Greater Hartford CAN Meeting 2/10/2016

In Attendance:

Yasmine Ali- Journey Home

Janet Bermudez- Hands on Hartford

Cordelia Brady- The Open Hearth

Aisha Brown- CHR

Kyra Brown- Catholic Charities

Kara Copabianco- Department of Housing

Crane Cesario- DMHAS

Marcel Cicero- CRT East Hartford Shelter

Roger Clark- ImmaCare

Stephanie Corbin- Community Health Netowrk

Catherine Damato

Brenda Earle- DOH

Anna Ebora- Journey Home

Jacqueline Farmer- Veteran's Ink

Bryan Flint- Cornerstone

Nate Fox- Center Church

Valorie Gaines- CHR

Amanda Girardin- Journey Home

Ruby Given-Hewitt- My Sister's Place

Tenesha Grant- Mercy Housing

Kaylon Griffith- Capitol Region Mental Health Center

Andrea Hakian- CHR

Amber Higgins- CHR

Mark Jenkins- Blue Hills Civic Association

Aaron Jones- VA

Jenaya King- CHR

Cynthia Lazone- Chrysalis
Philomena McGee- Community Health Resources

Nichole Milton- CHR

Matt Morgan- Journey Home

Malika Nelson- CHR

Theresa Nicholson- Chrysalis Center

Yolanda Ortiz- SSVF

Heather Pilarcik- South Park Inn

Jamie Randolph- CHR

Chris Robinson- Chrysalis Center

Cathy Shanley- Columbus House

Kathy Shaw- My Sister's Place

Sandra Terry- CRT

Jose Vega- McKinney

Ymonne Wilson- CRT

Tamara Womack- My Sister's Place

1.       Welcome and Introductions

a.       We need to house 12-13 individuals each month to reach functional zero by the end of the year.

2.       Updates

a.       GH CAN Leadership Updates

                                                               i.      Subcommittee to look at bylaws and charter

                                                             ii.      Leadership is looking at the group of people that still needs appointments. Currently there is a 509 person backlog and a 93% no-show rate. There may be a change in how appointments are done from appointments to drop-in times.

                                                           iii.      A doodle poll will be created listing available resources.

                                                           iv.      Providers should not be taking side doors. Otherwise, we will not be in compliance with the Department of Housing.

b.      Zero: 2016- Landlord Breakfast on February 23

                                                               i.      We still need to recruit landlords to commit to attending the breakfast. We will be reaching out to presenters in the next couple days.

c.       Prioritization for Veterans- Matt Morgan

                                                               i.      There is a small number of ineligible veterans and the solution for them may be rapid rehousing. Those whose VI-SPDAT score falls below rapid rehousing will be given a full SPDAT. If the full SPDAT is still not within the rapid rehousing range, then an exception form will be made.

d.      Warmth East of the River- Bryan Flint

                                                               i.      Cornerstone has 15 beds.

                                                           ii.      MISAC funding will provide hotel funding for people calling for immediate shelter from now to March.

                                                           iii.      Cornerstone will do assessments with all of these households and help connect people to resources.

3.       Referral Process for Rapid Rehousing-Amber Higgins

a.       To be eligible for rapid rehousing, he individual needs to have the appropriate VI-SPDAT score and be literally homeless.

b.      To get the referral, the individual needs the appropriate score and appropriate documentation at some point, but households do not need to be fully document ready prior to referral. A navigator can assist in this process.

c.       The checklist for proper documentation for rapid rehousing is for navigators and case managers to reference, and is available on www.journeyhomect.org/provider-resources 

d.      The goal of rapid rehousing is to move from referral to housing within 45 days.

e.        When version 2 of the VI-SPDAT goes live, the eligible score range will change. We may need to have a meeting in regards to the change.

f.       Something to keep in mind for the future is how do we prioritize clients who may be getting documentation faster but are lower on the priority list?

h.      CHR will begin holding office hours at ImmaCare.

i.         Short-term rapid rehousing needs referrals. Individuals should be able to sustain rent for three months. Someone with social security income could qualify. Sometimes it’s quicker to do a self-referral from shelter to rapid rehousing.

