Greater
Hartford Coordinated Access Network
Meeting
Agenda
Wednesday,
October 21st, 2015
Next
Meeting: Wednesday, November 4th, 2015
|
In
Attendance:
Natasha Baldwin
– Salvation Army Marshall House
Ralston
Beckford – Capitol Region Mental Health Center
Janet
Bermudez – Hands On Hartford
Gail
Budrejko – Tabor House
Cordelia Brady
– The Open Hearth
Marcel
Cicero – CRT East Hartford Shelter
Roger Clark –
ImmaCare
Stephanie
Corbin – Community Health Network
Rosemary
Flowers – My Sisters’ Place
Nate Fox –
Center Church
Amanda
Girardin – Journey Home
Ruby
Givens-Hewitt – My Sisters’ Place
Mollie
Greenwood – Journey Home
Amber Higgins
– CHR Rapid ReHousing
Aaron Jones –
VA
Brittany
King – The Open Hearth
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Gerilyn
Maciel – Salvation Army Marshall House
Shannon
Oliver – Salvation Army Marshall House
Heather
Pilarcik – South Park Inn
Chris
Robinson – Chrysalis Center
Amy Robinson
– VA
Michelle
Simon – Catholic Charities
Sandra Terry
– CRT Supportive Housing
Jose Vega –
CRT / McKinney Shelter
Tamara
Womack – My Sisters’ Place
Maureen
Perez – McKinney
Megan
Pellerin – My Sisters’ Place
Nikia
Newkirk – YWCA / HOPE Team
Kaylon Griffith
– Capitol Region Mental Health Center
Cat D’Amato
- CRT
|
1.
Introductions
Welcome – Mollie Greenwood
Introductions around the table
Confidentiality of clients stays in the room / staying objective /
conscious and respectful without over sharing or imposing judgments
2.
Housing Referrals – Amanda Girardin
a. Pending Referrals
i.
Journey
Home has been working with My Sisters Place, Mercy, and South Park Inn.
1. Discussed people in South Park Inn
TLP – Who have episodes of continuous homelessness
a. Open Hearth is going to send
information about one of their clients to Mollie who fits the above description
ii.
CRT
(Update) has called Open Hearth and has made several attempts to contact him
1. Amanda will reach out to Sara
Simoneli to see if she can contact him
iii.
CRT
is finding it difficult to engage the individuals – Currently landlords don’t
have units available and clients have not been coming in for their second
appointment to follow up.
1. The lack of follow up appointments
has put their help with clients on stand still, which is causing landlords are
turning them down. After two years in transitional housing landlords are
questioning how clients are supposed to pay their rent?
iv.
We
are looking for landlords to help with Cabby program with individuals
v.
CHR
Enfield has housed the first of their 5 clients.
vi.
CHR
Manchester has housed one individual.
1. CHR Rental Assistance Program (East
Hartford) going to help one client as well.
vii.
They
may have a FUSE eligible client.
viii.
Columbus
House has services for Nine street elderly units and are looking into other
options for clients as well.
1. Southington has a Winter Growth program
for Elderly Housing
2. There is an elderly project based
unit in north end of Hartford
3. Fuse has some scattered sites
available as well
4. SIF unit through Journey Home is
currently unable to help elderly clients
b. Housed Updates
i.
Frequent
User Service Enhancement
1. Connecticut’s Re-entry program is
connected with HMIS data.
a. They are cross-referencing with the CAN
list
2. Chrysalis has 30 new units available
a. 25 active individuals available to be
referred for FUSE
3. (Theresa?) Can only take 5 clients at
a time but first has to double check that we can do this with the amount of
funding.
4. There is a possibility of swapping
out FUSE certificates with Cabby certificates.
5. D-Raps are Designated Rap
Certificates
a. When someone is identified as FUSE
they get a D-rap, they do not have to be chronically homeless to get FUSE.
b. We can occupy other hosing slots with
FUSE first
6. Elderly
a. Sex offenders are ineligible for the
program
b. John was submitted to the program
c. Steven is currently with Open Hearth
d. 11 units are set aside for elderly
disabled homeless, however, they are prioritizing with chronic homeless first,
and then non-chronic
7. Imagineers
a. This is a project based program, and
a elderly waitlist. Elderly individuals are considered 62 years old and older.
i.
