Greater Hartford CAN Meeting 2/11/15

GREATER HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK

MEETING Notes

WEDNESDAY, February 11th, 2015

NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, February 18th, 1:30 – 3:30 pm

In Attendance:

Rubi Alegria – Mercy Housing

Brian Baker – South Park Inn

Sandy Barry – MACC

Sonia Brown – CRT

Aisha Brown – CHR Enfield

Crane Cesario – DMHAS

Roger Clark – ImmaCare

Fred Faulkner – The Open Hearth

Rosemary Flowers – My Sisters’ Place

Chelsea Fortson – CHR

Nate Fox – Center Church

Mary Gillette – Mercy Housing

Amanda Girardin – Journey Home

Ruby Givens-Hewitt – Salvation Army Marshall House

Tenesha Grant – Mercy Housing

Mollie Greenwood – Journey Home

Andrea Hakian – CHR

Amber Higgins – CHR 

Steve MacHattie - ImmaCare

Dalila May – Interval House

Philomena McGee – CHR Enfield

Matt Morgan – Journey Home

Veronica Nixon – My Sisters’ Place

Roxan Noble – Chrysalis Center

Heather Pilarcik – South Park Inn

Patricia Pollicina – Chrysalis Center

Jamie Randolph – CRT / East Hartford Shelter

Chris Robinson – Chrysalis Center

Amy Robinson – CRT SSVF

Iris Ruiz – Interval House

Sara Salomons – CRT

Kathy Shaw – My Sisters’ Place

Rob Soderberg – CHR

Jose Vega – CRT / McKinney Shelter

Josephine Wilson – Salvation Army Marshall House

Tamara Womack – My Sisters’ Place

1.      Introductions & GH-CAN Meeting Notes for last week, 2/4/2015 (emailed and attached)

a.      For anyone who is new to this meeting, all conversation regarding specific clients is covered by their GH CAN release of information.  The reason that we are operating a Coordinated Access Network is that it is a HUD mandate.  In Connecticut, the Department of Housing is contracting with 211 to implement this new system. 

2.      Updates:

a.      Reaching Home/Opening Doors CT Survey – Survey can be completed at http://bit.ly/ReachingHomeSurvey

                                                              i.      There is a raffle open to anyone who participates in this survey- the link will be emailed out after the meeting.

b.      PIT Update – Sheltered PIT will be 2/18 from 7-11 PM, unsheltered PIT will be 2/19 proposed time of 4-7 AM.  Need to discuss if this will be our timeframe for unsheltered PIT.

                                                              i.      Sara Salomons will be in touch with shelters in the coming week to coordinate volunteers to help shelters complete VI-SPDATs and Document Readiness checklists on the night of PIT. 

c.       Assessment Appointment Schedule – Currently booked out until 5/20 for individual men, out till 5/13 for women and 5/11 for families.

                                                              i.      Chrysalis had indicated that CABHI staff would be available to help with appointments.  CABHI staff are all being CA HMIS trained on February 12, and so can start setting up drop-in appointments anytime afterwards. 

1.      Right now, there are a couple of approaches the CABHI staff is planning to utilize.  They will have 2 days of drop-ins, rather than scheduled appointment times.  Additionally, the CABHI staff will start calling people who have scheduled appointments in the future to come in and get earlier appointments.  Once future appointments are completed, 211 can backfill those appointments.

                                                            ii.      Right now, in Greater Hartford we have a 75% no-show rate for scheduled CAN appointments. 

d.      CHR CAN Appointment Pilot - CHR will be piloting a new hybrid appointment schedule, a combination of double-booking and drop-ins.  Are other sites interested in modifying their appointment system?

                                                              i.      CHR Manchester already operates an open access system for mental health treatment.  They tell people to visit the drop-in center between certain times, and rarely have so many clients present that they cannot all be seen.  CHR is considering having the first couple of hours being drop-in hours, and the later hours being booked appointments.  That way, if the appointments are no-shows, they can still see the people who presented to the drop-in center.  They are hoping to start this hybrid in the next two weeks, when they have hired a new front desk receptionist. 

e.      Cold Weather Protocol – What changes have been made since last week, and what was the impact?

