GREATER
HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK
MEETING
NOTES
WEDNESDAY,
March 11th, 2015
NEXT
MEETING: WEDNESDAY, March 18th, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
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In Attendance:
Rubi Alegria – Mercy Housing
Aisha Brown – CHR Enfield
Wendy Caruso – 211
Crane Cesario – DMHAS
Roger Clark – ImmaCare
Bryan Dixon – InterCommunity
Alfredo Echevarria - ImmaCare
Fred Faulkner – The Open Hearth
Rosemary Flowers – My Sisters’ Place
Chris Fortier – The Open Hearth
Nate Fox – Center Church
Clarissa Garcia – ImmaCare
Ruby Givens-Hewitt – My Sisters’ Place
Tenesha Grant – Mercy Housing
Mollie Greenwood – Journey Home
Amber Higgins – CHR
Dalila May – Interval House
Roxan Noble – YWCA/ Chrysalis Center
Heather Pilarcik – South Park Inn
Jamie Randolph – CRT East Hartford Shelter
Laura Robidoux – 211
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Chris Robinson – Chrysalis Center
Amy Robinson – CRT SSVF
Iris Ruiz – Interval House
Sara Salomons – CRT
Barbara Shaw – Hands On Hartford
Kathy Shaw – My Sisters’ Place
Rob Soderberg – CHR
Sheena Stringer – Chrysalis Center
Sandra Terry – CRT
Sarah Trench – Journey Home
Madeline Trinidad – Salvation Army Marshall House
Jose Vega – CRT / McKinney
Josephine Wilson – Salvation Army Marshall House
Tamara Womack – My Sisters’ Place
Excused:
Bryan Flint – Cornerstone
Amanda Girardin – Journey Home
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1. 100 Day Team: Updates, Requests, Follow-Up
from Rapid Results Boot Camp
a.
We plan to house 100 of the most top priority
chronically homeless individuals (chronic, VI-SPDAT, through UHA) based on
housing stock, it looks like we may be able to house those people between now
and end of 100 days. Additionally, we
want to get 200 clients document ready.
Part of what we’d like to do is have a large scale document fair. We need to name it, we want to make it easier
for folks to get BC, IDs, SS cards. We
want a one-stop day to try and gather barriers.
We want to streamline it, put people into the right contact. We want to get documentation scanned and
attached to our applications. If they
get lost or misplaced, documents are ready.
We’re still looking to house folks off universal list once everyone has
documents prepared.
b.
We hope to also look at the no-show rates at
assessments. We’ve seen it around 75%
with us having 90 appointments per week available. We want to look at prioritizing how folks are
getting to appointments so that people we see at assessments aren’t just those
who are doubled up, we’re happy to see 211 at the table, we have some ideas and
requests to work with them. We want to
work with 211 on call language and look to try and triage folks who are
literally homeless. We want to cut down
no-show rate and look at how far out appointments are booked for clients in
immediate need of shelter.
c.
We also talked about HMIS- we are investigating
whether we can take on some of that scheduling.
Some of these things are still up for discussion. We want to streamline this for our clients.
d.
Our goals also include creating a more
coordinated effort with outreach, so as we identify people who are top 100
priority individuals, if they touch base with other folks not just us at the
table, how we can make sure if they have interactions they can let us
know. We also want to coordinate with
existing outreach teams and trying to sure up coverage of outdoor areas and
timing of outreach efforts so we cover as much ground as possible.
e.
There is some flexible funding available, we
really appreciate the work that leadership has done to get this ready.
2. GH
CAN Statistics-
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Greater
Hartford Coordinated Access Network Statistics
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Updated as
of March 11, 2015
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Topic
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Data
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Comments
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Total
Number of GH CAN Assessment Appointments Per Week
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90
Scheduled Appointment Slots
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Total
Number of Hours at Drop In Centers
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15 Hours
per week
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12 hrs at Chrysalis Center Tuesdays
and Thursdays
3 hours at CHR Manchester on Thurs
More coming soon- Hands on Hartford and Center Church
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Total CA
HMIS-Trained Staff in GH CAN
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74
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52 were
trained in our original training, at least 22 additional staff were trained
in the February 2015 trainings.
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Total
Number of Available Housing Units Reported to GH CAN this week
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1
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St.
Elizabeth’s House (TH)
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Total
Number of Available Housing Units expected for 100 Days Team
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92-102
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These are
from a variety of programs. Some units are available immediately, others in
the next few months.
