OLD BUSINESS  3.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

KEY INTENDED OUTCOME:
Enhance Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

HISTORY:

After Hurricane Irma, the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee held a discussion regarding the storm’s impact on our community’s elder residents. Staff reported on the difficulties encountered leading up to and in the aftermath of the hurricane making landfall in South Florida. The Committee then requested that staff conduct targeted outreach to the City’s elder buildings to register residents for the County’s Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program.

The Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program, operated by Miami-Dade County, provides transportation assistance for those residents with disability or frailty to attend a general population or special needs shelter, as needed, in the event of an evacuation of our City. All residents are transported to general population shelters unless they have been registered in the special needs program and have medical needs including electric-dependent medical supports.

When Hurricane Irma became a threat to our City, the Office of Housing and Community Services worked with its community partners and fellow City departments to spread safety and evacuation information to our clients and community residents in the days leading to the weather event. In addition to Constant Contact emails blasted to all of our contact lists, City staff reached out to affordable and elder housing providers and community-based agencies to promote evacuation.

Despite promoting the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program among our elderly and disabled clients since May 2017 (as we do every year), we were disheartened to find only 16 residents were registered in the program before Hurricane Irma. As staff conducted community outreach to specifically engage the elderly and disabled and offer support to evacuate, they encountered many residents with special needs or issues of frailty who had not registered with the County and/or did not have any natural supports or family to aid them in the move.

ANALYSIS:

At the request of the Committee, the Administration made a concerted effort to target tenants in our elder buildings to encourage Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program registration and prepare our elder residents to evacuate should another weather threat occur. Staff conducted targeted outreach and registration to 13 elder-serving buildings:

* Rebecca Towers

* Michigan Avenue Apartments

* Shep Davis Plaza

* Council Towers North & South

* Stella Maris (The building’s staff registered 25 of its tenants independently.)

* Four Freedoms House

* Allen Apartments

* Edwards Apartments

* Lulav Square

* Jefferson Apartments

* Villa Maria

* Villa Matti

* Federation Towers

This targeted effort resulted in the registration of 33 residents for the transportation assistance program whereas less than 20 had been registered prior to Hurricane Irma. Six additional residents took the application but did not advise staff if their intent was to submit the form to the County.

Staff made a concerted effort to understand why elder residents chose not to register so as to better understand the impediments to program participation. The following were the four primary reasons identified by those elder residents who opted not to register for the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program:

• Residents stated that their families will take care of them so there is no need to go with strangers;

• A belief that , since the storm missed the City, it will miss our community the next time, too;

• Some of the residents have non-service animals that they will not part with but also do not want to go to general population shelters with their pets; and

• Residents stated that it is inconvenient to have to take their own food, bedding and personal belongings to shelter.

Staff confirmed that those buildings with social service programing staff seek to register their tenants for the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program each year. However, they, too, encounter tenants refusing registration for the reasons stated above.

Since program registration is not compulsory, staff evaluated ways to increase participation while factoring the reasons cited for non-participation. The following options are suggested:

1. Require residential buildings with 51% of tenants over the age of 62 to submit evidence that they have encouraged tenants to register for the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program prior to the issuance of the Business Tax Receipt.

2. Require residential buildings with 51% of tenants over the age of 62 which receive City funds to encourage all of its eligible tenants to register for the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program prior to receiving City funds and annually thereafter for a period of 10 years. Please note that Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program registration allows emergency personnel to know the needs of the building’s tenants without compelling them to actually leave the building during an evacuation unless they agree to do so. Tenants maintain the right to refuse relocation but will be encouraged to leave for their own safety.

3. Require elder-serving agencies receiving City funding to encourage their elder clients to register for the Emergency and Evacuation Assistance Program as part of the reporting requirements for funds received.

4. Collaborate with Miami-Dade County’s Office of Emergency Management to consider opening an elder-only evacuation shelter that caters to residents over the age of 62 only who may bring companion animals with them. The elder residents surveyed were fearful of general population shelters. By limiting a site to elder persons only, our elder residents may feel more comfortable to be with people their own age and circumstances and, therefore, more willing to evacuate their homes.

CONCLUSION:

The Administration is seeking direction regarding the options listed above to promote the safe evacuation of elder residents during severe weather events such as hurricanes.