What role local government will play in trying to address Bowling Green’s homeless problem is still to be determined, but ideas that included creating an affordable housing trust fund and consolidating under one roof local agencies that deal with housing issues were at least brought into the open during a two-hour Bowling Green City Commission work session Thursday.

It didn’t take long during the work session coordinated by the Kentucky League of Cities at Sloan Convention Center to realize the complexity of the issue the city is trying to tackle.

Fourteen agencies and nonprofits that deal with homelessness and affordable housing issues were heard from, detailing the depth of a problem that appears to be growing.

As City Commissioner Carlos Bailey said: “I want to make sure we all work together so we can get homeless people off the streets. If we don’t do anything, it’s going to get worse.”

Bailey and fellow City Commissioner Dana Beasley Brown provided the impetus for Thursday’s meeting when they argued last month during discussions about the city budget that funding should be included for dealing with homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.

That spurred Mayor Todd Alcott to organize the work session, which he called “an opportunity to listen and learn together to find out the best way to work together to address this.”

Alcott and the four city commissioners got an earful from leaders of agencies that deal with everything from providing meals and temporary beds to addressing mental health issues.

The mayor said the city also received more than 70 comments about the homeless issue from city and county residents who weren’t allowed to speak Thursday but could email their thoughts in the days leading up to the work session.

Those comments ranged from one urging the city to “stop using taxpayer money to enable the homeless” to another that advocated better coordination among the various nonprofits and agencies that deal with homelessness and affordable housing issues.

The coordination idea was expanded on by LifeSkills Inc. Director of Community Engagement Melanie Watts, who said such a concept has worked in other communities.

Watts drew applause from a good many of the 80 or so people who turned out to observe the work session when she called on the city to build what she called a community center for all nonprofits that deal with homeless issues.

“We’re the third-largest city in the state, and we don’t have one place where all the services come together,” Watts said. “We need mental health services, job services and housing services all under one roof.”

Both Watts and HOTEL INC Executive Director Rhondell Miler advocated another way the city could use its resources – including funding it has received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act – to address homelessness: creation of a local affordable housing trust fund that could be used to provide incentives for developers to build low-cost housing.

That’s an idea that Alcott said he found “intriguing.”

“We have $16.5 million in American Rescue Plan dollars,” Alcott said. “Maybe that could be an opportunity.”

The mayor said, though, that he wants to make sure the idea has support from developers in the private sector, from Warren County government and from the multi-county Barren River Area Development District before committing to an affordable housing trust fund.

“I’m looking for buy-in,” he said. “If you don’t get the public behind it, it’s not going to work.”

Warren County Sixth District Magistrate Ron Cummings, who attended Thursday’s work session, said he was open to the idea of city and county government working together to address what he sees as a pressing issue.

“After broadband internet expansion, the next major issue we’re facing is affordable housing,” said Cummings, a former member of the board of directors of the HOTEL INC nonprofit that is charged with addressing that very issue. “It’s going to take entrepreneurs, churches and the private sector to find solutions.

“But government does have a role. Something to incentivize developers is needed.”

The need for solutions to homelessness was brought home by city staff that Alcott called on to speak during Thursday’s session.

The 2020 Point-in-Time estimate for Warren County done in conjunction with the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development showed 165 homeless people, and a housing study done in 2019 showed that more than 45% of renter-occupied households in the city are considered cost-burdened (with more than 30% of their income going for housing).

But those numbers don’t paint a full picture of what city staff members are dealing with.

Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Director Brent Belcher said: “Homelessness in our parks is a daily part of our operations.” He pointed out that people living in poverty or with mental health issues often camp out on public property.

The city’s director of neighborhood and community services, Brent Childers, said his staff often deals with people who take shelter in vacant buildings.

Childers said the city is already actively addressing homelessness and affordable housing through providing rent and utility assistance and by using U.S. Housing and Urban Development funds for housing assistance.

“We’re not waiting for things to change,” Childers said. “We’re looking for opportunities to address the issue. There are challenges, and it’s not an easy task.”

Bowling Green Police Chief Michael Delaney said dealing with homeless people, particularly those with mental health issues, requires a lot of time and expense for his department.

Because police departments are required by state statute to handle emergency mental detentions, Delaney said BGPD officers are spending more than 400 hours per month sitting with people in mental health crises.

Watts said the police department’s experience is another argument for a central community center that would bring together all agencies dealing with homelessness.

“With a central location, the police could drop off those people at the center,” Watts said. “They don’t have to stay, unless they are a danger to themselves or others.”

While acknowledging the complexity of the homeless issue, Alcott and others said Thursday’s work session was a good start toward addressing it.

“We believe the first step has been taken tonight,” said Doug Depp, who was representing the church-affiliated Room in the Inn program that provides temporary housing and meals during the winter.

Depp did say he’s not in favor of the city creating a staff position to deal with homelessness.

“No one is more qualified to oversee the homeless work than the people here tonight (representing the nonprofits),” Depp said. “But it takes funding to eradicate a problem like this. We need the city to become an ally and help us through funding. I look forward to working with everyone here tonight.”