GH CAN Operations 9/6/17

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Agenda

Wednesday, September 6^th, 2017

Attended: Manuel Cadena (Catholic Charities), Anita Cordero (ImmaCare), Stephanie Corbin (Mercy), Rochelle Currie (The Connection), Angel Fernandez (The Open Hearth), Mollie Greenwood (Journey Home), Steve Hurley (Journey Home),  Je’Naya King (CHR), Klaudia Lobeska (CRT East Hartford), Gerilyn Maciel (Salvation Army Marshall House), Kyren McCrorey (The Open Hearth)Malika Nelson (CHR), Heather Pilarcik (South Park Inn), Lisa Quach (Journey Home), Luz Serrano (ImmaCare), Rob Soderberg (CHR), Wendy Walker (McKinney), Tanesha Shuler (My Sisters’ Place), and Rika Racelis (Chrysalis)

1.      Welcome and Introductions

a.      Leadership Updates – Mollie Greenwood

a.      Mollie says that the city has found a location for a warming center. The city has not yet put out a proposal for funding for the warming center.

b.      Mollies says CAN leadership has decided to have standing meetings on Mondays at 3pm of planning out the Cold Weather Protocol Process.   Any interested staff are welcome to attend.

c.      Mollies says the rally for Non Profit providers at The Capitol tomorrow and is from 10:30 to noon.

d.      Mollie says there were no families that were matched to family PSH openings at last week's meeting because case managers believed that many families on the BNL did not require the ongoing assistance levels available with PSH.

e.      Mollie says CAN leadership looking at scattered site to change to individual PSH instead

f.       Mollie says the Veteran committee met last week and plan to schedule another time to meet soon.

2.      Case Conferences – Fred Faulkner

a.      No case conferences were brought up at this meeting.

3.      Coordinated Entry:

a.      Shelter Waitlist Process Changes – Steve Hurley

                                                    i.     Training Times

a.      Steve says Smartsheet training is available on Thursday 9/7 from 4pm-5m at 76 Pliny Street at My Sister’s Place.

b.      Steve says the new policy and procedures for the shelter waitlist on Smartsheet will be in effect starting Monday, September 11^th.  The policies were distributed to all staff, and are attached below:

1.     Suggested Process

A.    By 8:00 AM - Shelters notify Diversion Center of any vacancies in new “Shelter Bed Vacancies” smartsheet.

·       If the shelter does not have any vacancies, please continue to update the smartsheet daily even if it says 0.

·       If a shelter has not updated the smartsheet in 5 business days, Journey Home will reach out to the agency/program manager. 

B.    9:00 AM-1:00 PM

·       Designated Outreach workers (Tony Mack, Dave Duverger, Je’naya King, Kelly Gonzalez, Shihan Ghazi, Juanita Blablock or Tina Gaines) call shelters to request an immediate shelter referral to the vacant beds for people they have visually verified that the person is sleeping outside. 

a.     Outreach workers adds client to Smartsheet & check “Verified Unsheltered” box.

b.     If a client is accepted into shelter, shelters update Shelter Bed Vacancy Smartsheet and client status appropriately (Pending, etc).

c.     Can fill all beds with these referrals.  If all beds are full, outreach worker adds to Smartsheets and checks Verified Unsheltered”.

·       Designated Diversion staff and Connection staff (Stephanie Corbin and Rochelle Currie (Mondays) - Add all those who cannot be diverted to Smartsheet. For special cases (see below), they will call shelters to request an immediate shelter referral for vacancies. 

a.     If a client is accepted into shelter, shelters update Shelter Bed Vacancy Smartsheet and client status appropriately (Pending, etc).

b.     Diversion staff should not fill all vacant beds with these referrals.  Should leave some beds open for other emergencies.

·       Soup kitchen staff – (Janet Bermudez) – Assist clients in calling 211 for a CAN appointment. For special cases (see below), they will call the diversion center to check if the client is on the shelter priority list. If client is on the list, shelter diversion coordinator will reach out to shelters to request an immediate shelter referral. 

Note: If shelter calls a client and the client does not answer, and the shelter leaves a voicemail/message(s), shelters should not  offer this bed to another client. This bed will be held until the following morning.  If the client is reached by phone, says they will come, but the client does not show up by the appointed time, then the shelter can follow the protocol below.

C.    2:30 PM and later – Shelters should use SmartSheet to try and fill any remaining shelter vacancies as has been done for the past few months using CAN prioritization for shelter.

