Killeen homelessness consultant set to receive contract extension, another $40,000

Killeen Daily Herald
By Paul Bryant | Herald Staff
March 13, 2023

After adopting a strategic plan to address homelessness in Killeen a month ago, City Council members on Tuesday are expected to amend their agreement with consultant Robert Marbut to pay him an additional $40,000 through a contract extension.

The “original agreement set the maximum amount of expenditures from each city at $50,000,” according to a staff report. “(On Feb. 14), City Council adopted the homelessness and mental-health strategic plan. Staff from both cities have determined additional services from the consultant are necessary as implementation begins.”

Last year, Temple and Killeen approved the interlocal agreement that set the initial cost for Marbut Consulting of San Antonio to $88,742.98, with the cities paying $44,371.49 apiece. The amended agreement is a six-month contract extension with Marbut to “operationalize” the strategic plan “at the additional cost of $40,000,” or $20,000 per city.

Killeen City Council members in February unanimously adopted the strategic plan on homelessness.

“It’s important to note this is just a strategic plan, so it’s an outline for how we would move forward ... with any services,” Assistant City Manager Danielle Singh said during that meeting. “The point of the Arbor of Hope would be to bring those nonprofits together. It’s more of a united organization to use those resources we already have.”

Creating Arbor of Hope is the central component to San Antonio consultant Robert Marbut’s “Operation: RISE.” That plan calls for Killeen, Temple and Bell County to provide funding to build two campuses — one in each city — for those experiencing homelessness. Called Arbor of Hope, the nonprofit organization would include representation from the county and both cities.

“Those funds could be distributed to our existing nonprofits,” Singh said. “I wanted to make sure we clarified that. It’s also to operate a shelter. Those would be the two main purposes of that (plan).”

For months, Marbut has conducted street-level and other research across Bell County, including in Killeen and Temple, to provide snapshots of the homeless population in both cities. He made his final presentation to the Killeen City Council on Feb. 7.

“The good news is you’re doing very well compared to Temple and other parts of Central Texas,” Marbut told Killeen council members during that workshop meeting. “We have 15 recommendations divided into four (sections). The first is you have to have very specialized clinical tracks.”

The clinical tracks include visitor growth, early intervention, males and females experiencing homelessness locally, “intensive” mental-health and substance-use disorder treatment, “sober living,” veterans, “disconnected” former military dependents and “long-term supportive care.”

Marbut found that almost 16% of the homeless population in Killeen were born in Bell County. Almost 42% had jobs in Bell County before experiencing homelessness, and nearly 65% started experiencing homelessness in Bell County.

“We’ve got to turn off the increase,” Marbut said on Feb. 7. “If you don’t stop increasing homelessness here, you’ll have a problem in that in seven to nine years, you can’t afford the solution. It will become so cost-prohibitive to fix that.”

In Killeen, the average age of the homeless is 47.6, and they spend almost 13 years in homelessness. Just over 60% are males and almost 19% are veterans.

Marbut has said that Centex ARC, Hilltop Recovery Services and Virtue Recovery Center would be incorporated into the total plan to reduce homelessness.

“Using national best practices and the ‘Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation’ as the key measuring tools, Marbut Consulting evaluated the current state of homeless service operations within Killeen and ... an extensive survey of people experiencing homelessness,” according to Operation: RISE. “Marbut Consulting then conducted a needs assessment and gaps analysis between existing inventory and identified needs, including the types of services (qualitative) and capacity of services (quantitative) needed (in) Killeen and Temple.”

Marbut’s work in both cities began in April. Operation: RISE includes details about how Marbut conducted his research on homelessness in Killeen, Temple and Bell County, the site visits and tours he and others completed, how funding sources should be identified to support the plan and the same statistical data on homelessness in Killeen he’s presented three times to the City Council.

The meeting on Tuesday is scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall, 101 N. College St.