Oakland County accepts housing and public-health grants and approves staffing changes

Oakland County's Health & Human Services staff told the Board of Commissioners they have several new and amended grants and requested staffing adjustments to align with program needs.

Kita said the county received a legislatively directed $500,000 grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to expand emergency shelter, hoteling and supportive transportation through the county's Oakland Connects program. "This grant ... will expand and enhance the work we're doing around emergency shelter ... and provide transportation," Kita said; the grant term runs through March 2028 and includes funding for a part-time peer-support specialist and seven part-time special-revenue positions.

Kate Goodman described an amendment to Oakland Schools' home-visitation funding for the nurse-family partnership. The home-visiting piece allocated through Oakland Schools totals about $350,000; Goodman said an expected $55,000 reduction turned into $61,000 in additional funds, roughly $5,000 ahead of prior expectations.

Staff also described deleting seven vacant special-revenue positions tied to grants that were not reawarded, shifting some work into general fund lines, and accepting two additional funding amounts: roughly $200,000 for public-health infrastructure (data modernization and workforce support) and $597,000 for Medicaid-outreach activities to help eligible residents enroll and retain coverage.

County staff provided detailed lists of requested new positions, offsets and deletions and said many changes were budget-neutral. Commissioners asked for clarification on timing and the scope of services; staff said the Medicaid-outreach work will support enrollment and that the infrastructure funds will support data and workforce needs.

The board voted to add the MDHHS local health agreement amendment to the agenda and then approved the staffing and budget adjustments by recorded voice votes (seven yays, zero nays).