02-08-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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South Metro Human Services has a long and respected history of providing clinical mental health services to adults in Ramsey County. SMHS is a tax exempt, non - profit agency founded in 1986 and opened its first program Community Foundations in 1987 and is now one of the largest providers of mental health support services to low- income and formerly homeless adults living independently in Ramsey County. Currently, SMHS has an annual budget of $19,000,000, several hundred employees, and serves over 2,500 clients per year in Ramsey, Hennepin, Anoka, Washington and Dakota Counties. SMHS is responsible for a number of contract and programs including Chemical Dependence Case Management, Long Term Homeless Supportive Housing Services, Representative Payee Services, CADUTBI Case Management, Pre- Petition Screening, Ramsey County's Homeless ACCESS program, Assertive Community Treatment teams, and an Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services [ARMHS] program. South Metro Human Services has experience as a developer, owner and property manager. In 2003, SMHS started an Adult Foster Care Program and has purchased and rehabbed 15 single fancily homes (some foreclosed) throughout the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. SMHS currently serves over 100 people per year in these homes and owns and manages each property in the program. In January 2009, SM1-IS purchased the Rose Center, an apartment building in St. Paul, and completed a minor rehab project that transformed the facility into housing and staff offices for the Extended Care Apartment Program that provide ongoing services to those who cannot lease on their own either due to criminal history or due to record of unlawful detainers. SMHS has also served as the long term homeless service provider and a essential partner for a number of large multi-unit supportive affordable housing developments including Crane Ordway (Aeon), Renaissance Box (Aeon) Main Street Housing (Catholic Charities) and Saint Paul Residence (Catholic Charities). SMHS has rehabbed and leased more than 75,000 square feet of office space at 5 locations in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Anoka. South Metro Human Services (SMHS) is purchasing and rehabbing the 1111 Viking Drive property in Maplewood, MN to be the new home of the Community Foundations program that has provided transitional housing and treatment to severely and persistently mentally ill (SPMI) individuals in Ramsey County since 1987. SMHS will undertake a $2.8 million purchase and rehabilitation of this long vacant property, the former "Ethan Allen" retail store, and transform it into a residential and therapeutic treatment facility with 16 units of transitional housing and 2,500 square feet of counseling, meeting, and office space. Since 1987 SMHS has operated the Community Foundations program in a four -story turn of the century apartment building in the city of Saint Paul. This facility is one of Minnesota's oldest Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS) facilities licensed by MN Department of 1-luman Services. It has effectively provided housing and services to over 550 individuals in its 24 -year history, IRTS facilities exist to provide time - limited mental health services in a residential setting to recipients in need of more restrictive settings (versus community settings) and at risk of significant functional deterioration, hospitalization and episodes of homelessness that often result if they do not receive these services. IRTS serve very low income individuals and are designed to develop and enhance psychiatric stability, personal and emotional adjustment, self - sufficiency, and skills to enable them to transition to an independent and more permanent housing situation. The Community Foundations programs offers a full range of treatment service components in order to provide comprehensive 24 hour housing support and treatment. The facility is licensed to provide housing for no more than 16 residents at a time (approximately 70 unduplicated clients per year) for a maximum of 90 days (average stay is 48 days). 2