Greater Hartford CAN Meeting 11/18/15

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Meeting

November 18, 2015

Next Meeting: December 2, 2015

In Attendance:
Rubi Alegria - Mercy Housing
Brian Baker - South Park Inn
Janet Bermudez- Hands On Hartford
Gail Budrejko- Tabor Huose
Latisha Birchett- CHR
Cordelia Brady - The Open Hearth
Aisha Brown - CHR Enfield
Manuel Burnias - CRT / Security Deposit Guarantee Program
Marcel Cicero - CRT / East Hartford Shelter
Roger Clark - ImmaCare
Melinda Clarke - CRT
Rebecca Copeland - CHR Manchester
Stephanie Corbin - Community Health Network
Joel Cox - Enfield Social Services
Lino Cruz - CHR Manchester
Rosa DeJesus - Mercy Housing
Anna Ebora - Journey Home
Jacqueline Farmer - Veterans Inc.
Nate Fox - Center Church
Amanda Girardin - Journey Home
Kaylon Griffith - Capitol Region Mental Health Center
Nathalie Guzman - Salvation Army Marshall House
Amber Higgins - CHR Manchester
Aaron Jones - VA
Brittany King - The Open Hearth
Philomena McGee - CHR Enfield
Patrice Moulton - CRT / East Hartford Shelter
Roxan Noble - Chrysalis Center
Yolanda Ortiz - CRT / SSVF
Heather Pilarcik - South Park Inn
Frank Rector - Capitol Region Mental Health Center
Chris Robinson - Chrysalis Center
Amy Robinson - VA
Rob Soderberg - CHR Manchester
Sandra Terry - CRT
Dan Walsh - Veterans Inc.
Ymonne Wilson - CRT
Shannon Oliver - Salvation Army Marshall House
Shihan Ghazi - Mercy Housing
Natasha Baldwin - Salvation Army Marshall House
Janira Rodriguez - Chrysalis Center
Jessica Russell - Town of Enfield
Tony Mack - ImmaCare
Ralston beckford - Capitol Region Mental Health Center
John Lawlor - The Connection Inc.

1.       Welcome and Introductions

a.       November 17, 2015 is the anniversary of the implementation of CAN- congratulations to everyone for all your hard work, and thank you for all that you do each day to improve our system!

2.       Housing Referral Group

a.       4 chronically homeless individuals have been recently housed through GH CAN programs!

b.      We discussed a couple of households with multiple, disparate VI-SPDAT scores.

c.       We discussed a challenging case that both CHR and Cornerstone are currently engaged with, and discussed that this household may ultimately need a higher level of care than is available through some of our housing programs due to co-occurring disorders.

d.      There are five available units. Any referral for these units must be document ready with birth certificate, proof of income, social security card, because the openings are in Shelter Plus Care, a program with housing coordination, but no staff that can assist with document readiness.

e.      Staff at CHR Enfield currently have a client who was a specific kind of apartment and is about to lose his certificate. Philomena McGee inquired as to how long she can continue with this client and how many extensions can be asked for. There is currently no policy on a maximum number of attempts in the due diligence form. This case will be brought up to leadership for further discussion.

                                                               i.      One of the barriers for homeless individuals is that many Hartford people do not want to leave

f.        A client has brought a grievance to the GH CAN in response to his current housing referral.  As this is the first grievance brought to the GH CAN (rather than to a particular agency) we are still determining next steps, but plan to send a written notice of the GH CAN’s referral decision.  Moving forward, we may need to establish a grievance committee in case of an appeal.  Four staff volunteered to be a part of this committee if needed.

3.       Cold Weather Protocol

a.       Triage Updates- Shelter Bed Wait List

                                                              i.      In the course of one week, the shelter bed waiting list consisted of 96 people on the men’s list, 42 were not matched to shelter, 20 had shelter restrictions and 24 of the unmatched had no contact info.

                                                            ii.      In the course of one week on the women and families list there were 80 households, 50 not matched, 14 not eligible, and 5 or 6 refusals of available beds.

b.      CCEH, in collaboration with the Department of Housing, was able to provide some Cold Weather Protocol funding to each CAN, and will have the same funding available this year for each CAN.

                                                              i.      In Greater Hartford, that funding is helping to create 75 No-Freeze beds at ImmaCare, as well as money for hotels and motels.

