE OCOEE CITY COMMISSION AT A MEETING HELD ON 2014 UNDER AG NE DA ITEM NO. j ` .