Health & Human Services

Health and Human Services , Regular Meeting http://www.springfieldcityhall.com ~ Minutes ~ Susan Kacoyannakis 413-787-6170 Tuesday, February 6, 2018 4:00 PM City Hall -- Room 200 I. Call to Order 4:00 PM Meeting called to order on February 6, 2018 at City Hall -- Room 200, 36 Court Street, Springfield, MA. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Kateri B. Walsh Chairperson Absent Kenneth E. Shea Ward 6 Councilor Absent Marcus J Williams Ward 5 Councilor Absent Adam Gomez Chairperson Absent Jesse Lederman Chairperson Present II. Public Portion III. Discussion of the City of Springfield's response to the December/January Cold Snap IV. Review of Springfield's Cold Weather Response Plan, with an emphasis on provisions of the plan that relate to homelessness The Health and Human Service Committee met on February 6, 2018 at 4pm in Room 200 of City Hall. Councilors in attendance: Chairperson Jesse Lederman and Melvin Edwards. Representatives from the Police department, Health and Human Services, ARISE, Office of Housing, and Friends of the Homeless. Discussed at this meeting was the City of Springfield’s response to the December/January cold snap. Shelter was available during this time. Police, Park department, 311, housing, schools and facilities are all involved in the planning process and communication are always ongoing with the departments. These departments are always working with each other to plan for these situations. The have a cold weather response plan. The police are very aware of where the homeless people are when they do not go into the shelters. They sometimes bring them into their car to get warm and try to get them into a safe place during the cold spell. There was discussion about some of the homeless being ban from the shelter because of violence, or other situations where they are not comfortable letting them back in. This is something that needs to be explained more in detail, example, if allowed to go back to the shelter after a certain amount of time has passed. The shelter sees over 1000 people in a year. Health and Human Services Page 1 Printed 3/7/2018 Regular Meeting Minutes February 6, 2018 Mr. Miller, Director of the Friends of the Homeless had to leave the meeting early. Therefore this question went unanswered. Councilor Lederman thanked everyone for attending and all their hard work and keeping the homeless off the streets, especially during the cold snaps. V. Review of available Shelter Services and Policies within the City of Springfield Health and Human Services Page 2 Printed 3/7/2018

Health and Human Services , Regular Meeting http://www.springfieldcityhall.com ~ Agenda ~ Susan Kacoyannakis 413-787-6170 Tuesday, February 6, 2018 4:00 PM City Hall -- Room 200 I. Call to Order 4:00 PM Meeting called to order on February 6, 2018 at City Hall -- Room 200, 36 Court Street, Springfield, MA. II. Public Portion III. Discussion of the City of Springfield's response to the December/January Cold Snap IV. Review of Springfield's Cold Weather Response Plan, with an emphasis on provisions of the plan that relate to homelessness V. Review of available Shelter Services and Policies within the City of Springfield Health and Human Services Page 1 Printed 1/31/2018