KETCHUM

WHEELING — Discussion continued Tuesday afternoon about creating a new city position to help coordinate efforts addressing homelessness issue in Wheeling.

After another lively conversation and a split vote among members of the Health and Recreation Committee of Council, the matter will head to the full city council for consideration.

The committee opened talks about the position earlier this month during a June 10 meeting, but no consensus was reached, and members agreed to continue the discussion later.

That discussion continued Tuesday with not only the committee members in attendance, but all city council members, Mayor Glenn Elliott, City Solicitor Rose Homeway-Warmuth, City Human Resources Director David Hacker and Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham in council chambers, along with Lisa Badia, executive director of the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless.

Ultimately, Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum, chair of the Health and Recreation Committee, and Vice Mayor Chad Thalman, committee vice chairman, voted to forward a proposal to city council creating the position of a Homeless Liaison Functional Zero Program Coordinator.

Fellow committee member Councilman Ben Seidler voted against the action.

While all city officials engaged in the discussion expressed a desire to help solve Wheeling’s homeless dilemma, all seemed to have different ideas on the approach the city should take or how a city-created position can best help the cause.

“I’ve yet to hear why we think we can do a better job at this city with this than any of the other organizations, and what we’re going to do with the numbers that come back to us,” Seidler said. “I still maintain the city has no business keeping this position under the umbrella of the city. I’m not sure that we’re even remotely qualified to facilitate or hire a position to do this, and I’m still waiting to see the definition of the success criteria.”

Seidler had recommended putting the city’s “full weight” behind an existing organization that specializes in homeless issues.

“I feel that we fail miserably at a number of things in our city, and I don’t think for even a moment that we have the background, the history or the expertise to fix the homeless problem in the city of Wheeling,” he said, proposing that the city direct its resources to help the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless create such a position.

While Thalman agreed with Seidler that the goal of the position and measures of its success needed to be more clearly defined, some officials noted that the city should take a more proactive role in addressing homelessness.

“I think for too many years, the city has been on the wrong end of our homeless conversation,” Ketchum said. “We’ve not provided a hands-on approach that I think is necessary.”

Ketchum said the liaison is needed to help collaborate and coordinate efforts of the many local advocacy groups that help the homeless, many of which work independently and are not always on the same page in terms of sharing data, pooling resources and working together toward the same goals.

“What I care about is reducing homelessness in this community,” Elliott said. “We have these wonderful organizations doing wonderful things, but in my opinion, they don’t talk to each other enough.”

The mayor said he believes the city needs to play an objective role, and one that is free from constraints that tie the hands of some agencies — such as worrying about how programs and local homeless data affect funding.

“From the time I’ve been in office, this problem has seemed to get worse,” Elliott said. “It’s not for lack of energy, it’s not for a lack of resources and it’s not for the lack of caring people in this community. I think different people are working in different silos. We need the city to play a more constructive role in bringing people to the table and creating some incentives for folks to work with other organizations, and that’s just not happening now.”

Badia noted that “functional zero” means at a point in time, systematic data shows that a community has a certain amount of beds available to meet the needs of a certain amount of homeless people — even if they chose to live on the street.

“It does not mean you will not have people sleeping outside,” Badia said. “Why aren’t people taking up Housing First?”

Badia noted that people with addiction problems or limited resources don’t feel that they can complete the required one-year lease, even with the free housing vouchers. With Community Development Block Grant funding available, a total of 285 flyers were distributed to the homeless community through various outlets that work with them.

“From that, we’ve had five people come in who were referred from those flyers,” Badia said.

Thalman said the city needs to clearly define the goal of this program and a timeline to achieve those goals — not making it an open-ended position. He added that the city’s annual CDBG distribution could also be used as an incentive to get local agencies to work collaboratively with one another and with the liaison.

“My definition of success is that we no longer have people living along the river banks or by the dog park or along the jogging trail,” he said.

Ketchum said the goal needs to be one to reduce the city’s homelessness by a certain amount during a specific time frame.

“We will never end homelessness for every individual,” Ketchum said. “There will always be someone who experiences in homelessness at any given time. But a sharp reduction in that should be the goal, ultimately.”