GH CAN Operations 12/14/16

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Agenda

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Attended: Alicia Akers, Janet Bermudez, Tylon Crump, Rochelle Currie, Mary Davenport, Kayan Dewar, Jacqueline Farmer, Bryan Flint, Ruby Givens-Hewitt, Kelly Gonzalez, Tenesha Grant, Amber Higgins, Mark Jenkins, Manuel Cadena, Gerilyn Maciel, Nicole Milton, Margarita Morales, Matt Morgan, Maureen Perez, Heather Pilarcik, Chris Robinson, Amy Robinson, Iris Ruiz, Jose Vega, Wendy Walker, Alise Rangasammy, Kelanda Santos, Kyren McCrorey, Sarah Dimaio, Lucas Bensa, and Brittney Gibson

1.     Welcome and Introductions

2.     Zero: 2016 Updates – see p.2

a.     Recently Housed – Lisa Quach

-        Lisa announced that 11 people have been recently housed since the last CAN meeting.

b.     DMHAS doing another data match for disability verifications – Lisa Quach

3.     Cold Weather Protocols and Shelter Waitlist

a.     Working with the Welcome Centers and No – Freeze – Christie Corrigan

-        Christie reports that the No Freeze Center has had about 50 people there for the week.

-        Christie provides phone number for the Welcome Center and No Freeze Shelter. For the Welcome Center: 860-969-1410 and the No Freeze Shelter: 860 -969 -1411

-        Christie says No Freeze opens at 8:30pm and closes at 7:30 am

-        Christie says St. Patrick Anthony church will be open from 8pm – 8am and will only be for women and families and there will only be for women and families, which is only available when there is Governor Sever Cold Weather Activation.

-        Christie says No Freeze and Welcome Center will place single men who can’t get into shelter or No Freeze when the Governor announces activation for the Severe Cold Weather for this weekend.

-        Christie says for families and women people should contact SAMH only for severe cold weather.

-        Kelly asks if roster at No Freeze will be entered into HMIS.

-        Chrisite says yes they will.

-        Britteney asks can clients take showers or provide food at the shelter

-        Christie says that there are no showers available for clients and they try to provide some sort of food such as snacks.

-        Tenesha says that clients can go to Mercy to take showers, but only during certain hours of the day and can call Mercy.

-        Jose says people can shower at McKinney shelter after 4:30 pm.

i.                 Unsheltered Families during Cold Weather Season – Mollie Greenwood

-        Mollie says that Journey Home has limited resources to put families and their children into a hotel if they are presenting they are staying outside or in a car.

b.     Timeframes for shelter contact – Steve Hurley

4.     Guidance from Department of Housing

a.     Using RRH as a bridge – Amber Higgins

-        Amber reviews the different types of bridges.

-        Amber says one bridge is when a verified chronic homeless person and is place in RRH until the next unit until the next permanent housing unit is available.

-        Amber also says another bridge is when CAN attempts to place a verified chronic homelessness client into RRH and fails in the housing program. That client then is brought back to CAN and place them in a permanent housing unit.

b.     Short Term Incarceration Policy – Mollie Greenwood

-Mollie says DOC has appointed a specialist to communicate with the different CANs in the state in order to improve communication with the state and the CANs.

-Mollie says DOC will communicate when a verified chronic homeless person is being released from prison who will be homeless.

c.      Offering Housing to Individuals & Families Refusing CAN services

-Mollie reviews the due diligence page on HMIS in order to keep track who has contacted a client who has refused housing and how many times they have tried to engage with the client.

5.     PIT Hotspots – See maps!

6.     Announcements   

a.     Diversion Center; New Team to begin 1/9/2017

b.     Any questions about the Navigator RFP should be directed to Amanda Girardan by close of business this Friday, December 16^th.

c.      There will be a Smartsheets refresher training this Friday at the Lumsden Center at CRT, 555 Windsor St. Contact Steve Hurley (steve.hurley@journeyhomect.org) to register

d.     There will be a GH CAN Training this Friday from 9AM – 4PM and spaces are still available Email mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org to register

e.     This year’s regional homeless memorial will be held on Wednesday, December 21^st, from 6:30 – 7:30 at Center Church, 675 Main St, Hartford. Please help us prepare for this event by sending the names of any participants who have passed away this year to Nate Fox at nflox@cchartford.org

f.         Rev. Gail Williams has been collecting donations of Christmas gifts for homeless families – please contact her at gdaughter033@comcast.net                                                                                                                                                            