                                                              i.      ImmaCare has opened their No-Freeze space to be a waiting area, so folks can find out where there might be shelter beds after curfew. 

                                                            ii.      We have requested information on other cold weather protocols throughout the state so that we can be informed about how other regions are operating. 

f.        Hotel/Motel Protocols- What are the policies and procedures for hotel/motel use?

                                                              i.      For the PIT count, Salvation Army Marshall House has historically given a count on the number of people staying in the motel- they aren’t reported in HMIS because it’s considered an overflow population.

                                                            ii.      The hotel/motel clients are referred through 211 triage.  Once we don’t find space for them, protocol is to have them call back after 6PM.  At that point, if there is no space, they are placed in a motel as a last resort.  What staff have been finding is that some clients don’t show for the motel, or clients leave shelter in order to gain access to the motel. 

                                                          iii.      Outcome: If clients have already stayed in the motel, located an available shelter bed, and chose to leave that shelter bed, they will no longer be accommodated by the hotel.

                                                           iv.      We discussed a case in which one client’s health condition prevented her from staying at a number of local shelters, so she had been staying in the motel.  Her son and husband had been staying at a shelter.  The family is working with CT Rapid ReHousing, but needed a place to stay throughout that process.  The YWCA was able to accommodate the woman. 

3.      Working Groups:

a.      Duty Services Coordinators:

                                                              i.      Rapid ReHousing Referrals- Moving forward, please make all referrals for Rapid ReHousing through the survey here: http://goo.gl/forms/HPa3W0vkca

1.      How can we make sure that shelter case management staff are making these referrals with current shelter clients, when applicable?

2.      The Rapid ReHousing Programs have been seeing much fewer referrals than historically, so as a reminder shelter case management staff should refer clients to Rapid ReHousing after completing a VI-SPDAT if the client appears eligible.  All staff should be utilizing the Google form to make sure clients are tracked centrally. 

3.      We discussed VI-SPDAT scores as a component of eligibility for Rapid Rehousing.

a.      As a reminder, VI-SPDATs should only be re-performed if clients have had a significant change in housing status, or if 6 months have passed since they were last VI-SPDATed.  We are trying to only assess people with this tool once.

b.      Outcome: The VI-SPDAT scores proposed for RRH programs are flexible.  Staff should continue to advocate for clients whom they feel could succeed in Rapid ReHousing programs, even if their score is slightly outside the community-decided parameters.

                                                            ii.      DV Shelters in CAN: We discussed the fact that if a DV shelter does a VI-SPDAT, and a client falls in range for one of our Rapid ReHousing programs, we don’t necessarily need to send them through the CAN process.  However, if a client in the CAN process has DV as a component of their housing crisis, how can we be sure that their information is protected?  HMIS for CAN appointments is not a system that can hide data from different systems.  This is a statewide concern.

b.      Housing Referral Group:

                                                              i.      We have located, based on that information we have now, the top five to six clients who are ready to be matched with PSH, top five to six who have been matched with TH. 

1.      One new opening reported since last week- Family Matters at Chrysalis.

a.      The group reviewed the top most vulnerable clients on the GH CAN priority list and updated the status and/or information for most.  One household was referred to the Family Matters program.

                                                            ii.      How often do housing programs want to communicate the status of a housing referral to the HRG?  We need fairly regular updates in order to make a secondary referral if the first is stagnant.

1.      Outcome: We will give at least 2 weeks for agencies to locate a client who was referred.  Via email or phone call, Housing Placement Coordinators will give updates on the status of referrals to Amanda Girardin at Journey Home.  In addition, there will be a Google Form to indicate the final status of referrals.  This will include folks who are accepted into programs, denied by programs, and ultimately housed.

GH CAN Coordinators:

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

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