GH CAN Leadership Meeting, Wednesday 4/20

GH CAN Leadership Meeting

Wednesday, April 20^th, 2016

Attended: Kara Capobianco Department of Housing, Roger Clark ImmaCare, Fred Faulkner The Open Hearth, Bryan Flint Cornerstone, Mollie Greenwood Journey Home, Lou Gilbert ImmaCare, Steve Hurley Journey Home, Audrey Kennedy South Park Inn, Diane Paige-Blondet My Sister’s Place

1.      Welcome and Introductions

2.      Updates and Feedback from Family Assessment Schedule

a.       We have seen huge changes in the length of time between when households call 211 to the time at which they’re able to see people.  For the month of February, there was an average of 18 days between calling 211 and having a CAN assessment.  In March, there was an average of 6 days between calling 211 and having an assessment.

b.      Right now, on average people are getting assessment appointments within 1-2 business days of when they called 211, which is a tremendous improvement for Hartford.

-          Nate said that he has secured parking for other agency staff members to use when coming to Center Church for next week’s drop in appointments.

-          Mollie said if you have any feedback or comments about the family assessment schedule to please free to let her know.

3.      Shelter Waitlist Prioritization Criteria: Poll Results on reverse

a.       Next Steps for Shelter Prioritization

-          Bryan says that there should be a separate prioritization section for hotel. There should be once of living in a hotel with their own money and another choice should be living in a hotel being paid by a 3^rd party.  This was echoed by others in the room, and so households in a hotel being paid for by a 3^rd party are slightly higher priority than households paying for the room themselves. 

-          Mollie said that we need to determine how many times to call a person on the shelter waitlist to determine when to stop calling person, and this will be discussed with the operations group.

-          Kara proposed to have multiple sections for contact information on the smart sheet.  It seems to make sense to include both a primary contact, a secondary contact, and a place that folks are known to visit for those unsheltered households who are difficult to contact.  Nate asked how long someone’s name stays on the waiting list and proposes we should have multiple strategies to contact people.

-          Fred Faulkner asked what to do about those people who don’t have an address or phone number. How do we make sure they don’t get off the list because they can’t be contacted?

-          Kara proposes to hold beds longer for people that we know who are living outside.

-          Nate proposes to have a waiting list available in his drop-in center for clients to see if they are on the list for shelter.

-          Kara proposed that we create a policy for those who live unsheltered and at risk to make sure they don’t lose housing while navigator is searching for them.

-          Kara proposed that there should be a preference of location in the smart sheet.

-          The Leadership Group proposed no additional changes besides the addition of a second category of folks who stayed in the hotel last night, and recommended this prioritization criteria to the Operations Committee for review. 

4.      Be Homeful Q&A Session with CCEH: May 2^nd at 1PM or May 3^rd at 11:30 AM

a.       The leadership group determined that it would be most convenient to discuss the Be Homeful funding immediately following the Hartford COC meeting at My Sisters' Place, 238 Hamilton St., Hartford on May 3rd. 

b.      Mollie will contact CCEH to organize this time.

5.      Announcements

-          West Hartford Housing Authority is opening its section 8 waiting list

Shelter Waitlist Prioritization Criteria: Poll Results
Top Priority Individuals:	Top Priority Families:
1.       Unsheltered 2.       Staying in a car 3.       Doubled Up – Unsafe 4.       Coming from DV shelter 5.       In a hospital 6.       Eviction/Foreclosure 7.       In a hotel – paid for by third party 8.       In a hotel – paid for by self/family 9.       Doubled Up- Safe	1.       Unsheltered 2.       Staying in a car 3.       Doubled Up – Unsafe 4.       Coming from DV shelter 5.       In a hospital 6.       Eviction/Foreclosure 7.       In a hotel – paid for by third party 8.       In a hotel – paid for by self/family 9.       Doubled Up- Safe
Tiebreakers:	Tiebreakers:
1.       Pregnant 2.       Elderly (62+) 3.       Physical Disability 4.       Needs access to medicine 5.       Mental Health Disability 6.       Elderly (55+)	1.       Pregnant 2-3rd trimester 2.       Elderly (62+) 3.       DCF Involvement 4.       Children younger than school age 5.       Children: school age 6.       Physical Disability 7.       MH Disability 8.       Needs access to medicine 9.       Elderly (55+)

