The Ames City Council unanimously approved a contract amendment with the Salvation Army that modifies how the city’s hotel‑voucher sheltering program will operate in its second year of scaled service. Paul (staff member) said the change breaks the remaining fiscal year funds into three periodic allocations to maintain availability year‑round, requires the Salvation Army to add intake questions so the city can receive aggregate demographic and service‑need information, and authorizes discussing voucher recipients’ cases at weekly service‑provider meetings unless the recipients opt out.

Nut graf: The amendment keeps the city’s hotel voucher approach in place while adding data collection and service coordination steps intended to help staff better target future investments in homelessness prevention and sheltering.

Paul summarized the three changes: (1) divide the unspent FY25‑26 allocation into three periods with set allocations to ensure funding year‑round; (2) add an intake questionnaire to produce aggregate data for city planning; and (3) include voucher recipients on Friday service‑provider meeting agendas unless they decline. Paul said the goal is to use the intake touchpoint to better understand service needs and shape investments.

Council asked about trends in homelessness and funding levels. Paul said the city’s asset fund allocation was roughly $120,000 in the prior year and $130,000 in the current year and that staff observe growth in visible unsheltered homelessness even as temporary placements through vouchers and provider coordination have prevented some households from becoming unsheltered.

Following public comment (no speakers on this item), council voted to approve the contract amendment. Staff said aggregate intake information should allow better planning and thanked the Salvation Army for continuing to operate the voucher program.

Ending: The amendment is effective for FY25‑26 and keeps the hotel‑voucher program in operation while providing the city with more data and a formal channel for case coordination across service providers.