Greater Hartford CAN meeting 12/17/14

Greater Hartford - Coordinated Access Network

 Meeting Notes

December 17, 2014

In Attendance:

Brian Baker – South Park Inn

Shannon Baldassario – MACC

Sandy Barry – Salvation Army Marshall House

Sonia Brown – CRT

Crane Cesario – DMHAS

Mary Davenport – The Network

Brenda Earle – Dept. of Housing

Fred Faulkner – The Open Hearth

Bryan Flint – Cornerstone

Mary Gillette- Mercy Housing

Ruby Givens-Hewitt – Salvation Army Marshall House

Luisa Guerra – Dept. of Social Services

Mollie Greenwood – Journey Home

Mark Jenkins – Blue Hills Civic Association

 Steve MacHattie - ImmaCare

Matt Morgan – Journey Home

Heather Pilarcik – South Park Inn

Lisa Portal – Columbus House

Linda Prout – Beat of the Street

Jamie Randolph – CRT / East Hartford Shelter

Lionel Rigler – City of Hartford

Amy Robinson – CRT SSVF

Sara Salomons – CRT / Hartford COC

Kathy Shaw – My Sisters’ Place

Rob Soderberg – CHR

Sarah Trench – Journey Home

Adam Tussing – Chrysalis Center

Jose Vega – McKinney

Tamara Womack – My Sisters’ Place

1.      Introductions & GH-CAN Meeting Notes for last week, 12/10/2014 (emailed)

2.      Updates:

a.      Assessment Appointment Scheduling Update- Revisit assessment schedule since last meeting.

                                                              i.      As of Tuesday, December 16, we were booking appointments up through the middle of February.  Sites have been hosting interim assessments, and Adam Tussing from Chrysalis had been specifically focused on holding interim appointments, to try and shorten our waitlist.  One concern that we had was the time it took to contact 211 after an interim assessment had been completed, to open up that scheduled appointment to another client.

1.      It was determined that if a site hosts an interim appointment and needs to cancel the client’s original appointment, they can contact 211 by emailing 211CoordinatedIntake@ctunitedway.org and copying mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org.  Please include client ECM numbers in this email, but no client names.

                                                            ii.      An outcome of our appointments being so far out has been that clients’ circumstances can drastically change between the time that they call 211 and the date of their appointment.  Within this period of time, some people’s homeless status changes.

                                                          iii.      In light of how far away we are scheduling appointments, the GH CAN decided it was a better use of resources to only schedule appointments for people who were two days or less away from literal homelessness.  211 will be asked to only schedule appointments for clients who indicate that they currently are, or will be literally homeless within 48 hours of their call.

                                                           iv.      Last week we discussed the fact that shelter numbers, particularly individual men’s shelters, were seeing lower numbers for shelter stays than in the past.  To try and encourage people to go to shelter, we tried to spread the word that clients who were unable to call 211 should present at shelter, and shelter staff would help them make the call and try to locate an available bed.  Shelter numbers increased slightly since then, but are still lower than in past years.  We are still hearing reports of a lot of people staying at the airport.

1.      Amy Robinson from CRT is going to the airport on Friday morning at 9:30, and then again on New Year’s Eve around 6PM.

2.      Tamara Womack of My Sisters’ Place said that she and some friends had been going out under bridges, around the bridge near Windsor Ave and also by 70 Tolland St. in East Hartford, and off exit 291, by the water.  There were a lot of people staying in those locations, rather than in shelters.

3.      In addition, a group of representatives from the CAN will be planning a time to go up and visit the airport to try and figure out if and how the CAN process has impacted the number of people staying at the airport. 

                                                             v.      We have continued to communicate with outside referring entities, such as hospitals and the DOC, about the process for accessing CAN services.  It’s important to keep reminding the community that the shelters are privately operated non-profits and they have capacity and safety limitations. 

                                                           vi.      The Department of Social Services reported that they have a number of homeless clients coming in, sometimes 6-7 per day.  If those clients do not receive cash assistance, DSS cannot help find them shelter, and have struggled with long wait times when calling 211.

                                                         vii.      Linda Prout from Beat of the Street volunteered to work with the GH CAN to help get a message into upcoming Beat of the Street papers.

b.      VI-SPDAT Training- Tuesday, January 6 from 1-4 PM at United Way of Greater New Haven, 370 James Street, New Haven.  You must register on www.cceh.org in advance to attend this training.

                                                              i.      There has been some confusion about the VI-SPDAT, and about the ranges provided by the tool.  Although the state has adopted the tool for use, score ranges for housing intervention have been modified across different regions to work best with the needs of the community.

c.       New Britain / Bristol Overflow Shelter- Hartford CAN clients have been directed to overflow shelters in NBB CAN.  There had been some concerns that clients were going back and forth between the two CANs.  It’s important to remember that historically people have gone between the two regions often, so it may take a while for clients to see the communities as separate.

d.      CT HMIS Data- Beta testing of CA HMIS Data Quality reports.