GH CAN Operations Meeting Wednesday, April 20th, 2016

GH CAN Operations Meeting

Wednesday, April 20^th, 2016

In attendance:

Alicia Akers- CRT

Samantha Antunes-CHR

Janet Bermudez- Hands on Hartford

Cordelia Brady- The Open Hearth

Aisha Brown- CHR

Manuel Cadema- Catholic Charities

Marcel Cicero- CRT East Hartford Shelter

Stephanie Corbin- Community Health Network

Rochelle Currie- The Connection

Anna Ebora- Journey Home

Angel Fernandez- The Open Hearth

Bryan Flint- Cornerstone

Valorie Gaines- CHR

Ruby Givens-Hewitt- My Sister’s Place

Kelly Gonzalez- CRT

Nathalie Guzman- Salvation Army Marshall House

Amber Higgins- CHR

Audrey Kennedy- South Park Inn

Jenaya King- CHR-PATH

Margarita Morales- Catholic Charities

Malika Nelson- CHR

Iris Ruiz- Interval House

Jessica Russell- Town of Enfield Social Services

Sandra Terry- CRT

Jose Vega- McKinney

Tamara Womack- My Sister’s Place

1.       Welcome and Introductions

2.       Changes to Coordinated Entry

a.       New Appointment Schedule: Families (see table below)

b.      People are getting appointments same day or next business day in many cases, which is a huge improvement for the City of Hartford. In March the average time between calling 211 and getting an appointment was 6 days. In April the average is now about 1-2 days. More people are coming to the assessment and there has been a drop in no show rates. CHR notes that with the short wait time more people are getting the help they need as soon as they need it. Open Hearth notes that drop-in appointments are going down but that appointments are closer to when 211 was called.

c.       For housing providers, it would be helpful if people administering CAN appointments make a case note in HMIS describing what happened in those appointments, so that all staff can see moving forward what the family discussed at the appointment.

d.      Prioritization Criteria: Proposed Structure (see table  below)

                                                               i.      We are trying to address the significant waiting list to get into shelter by implementing a prioritization list. We went over all the criteria that should be considered for prioritization but there was some discussion on number 7, which was someone living in a hotel.

e.       East Hartford has empty beds and is looking to fill them with people who are from East Hartford. If there is someone who lives in East Hartford but is not high on the waiting list, East Hartford may take that person in anyways to comply with the funding reqirements of their program.

f.        SmartSheets Functionality - following the lead of other CANs across the state, we are looking to utilize SmartSheets software, a secure, encrypted, spreadsheet that is hosted online, in order to better prioritize households for entry into emergency shelter.

                                                               i.       Shelter providers will log into the spreadsheet and call people themselves to match to vacancies then mark on spreadsheet if that person has been found and placed in a shelter. There will also be a place for case notes as well. In the chaos of the shelter however, the case note box may not get filled immediately.

                                                             ii.      There will be a place to pick risk factors and the waiting list take note of the highest risk factor when prioritizing people.

g.       We talked about how to get in contact with clients if they have no phone. Providers should field that information into smart sheet case note. Outreach workers can put their contact information in the smart sheet for clients. For clients who have mental health issues and will not call 211 on their own, shelter providers should do a CAN assessment and let 211 know once it's completed. There was discussion about how many times reach out before moving on to next person on the list, but we did not reach consensus.  For the immediate future, a shelter should try to reach folks at least once in the order they appear on the sheet.  If shelter A is unable to contact the household, they won't lose their spot on the list.  Shelter B should try to reach out to them as well as space opens up. 

