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BACKGROUND In April 2011, the City Council authorized staff to explore the potential for merging the Human Services and Housing Commissions into a single commission that would address both housing and human services needs. To review this matter staff participated in three public meetings with each commission for a total of six meetings. A joint meeting with the two commissions was not held. As part of this process, staff conducted research and analysis identifying some of the advantages and disadvantages of the concept and prepared a draft ordinance for a combined commission. Draft Ordinance As part of the commission meetings, staff presented materials addressing a number of issues and framing the duties and roles of a new merged commission. A potential draft ordinance (Attachment 1) includes merged duties and responsibilities from the current ordinances enabling the HC and the HSC, plus a number of new responsibilities, so that it reflects current areas of oversight. As presented to the HC and HSC, in accordance with existing commission enabling ordinances, all organizational matters, including Maintenance of Membership, Commission Vacancies, Organization, etc, remain unchanged from the City's current standard. Note that in accordance with feedback from the HSC, the draft ordinance anticipates a new merged commission would be comprised of seven regular members and one alternate member, with one member having expertise in human services and one member having expertise in affordable housing. Advantages and Disadvantages Part of the discussion with the HC and HSC involved identification of potential advantages and disadvantages of merging the commissions as follows: Advantages: . Streamlines the public process, particularly as it relates to the Housing and Human Services Grant (HHSG) process. . Creates a more "holistic" approach to addressing housing and human service needs. . Reduces duplication of staff time. Disadvantages: . May result in more of a "big picture" approach that minimizes the detail related to housing and human services issues. . Potentially a larger workload for new commission as compared to the current Housing Commission and Human Services Commission. . Is not the most efficient way to deal with the many Housing Element and Human Services Needs Assessment Report issues that will need to be addressed in the next few years. . Decreases opportunities for community engagement. . Reduces the focus needed to take advantage of unique opportunities that present themselves in human services issues. . Range of required expertise would be very broad and may limit the efficiency of commissioners. Page 2 of 6