                                                              i.      A handful of CAN contacts across the state have volunteered to work with Nutmeg on the data quality being collected by HMIS, and so have created a list of all the data quality problems they have found so far.  All of the Data Quality concerns in the GH CAN are cases in which appointment staff may have completed all data entry except for reporting the status to 211.  We have collected all cases in which the reporting to 211 was not completed, and staff at each agency has received information on which cases have not been completed.  For all cases that still have “status: referred” staff will need to go into that client record, and choose either no-show, diverted, or enrolled as a new status for the client. 

                                                            ii.      There was a concern that it was sometimes unclear whether staff had completed the reporting to 211, because there is no clear visual confirmation when you have updated the assessment.

e.      Chrysalis Staff to support appointments- Adam Tussing’s update on interim appointments.

                                                              i.      Adam indicated that he had called over 40 clients, and only gotten in touch with a few at the time of the meeting.  Of the clients he had met, many of them were not literally homeless, nor were they in need of immediate shelter.  He will continue hosting interim appointments to try and reduce the current wait between calling 211 for an appointment and seeing a DSC.

f.        Transitional Housing Meeting- Update on use of UHA and unified list for any transitional housing programs.

                                                              i.      Last week’s meeting was very efficient, and programs are trying to figure out what turnover looks like for each programs.  We think that the Universal Housing Application is the best bet for matching people to the best transitional programs. 

                                                            ii.      Right now, we are referring clients with a VI-SPDAT score of 4 and under to transitional housing. 

                                                          iii.      Brenda indicated that any transitional housing units that are fully funded by Department of Housing do not impact clients’ chronically homeless status, and so all transitional sites should review their funding to see if they have units that are completely funded by DOH.

1.      This information about DOH-funded units will likely impact our regional Housing Inventory Chart.  Sites will need to follow up with their contracts so we can review our options as a CAN in January.

g.       Triage Concerns- Any concerns with immediate need protocol?

                                                               i.      The GH-CAN continues to have concerns about how clients are referred to shelter, and whether clients know they need to ask for a shelter bed during the course of their 211 call. 

                                                             ii.      Aside from the difficulty with the initial call staff indicated that the triage centers had been functioning very efficiently with the individual shelters.

3.      Working Groups:

a.      Duty Services Coordinators:

                                                              i.      Have sites been hosting interim assessment appointments?

1.      Yes, many sites have been hosting interim assessment appointments.  There were concerns with the length of time it has taken to contact 211 to cancel an appointment that had already taken place.  Journey Home will be sending out the direct contact information to cancel appointments. 

                                                            ii.      Status: Referred- DSCs need to review past appointments and make sure they have updated their status to 211 to no-show, accepted, diverted, or waitlist.  This was discussed above, and staff have received information on how to update the necessary data.

                                                          iii.      Rapid ReHousing referrals- need to write a case note if you refer a client.  Please send information via email, include VI-SPDAT number, HMIS number. 

1.      Because the referrals for Rapid ReHousing move so quickly, we have asked that DSCs send an email with the client’s HMIS number and VI-SPDAT score. 

2.      Please note, a number of referrals have been coming through to RRH programs for clients who are not eligible.  Please only refer clients who are literally homeless, and who meet the eligibility criteria listed on the Rapid ReHousing Program Eligibility Chart.

                                                           iv.      Challenges or feedback for the system?

1.      We discussed again that many of the clients coming through to the appointments are not the target clientele we are hoping to serve.  Many people who present for meetings are not literally homeless, or are looking for subsidized housing. 

b.      Housing Referral Group:

                                                              i.       Interim process for program openings- We would work from that program’s UHA waitlist, look for VI-SPDAT scores for clients on the waitlist, then look at the history of homelessness for those who have VI-SPDAT scores and prioritize them according to the HUD guidelines. 

                                                            ii.      No program has reported an opening yet.  As soon as a housing program in CAN has an opening, we can look into the UHA and see what the VI-SPDAT scores are for our area.

                                                          iii.      We discussed the fact that clients currently have a contact person for the UHA listed as the shelter staff-person who helped them complete the application.  Because we are no longer operating a waitlist, we may want to consider new ways of

                                                           iv.      New fields in the Housing/Homeless Status Assessment in the UHA- start and end dates for up to five episodes of homelessness.  Please complete these fields for as many clients as possible, as this information will likely affect placement on the prioritized list.

4.      ANNOUNCEMENTS

a.      Homeless Memorial – December 21^st at 4:30 at Center Church, 675 Main St., Hartford

b.      CRT’s having Spanish-speaking radio interview on Friday- need someone who speaks Spanish to participate in this interview.

                                                              i.      A big thanks to José Vega for volunteering to speak on the radio about the CAN process!

c.       No meeting next Wednesday, Happy Holidays!

GH CAN Coordinators:

Matt Morgan, Journey Home  matt.morgan@journeyhomect.org 

Crane W Cesario, CRMHC – DMHAS   crane.cesario@ct.gov