h.      Smart sheet should save some time but there is lots of protected health information on it. If the computers are down, the smart sheet may work on a smart phone though other options should be explored since people were not receptive to this as a solution.  We determined that HIV/AIDS would no longer be a question that was entered into the system due to concerns about releases.

i.         The names on the list do not disappear in real time and could result in some issues of duplication of effort, that is why it is important for staff to make a note if they are calling the client. There will be a color coding system on the smart sheet to indicate who has already been contacted.
j.     We also discussed who should have access to the SmartSheet, and whether it makes more sense to have distinct usernames for every shelter staff person who could feasibly be pulling off of the waiting list.  We did not come to consensus about this, as shelters needed time to determine what made most sense for their organization.

j.         Next step will involve login setup and training within a week for this system and this should be up and running in under a month.

3.       Zero:2016 Updates – (pg. 2)

a.       Recently Housed- One person has been housed by Hands on Hartford since the last CAN meeting.  Congratulations, Hands On hartford!

b.      Homeless Document Fair is scheduled for June 17^th, 2016. 

4.       Case Conferences:

a.       Navigation Clients – Kelly Gonzalez, Alicia Akers

                                                               i.  The Navigators asked the providers in the room if anyone had recently seen any of their clients.
                              ii.  Mollie asked about the location of a couple of folks who were discussed at this week's Coordinated Exit meeting.

b.      Coordinated Exit Group – MIA clients

5.       Community Care Teams – Amanda Girardin (see attached release)

a.       The Community Care Team is urging shelter and housing providers to be in contact with CCT, which focuses on frequent visitors to the emergency room many of which are homeless. Copies of the release of information for CCT were distributed and allow people at the meeting to talk about these clients with other providers.

6.       Announcements:

a.       CHR’s Rapid ReHousing program is seeking referrals! CHR needs to use their funding by the end of September.  Please make referrals today!

b.      The West Hartford Housing Choice Voucher waiting list is open now until April 21^st.

c.       The Greenwich Housing Authority will be accepting pre-applications for a lottery of 75 openings starting on May 2^nd.

d.      Community Court is having an event this Saturday where they are collecting tennis shoes and looking for someone to donate a cart.

Zero: 2016 Housing Data

Data Element	Number	Notes
Number of chronically homeless individuals housed since March 2015	142	This includes clients housed through GH CAN programs as well as through other subsidies or independent housing
Estimated number of chronically homeless individuals who need to be housed by the end of 2016	121	62 of these individuals are currently referred to a housing program
		59 of these individuals are not currently referred to a housing program
Housing Connection Rate	14	Individuals are constantly coming into and out of the system.  Journey Home believes that a rate of 14 households per month is accurate considering the fluctuation in population.

New GH CAN Family Assessment Schedule

Day	Time	Location
Monday	·       9AM-1 PM	My Sisters’ Place, Pliny St
Tuesday	·       9AM-1 PM	Salvation Army, (will soon be on) Washington St
Wednesday	·       9AM-1 PM	Center Church, Gold St
Thursday	·       9AM-1 PM	Salvation Army, (will soon be on) Washington St
Friday	·       9AM-1 PM	Hands On Hartford, Bartholomew Ave

Shelter Waitlist Prioritization Criteria: Poll Results
Top Priority Individuals:	Top Priority Families:
1.       Unsheltered 2.       Staying in a car 3.       Doubled Up – Unsafe 4.       Coming from DV shelter 5.       In a hospital 6.       Eviction/Foreclosure 7.       In a hotel 8.       Doubled Up- Safe	1.       Unsheltered 2.       Staying in a car 3.       Doubled Up – Unsafe 4.       Coming from DV shelter 5.       In a hospital 6.       Eviction/Foreclosure 7.       In a hotel 8.       Doubled Up- Safe
Tiebreakers:	Tiebreakers:
1.       Pregnant 2.       Elderly (62+) 3.       Physical Disability 4.       Needs access to medicine 6.       Mental Health Disability 7.       Elderly (55+)	1.       Pregnant 2-3rd trimester 2.       Elderly (62+) 3.       Children younger than school age 4.       Children: school age 5.       DCF Involvement 6.       Physical Disability 7.       MH Disability 8.       Needs access to medicine 10.   Elderly (55+)