GH CAN Operations 10/19/16

GH CAN Operations Committee
Wednesday, 10/19/16

GH CAN Leadership 10/19/16

GH CAN Leadership Committee
Wednesday, October 19, 2016

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Zero: 2016 Updates
1. We reviewed the Trends data produced by Journey Home, which showed that as time goes on we are identifying fewer chronically homeless households.
2. At this time, we believe that throughout the state we have sufficient resources to match all chronic households to housing.
3. As a community, one area we can improve is utilizing RRH as a bridge until subsidies become available. 
4. One area where we are struggling with the Moving On program continues to be transitioning households in place because of rental amounts, as discussed at the last meeting.
5. Theresa reported that there has been no movement on the 20 possible vouchers through the Hartford Housing Authority at this point.
6. Department of Housing NOFA
1. The group discussed the upcoming NOFA through the Department of Housing, for staff who can assist with document readiness, outreach, landlord engagement, housing stabilization services.
1. No agencies expressed interest in applying for this funding, so Journey Home offered to apply for this funding.
2. Theresa requested, and the group agreed, that whatever staff is hired using this funding report to the CAN leadership on activity and that the position continue to be flexible as needs in the CAN change.
3. Kara proposed that this new staff person could serve in a pre-CTI role, helping households gather necessary documentation pre-housing, and assist with housing search.
7. Zero: 2016 Training Request: Uploading Documents
1. At the last Zero: 2016 Team meeting we discussed that some case managers were having difficulty in uploading client documents because they weren't comfortable with the scanning equipment at their site.  Leadership committed to train their staff on how to use scanning equipment as well as how to upload the files into HMIS.
2. A handout was distributed with information on how to upload client documents into HMIS.
3. Cold Weather Protocol Planning - Nate Fox
1. Nate updated us that Holy Trinity church on Capitol Ave had committed as a location for the No-Freeze shelter, but it may be helpful if the CAN Leadership group could send a letter of support to the Catholic archdiocese to ensure that we continue to see forward motion.  
4. Consistency in Staff Communications 
1. The Operations Committee drafted a document for case managers to use so that we can continue to be on the same page about the definition and criteria of chronic homelessness.  Leadership suggested that we clarify the section about episodic homelessness to explain what makes an episode.
5. GH CAN Process and Timing For Housing Referrals - Crane Cesario and Sonia Brown
1. In addition to all of our federal housing programs undergoing review by HUD during the NOFA season, the Balance of State also scores our housing program performance each year, and with the introduction of this CAN process there have been a number of delays in the housing matching process.  
2. One of the barriers we continue to face in the process is that we don't yet have as many households document ready as we have openings, and continue to see a delay in Disability Verifications.  Steve MacHattie, Andrea Hakian, Theresa Nicolson, and Kara Capobianco volunteered to assist in cases where we were unable to connect people to mainstream resources for disability assessments.
3. GH CAN Housing Metrics
6. Announcements:
1. Journey Home's next Dinner in the Park at Bushnell Park will be held Saturday, October 29th
2. Short Term RRH through CHR will no longer be accepting referrals through the Google Document - all Rapid ReHousing referrlas will now take place at the RRH matching meeting on Wednesdays opposite this meeting.
3. After today's meeting, there will be scarves and hats available through Journey Home's Making A House A Home project.  Case managers can take as many items as needed for their clients!
4. Journey Home's Landlord Mitigation project is up and running!

GH CAN Operations 10/5/2016

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network
Operations Agenda
Wednesday, October 5th, 2016

In attendance:
Janet Bermudez - Hands On Hartford
Cordelia Brady - The Open Hearth
Manuel Cadena - Catholic Charities
Roger Clark - ImmaCare
Stephanie Corbin - CHN
Tylon Crump - CRT / McKinney Shelter
Rochelle Currie - The Connection
Cat Damato - CRT
Angel Fernandez - The Open Hearth
Valorie Gaines - CHR
Kelly Gonzalez - CRT
Kaylon Griffith - Capitol Region Mental Health Center
Amber Higgins - CHR / Rapid ReHousing
Je'Naya King - CHR / PATH
John Lawlor - The Connection
Kyren McCrorey - The Open Hearth
Nicole Milton - CHR Enfield
Matt Morgan - Journey Home
Malika Nelson - CHR / PATH
Lorrie O'Brien - Hartford Hospital
Heather Pilarcik - South Park Inn
Rob Soderberg- CHR Manchester
Sandra Terry - CRT
Wendy Walker - CRT / McKinney Shelter
Ymonne Wilson - CRT
Tamara Womack - My Sisters' Place
Kelanda Santos - My Sisters' Place
Sarah DiMaio - Salvation Army Marshall House

