GREATER
HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK
MEETING
NOTES
WEDNESDAY, April 15th, 2015
NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, April 22th, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
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In Attendance:
Rubi Alegria – Mercy Housing
Brian Baker — South Park Inn
Shannon Baldassario — MACC
Sandy Barry – Salvation Army Marshall House
Aisha Brown – CHR
Traci Burdick – Community Health Network
Crane Cesario – DMHAS
Roger Clark – ImmaCare
Stephanie Corbin – Community Health Network
Bryan Dixon – InterCommunity
Alfredo Echevarria – ImmaCare
Fred Faulkner –The Open Hearth
Bryan Flint – Cornerstone
Rosemary Flowers – My Sisters’ Place
Chris Fortier – The Open Hearth
Nate Fox – Center Church
Clarissa Garcia – ImmaCare
Amanda Girardin – Journey Home
Ruby Givens-Hewitt – My Sisters’ Place
Tenesha Grant – Mercy Housing
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Amber Higgins – CHR
Dalila May – Interval House
Philomena McGee – CHR
Matt Morgan – Journey Home
Veronica Nixon – My Sisters’ Place
Roxan Noble – Chrysalis Center
Heather Pilarcik – South Park Inn
Patricia Pollicina – Chrysalis Center
Amy Robinson – CRT
Chris Robinson – Chrysalis Center
Iris Ruiz – Interval House
Kathy Shaw – My Sisters’ Place
Barbara Shaw – Hands on Hartford
Rob Soderberg – CHR
Sandra Terry – CRT
Sarah Trench – Journey Home
Tamara Womack – My Sisters’ Place
Natalie Cooke – Chrysalis Center
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1. Introductions
& GH-CAN Meeting Notes for last week, 4/8/2015 (emailed)
a.
We
received a 211 Coordinated Access Network 1st Quarter Data Report
and handed them out with the meeting materials.
It answers a lot of questions we had specifically asked 211.
2. GH
CAN Stats Update
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Greater Hartford
Coordinated Access Network Statistics
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Updated as of April 14th,
2015
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Changes from last week have been bolded
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Topic
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Data
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Comments
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Coordinated
Entry
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Total Number
of GH CAN Assessment Appointments Per Week
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90
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There are 90
scheduled slots each week
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Total Number of Hours at Drop In Centers
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15 Hours per week
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6 hrs at Chrysalis Center Tues. and Thurs.
3 hours at
CHR Manchester on Thurs
3 hours at
Hands on Hartford
3 hours at
Center Church
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No-Show Rate
11/17/14 – 3/30/15
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75%
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1752
Appointments Scheduled in Nov – Mar
435
Appointments Completed Nov – Mar
25%
Attendance to appointments
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No-Show Rate
for March, 2015
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65%
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557
Appointments Scheduled for March
194
Appointments Completed
35%
Attendance to appointments
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Next Available Appointment
Slot: Individual Men
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6/22/15
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Booking out 0 days further
since last week
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Next
Available Appointment Slot: Individual Women
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6/22/15
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Booking out
0 days further since last week
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Next Available Appointment
Slot: Families
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6/18/15
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Booking out 0 days further
since last week
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Total Number of CA HMIS Data System Modifications
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185
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That is 12 additional cases to resolve compared to
last week.
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Coordinated
Exit
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Total Number of New Available Housing Units
Reported to GH CAN this week
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0
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No additional program openings were submitted this
week
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Housing Units Awaiting Referrals
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16
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Mercy Scattered Site PSH, ImmaCare RAP, Shelter Plus Care, Next Steps
Enfield, CHR Manchester, My Sisters’ Place TLP
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Total Number of Available
Housing Units Reported through GH CAN in 2015
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60
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Available Units have been
reported in the following programs: MSP TLP, CRT PSH, CRT Project Teach,
Chrysalis Veteran’s Support, Chrysalis Family Matters, Mercy DMHAS RAP, CRT Bloomfield Scattered Site, Mercy
St. Elizabeth, Shelter Plus Care, Chrysalis Project HEARRT 20
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Total Number of Available
Housing Units expected for 100 Days Team
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92
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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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2
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Please note, CHR is unable to accept new referrals
to CT RRH at this time.
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100
Day Campaign
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Total Number of Clients on Prioritized List
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95
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This list is comprised of clients who have a
length of time homeless that could classify them as chronically homeless.
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On Prioritized List, number of clients with UHA
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72
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On Prioritized List, number of clients with a
navigator
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44
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On Prioritized List, number of clients
conditionally matched
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29
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On Prioritized List, number of clients housed
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10
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3. Homeless
and Disability Verification Forms – Piloting new statewide forms
a.