Other Factors:

·       Use of wheelchair

·       Cognitive impairment

·       Developmental disability

·       Dementia

·       Recent victim of assault

·       Veteran Status

·       Clients who are new to shelter

·       Clients who have not had an unsuccessful exit from shelter

Greater Hartford CAN Meeting 4/6/2016

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Committee Agenda

April 6^th, 2016

In Attendance:

Alicia Akers- CRT

Rubi Alegria- Mercy Housing

Janet Bermudez- Hands on Hartford

Steve Bigler- CRT

Cordelia Brady- The Open Hearth

Aisha Brown- CHR

Manuel Cadema- Catholic Charities

Crane Cesario- DMHAS

Roger Clark- ImmaCare

Kara Copabianco- DOH

Stephanie Corbin- Community Health Network

Catherine Damato- CRT

Anna Ebora- Journey Home

Fred Faulkner- The Open Hearth

Angel Fernandez- The Open Hearth

Valorie Gaines- CHR

Ruby Givens-Hewitt- My Sister’s Place

Kelly Gonzalez- CRT

Amber Higgins- CHR

Steve Hurley- Journey Home

Mark Jenkins- Blue Hills Civic Association

Jenaya King- CHR-PATH

John Lawlor- The Connection

Gerilyn Maciel- Salvation Army Marshall House

Margarita Morales- Catholic Charities

Shannon Oliver- Salvation Army Marshall House

Yolanda Ortiz- SSVF

Heather Pilarcik- South Park Inn

Patricia Pollicina- Chrysalis Center

Lisa Quach-Journey Home

Camille Roach- Salvation Army Marshall House

Chris Robinson- Chrysalis Center

Iris Ruiz- Interval House

Cathy Shanley- Columbus House

Sandra Terry- CRT

José Vega- McKinney

Wendy Walker- CRT

Leslie Wilper- Cornerstone

Ymonne Wilson- CRT

1.      Welcome and Introductions

2.      Zero: 2016 Updates

a.      Recently Housed- Lisa Quach

                                                              i.      4 people have been housed since the last CAN meeting and one will be housed very, very soon!

b.      Document Fair Updates – Rubi Alegria

                                                              i.      The date for the document fair has been finalized for Friday, June 17^th from 9am-1pm at My Sister’s Place. The Department of Social Services, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Social Security Administration have been confirmed as participants. Anybody interested in volunteering should contact Rubi or Mollie.

3.      Shelter Entry Process: Challenges and Possible Improvements –Steve Hurley

a.      There are triage centers at ImmaCare and SAMH that are connecting people to shelters and we are working to fine-tune the system as it has been in place for some time now.

b.      Shannon from Salvation Army Marshall House reports that while record keeping is so far smooth there are a few challenges regarding space, the lack of diversion, and where to place sex offenders (both adult women and men).

c.       We discussed the issue of where to place parents with adult children who have a disability (for example a mother with a 24-year-old son who has cerebral palsy). The Department of Housing allows people to define families for themselves and the new federal law prohibits the breaking up of families. Triage should ask family shelters who they will take in and it falls on people conducting CAN assessments to ensure a safe placement for these cases.

d.      As challenging cases are identified, assessment staff should reach out to shelter, the Department of Housing, and reach out to other CANs regarding the issue of families with adult children.

e.      Another issue we discussed was shelters are holding beds for no shows and there is about a 50% no show rate. People are not being matched appropriately to beds in all cases. With this new process we are working to implement, the client should go through a CAN appointment first to assess their level of need and then only people who need shelter desperately should be given beds.