Journey
Home went through entire active list and submitted names
ii.
They
are open to receiving more names for this program.
iii.
They
are scattered sites, and are not typically through the homeless system
8. Anthony Rodgers
a. Scored higher on the VI-SPDAT than
the Full SPDAT.
i.
Immacare
did the full SPDAT
1. He is on the high end of rapid
rehousing
a. Before making referral, the topic of
referring Anthony was opened up for discussion.
ii.
Amber
says that they are potentially going to have to go into a wait list.
iii.
CHR
has a list of what is needed to refer a client.
c. New Referrals – My Sisters Place,
Mary Seymour Place, Cathedral Green, South Park Inn TLP, Project TEACH
Permanent, and Moving On
i.
Project
TEACH is converting from transitional housing.
ii.
Mary
Seymour has a one-bedroom referral. The person needs to be sober for a minimum
of 1 year.
iii.
It
is project based through journey home and comes from a supportive housing
program the person must have no felonies for the last 3 years. The options
available are 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom residences.
iv.
Cathedral
Green has 3 new units available.
d. D Gil – their full SPDAT does not
correlate to Version 1 VI-SPDAT score
i.
Higher
length of homelessness
1. Anyone want to advocate on his behalf
e. There are 6 units available
f.
VI-SPDAT
conversion tool will be sent from Theresa to Mollie
g. Units in and outside of Hartford
h. Mark Williams
i.
He
completed a full SPDAT and is unsheltered. We can connect with him through soup
kitchens. He just got out of jail and had an SSDI application completed for him
years ago. He is well engaged, however, unable to be found often. He is a
person with paranoia and does not value housing and may not be able to tolerate
housing
ii.
Shian
is the main contact for Mark
iii.
Frank
with fill out a disability verification form for him
i.
Mathew
Davis
i.
He
does not have a Mental Health diagnosis but does have a Substance Abuse
diagnosis
j.
Joseph
D’Amigo
k. David Gilcrest to add to the list
i.
The
room has voted yes in adding him to list of 6
ii.
No
opposition votes cast
iii.
The
vote has passed; David will be added to the list.
l.
Theresa
has a client out in Rockville who is in permanent supportive but wants to move;
he is in a project based sentence and is willing to go anywhere. How do we
prioritize these individuals that want to move? Are they more or less of a
priority?
i.
Moving
On may be an option that Amanda suggested for this individual
m. Male with Schizophrenia – young – no
SA issues – gentle young man – Kyba
i.
Frank
can verify length of homelessness as 4 distinct episodes
ii.
He
is in need of supportive documentation
1. He may be a good fit for MSP
n. Frank asked if anyone new of other
individuals 30 years old or older with a year of sobriety or more that people
would take the place of the male with Schizophrenia?
i.
No
one responded
o. Sanchez’s (35) and Creto are a couple
and individual that could work for Moving On
i.
Any
9’s would come before these two, but as of now we don’t have any on the list.
p. Basillo is a Potential Rapid
rehousing candidate.
3.
New Agencies on GH CAN Release of
Information – Matt
Morgan
a.
Loaves and Fishes, Inc.
i.
They
recently learned about how the CAN is operating and would like to host
assessment appointments to help
b.
Catholic Charities
i.
Catholic Charities are already making referrals, but need to be added to
the Release.
c.
Community Health Network (CHN)
i.
They
have the ability to look up members; particularly ones that are MIA, are or
were in inpatient care, and have high attendance in emergency rooms. They are also able to put updates in system
(confidential) and are able to put notes in that Journey Home is looking for to
help clients.
ii.
Hopefully
they will be able to do CAN assessments in the community soon
iii.
CHN
is potentially going to get onto HMIS as well to do online VI-SPDATS
d. ValueOptions
i.
Behavior
health aspects as well (same reasons as CHN)
e. Wheeler Clinic
i.
They use UHA and are already on the UHA release, they have behavioral and
physical health services right now and would be able to help share information
back and forth
f.