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Total
Number of Rapid Re-Housing Referrals this week
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6
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Total
Number of CA HMIS Data Quality Issues in GH CAN
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195
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That is 23
more cases to resolve compared to last week.
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Next
Available Appointment Slot: Individual Men
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6/17/15
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Booking
out 6 days further since last week
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Next
Available Appointment Slot: Individual Women
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6/16/15
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Booking
out 26 days further since last week
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Next
Available Appointment Slot: Families
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6/15/15
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Booking
out 21 days further since last week
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a.
In terms of housing units expected over the
course of the 100 days, some of those units are BOS new HUD money. New HUD funding has been announced, but
awards have not yet been distributed. We
are hoping that the new HUD funded units will become available during the
course of our 100 days.
3. Advocacy Days in Connecticut - Advocacy
day is Wednesday April 1st.
GH CAN has been assigned a time-slot.
Our time is 9 AM on Wednesday April 1st. We’re asked to be there at 8:30 AM. It’s a partnership between CCEH and
Partnership, we can advocate for resources.
We’re asking that experts in the field come and talk to legislators, to
share stories, to bring clients with you.
Anyone who is interested and can commit to this event should contact
Sara Salomons at salomonss@crtct.org. At
the meeting we had a large of enthusiastic volunteers for this event!
4.
Domestic
Violence Victims in Coordinated Access Planning
a.
Current DV protocols throughout the state allow victims
of DV to access services without entering information into HMIS. Victim information doesn’t need to be entered
into HMIS- if a victim of DV goes to CAN appointment and don’t want information
entered into HMIS, how can we handle that?
b.
This is a statewide issue that has not yet been
resolved- we need a way to anonymously enter data.
c.
211 explained their current protocol: when an
individual calls who self identifies with DV, we just refer those to you, we
don’t enter data. If halfway through the
intake, the client identifies as DV, 211 stops the process there and they have
the record deleted at that point in time.
We have worked out that the DV agency themselves, especially on exit,
when they reached their 90 day stay, we let leadership know that we receive
client’s permission. We let them know
that their info will be shared with providers in community- once we have a
verbal release, we enter that into system.
We have also had clients not want to enter anything. You as a community can choose a standardized
way of naming clients without limiting access to services.
d.
It’s important to domestic violence service
providers that if we make referral to 211, it’s important that when they need
shelter they can still be accepted. If
we have a safety concern, we won’t refer them.
So some of the problems we’re having is that we work with partner
violence, other victims of family violence.
Clients may identify as victims
of domestic violence, but one of the DV shelters may not be an appropriate
service provider for them.
i.
Clients may say that they aren’t a victim on the
phone with 211, but as staff screens further we may find that they are. It’s hard to try and tell at that point.
ii.
It is helpful for 211 when DV agencies call
directly and let them know.
5. Public Speaking Workshop: Crane Cesario
and Sara Salomons will be conducting a public speaking workshop at Sue Ann Shay
Place Apartments conference room following the GH CAN meeting on April 1st. All are welcome to attend.
6.
Working
Groups: Duty Services Coordinators and Housing Referral Group
a.
Triage
Concerns: One thing we brought are some concerns about having people call
for hotel stays- we aren’t in Severe Cold Weather Activation by the governor
anymore. Clients are savvy, good
survival skills, clients were figuring out how to work the system.
i.
We want to figure out how to more smoothly
coordinate between different triage staff and shelter staff to limit shelter
hopping, and prevent clients from taking advantage of different options if they
are currently in a shelter bed.
b.
In terms of this missing pieces list how could
211 help us?.
i.
Where people are staying that night, or if
they’ve been in the system.
ii.
Could we ask if people are chronic? Not necessarily.
iii.
One thing we decided is, and we don’t know if we
talked to 211- we are giving people time limits for shelter. We definitely had people not showing. The decision was that triage staff will tell
clients what time they need to show up.
We don’t know exactly how that’s working?
1.
That information should be recorded on 211’s end
as a case note, so there can be follow through regarding whether or not clients
presented when they needed to.
c.
Housing Referral – Discussion of old referrals-
are they going back through 211? People
who are looking for housing.
i.
Sarah Trench distributed a few referrals for
available units that had been reported.
