Resolution supporting new People's Community Clinic

[Greg Casar]

Dear colleagues,
I’m writing to provide some background regarding an ordinance I have placed on the March 5th Council agenda, which will waive certain building permit fees for the new People’s Community Clinic at 1101 Camino La Costa in District 4. I’m thankful to my colleagues CMs Houston, Renteria, Kitchen, and Pool for their co-sponsorship on this item.

People’s Community Clinic is a non-profit primary care clinic that has long served uninsured and underinsured Austinites in need of quality, affordable health care. Their organization started in the basement of a local church, and now they do amazing work out of a small facility at 2909 North IH-35 Frontage Road in 78722. Thanks to a $10 million grant from the St. David’s Foundation and fundraising efforts for a $16 million project, People’s Community Clinic will be moving into a new facility on Camino La Costa to provide care where more of their patient population resides. Regina Rogoff, CEO of People’s Community Clinic, stated recently that only 15 percent of their patients live within two miles of their current headquarters, but once they complete their move this number will go up to 50 percent. It is my understanding that construction of the clinic will be completed entirely with private dollars: no tax money from the City or Central Health will be spent on the facility.

The new 54,000-square foot clinic will serve approximately 10,000 residents—greatly surpassing their existing abilities to see patients in their current 17,000-square foot building. Their smaller facility will remain a People’s Community Clinic focused on prenatal care once the new facility is completed this year. People’s Community Clinic estimates that 65%-80% of the residents in the service area of the new clinic have incomes below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines and that up to 70,000 individuals in the area are not currently accessing safety net services.

People’s Community Clinic approached me to request assistance from the City of Austin in waiving some associated building permit fees to focus more of their funds on providing care to new and existing patients. This resolution asks to waive $33,803.12 in building, electrical, and plumbing fees for the new clinic. Providing this waiver for People’s Community Clinic will mean that they will be able to provide up to 170 new encounters with healthcare professionals for patients who otherwise might not receive services. For additional perspective, $33,000 could translate into almost 200 vaccines to protect seniors against painful outbreaks of shingles or 240 well-child visits to monitor children’s growth and wellness at critical periods of their development.

As a Council, I believe we should be judicious when granting any fee waivers. We should certainly prioritize supporting requests that are of great benefit to the community. I was glad to support our most recent waiver request for the Zilker Kite Festival on the February 12th agenda, where the Council waived over $23,000 in fees on consent. I believe that in the case of People’s Community Clinic, there are very clear community benefits that will both provide high quality services to those in need and also promote the fiscal & physical health of our whole community. I've provided a link to the proposed ordinance below, and I welcome any additional questions you may have.
One more thing: if you are not familiar with People’s Community Clinic and you’re interested in touring their existing clinic to see the incredible work they do (with very, very little space), please contact their Director of Development Joy Arthur at joya@austinpcc.org.

ordinance language:
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 711158.PDF