Journey Home is working on state wide CAN release, the above agencies
have expressed their willingness to be apart of this process. This would allow
us to be able to connect with other agencies outside of the shelters and soup
kitchens to help with contacting clients
i.
Mollie will bring the State Wide CAN release to the next CAN meeting –
and will send out after the meeting if it gets passed. Everyone would need a
new form in their office not an additional release.
ii.
For planning purposes it is good to add these agencies in a batch rather
than one by one
iii.
Mollie asked the room to raise their hands if they are willing to add the
above agencies to release
1.
Majority rose hands to add these agencies to release, no one responded
that they did not want to add the agencies and there were no abstentions.
g.
There is still a large no show rate at CAN appointments
h.
There has been a big push for individual VI-SPDATS to be done, Mollie
says “Thank you!”
i.
Comment was made that the searchable Excel sheet is very helpful.
j.
Mollie will be emailing HMIS from individual VI-SPDATS on how they are
calculated to make sure they are not leading to clients missing out on their
opportunity to be housed.
k.
Transient numbers have been missing. HMIS was going to check their
information to see if they have our missing clients in other CANs. They will send
that information our way if they are in other CANs.
l.
80 people have been housed, Congratulations to everyone!
4.
New Triage Protocols – Call-back list
– Shannon Oliver
a. Walk-ins for shelter, call-back
order, clients without phones, purging the list
i.
In
the last few weeks changes have been implemented
1. Instead of “call backs” triage is calling
clients back and not just taking those who call minutes after a bed opens up,
and not the one who called 6 times before them.
ii.
Where
do client’s names go?
iii.
They
are working on finalizing a call back order.
iv.
Trying
to figure out what happens with clients that do not have phones.
v.
How
often should triage centers be wiping the lists clean? Currently they are doing
it every 10 days.
b. Shannon –
i.
With
this list we are trying to implement was are having less of the same people
calling over and over
ii.
They
are leaving a voicemail
1. The clients have an option for primary
and secondary phone numbers
a. 2-1-1 is allowing them 30 minutes to
call back
b. People may still lose their spots on
the list.
2. May want to shorten the time period
from 10 to 7 days, the list is getting very long.
a. Mollie put it to a vote, should we
2-1-1 be starting a fresh list every week? Try it for a while and see how it
goes?
i.
No
objections were voiced.
b. List needs to be prioritized: including
walk-ins to shelters, communicating with triage, needs to be a check in, call
back order 30 min time frame (pushing clients to leave a phone number)
i.
Nate,
Roger, Marcel & Shannon volunteered to be a part of a Small group meeting
to talk through the waitlist, discuss barriers, working group to meet a few
times aiming for next week as the first meeting. One of the goals is to prepare
for winter coming.
3. Shannon had an idea to separating
families and singles on the list.
4. An issue that has been occurring is
that the phone numbers of specific agencies have been sent out from 2-1-1
instead of 2-1-1 doing the triage process themselves. This is not the way it
should be going. We may need to create a systemic process to make sure this no
longer happens.
a. One option is for shelter to redirect
case managers back to 2-1-1 and make sure their clients are not being
prioritized over the calls that get into 2-1-1.
i.
If
this is happening please let Mollie know.
b. Amber’s clients are getting the wrong
address, once we have the clients information we can direct them to 2-1-1 and
make sure that no longer happens and they have correct address for their
office.
i.
New
information has surfaced that people released from Prison are receiving a packet
of 2-1-1 information. We need to know what type of information they are
receiving.
iii.
The
2-1-1 team has been using Google Docs to communicate information.
1. They are discussing clients and notes
on restrictions, this has been much easier for them to use.
iv.
Shannon
suggested a 48 hour bed, since the same people that walk in are the same ones
that call repetitively
1. The consensus of the room was to trying
and stick to the list for now before implementing the 48 hour bed.
2. 48 hour bed may create chaos,
especially in the winter time.
v.
Theresa
was wondering if we know if the clients that are calling are literally
homeless, we need to make sure they are the ones with the highest level of
need.