·       Shelters will make a minimum of 2 calls to the client and inform them they have until 8am the next day to call back and/or show up. Everything resets at 9am. (This eliminates the 24 hour wait time.  Due diligence policies will be updated to reflect this new process.)

·       While shelters are waiting for call backs, they should not offer the bed to another client. Example: If there are 5 beds open at 3pm and there have been calls made to 5 clients and an outreach worker calls the shelter asking for immediate shelter referral at 4pm, the 5 beds will be heldso the shelter should not offer a bed to the Outreach worker’s client.

·       Before 8am, shelters will mark all client’s status as appropriate. (“No Shows” or “Accepted”). This will reduce the volume of the waitlist if clients are removed from the waitlist after being contacted.

2.     Point of Contact

A.    Third shift shelter staff would be responsible for updating “Shelter Bed Vacancies” Smartsheet by 9am.

B.    All staff who answer the phone between 9am-2pm at all the shelters are authorized to determine if a client can be accepted to shelter. All staff should be sent to a training at Journey Home. 

3.     Guidelines for Immediate Referrals from Diversion Center to Shelters

Some possibilities include:

                                                    i.     People who are or have been sleeping outside and staff can see multiple signs of evidence such as:

·       showering on site

·       hygiene/physical appearance

·       carrying all their belongings

·       can specifically describe the location where they are sleeping

                                                   ii.     Medically compromised people with discharge paperwork/wristband who staff believe were sleeping outside before they went into the hospital/institution setting, etc. 

                                                 iii.     Use judgment call 

These processes were approved by the Operations Committee and are effective next week, after the SmartSheets trainings have taken place.

4.      Coordinated Exit:

a.      Recently Housed – Lisa Quach

b.      Housing Data – see pg.2

c.      Rapid ReHousing Meeting Changes: Progressive Engagement Training

-RRH Training will be on 9/13 at 1pm at 76 Pliny Street at My Sister’s Place.

5.      CAN Survey Raffle Winner Drawing

6.      Announcements

a.      Hands On Hartford and a number of community partners are working on planning the Day of Sharing and Caring, and needs lots of help planning and pulling off this event. If you’re interested in assisting, please contact swalker@handsonhartford.org. The event will take place on 11/2/17

b.      Salvation Army is offering an Anti-Human Trafficking Training at Capitol Region Mental Health Center on Tuesday, 9/26 from 1 – 4PM. Register for training with Cat Damato at damatoc@crtct.org.

c.      Security Deposit Guarantee Program is only available for chronically homeless clients at this time.

GH CAN Leadership 9/6/17

GH CAN Leadership Notes 9/6/17

Attendance:

1.      Brian Baker, SPI

2.      Sonia Brown, CRT

3.      Sarah DiMaio, SAMH

4.      Kara Capobianco, DOH

5.      Fred Faulkner, The Open Hearth

6.      Louis Gilbert, ImmaCare

7.      Mollie Greenwood, Journey Home

8.      Dave Martineau, Mercy Housing

9.      Kyren McCorey, The Open Hearth

10.   Matt Morgan, Journey Home

11.   Diane Paige-Blondette, My Sister’s Place

12.   Lisa Quach, Journey Home

13.   Amy Robinson, US Dept. of Veteran Affairs

14.   Iris Ruiz, Interval House

15.   Barbara Shaw, Hands on Hartford

16.   Lauren Fair, SAMH

17.   John Lawlor, The Connection

18.   Justine Couvares, Chrysalis Center

19.   Ymonne Wilson, CRT

20.   Matthew Colson, Veterans’ Inc.

21.   Stephanie Corbin, Mercy

Tomorrow’s Rally  

1.      How many people will each agency be bringing?

o   Dave, Mercy Housing & Shelter – Supportive Housing will bring 15 people. Friendship center about 15-20.

o   My Sister’s Place will bring people – number unknown.

o   Barbara Shaw, Hands on Hartford – At least 10. May have more.

o   Chrysalis – 2 buses and everyone will be dressed in bright green t-shirts – about 100 people.

o   Salvation Army – 5-10 people. Posted for all of residents in shelter.

o   The Open Hearth – coming, uncertain about number of people.

o   ImmaCare – Uncertain about number of people but will have van.

o   CRT – 2 confirmed clients – 4 or 5 staff

o   Interval House – 3 clients & 3 staff

o   Veteran’s Inc – 2 staff

o   The Connection – at least 12

o   Have shelters announce the rally to the clients.