1. Zero: 2016 Progresss:
1. Recently Housed Households - there have been 12 recently housed chronically homeless households, bringing us to a regional total of 248 chronically homeless households that have been housed in the GH CAN since March of 2015!
2. The Zero: 2016 Team recently held a housing brainstorm session with representatives from shelters, rapid rehousing, and supportive housing.  At this session we discussed some of the major barriers that we are still facing in our work to house chronically homeless households, as well as some of the big successes we've seen.  Many of our providers pointed to issues in communication with clients due to lack of phones, and limited communication between all the different staff that work with clients.  Some of the successes we have seen include increased coordination between all CAN agencies, as well as the Diversion Center, and some big progress with different immigration agencies like the Polish Consulate.  This group hopes to meet every few months to check in, and is looking forward to holding a Landlord Engagement Breakfast at some point.
2. Cold Weather Planning
1. ImmaCare will not be hosting a No-Freeze shelter in Greater Hartford this year, but Center Church is working on planning for Cold Weather Season.  Center Church's team is pursuing a couple of locations for a No-Freeze shelter, as well as working with some local churches to create pop-up warming centers for the coldest nights of the winter season.
3. Client Communications 
1. At our last Operations meeting we discussed the fact that many of our clients are hearing different things, and we need a tool to improve communications so that clients are clear about the chronically homeless requirements. 
1. A handful of staff in the community worked together to develop a document which the operations committee reviewed.   This document outlined the definition of chronic homelessness, and the requirements to document chronic homelessness.
2. We discussed some changes to the form, including documenting the CAN 
2. The Committee determined that rather than having this form as a handout to clients, each agency should get a copy of it so that all communications with clients can be consistent, relying on the same language. 
4. Shelter Waiting List
1. We discussed the Doubled-Up Unsafe option, and this committee voted that this option should only be selected on the waiting list for households who are in physically unsafe situations, and not in instances where they are jeopardizing the housing security of others (for example, it shouldn't be used for households doubled up with someone staying in a subsidized unit, as that doesn't pose a physical safety threat).
1. Examples of unsafe situations are: domestic violence situations, living in a home where drugs are sold, engaging in survival sex to remain where you're staying.
2. The committee also discussed the extensive length of the waitlist, and the fact that folks are on this list for a very long time.
1. The committee requested that staff at Journey Home make phone calls to all households who are unsheltered and staying in cars to try and remove all possible households from the shelter waiting list who are no longer seeking shelter. 
2. Journey Home will attempt to do this on a monthly basis.
5. Disability Verification Attachment Form
1. Because housing programs often need to know the type of disabiling condition that a chronically homeless household has at intake, the current disability verification form is not sufficient information for all of our housing programs.  To try and gather the level of detail needed by housing programs, Journey Home presented a draft document that can be sent to a provider alongside the Disability Verification form to clarify disabling condition type (specific diagnoses are still not a requirement on this form).  
2. You can download and print this attachment form at www.journeyhomect.org/provider-resources 
6. Announcements:
1. There is currently $15,069 available in the Be Homeful Diversion fund through CCEH.  $156 is available for the general fund, and $14,913 is available for utility-related expenses.
2. There will be a Security Deposit Guarantee Training tomorrow, 10/6, from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM at CRT's Lumsden Center, 555 Windsor St., Hartford.

GH CAN Leadership 10/5/16

GH CAN Leadership Meeting 10/5/16

In Attendance:

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Zero: 2016 Updates
1. We discussed the number of households who we believe will be verified chronic at some point in the coming y ear, and what next steps we need to take.  
2. One success was that the first household had been housed with the Moving On program, which in turn would open up a PSH unit for a chronically homeless household.
3. One issue identified with the Moving On process was that some programs had been paying landlords the absolute maximum allowable amount, which was in some cases higher than the amount that the Section 8 voucher could cover, meaning that for some folks who were considering Moving On, they would need to relocate to a new apartment in order to utilize their Section 8 voucher.
1. One suggestion to combat this was Crane asked that all leadership from housing agencies go back to their teams and explain the potential negative consequences of paying out the maximum amount.  In addition to the challenges we are seeing with the Moving On process, paying the maximum amount doesn't allow for programs to increase their payment amount each year for the landlord.  
3. Cold Weather Protocol Update - Nate Fox
1. A potential location for the No-Freeze shelter was identified at Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Capitol Ave, which was a great accomplishment.  
2. The city was prepared to release funds for the No-Freeze project soon.
3. Pop-up warming centers had begun to be identified at churches in the Hartford area, to open up when the Governor activates Severe Cold Weather.  
4. Center Church is planning to serve as a fiduciary for the funds for Cold Weather/No-Freeze. 
4. Staffing for CAN Assessments: Mercy Diversion Center 
1. Department of Housing has been meeting with staff from different agencies in the CAN, and we are hoping to have some full-day dedicated diversion staff, to allow our area to have a dedicated team who can case conference and really troubleshoot challenging cases more effectively.  We are hoping to begin this new schedule in the new year, with staff from Mercy, My Sisters' Place, Hands On Hartford, CHR, and Salvation Army Marshall House.
2. Coordinated Entry Dashboard from CCEH
5. Updates with Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Preference
1. Matt shared updates about how many households had been identified for Moving On through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.  We identified that though some of the openings were for families, we had a lot of programs that served individuals who were in the process of having households Move On into Section 8 vouchers.  
2. We discussed the need to rapidly be able to match chronically homeless individuals to openings generated by Moving On, but the challenge is that we just didn't have enough folks document-ready for housing openings to match quickly.  
3. We decided to form a small committee to brainstorm solutions to more rapidly getting folks document ready.  Tina Ortiz, Crane Cesario, Theresa Nicholson, Steve MacHattie, and Mollie Greenwood offered to discuss this prior to next week's housing matching meeting.
6. Subcommittee Reports
1. Coordinated Exit: Individuals - Tenesha Grant
2. Coordinated Exit: Families - Lisa Quach
3. Outreach - Janet Bermudez
1. The Outreach Card was distributed to and approved by the Leadership Committee.
7. Announcements:
1. There is currently $15,069.66 available in the Be Homeful fund.  $156 is still available for the general fund, and $14,913.29 is available for utility-related expenses.
2. There will be a Security Deposit Guarantee Training tomorrow, 10/6 from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at CRT’s Lumsden Center, 555 Windsor St., Hartford.
3. Journey Home didn’t receive many edits to the HIC chart we shared last time.  If your program names were inaccurate or other information needed to be modified, please contact mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org

GH CAN Leadership 9/21/16

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network Leadership Committee Agenda

9/21/16

Attended: Brian Baker, Steve Bigler, Crane Cesario, Cat Damato, John Ferrucci, Nate Fox, Tenesha Grant, Tomiko Grant, Mollie Greenwood, Steve Hurley, Steve MacHattie, Dave Martineau, Matt Morgan, Diane Paige-Blondet, Heather Pilarcik, Deborah Ullman, Amy Robinson, Christie Corrigan, Cordelia Brady

Welcome and Introductions

1.      Zero: 2016 Updates

-        Crane asks what is happening statewide since Hartford will not reach 90/90 by next week.

-        Matt says GH CAN is at 72 percent.

-        Matt says only 5 percent of people who are already housed in permanent housing want to stay at the current apartment instead of moving in the Housing Voucher Program.

-        Mollie says pre matching could help improve the process so case managers can already know if client plans on moving due to the Housing Voucher Program

-        Sonyia Brown says hopefully by October 1^st there will be more openings for CRT’s family program that is transitioning from Transitional Living Program to Rapid Re Housing

-        Matt says there will be 50 openings from CHFA.

-        Dave says there will be 14 openings for Mercy’s ESG rapid re housing program.

2.      Funding Discussion Recap

-        Crane says that Leadership Committee agreed from 180,000 to $120,000 for staffing. The proposal is continuing the three navigators until January and hire two navigators after January and they will have a more included role at the Diversion Center.

3.      Cold Weather Protocol Update

-        Crane says there are no state buildings available to use for cold weather protocol.

-        Nate says he was been working with Dr.Ruhl  and says he is committed to work with the CAN and hopefully plans will be in place in October.

-        Nate says the plan is to attend the next city meeting in October

-        Nate says Asylum Hill Church is willing to be a pop up when cold weather protocol is in place.

-        Nate says by next Center Church will be the fiduciary for No Freeze for only this year.

-        Nate says that the plan is to have Christie oversee the No Freeze shelter and provide continue services when No Freeze is not in place, which would be connected to street outreach.