1. Shannon said that we need to give
them the option to stay at friends house, but they cannot just switch around to
different shelters.
vi.
There
is no longer any discharge dates, however, there are still length of stays.
1. Shelters cannot give a negative
outcome according to the Department of Housing.
c. Heather asked if there has been any
recent look at availability, such as beds for single women. Especially since
they have dropped low with Manchester’s shelter closing.
i.
Salvation
Army has the option of adult rehabilitation that is 40 hours a week at a work
shelter.
1. They are Similar to MSP and are
sending referrals over. They are another structured housing program, if people
are willing to commit to these programs, then there are spots open.
d. Shannon thinks that we should start
using Google Docs again to stay in contact with shelters and agencies instead
of calling so much, this may be easier for everyone.
e. Send Amanda names of Women or Men that
are at shelters for a year or more – that way they can be on Journey Home’s
radar.
5.
Rapid Re-Housing VI-SPDAT Override
Form – Amber Higgins
a.
Clients that we are referring to rapid rehousing need forms handed to
Amber, and attach wfinancial forms to it once they move.
b.
Discussing anyone a 10 or higher (but may not actually be a 10 – seems
high)
i.
Page 3 of agenda is a hard copy.
ii.
Let Mollie know if you have anyone to put on the agenda. It will be discussed
in CAN meetings and then we will give the form to Amber.
6.
Landlord Sharing
a.
It is happening in a lot of regions in the state, sharing information
about landlords is tough since it is hard to cultivate those relationships,
however we need to start looking into landlord engagement and collaborative
recruitment strategies.
i.
One idea is to have a spreadsheet to share landlord information, if
people are willing.
1.
Housing case managers in previous CAN meetings are struggling to find
landlords, bringing together our knowledge will help each other, the more we
all know of, the more
ii.
A landlord contacted Amanda and is willing to avoid criminal background
and credit check, his phone number is 860-805-1547. He has a two-bedroom condo unit in Hartford on
Wethersfield, Ave.
1.
Amanda has put 11 to 15 landlords that she knows through SIF, she will be
making the form available for everyone to use
a.
We are looking particularly for people who are willing to be flexible
with utilities and background checks. This information will be apart of an informal
sharing to start more landlord engagement.
b.
Amber has information about landlords to avoid and reminded the group to
be on the look out for those landlords as well.
i.
Everyone should try to get the information in writing so if they go back
on their word it can be sent to CT Fair Housing. There is the option to stay
anonymous so you don’t lose your relationship with your landlords.
7.
Announcements
a. Tamara knows of a 1 bedroom unit in
My Sisters place that requires a DCF referral which Crane can help with.
b. Nate announced that Friday Nov 20th
is the Day of Sharing and Caring which is a banquet honoring people who are facing
hunger and homelessness. It will be at the Franciscan center. Last year providers
came out to have a resource fair. It will be from 11am – 3pm.
c. Nate also announced that on December
21st there will be a Homeless persons memorial event and to please share
names if anyone has someone to add to the memorial.
d. MSRP has openings of emergency
housing for people with Husky D, Substance Abuse or Mental Health issues –
Mollie will be sending it around.
e. Changes to the Housing Outcome Form will
be modified to include Due Diligence Policy
i.
Updates
have been made in the due diligence form from last meeting
f.
Amanda
will be putting a soup kitchen contact list on Journey Home website.
g. Changes to HMIS as part of
Coordinated Exit.
i.
Amanda,
Mollie, and Matt have been working at state wide level
1. Instead of a printed list, so
everyone will be able to look into HMIS and have the ability to see real time
data.
2. We are aiming for January to have the
update to version 2 of the VI-SPDAT available for use.
h. The Zero: 2016 Summit is on
10/28/2015 at the Hartford Public Library from 9:30 AM-4:00 PM
i.
If
anyone is interested in attending the morning portion let Mollie know.
ii.
If
anyone knows of any Chronically homeless veterans, please let Journey Home
know.
1. South Park may have one non-chronic
veteran, theresa was notified of it this morning.
i.
A
“Safe Shelter and Fair Housing for Transgender Individuals” training from CCEH
will be coming to Manchester on 11/10 from 1-3 PM. Look out for an email from CCEH.
i.