                                                            ii.      Enfield is trying to create a pop-up warming center, and is still in discussions regarding a location.

                                                          iii.      The Cold Weather Protocols are in place as of Dec. 15, 2015 to Mar. 15, 2016

                                                           iv.      Severe Cold Weather Activation is when the governor declares a cold weather emergency.

1.       The protocols for both Cold Weather Protocol and Severe Cold Weather Activation were distributed to GH CAN staff.

c.       In addition to our Cold Weather Protocols, Matt Morgan of Journey Home has been working to put together a schedule of different public locations that are available on days where the weather is cold.  These places are not officially designated as warming centers, and include soup kitchens, as well as locations open to the general public.  At this point, no such locations have been identified for Christmas Day or New Year’s Day after 2PM. There are no warm locations on any day after 8PM.  If anyone in the area knows of areas that may be able to provide a warm space during those hours, please email mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org

4.       Zero:2016 Updates

a.       CAN Funding: Triage, Navigators, CAN management

                                                              i.      During the 100 Day Campaign, Department of Housing Commissioner, Yvonne Klein, and Deputy Commissioner, Nick Lundgrin, visited all of the Coordinated Access Networks in Connecticut to talk about what our process has looked like so far, and what each region needed.  Following these meetings, the Department of Housing identified some funding that would be available for CAN functions throughout the state of Connecticut. 

                                                            ii.      On November 10^th, representatives from 11 CAN agencies came together and voted on who would be the fiduciary agency for this funding in our region, as well as how to prioritized different CAN functions with the funding available.

1.       Journey Home was selected as the fiduciary agency for the Greater Hartford CAN

2.       The CAN functions that were determined as needing funding were CAN Management, Navigation, and Shelter Triage.  The leaders in attendance voted unanimously on a draft budget for this funding.

                                                          iii.      As soon as this funding is distributed by the Department of Housing through the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Journey Home will update the GH CAN on next steps.

5.       Announcements

a.       At this time Journey Home does not have the capacity to assist clients who walk-in or call to our office requesting an update on their housing status.  If staff have a question about a household’s current status they should contact Mollie or Amanda, but clients need to work with their case manager or an outreach worker to figure out next steps for housing.

b.      There are openings for the 2 day CAN/UHA Training with Journey Home for December 17^th and 18^th.  For more information, please contact mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org

c.       CCEH will be offering a training called "Best Practices of Emergency Shelters and Crisis Services in an Effective Crisis Response System" available on December 8^th and December 9^th from 9:00-4:00 in two locations.  Register online at www.cceh.org

d.      Nutmeg has added a CAN HMIS Training for tomorrow, 11/19 from 10 AM – 12 PM.  Register on www.cthmis.com/events

e.      HMIS will be making a systemic upgrade in December, and all HMIS users must attend a training webinar to learn about what changes are coming to the system.  The new interface for HMIS will go live the week of December 8th 2015.  Register on www.cthmis.com/events 

f.        Unsheltered individuals seeking navigation and/or assessments who have serious mental illness should be referred to the PATH team.  Contact Malika at mnelson@chrhealth.org

g.       There will be a homeless outreach meeting on Monday, November 23^rd at South Congregational Church 277 Main St., Hartford at 2:30 PM.  All outreach staff are invited.  For more information, contact Janet Bermudez at jbermudez@handsonhartford.org

h.      The Day of Sharing and Caring will be held on Friday, November 20^th at the St. Patrick’s - St. Anthony’s at the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry at 11:00 AM.  For details, contact Nate Fox at nfox@cchartford.org

i.          

Greater Hartford CAN Data Update 11/18
GH CAN Master Registry	Total # of active* clients	1016
	Total # in our master registry	2,598
	Total # of people identified with a length of homelessness that qualifies as chronically homeless who aren’t housed	274
Coordinated Assessment	Total clients with a VI-SPDAT	1,454
	Total active* households with a VI-SPDAT	678
	# of upcoming GH CAN appointments	526 Booking into January for City of Hartford
Coordinated Exit	Chronically homeless housed through CAN 3/11 – present	86 This may not include all clients housed by existing wait lists.
	TLP Enrollments for all adults 11/17- Present	297
	RRH Enrollments for all adults 11/17- Present	176
Zero: 2016	Average # of new people who are becoming chronically homeless each month	22
	GH Monthly Housing Connection Rate:	31