Shelter Priority List Process Updates

1.      GH CAN is currently piloting new program. There have been some disconnect between diversion center, shelters and smart sheet waitlist. Steve has scheduled trainings for staff on new process. Emails have been sent out.

o   By 8am, shelters will update shelter availability smartsheet. Shelters should continue to update the smartsheet even if they have no availability. If smartsheet hasn’t been updated in 5 days, JH will reach out to agency.

2.      This new process will allow Stephanie at MDC and outreach workers to make immediate referrals to shelter beds. We are trying to bridge the gap where shelters have openings and they have clients presenting in dire need of shelter. For trial services, let outreach and diversion staff use their best judgment to determine how much risk a client is. Within the past week and a half, Stephanie has called about 5 times to get a client a bed. It will not be everyone that comes in the door will need a bed today. These are the few occasions where we think if the client walks out, we will lose them.

3.      First training was 9/6/17, about 6 or 7 people showed up. Next one is 9/7/17 for 4pm. After 2:30 p.m., shelters will continue to pull off the smartsheet if they still have open beds. The goal is to kick this off this Monday.

4.      Last meeting there were discussions about smart sheet being too big and storing too much data. It was pushed to a maximum that we didn’t know existed so cleanup day already happened. We were able to shut Smart sheet down for a day to archive data and it is now able to take on new data and not be overburdened. There are also new processes to prevent overload of data. The previous 24 hour waiting period policy changes because everything now restarts at 8am. Staff will also only need to make 2 attempts instead of 3. The reason we are pushing it so quickly is so we can have everything in place before cold weather comes.

5.      In order to prepare for winter, we wanted to throw out some times to discuss cold weather. The group decided weekly Mondays at 3pm will be the cold weather planning meeting going forward.

6.      When there is a holiday on a Monday, can we look into having CAN appointments for youth done by The Connection on another day during the week? John Lawlor will check.

Shelter Beds for Young Adults

1.      YETI meeting happened last week. One of the two things they wanted was prioritization for youth for shelter waitlist. It was approved but not implemented. Youth will come after tiebreaker of elderly. Second request from YETI, prioritize shelter beds for youth. JH provided data about youth requesting shelter, removing those who refused based on 11 months of data.

2.      Would any of the shelters be interested in prioritizing some of their existing beds or reprogramming for prioritized shelter beds? Dedicated youth outreach is Juanita Blabock. Kara from DOH feels she can’t make the decision yet because she doesn’t know what the inflow is going to be. Dave thinks it makes it difficult because young adults and older men are different to place them together. Stephanie said youth typically self-resolve after they hear what shelter is like.

3.      SAMH is having issues with two parent households who are both youth but because they are a family unit, they cannot access youth resources. The only time they can get assistance is if they come in as a couple and separate. That is something else we could look at as a barrier. The Connection can only take singles with children but no couples. DCF funds the program. There are lots of couples who are 18-19 years old and putting them in rapid rehousing might not be best intervention for 18-19-year-olds.

4.      YWCA is interested in adding shelter beds but need more resources. SAMH is interested in repurposing beds if necessary. They have an office space that could be turned into a room, close to office and private bathroom. Can accommodate 2 beds in the room. Would be single women or families. Not funded but would want to see how much the bed is being used.

5.      Stephanie asked where we should be sending people with this age group if it’s not Monday and the Connection is full. SPI has always taken youth in their shelter, no separate room or dorms. Interval House cannot set aside beds.

GH CAN Committee Updates

a.      Family Housing Matching

a.      Not formal subcommittee updates. Updates had active weeks last week. Last matching meeting where we came across scenario that we have talked about. We had PSH openings but no families on the by-name-list met the need. We are now at the point with the family by—name-list that we expect this to keep happening. One of the referrals that was matched was a bridge. CRT expects some 2 bedrooms to become available soon. Both openings are project based units. They are unable to put in a single because they cannot over house people.

                                                              i.     One option suggested was to explore other families in other CANs. If reading COCs, we should be exhausting all chronic families in the state. Easiest thing to do is let Kara know they have openings so they can spread the word.