Information
how to register will be on the CCEH website.
j.
CAN
Leadership will have their next meeting on 11/3 right before the Hartford COC
meeting.
i.
9-10
AM Mollie will be sending out email reminder
k. Johnny Jonson – Found an apartment!
|
Greater Hartford CAN Data
Update 10/21
|
||
|
GH CAN Master Registry
|
Total # of active* clients
|
987
|
|
Total # in our master registry
|
2,523
|
|
|
Total # of people identified with a length of homelessness that
qualifies as chronically homeless who aren’t housed
|
281
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coordinated Assessment
|
Total clients with a VI-SPDAT
|
1354
|
|
Total active* households with a VI-SPDAT
|
618
|
|
|
Total 211 Appointments Cancelled Since Registry Week
|
172
|
|
|
# of upcoming GH CAN appointments
|
606
Booking into late December for City of
Hartford
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coordinated Exit
|
Chronically homeless housed through CAN 3/11 – present
|
80
This may not include all clients housed by
existing wait lists.
|
|
TLP Enrollments for all adults 11/17- Present
|
265
|
|
|
RRH Enrollments for all adults 11/17- Present
|
160
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zero: 2016
|
Average # of new people who are becoming chronically homeless each
month
|
22
|
|
GH Monthly Housing Connection Rate:
|
31
|
|
*people are
designated as active if they’ve been seen in shelters or by outreach in the
past 3 months
|
Greater Hartford CAN Items
for Continuing Discussion
|
||
|
#
|
Category
|
Challenge
|
|
A
|
UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES OF CAN PROCESS
|
|
|
1
|
Shelter search through 211
|
Clients churning, high shelter turnover
|
|
2
|
Shelter search through 211
|
People staying out of doors to avoid the 211 process
|
|
3
|
Shelter search through 211
|
Clients calling to get a hotel instead of shelter
|
|
4
|
Shelter search through 211
|
Empty beds in shelters
|
|
5
|
Client choice
|
Clients declining housing options – refusing to pay a portion
|
|
B
|
ACCESS
AND DELAYS
|
|
|
1
|
Documentation
|
Challenges gathering documentation of homeless history
|
|
2
|
Client choice
|
Clients referred for a shelter bed who no show (Time frame
established)
|
|
3
|
Case Conferencing
|
Clients who no-show for multiple appointments
|
|
4
|
Identifying appropriate clients for CAN
|
Backlog of CAN appointments
|
|
5
|
Navigation
|
Identifying clients who are not attached to navigation / need help
gathering documentation
|
|
C
|
DATA
AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
|
|
|
1
|
Data Quality
|
Multiple client records in HMIS
|
|
2
|
Data Quality
|
Misrepresentation of homeless status due to HMIS assessments not
checking current status.
|
|
3
|
Data Collection
|
Identifying/validating progress matching clients housed through CAN
to Zero 2016
|
|
4
|
Assessment
|
Apparently inaccurate VI-SPDAT Scores: Concern Form / Full SPDAT
|
|
D
|
FUNDING
|
|
|
1
|
Funding
|
Need staff allocated for CAN Functions (navigation, management, etc.)
|
Rapid Re-Housing Fund Request Form
VISPDAT Assessment Score Exception
Client ID # _____________(HMIS
ID) CAN
making this decision____________________
VI-SPDAT Score: ______
Reason for Exception (provide as
much factual detail as possible):
Attach: Original Request Form
Requester Name: _______________________________ Agency:
________________________________
Phone: _____________________ Email:
___________________@___________________
______________________________________
__________________
Signature Date
(Requester, please forward this
completed form to CAN Coordinator or acting moderator.)
All
requests for exceptions must be discussed at a Coordinated Access Network (CAN)
Case Conference.
* * *
Concurrence with Exception: Yes
No Date of CAN Case
Conference: ___________
_______________________________________________ __________________
Printed
Name and Initials of CAN Coordinator (or authorized individual) Date
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
ACT use only: Date request received__________
Disposition:
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
V1. 10/6/15
