Title
RESOLUTION R-1415-74: A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO FUND EMERGENCY SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE EVENT OF EXTREME WEATHER TEMPERATURES.
Body
BACKGROUND: The City Council Finance Committee met on February 19, 2014. At that meeting, they discussed a need in the Norman community for emergency homeless shelter in periods of extreme heat or cold. Currently, Food and Shelter for Friends, a local non-profit organization, opens their facility overnight during these extreme weather periods as well as offers motel vouchers. Food and Shelter distributes these hotel vouchers on a priority basis to adults with minor children in their care or vulnerable adults where no other shelter is possible.
At the February 19, 2014 meeting, the Director of Food and Shelter for Friends requested that the Council consider allowing the City Manager to utilize a certain amount of City funds annually to provide hotels rooms for homeless individuals and families. This request was made because the need for such hotel rooms is currently exceeding the resources of Food and Shelter for Friends. Accordingly, the attached Resolution has been drafted and is presented for Council's consideration.
DISCUSSION: Resolution R-1415-74 discusses the need for additional funds for emergency shelter. According to the Annual Point in Time Count of Homelessness, which is performed annually in the City of Norman, there are four to six hundred homeless individuals within the City of Norman. In addition to these figures, over three hundred school children reported homelessness in the past year. Also, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services reports that there are over one thousand individuals are living doubled up with friends or family or in a place unfit for human habitation within the City of Norman.
Food and Shelter for Friends is dedicated to feeding hungry men, women, and children and to housing families in crisis. I...
Click here for full text