                                                             ii.     Other thing we need to think about is when scattered site certificates are available, are they really needed for families or do we ask programs to change the certificates to generate smaller size certificates to accommodate more individuals? The committee is Trying to not put families with disabling conditions who don’t need the services. Trying to save it for that population who really needs it. Disabling condition needs to be long term. CRT Chrysalis (Family Matters) and Crane’s grants are scattered site. CRT said they can serve singles or families.

b.      GH CAN Veteran Committee

a.      Veteran group finally came together last week. Had issue with CAN Appointments but it is now resolved. Continue to call Amy when you are working with a veteran. Need to look up GPDs vs. Transitions in Place. Rocky Hill is deemed as institution so not eligible for housing because they are not considered homeless. Veterans should be highest priority if they are literally homeless veteran. Matching for Veterans PSH should happen within the CAN. If 211 catches a vet, they schedule them to a vet CAN assessment.

c.      Rapid Rehousing Bridging Subcommittee

a.      When clients are looking like they are not succeeding in RRH and may need PSH, when is the best time to bring them up? The group decided to bring clients up at month 4 at housing matching meeting.

b.      There is still a miscommunication about why do we try to give our lightest touch to folks? Kara will be offering training for RRH at Pliny St. on 9/13/17 from 1p.m.-3p.m. to frontline staff. Ask to leadership is to let staff come, want to get everyone on the same page for rapid rehousing. Calling RRH training role clarification which might be difficult for some case managers. Goal is to reframe everyone’s mind and setting structure for case management. First conversation with clients is to tell them your job to get them out as possible. Every conservation should be “where are you going to live”? Our system is not going to move to next level of rapid rehousing people until everyone is moving in the same direction and on the same page. Iris asked what needs to be in place when termination of ST RRH or LT RRH? May be discussed at training. RRH is not a cookie cutter program, more individualized. The conversation should be client driven. Never should be “this is what the program can pay for you” because they’re going to take it. PSH case managers are used to 30% of the income because it’s straightforward.

d.      GH CAN Housing Data

a.      Potentially chronic clients = 36. Lowest it has ever been. Reason is multiple things such as due diligence and receiving more homeless verifications. 1 client who needs to be bridged to PSH and 10 who have already been matched to PSH from bridging. Once we get to 0, we will have more flexibility in matching because we won’t automatically put folks in PSH and we can look at other factors to use progressive engagement. Once we end chronic homelessness, progressive engagement will be easier.

Future agenda items:

               SIF – Barbara Shaw, won’t be until October 4. 

GH CAN Operations 8/9/17

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Agenda

Wednesday, September 6^th, 2017

Attended: Manuel Cadena (Catholic Charities), Anita Cordero (ImmaCare), Stephanie Corbin (Mercy), Rochelle Currie (The Connection), Angel Fernandez (The Open Hearth), Mollie Greenwood (Journey Home), Steve Hurley (Journey Home),  Je’Naya King (CHR), Klaudia Lobeska (CRT East Hartford), Gerilyn Maciel (Salvation Army Marshall House), Kyren McCrorey (The Open Hearth)Malika Nelson (CHR), Heather Pilarcik (South Park Inn), Lisa Quach (Journey Home), Luz Serrano (ImmaCare), Rob Soderberg (CHR), Wendy Walker (McKinney), Tanesha Shuler (My Sisters’ Place), and Rika Racelis (Chrysalis)

1.      Welcome and Introductions

a.      Leadership Updates – Mollie Greenwood

a.      Mollie says that the city has found a location for a warming center. The city has not put out a proposal for funding for the warming center.

b.      Mollies says CAN leadership has decided to have standing meetings on Mondays at 3pm of planning out the Cold Weather Protocol Process.

c.      Mollies says the rally for Non Profit providers at The Capitol tomorrow and is from 10:30 to noon.

d.      Mollie says there were no families that were matched to family PSH due to case managers believing families did not need PSH.

e.      Mollie says CAN leadership looking at scattered site to change to individual PSH instead

f.       Mollie says the Veteran committee met last week and plan to schedule another time to meet soon.

2.      Case Conferences – Fred Faulkner

a.      No case conferences were brought up at this meeting.

3.      Coordinated Entry:

a.      Shelter Waitlist Process Changes – Steve Hurley

                                                    i.     Training Times

a.      Steve says Smartsheet training is available on Thursday 9/7 from 4pm-5m at 76 Pliny Street at My Sister’s Place.

b.      Steve says the new policy and procedures for the shelter waitlist on Smartsheet will be in effect starting Monday, September 11^th.