j.       CHR used to office hours in the shelters to educate shelters and they are willing to do that again. Amber will go to shelters to do presentations.

k.         Crane would like to see some data and there will be monthly reports.

l.    The VI-SPDAT levels the playing field since the varying capacity between shelters causes discrepancies in the level of service clients receive. With the VI-SPDAT, clients are treated the same.

m.      If a client has a high utility bill, they should not get denied rapid rehousing but Marcel says one of her clients was denied because of an $800 light bill.

n.      Rapid rehousing should be hybrid process where providers cross-reference VI-SPDAT scores with referrals.                                                                                                                                                                      

4.       Announcements

a.       The VI-SPDAT 2.0 will go live in Connecticut on February 16. All hard copy VI-SPDATs must be entered in HMIS before February 16.- webinar

b.      Journey Home received donations of sweatshirts, jackets, and fleeces available for case managers after the meeting. Contact Alison.Scharr@journeyhomect.org for more info.

5.       Breakout Groups

a.       Coordinated Entry Group (Shelter and Outreach)
              i. ImmaCare and SAMH switch to drop-in assessments - This has led to a shortening of time between when households are able to meet someone, but it has not been a full fix.  Leadership met today and decided we're going to have a true blitz of our Coordinated Entry process, and will be dedicating staff time specifically to resolving this backlog issue in coming weeks.
             ii.  Shelter Triage Subcommittee Updates - At this week's Shelter Triage Subcommittee meeting we discussed the current status of shelter waiting lists.  For individual men, there are often a dozen men on the list throughout the day, but there have been very few days this winter where shelter bed capacity was maxed out, and most individual men are connected to a shelter bed the day that they call.  For individual women and families, it is a very different story- there are more than 150 households on the shelter waiting list reporting that they need shelter, and there can be up to a 4 week waiting period between when a household is added to the list and when they are connected to a bed.  This is a huge problem, but because we have such limited information about the families' specific situation, it has been impossible to prioritize households in a fair way.  Hopefully, once CAN assessments are happening prior to shelter entry, some of those households who may be divertable will be connected to other resources instead of entering into shelter.
            iii.  City of Hartford ESG Program - Lionel Rigler has reported that it sounds as though many households who may be eligible for this prevention program may not be getting directed to the program and ending up at CAN appointments, and wanted to remind us that screening for the program is accessed by calling 211.  Right now, it's difficult to tell where the disconnect may be happening if households are not being screened, so if you have someone at a CAN assessment who you believe might be eligible, please send that household's HMIS ID number to Mollie so she can connect with 211.
            iv.  We talked about what kind of information would be helpful to staff doing CAN assessments, and what sorts of training this group would be interested in for the future.  There is a diversion training coming up next week through CCEH, but staff also expressed interest in trainings around DSS benefits, different mental health programs, and more clarity around Rapid ReHousing.  Moving forward we will work on figuring out how to connect staff to this information.

b.      Housing Referral Group

                                                               i.      Referrals for Navigation

1.       Some clients on the priority list have no VI-SPDAT score. Tony offered to assess two of them and  Janet offered to assess one.

2.       Mark has gotten 4 people document ready and has been working with sex offenders to get disability verification

3.       3 clients need VI-SPDAT to determine if they have a disability.

                                                             ii.      One client cannot get disability verification because Intercommunity would not sign because they needed to do a longer term assessment on her first. She currently lives in her car and needs to be referred to PATH. She may need to do full SPDAT as her VI-SPDAT score does not reflect her current situation. 

                                                           iii.      The housing referral group will no longer meet as part of CAN. There will be a conference call on Tuesdays at 11:30. Tenesha and Faye are handling the logistics.  Instead, the CAN meeting will be a time for updates, case conferences with shelter staff as needed, and protocol change information.

                                                           iv.      Moving On has two 1- bedroom units. Prospective tenants need to be sober and chronically homeless. They need to be able to remain sober for a section 8 interview. Moving On does not have a case management component. It was suggested to check with Chrysalis for potential clients. One client was identified as a potential tenant.

                                                             v.      How is participation in a transitional living program going to count? Will they be considered housed or unsheltered?