- April 19, 2024
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A new board of directors will be elected this summer.
Controversy continues to rock local homeless agencies struggling to abide by new HUD rules, as a contentious meeting of the Continuum of Care was held May 12 in the auditorium at Daytona State College.
Lisa Hamilton, executive director of the Volusia/Flagler Coalition for the Homeless, has charted a course for the Continuum of Care to elect a Board of Directors to meet HUD requirements. The new rules, that take affect this fall, call for the Continuum of Care to control HUD funding.
The Coalition for the Homeless is a nonprofit agency founded in 2000 to coordinate the various homeless assistance agencies in the community. The Continuum of Care is the entire community affected by homelessness, including county and city government, police, schools, universities, veterans, the homeless, advocates, nonprofits, housing authorities, businesses, hospitals and faith-based organizations. The Continuum is currently represented by a committee in the Coalition.
Hamilton’s plan remains in place even after all of the heated discussion and disagreements at the meeting.
The most vocal opponent, Shannon McLeish, of Ormond Beach, a member of the Continuum, does not believe the Coalition has the right to be in charge of the process in electing the new Continuum board, saying the current process lacks transparency and community-wide involvement. She believes it should be the responsibility of the wider Continuum of Care.
Hamilton said they have been “100% compliant” with direction from HUD.
Big John, former member of the County Council and local radio station owner, asked at the meeting if the process was being done according to the Sunshine Law and if minutes were currently being taken.
Shelly Campbell, board president of the Coalition for the Homeless, answered that minutes were not currently taken, but they would be taken at meetings after the election of the board. She said they are not currently under the Sunshine Law.
John also said there should be a final list of candidates, who must be members of the Continuum, for voters to choose from.
“We can’t trust Lisa,” he said. “That’s the problem. Someone might be added and Lisa will say they joined later.”
Campbell said a final list would be posted on the web site.
A person from the audience asked if efforts have been made to invite members of the community to join the Continuum of Care, and Campbell said they have been reaching out to the community for two years.
McLeish started to read from a document that explained how a Continuum of Care board was formed in another county, with representatives being picked by a city commission, county commission, housing authority and veteran’s administration, etc., as well as elections.
When interrupted by Campbell, McLeish said, “You’re being disrespectful and rude. You’re not allowing me to speak.”
She was told her document would be placed online for all to read.
As back and forth arguing continued, the audience started to chant, “Move forward, move forward.”
A member of the audience encouraged the group to go forward with electing a board.
“We need to select a management team,” he said. “Then we can say if we like what they do. We’ve screwed around for two years, and now we’ve got two months. We’ve got to get moving or we’re going to have meeting after meeting, and I’m sick of it.”
He said the Coalition and the Continuum were “right on the edge” of doing great things and needed to get on with it.
Patrick Wigmore, a consultant who has been assisting the Coalition with the process, agreed that things should start moving. He said other communities were much farther along in developing a structure to satisfy the new HUD directives.
He said the process being followed by the Coalition for the Homeless is “legitimate and valid.”
Despite the disagreements, the process is moving forward, with a schedule set by the Coalition. Public comment is allowed from May 12-19. Ballots will be sent to Continuum of Care members and the elected Continuum of Care members will be announced on June 27.
After the meeting, McLeish said she may take a step back and let groups who think they are being left out of the process step forward.
During recent months, city and county officials have discussed developing a one-stop assistance center for the homeless that would include temporary living quarters. After the meeting, Wigmore said this would fit in with HUD’s requirements for a centralized source of homeless assistance. But he said having a single office that directed people to different agencies would also fit the guidelines.