4.      Coordinated Exit:

a.      Recently Housed – Lisa Quach

b.      Housing Data – see pg.2

c.      Rapid ReHousing Meeting Changes: Progressive Engagement Training

-RRH Training will be on 9/13 at 1pm at 76 Pliny Street at My Sister’s Place.

5.      CAN Survey Raffle Winner Drawing

6.      Announcements

a.      Hands On Hartford and a number of community partners are working on planning the Day of Sharing and Caring, and needs lots of help planning and pulling off this event. If you’re interested in assisting, please contact swalker@handsonhartford.org. The event will take place on 11/2/17

b.      Salvation Army is offering an Anti-Human Trafficking Training at Capitol Region Mental Health Center on Tuesday, 9/26 from 1 – 4PM. Register for training with Cat Damato at damatoc@crtct.org.

c.      Security Deposit Guarantee Program is only available for chronically homeless clients at this time.

GH CAN Operations 8/23/17

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Agenda

Wednesday, August 23^rd, 2017

Attended: Janet Bermudez (Hands On Hartford), Manuel Cadena (Catholic Charities), Maribet Carrion (Community Health Network), Anita Cordero-Doers (ImmaCare), Roger Clark (ImmaCare), Stephanie Corbin (Mercy Housing), Tylon Crump (CRT, SSVF), Catherine Damato (CRT, Hartford Sub-COC), Angel Fernandez (The Open Hearth), Amber Higgins (CHR), Klaudia Lobeska (CRT, EHFS), Gerilyn Maciel (Salvation Army Marshall House), Andre McGuire (CRT, McKinney), Malika Nelson (CHR, PATH), Maureen Perez (CRT, McKinney), Heather Pilarcik (South Park Inn), Jose Vega (CRT, McKinney), Wendy Walker (CRT, McKinney), Ymonne Wilson (CRT, Supportive Housing), Greg Han (Journey Home), and Tanesha Shuler (My Sisters' Place)

1.      Welcome and Introductions

a.      Leadership Updates – Mollie Greenwood

a)      Sub COC went through 65 funding scenarios. CT BOS voted on was that

b)     Cat says in the plan application all programs in the GH CAN will be protected.

c)      Mollie says CT BOS wants to put more money into permanent supportive housing.

d)     Mollie says CAN Leadership has proposed changes in shelter entry process and Smartsheet process.

2.      Case Conferences – Fred Faulkner

a.      JD44538

a)      No case conferencing today.

3.      Coordinated Exit:

a.      Recently Housed

a)      Mollie says 7 people were housed this past week.

b.      DMHAS/DOH Policies on Refusers – Mollie Greenwood

a)      Mollie says people who have been refusing housing will be tracked more accurately in HMIS. Therefore, statewide CAN can understand the number of clients are refusing housing and how big of an issue it is in our state and to figure out a plan of to get these are refusing to get housed.

b)     Mollie says outreach workers will be keeping track in HMIS as the number of attempts they are offer housing to the client.

c)      Mollie says the final version of this draft will be made soon.

4.      Coordinated Entry:

a.      Shelter Waitlist Cleanup – Steve Hurley

a)      Steve says before starting the Smartsheet cleanup there were 213 men and after there was 127 men on the waitlist. Before the cleanup there was 320 women and after there was 156 left on the wait list. Before the cleanup there were 132 families on the waiting list and after there was 85 families.

b)     Mollie says CAN Leadership has suggested using Smartsheet and working with outreach workers and diversion center to direct clients to shelters.

c)      Mollie says the proposal is Smartsheet will be the backup and have the Diversion staff look at the waitlist if clients show back up at Diversion Center.

d)     Mollie says the proposal is when to know when Diversion Center knows a shelter bed is available each shelter will call Diversion Center to let them the number of beds that are open for each shelter.

e)     Steph says this is important for the clients at the Diversion Center who present they are outside and are vulnerable from being outside.

f)       Mollie says outreach workers can call shelters to let them know if they are with a client outside they can contact the shelter to give them a bed.

g)      Rochelle says it would be good if her staff at The Connection can refer clients to the Diversion Center if they have a client at their CAN appointment and are unsheltered.

a)      Jose asks if there is anyone who adding clients to the shelter waitlist during the weekends.

1.      Matt says no.

b)     Mollie says there will be a meeting on Friday at Journey Home at 9 am for any shelters to talk about any concerns about this new pilot for the shelter waitlist.

c)      Stephanie says the diversion center is proposed once a week for the Diversion staff to make phone calls once a week on the shelter waitlist to help keep it accurate.

d)     Wendy asks about being able to keep shelters beds available still for clients who have been staying there for a long time, but the client is currently in the hospital.