We
handed out new the most recent Homeless and Disability Verification Forms. They have a 4/8/15 effective date. We have a few minor changes compared to other
communities’ forms, one of which is including the client’s birthdate.
b.
For
homeless verification forms, you can write a letter verifying a client’s
homelessness with your agency’s letterhead on it. You can also print from HMIS
to provide verification.
c.
A
few notes about episodes of homelessness: Different episodes have to be
separated by at least seven days not staying in a shelter, institution, or
place not meant for human habitation. Back to back shelter stays, or going from
a shelter to staying outside, do not count as separate episodes of
homelessness. HUD has not yet defined a
minimum length of time for an episode.
d.
Journey
Home has provided definitions and examples of what constitutes an episode of
homelessness in the Universal Housing Application manual on its website. If you have any questions about episodes,
please call Amanda Girardin or Sarah Trench at Journey Home. The link to the
manual can be found here: http://journeyhomect.org/gh_uha/
e.
Amy
Robinson recently brought to Journey Home’s attention some confusing language
in the Universal Housing Application. If
you have any suggestions or issues with language in the UHA, Journey Home would
welcome your suggestions for improved wording.
4. PIT
Document Checklist Information
a.
Willem
Donahue at Journey Home recently went through the document checklist forms that
were distributed on PIT night. These
forms asked clients questions about what documents they had and potential
barriers to getting them. Statistics
from these documents can be found with the agenda.
5. Updates from 100 Day Team – Today is day 36
a.
Please
everyone spread the word for the document fair on May 8th. Mollie Greenwood has sent around the most
recent flier for the document fair.
Information about available transportation can be found on the flier. There is also a quick pre-registration form
for clients to fill out.
b.
There
have been facilities meetings at Chrysalis to plan the layout of the document
fair so that clients can be directed to what they need as easily as possible.
c.
If
you have staff from your agency who will be volunteering at the document fair,
please have them pre-register by May 1st at this link: http://goo.gl/forms/k596N4HZWf.
Few people have registered already.
If you have trouble using the link, you can send Amy Robinson an email
with your name, email address, and if you will need internet access at the
event.
d.
There will be a planning meeting for the document fair
next Wednesday the 22nd at 12:30 at Sue Anny Shay.
e.
The
last day of the 100 Day Campaign is June 19th and we have planned
the wrap-up date to match up with the next regular 100 Day/CAN meeting time,
Wednesday, June 24th, in the afternoon. Location to be determined. The workshop on Day 50 of the campaign will
be Tuesday, April 28th in Hamden.
Rapid Results Institute sent me a time correction: The times are actually 9:30am-4:30pm for 100
Day Team and 3pm-4:30pm for Leadership Team.
6. HMIS
Participating Agency List –
a.
This
list can be found in the agenda packet.
It includes everyone in the state who participates in HMIS, including
statewide agencies. This is a list that
changes constantly throughout the year. The
list of agencies that participate in the Universal Housing Application and in
the CAN Release of Information are different.
b.
Additionally,
CAN and CoC communities around the state are being asked to consider whether
the Release of Information for HMIS should be all-in or all-out, meaning that
clients would consent to share their information either with all participating
agencies or none of the agencies. This
is an issue because HMIS used to have five different release options, while the
CAN release is all-in or all-out, and we are having trouble accessing CAN data
because of the other release options.
c.
If
we agree to this all-in or all-out release, we as a community will have to
figure out how to serve clients who do not consent to share their information. One thing that could help with clients
disclosing information is that the disability form has been changed to report
that they have a disability but not what that disability is, which helps
protect their information.
d.
Another
issue related to the ROI is that Community Health Network has recently gotten
access to real-time data that could help find missing clients who are in
certain medical facilities. Someone at
CHN would be able to leave a message with the client that informs them there is
a possible housing opportunity for them and to contact someone in the CAN. CHN would not be giving us the client’s
location.
e.
The
consensus was to add a section to the Universal Housing Application’s ROI that
would ask the client if we can use this resource to try to contact them if they
go missing and a possible housing opportunity comes up for them. We could not add it to the CAN or HMIS
releases because they are statewide.
7. Disconnected Clients – How do we reach chronic clients who are
missing from our list?
a.
There
are definitely clients who are chronically homeless who are not on our priority
list. We need to figure out a way to
reach them. We have been able to reach
some and a few of them are being housed, but there are more. There is a meeting on Thursday about homeless
outreach to try to identify more of these clients.
8.