f.        An issue came up regarding clients claiming they have been told they have a bed when they are given a CAN assessment. We need their client ID number to listen to the 211 call to determine what was actually said by 211 in the course of the call, so we can figure out how we can improve the communication process.

g.       ImmaCare’s No Freeze beds just finished and they only have 75 year round beds so there is a big reduction in currently available beds.  Shelters are calling people on the waitlist but cannot track them down.

h.      Clients cannot call for a shelter until after they are on the streets. They cannot call for another shelter bed until they are out of the shelter they are currently staying at.

i.        José brought up the issue of a shelter having no beds but having a chair available for a client who may be sleeping outside. It was recommended to let the client sleep on the chair for the night but to not administer an assessment or enter them into HMIS. In the morning the client should talk with diversion-trained person to assess their situation.

j.        The CAN in Fairfield developed a spreadsheet that prioritizes people for shelter beds. It prioritizes people who are staying outside as having the highest priority then people staying in a place not meant for human habitation or a car, then people who are doubled up in an unsafe situation, and people who are safely doubled up. Tie breaker factors include someone who is elderly, the presence of a severe mental or physical illness, families with children younger than school age, and women who are pregnant. It was suggested that other factors to be considered are the mental state of the mother, access to needed medications, and experience of domestic violence.

k.       Domestic violence cases are prioritized for families coming out of a domestic violence shelter to make room in the shelters for people who may be in immediate danger.

l.        Prioritization will occur with the CAN assessment staff. They will ask a set list of questions and be added to the priority list spreadsheet. All the shelters can access the spreadsheet but will be limited in what they can edit on the sheet. When shelters attempt to call the client, they will place a note on the sheet indicating the attempt and if they were placed in a bed or not. If the client does not have a phone, obtain where they might “live.”

m.    Clients stay on the list until after two attempted contacts or if they were scheduled for an intake but did not show. After that, they are taken off the list. Clients should be given information about being taken off the waitlist after two attempts to contact.  

4.      CAN Assessments

a.      My Sister’s Place and Open Hearth are now holding drop-in CAN assessments. So far the number of people coming in for drop-in appointments has not been overwhelming.

b.      Nobody calling 211 right now is getting an appointment past next week. The goal is to have a CAN appointment set up within a day of calling 211. Please note that clients should be informed that a CAN assessment does not guarantee housing. Also emphasize to clients who may remember the olden days of long waits on the phone that calling 211 now is a different experience.

c.       The average waiting time for people calling 211 in March is 11 minutes (English queue and after dialing 3 then 1). The longest call was 29 minutes. 211 can check status on calls and assess why some may be longer than average.

5.      By Name List (Registry) in HMIS – Mollie Greenwood

a.      By April 8^th there will be a list of everyone with a VI-SPDAT done in this region on HMIS. As of now, 80% of the list is done and will indicate clients who are referred, active, or inactive. There is still more work to be done with clients who have assessments in other CANs.

b.      People with questions about how to access the list should contact Mollie or Lisa for assistance as it is not an intuitive process.

c.       All paper VI-SPDATS need to be reported electronically as soon as possible.

6.      Adopting the TAY-SPDAT Assessment Tool

a.      This assessment is for single youths and not parenting youths.

7.      Case Conferencing – Alicia Akers, Kelly Gonzalez, Mark Jenkins

a.      Alicia got Crane’s card to get in contact with a clinician to get someone document-ready.

b.      Alicia met a client who turned out not to be the client she was looking for.

c.       Amber is looking to connect with a client who is currently staying at ImmaCare.

8.      Announcements

a.      The West Hartford Housing Authority Section 8 Waitlist will be open online only from April 19^th to April 21^st.

b.      Nominate your Housing Hero for the Reaching Home dinner on the website for Partnership for Strong Communities.