GH CAN Leadership 6/28/17

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Leadership Agenda

Wednesday, June 28^th, 2017

In Attendance:

Brian Baker – South Park Inn

Steve Bigler – Community Renewal Team

Crane Cesario – DMHAS

Cat Damato - CRT

Sarah DiMaio – Salvation Army Marshall House

Fred Faulkner – The Open Hearth

Rosemary Flowers – My Sisters’ Place

Lou Gilbert – ImmaCare

Mollie Greenwood – Journey Home

Andrea Hakian – CHR

Dave Martineau – Mercy Housing

Barbara Shaw – Hands On Hartford

Cathy Zeiner – YWCA

Lauren Fair – Salvation Army

John Lawlor – The Connection

Justine Couvares – The Chrysalis Center

1.      Self-Discharge from Shelter vs. Provider Discharge – Lou Gilbert

a.      Following up on DOH’s presentation a few months ago about encouraging shelters only to discharge households who are violent or engaging in illegal behavior, Lou reached out to DOH seeking guidance around timeframes for when a client can be considered to have self-discharged.  The Department encouraged Lou to bring it up as a question for the CAN to discuss.

                                                    i.     Lou reported that ImmaCare will soon be eliminating their curfew, and as a result are doing a review of all their policies related to discharges.

                                                   ii.     At Columbus House, in New Haven, a client is considered to have self-discharged if they do not show up for a shelter bed two nights in a row. 

1.      Salvation Army Marshall House uses two nights of no-call, no-show to determine a self-discharge as well.

                                                  iii.     Crane’s suggestion was to agree that setting a threshold of two nights with no word from the client as a reasonable time-frame for a client’s absence to be considered and recorded as a self-discharge.  The committee agreed that a two day timeframe seemed reasonable if shelters chose to adopt it.

1.      This is not a CAN-wide policy, and other shelter providers can use their own discretion to identify how many nights a bed will be held before a shelter determines that a client has self-discharged. 

2.      Some shelters may continue to operate with a policy that one night of no-call, no-show will be determined as a self-discharge.  There was agreement that ultimately the goal is to make sure that beds are being made available to those who need them the most with as few delays as possible.

2.      Chair Position Opening – Crane Cesario

a.      No individuals have volunteered to take on the new role of serving as a chair for the GH CAN Leadership committee yet.

                                                    i.     In general, the meeting notes and materials are prepared by Journey Home staff, but it’s important to have someone who can help move the meeting forward, and ensure that we’re making decisions in this group.

b.      Crane proposed the idea of merging the existing Hartford sub-COC meetings with CAN Leadership meetings starting in July.  We have seen the evolution of meetings in the last few years, with a lot of items that overlap with the work of the CAN. 

c.      The group voted to begin holding the Hartford sub-COC meetings as a part of the second GH CAN Leadership meeting each month. 

3.      Shelter Acceptance of Households with Disabilities (service animals, oxygen tanks) – Mollie Greenwood

a.      In some areas of the state there have been issues with households who have service animals or oxygen tanks or other accommodations for disabling conditions not being admitted to emergency shelters.  If folks are being denied access to shelter because of disabilities, it can turn into a discrimination issue.  HUD has guidance on when service animals and other therapeutic support animals should be accommodated by shelter and housing programs.

                                                    i.     We will revisit this issue at the next meeting.

4.      Subcommittee Updates and Assistance Needed

a.      Crane suggested that we reconsider the formatting of these subcommittee reports to more succinctly demonstrate issues and requests for assistance or guidance from different subcommittees

b.      Diversion Specialists p.1

                                                    i.     Diversion Specialists requested that Leadership visit the Diversion Center to get a feel for the daily activities.

c.      Outreach p.2

                                                    i.     The Outreach Committee is trying to create a comprehensive list of outreach services provided to help clarify when and how to refer to certain outreach workers.  There has been a lot of confusion around appropriate referrals.

d.      RRH Matching p.3

                                                    i.     The RRH committee is still facing trouble housing households with utility bills, and is continuing to struggle with availability of furnishing for apartments.

e.      Coordinated Exit: Families p.4

                                                    i.     Utility arrears and availability of larger bedroom sizes continues to pose challenges.

f.       Coordinated Exit: Individuals p.5

                                                    i.     Nobody has stepped up to chair this committee in the absence of Tenesha.

5.      Cold Weather Updates – Lou Gilbert

a.      The City has met with representatives and still has not provided an update on the ordinance that requires cold weather accommodations at a certain threshold.  A location for a winter No Freeze has not been identified by the city.

6.      GH CAN Housing Data – see p.2

a.      Verification of Chronic Homelessness - Mollie Greenwood

                                                    i.     Journey Home distributed a list of households who are currently in shelter who appear to have the chronic length of homeless history, but who do not yet have disabling condition verification forms and/or homeless verification forms completed.  In Greater Hartford, the vast majority of potentially chronic households turn out to meet the chronically homeless criteria, so if one of these households is residing in your shelter, please connect with Lisa Quach to discuss where they are in terms of document readiness. 

7.      Announcements

a.      Hands On Hartford is working on planning the Day of Sharing and Caring and needs lots of help planning and pulling off the event.  If you’re interested, please contact swalker@handsonhartford.org

b.      Salvation Army is offering an Anti Human Trafficking Training at Capitol Region Mental Health Center Thursday, 9/28 from 1-4 PM

GH CAN Housing Data

Data Element	Number	Notes
Chronically homeless households housed in 2015	102	This includes clients housed through GH CAN programs as well as through other subsidies or independent housing
Chronically homeless households housed in 2016	211	This includes clients housed through GH CAN programs as well as through other subsidies or independent housing
Chronically homeless households housed in 2017	106	This includes clients housed through GH CAN programs as well as through other subsidies or independent housing
Total Chronically homeless households housed in GH CAN	419
Verified Chronic Matched	44
Verified Chronic Not Yet Matched	7	We currently have 7 chronic verified clients who have not yet been matched to housing.
Potentially Chronic Matched	6	These households did not disclose a disabling condition, and are matched to RRH programs.
Potentially Chronic Not Yet Matched	42	Right now we believe 42 households have the chronic length of homeless history, but none of these individuals have their homeless and disability verifications completed.