1.      Stephanie says she proposes a google doc for shelters to update every day to indicate how many shelter beds are available at each shelter.

e)     Tylon asks what will be on the google doc?

1.      Mollie says they will use the google doc that was used about three years ago.

f)       Stephanie proposes that shelters can email her about the bed availability.

g)      Matt asks would it be an issue to be able to answer the phone if Diversion Center calls to get a client a bed at their shelter?

h)     Angel says no staff are in the shelter from 7am-3pm 7 days a week.

i)       Stephanie says Diversion Staff will have to work on how to determine if a client is actually unsheltered. The biggest priority is for clients who are unsheltered and have no phones.

5.      Announcements

a.      Hands On Hartford and a number of community partners are working on planning the Day of Sharing and Caring, and needs lots of help planning and pulling off the event.  If you’re interested in assisting, please contact swalker@handsonhartford.org.  The event will take place on 11/2/17

b.      Salvation Army is offering an Anti-Human Trafficking Training at Capitol Region Mental Health Center Tuesday, 9/26 from 1-4 PM.  Register for training with Cat Damato at damatoc@crtct.org

Logisiticare has changed their process for reserving medical cabs, and requests can now be made online.  In order to set up online scheduling, each site must have a designated system administrator.  See 

Greater Hartford Sub-COC/ GH CAN Leadership 8/23/17

Hartford sub-CoC Advisory Board

Agenda

August 23, 2017 at 1:00 pm

Next Meeting: September 20, 2017 at 1:00 pm

1.    CT HMIS – Steering Committee Report – Crane Cesario

·        Due to a large number of members being away, The HMIS SC meeting that was to be held on 8/11 was cancelled.

·        It has been discussed that the CAN ROI is too broad, and needs a specific focus. Further discussion is needed.

2.    CT BOS Steering Committee Items and Discussion

§  2017 NOFA Planning

o   CT BOS renewal application reviews and feedback will be provided on a rolling basis - no later than August 25^th. The final deadline to submit renewal applications in esnaps is August  31^st

o   Discussion of 100% Dedicated and DedicatedPLUS beds

·        CT BOS has been following a 100% Dedicated protocol (meaning all new turnover is dedicated to CH) and will include this in the NOFA application.

·        Opening Doors Fairfield County has chosen to follow DedicatedPLUS

o  Allocation of Bonus between RRH and PSH – Total Available: $2,004,805                 

o  Ranking Strategies

·        At the last CT BOS meeting on 8/18, 10 ranking strategies were presented to the Steering Committee for review.

·        Historically, CT BOS CoC has ranked projects using a combination of performance evaluation scores, model type and the best mathematical scoring advantage to maximize funds received by the CoC. 

·        Reallocated projects and HMIS have historically been placed in Tier 1 to ensure funding.  Bonus projects have been ranked at the bottom of Tier 2, though these projects usually receive funding as well, as CT BOS historically scores well on their application.

·        Funding for the last Transitional Housing program  in CT BOS will be reallocated to support CAN infrastructure, and can cover the cost of 211 for the next year, if necessary.

Important Dates to Remember: Training on Identifying and Understanding Victims of Human Trafficking will be offered at Capitol Region Mental Health Center on Tuesday, September 26th from 1 to 4 PM. GH CAN Leadership Items At last week's GH CAN Operations Committee Meeting, staff from multiple agencies expressed concerns that shelter beds were being left unfilled at a number of shelters, and that shelters were often making many calls through the waiting list, but were left with vacancies as a result of no-shows.  At the same time, our shelter waitlist seemed to indicate hundreds of individuals who were staying in a place not meant for human habitation who were unable to access shelter.  At the same time, the Diversion Center often has folks in front of them, reporting being currently unsheltered, who are not ever making it to shelter.  Barriers like not having a phone, or not getting a call from shelters immediately may be causing many of the issues shelter staff are reporting.  Shelter staff have a strong desire to make some changes before cold weather season begins. Leadership proposed a two-fold solution.  One change is that all shelters should begin sharing information about vacancies they have in one central location.  Another change will be that shelters will have the discretion to accept referrals directly from a list of outreach workers, or from the Diversion Center directly, when the Diversion Center identifies someone who is staying outside.  This plan will be presented to the upcoming Operations Committee.