GH CAN Mission Statement
a. We need to revisit the GH CAN Policies and
Procedures. They are outdated and there
has never been a mission statement for us to refer to.
b. Matt Morgan, Crane Cesario, Bryan Flint, and
Sandy Barry have volunteered to work on drafting a mission statement.
9. Working
Groups:
a.
Housing Referral Group:
i.
Housing
Referrals – Journey Home brought referrals for conditional matches for a few
new clients, as well as for clients who had been discussed at earlier meetings
and were then contacted about their program preferences. The HRG was given a handout about the
statistics for housing openings since this referral process began.
ii.
The
issue of so many clients who have zero income being referred to PSH was
raised. It is unsustainable for most
housing programs to have only people with zero income as funding does not cover
full rent for all subsidy recipients. This is a serious problem for smaller
Rental Assistance grants. We will need
to continue to discuss strategies.
1.
CHR
Rapid Rehousing may be able to provide some security deposits.
iii.
What
happens if a client turns down a housing program because they have income but
do not want to pay a portion of their rent?
1.
We can
keep them on the housing referral list, but not hold a unit open for them.
2.
Down the
line, we could do an intervention where they either enter a housing program and
pay for a portion of their rent or they pay a fee to stay in a shelter. This is a policy issue that would need to go
to the Department of Housing for review.
a.
Shelters
stated they cannot charge fees.
They could possibly set up savings programs. The discussion identified
that these measures would likely push people to live outside. We will bring the
issue to statewide CAN and keep the topic open on our agenda.
iv.
What
options can we make available to clients who have previously left programs with
negative exits, including owing money to programs and/or landlords?
1.
There
were a variety of opinions on this issue and a lively discussion. Ideas were that we could come up with
restitution plans for the client that they would have to start working on
before being offered another housing opening.
Others felt this was too punitive.
Intensive case management or a payee could potentially be a condition of
entering a program, but some felt this was not true to housing first framework. Some felt that if they have failed out, we
should not offer them anything until others have had a chance. Another suggestion was that we could also
explore whether a different type of housing program (congregate) is a better
fit for the client. We left off that the
client would stay at the top of the referral list, but would not be referred
until some progress has been made on the restitution plan, or we could at least
continue the discussion at the next meeting.
2.
If we
were to follow this process, we would need to make sure it is as equitable as
possible and that we are consistent with all clients on the list. There could be issues with finding clients’
histories in housing programs.
v.
There
are some ImmaCare RAP certificates available for either the elderly or for
clients on the FUSE list. We do not have
access to the FUSE list right now, but Trish Pollicina can view the FUSE list
and compare it with our priority list.
vi.
There
are not very many families who have been put into the Universal Housing
Application. If you are working with a
family, particularly one with a single head of household, please be sure to put
them into the UHA.
b.
100 Day Team:
i.
Funds
1.
Decided
on a limit of $400 per person
2.
Consider
Make a Home Foundation in Waterbury – if you have a case manager do a referral
they can do an entire apartment for $400 or less (delivery included)
3.
Extra
expenses will be considered. For
examples, an elderly person who may be in need of an air conditioner.
ii.
Updates
for the Document Fair
1.
On Wednesday,
April 22, at 12: 30, there will be a meeting to discuss layout/ process/
volunteer positions. The team will need
information from vendors on what they can actually provide that day.
2.
During the
fair the 100 day team’s role will be at the entrance, identifying what people
need, evaluating intake forms.
3.
There
will be a planning meeting at Chrysalis on Friday, May 1st at 1pm. This will be the last day for
pre-registration, with registration closing at noon.
4.
Volunteers
are requested to help set up for the document fair on Thursday, May 7th
at 3pm.
5.
Right
now there are two drivers for the ImmaCare vans but one van is in repair. The DSS bus is still out of order. DSS will keep us updated. Chrysalis has vans and drivers as well. The 100 Day Team has set a schedule and it is
listed on flyers. Please post and announce!
6.
A large
portion of the provider area will be under cover in case of rain.
7.
Chrysalis
is purchasing two water coolers. Additional coolers would be good.
8.
The cost
of t-shirts for document fair volunteers will depend on how many volunteers
there are.
iii.
A new
211 script has been approved. There are
still issues with clients being sent to shelter unnecessarily or to
non-priority assessments. Word is out in
the community on the 100 Day chronic priority.
iv.
After
the document fair, focus on the 100 Day Team can turn to the housing and
referral process and 211 improvements.
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
a.
The
public speaking workshop will be held after the 100 Day Campaign wrap-up.
b.
We
would like to start planning for cold weather protocol early this year, but
that will also wait until after the 100 Day Campaign wrap-up.
GH CAN Coordinators:
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