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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Papen

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/24/07

HB

SHORT TITLE Dona Ana County Homeless Services

SB 171

ANALYST Geisler

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$300.0

Recurring

General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 171, for the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, proposes to

appropriate $300,000 from the general fund to the Department of Health in Fiscal Year 2008 to

fund the five agencies currently operating in Dona Ana County that address the needs of the

homeless community. Each of the five agencies would receive $60,000. Any unexpended or

unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the general fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Department would need to establish a Request for Proposals (RFP) process, in order to

distribute these funds to non-public agencies.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Approximately 13,000 people in New Mexico, including veterans, families with children and

persons with disabilities, are homeless at any time. Approximately 2,000 of these persons may

reside in Dona Ana County. A task force to address chronic homelessness and access to

mainstream services was established by the Department of Health (DOH) after the 46th

Senate Bill 171 – Page

2

legislative session as a result of SJM 52 and HJM 82.

The final report to the Health & Human Services Legislative Committee identified risk factors

that impact a person’s risk for homelessness. These included lack of access to affordable

housing, lack of access to affordable health care, lack of community supports, caregiver burn-

out, lack of coordination of housing, health and social services for homeless persons or persons

at risk of becoming homeless and lack of sufficient funding for programs, services and supports.

(SJM52 & HJM82 Task Force on Homelessness, NM Department of Health, 2003).

SB 171 would fund the five agencies in Dona Ana County that address many of theses risk

factors for homelessness in the county. The five agencies provide case management and

outreach services, medical services, hot noonday meals, an emergency food bank, and homeless

child care. A 2006 survey by the City of Las Cruces demonstrated 2,063 duplicated services

provided by the five agencies in one week.

The five agencies that are to receive this funding are reported to be 501(c)3 organizations. They

are Community of Hope, Jardin de los Ninos, El Caldito Soup Kitchen, St. Luke’s Health Care

Clinic, and Casa de Peregrinos

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DOH notes that staff time would be required to develop the RFP, evaluate the submitted

proposals, write the contracts, and monitor and evaluate service delivery. This can be done with

existing resources.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

PED notes that providing funding to Dona Ana County for services to the homeless may

positively impact homeless children and youth in meeting the state’s academic standards and

closing the achievement gap. PED provided the following information on homeless families and

children:

•

The 2005-06 PED’s data collection reported to the federal government included 4,966

reported homeless children and youth that where served by the McKinney-Vento Homeless

Education Program.

•

Barriers to the education of New Mexico homeless children and youth include: school

selection, transportation, school records, immunization/medical records and lack of

affordable housing.

•

Homeless children get sick four times as often as children in middle class families.

Homeless children have more mental health problems than other children, but less than one-

third receive treatment (Kids’Corner: facts about homelessness,

(www.nationalhomeless.org

).

•

Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children (Kids’ Corner: facts about

homelessness,

(www.nationalhomeless.org

)