-        Nate says he would like to change the protocol of instead of putting people up in hotels there should be a location or two for a space in the city to put down a couple of beds and sleeping bags for people to stay.

4.      GH CAN Housing Process and Timing of Referrals

a.      GH CAN Housing Data Metrics

-        Crane requested that in addition to average length of time, we look at median length of time for housing programs as well in these Housing Metrics

5.      HIC Chart

-        Matt says to mark any changes on the chart and to give to Mollie, or email Mollie with any changes that need to be made.

6.      Return to shelter policies

-        

-    Nate asks if this includes people and leave on their own

-        Heather says we should focus on the CANs philosophy for clients returning to shelter.

-        Dave says he wonders how the CAN can focus on the clients who continually move around to different shelters and find out what their barriers are in order to end their cycle of continually living in shelters.

7.      Subcommittee Updates

a.      Outreach Updated

-        Steve proposes to provide outreach cards to public work employees, so they can give them to people who they see in the bridge and other areas where public works employees work.

b.      Coordinated Exit

c.      Rapid Rehousing Matching

8.      Announcements

-        Sonyia Brown asks whether or not to use the HMIS number that is for the VI SPDAT or do to use the other HMIS that is connected to the client.

-        Mollie says to use the HMIS that is connected with the VI SPDAT

GH CAN Operations 9/7/16

GH CAN OPERATIONS MEETING 9/7/16

Attended: Alicia Akers, Janet Bermudez, Cordelia Brady, Manuel Cadena, Crane Cesario, Roger Clark, Tylon Crump, Rochelle Currie, Catherine Damato, Brenda Earle, Valerie Gaines, Ruby Givens-Hewitt, Kelly Gonzalez, Tenesha Grant, Amber Higgins, Mark Jenkins, Je’Neya King, Nicole Milton, Margarita Morales, Matt Morgan, Roxan Noble, Heather Pilarcik, Miiosotys Santiago, Sandra Terry, Jose Vega, Wendy Walker, Ymonne Wilson, Tamara Womack, Leslie Wilper, Julie Bernstein, Sarah Dimato, and Kara Capabianco

1.     Welcome and Introductions

2.      Zero: 2016 Campaign Progress:

1. - Document-Ready Households - Lisa Quach.      

-        Form and e mail was sent out to all shelter case managers of clients in their shelter who have been identified as chronically homeless

2. Recently Housed - Tenesha Grant
3. Update on Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program

-        71 clients have been referred for the Housing Voucher Program

3.      SOAR Referral Process - Matt Morgan

-        Matt announces that there is a SOAR Meeting once a month to help clients apply for SSI and SSDI and if anyone is interested in going to contact Matt

-        SOAR Programs in Greater Hartford is attached to this week’s Diversion Meeting

-        Wendy asks when can clients re apply for SOAR

-        Matt says if client is appealed you can start a new application or go to Hartford Legal to re apply

-        Brenda from DOH asks if client has already applied for SSI and SDI already could be an additional column on the shelter waitlist

2. 4.      Shelter Waitlist - 24 Hour Wait Time - Sarah Dimaio

-        Heather says that when a staff person at Mercy is doing a CAN appointment with an unsheltered family they call South Park Inn to see if they have beds available for a family.

-        Sarah says that a lot of families on the shelter waitlist have refused the shelter bed due to only wanting to seek shelter in East Hartford.

3.     5.      GH CAN Meeting Schedule - See Attachment

-        Mark asks when do clients are staying outside can complete a VI-SPDAT if they are not in a shelter?

-        Crane says when seeing a client outside a Navigator can do a VI-SPDAT for a person right away. For other housing services later on the Navigator can sign off stating that person was unsheltered at the time when they did their VI SPDAT.

-        Tylon asks do clients need to have a VI-SPDAT completed in order to get funding from Diversion?

-        Amber says in order to get Diversion a client does not need to do a VI SPDAT and only need to do a VI SPDAT when applying for housing.

-        Tylon asks do clients need income to be eligible for long term rapid re housing?

-        Amber says that a client does not income for long term rapid re housing, but they need to have income for short term rapid rehousing

4. 6.      Announcements
1. a.      There will be a training for the Security Deposit Guarantee Program on Friday, 9/9 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM at the Lumsden Center at CRT, 555 Windsor St., Hartford.  Please email Mollie.Greenwood@journeyhomect.org if you or your staff plan to attend so we can make sufficient copies!

b.      There are openings in the next GH CAN Training on Friday, 9/16^th.   Please email mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org if you're interested