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Task Order #1 <br />Homeless Neighbor Needs Assessment <br />Project Background: <br />The City of San Marcos (City) is interested in taking action to address the needs of homeless <br />residents of San Marcos. The City is endeavoring to achieve Functional Zero homeless population <br />by moving away from providing charity to philanthropy—offering a hand up, not a handout. <br />Because it is difficult to solve a problem without a clear understanding of the scope and nature of <br />that problem, the City is undertaking a needs assessment to understand the true scope and nature <br />of the San Marcos homeless situation. This knowledge will allow all the participants to be more <br />strategic and prioritized in their actions and allow for a coordinated approach among government <br />service providers, non -profits, and faith -based organizations. The resulting synergy can <br />dramatically affect the quality of life for current homeless residents, <br />Project Description: <br />The Institute for Government Innovation (IGI) and Dr. Toni Watt, Sociology Department Chair, <br />of Texas State University working collaboratively with Luminosa Research will complete the <br />following tasks to conduct the needs assessment: <br />1. Conduct a brief literature review to identify successful homeless solution models <br />2. Analyze available data regarding the size and composition of the San Marcos <br />homeless population <br />Data sources include: <br />• SMPD <br />• SMFD <br />• SMCISD <br />• Texas Homeless Network <br />• San Marcos' most recent Point in Time (PIT) results, and <br />• US Census <br />• Homeless Coalition of Hays County <br />• COSM Code Compliance <br />3. Conduct four in-depth interviews with City staff involved in homeless services <br />4. Formulate and send an online survey to document services available to homeless <br />residents. Survey will be sent to government and non-profit service providers, faith - <br />based organizations known to provide homeless services, veterans organizations, <br />SMCISD, and TXST to document their services, target populations, capacity, wait <br />lists, etc. <br />5. Gather information regarding gaps and overlaps in existing services and <br />programs and information via two focus groups with homeless service providers, <br />followed by in-depth interview with three key focus group participants. Interviews will <br />