St. Elizabeth’s had just reported openings, however since they are not
yet in the UHA there were no clients matched as eligible yet. Mercy will complete the necessary paperwork
to get the program into the UHA as soon as possible, but will fill spots
independently in the interim.
ii.
We may also need to periodically examine people
with long history of homelessness but low scores, or high scores to try and
assess the outliers.
iii.
How do we make sure that the people outdoors are
getting access to the services they need?
1.
There is a system in place designed to make sure
that clients who self-report extremely low can be discussed by staff who has a
history with them. In this way, staff
can advocate for more appropriate placement on a unified referral list if
client self-reporting is too low.
d.
The Greater Hartford Shelter Plus Care program
staff can get statewide Police Reports
for clients who need them. To request a
report, please email Crane Cesario (crane.cesario@ct.gov)
to let her know you are sending a request and include your contact
information. Then fax her with client
name, any aliases, DOB, SSN and signed release of information. The fax number is 860-297-0930.
7. Working Groups: 100 Day Team
100 Day overall
Goals- March 11-June 19th
1.
Housing
100 of the most top priority chronically homeless individuals
2.
Document
fair: Get at least 200 clients document ready by June 16th. One stop
day for I.D., Birth Certificates, etc.- documents added to existing
applications on site.
3.
Lower
no show rate by 25%. Must prioritize for those who are literally homeless and
at imminent risk. With 90 appointments a week, we have a no show rate of 75%.
4.
Coordinated
outreach efforts: non-traditional partners airport/police security.
a.
Next meeting will be at the CAN meeting closes
to 25 day mark (Wednesday, April 8?)
b.
Definition of 100 Housed: When a Chronicalky Homeless Household is housed
through a GH CAN program, they will be counted towards the 100
households housed.
5.
Goals for 211: Addressing
the no show rate and low priority
·
Not turning away those who are interested in
housing resources, but focusing on frequent users of the system to get them
housed right away will free up resources and alleviate call volume.
·
With appointments scheduled out to mid-June,
anyone who calls 211 will not be assessed or housed within the 100 day
time-frame.
·
DSC find large percentage (80%) are not priority clients. Many do not need housing
immediately, they are doubled up or are exploring their housing options.
·
Script:
There is no written script, but a list of key questions will be provided to the
team by the end of this week. Laura is open to additional questions added.
·
Top
Responses that Laura (laura.robidoux@ctunitedway.org) receives on where sleeping tonight:
Staying with Family/friends, client doesn’t know, place not meant for human
habitation.
·
Laura says 25-50%
of callers are directed to Triage, with about 20 frequent callers who are usually in immediate need for shelter.
She will provide their ECM numbers so we can fast-track VI-SPDATS.
·
Questions that lead to a Triage: where
are you planning to stay tonight? Can you stay there again for one more night?
Can you stay until you can secure an apartment?
·
Questions we want to be asked: Is shelter
an appropriate option for you? Have you started looking at housing
resources? How many times have you been
in shelter or on the streets in the past three years?
6. #8 option is not working correctly-
a.
Laura reports an average wait time of 4-5
minutes. Amy experiences wait time of 22 minutes.
b.
Laura will typically log-in and take the call if
it is not answered within a few minutes. She is not sure where the issue is
occurring. She will monitor the #8 option on her end and asks that you provide
the phone number for any call that is slow to be answered.
7. Altering Chrysalis Drop-in Hours
·
Flex hours at chrysalis 9-3 on Tuesdays and
Thursdays- prioritize for literally homeless
·
Explore double booking or raising the cap of
clients per hour (currently 3)
o
Do a quick triage, “what are you expecting from
this appointment”
·
If not in immediate need of shelter, other
assessment sites can take the appointment ASAP and have a short discussion with
them of their options
o
Heather Pilarcik @ South Park Inn
o
Rubí Alegria @ Mercy Soup Kitchen, 12-1 pm for
lunch / 8-9:30 for dinner
o
Nate: Developing a drop-in center at Center
Church
§
Hands on Hartford also has two people trained at
their meal program Mon, Tues, Wed.
1. Document Ready Fair:
·
Preliminary date Friday, May 8th- will explore hosts who can accommodate.
Preliminary ideas include Bushnell Park, local churches, library.
·
Chrysalis Center has offered to host this event.
·
Additional provisions: pavilion, electricity,
food, computers, copiers, printers, paper.
o
Need to find out about Department of Education
computer lab on wheels.
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