Boise City/Ada County Continuum of Care Coordinating Team Recap Goal: Ada County will have a systematic response in place that ensures that homelessness is prevented whenever possible or is otherwise a rare, brief, and non-reoccurring experience. Thursday, July 27, 2017 1:30-3:00 pm Meridian City Hall Welcome Maureen Brewer Executive Committee Update Chris Saunders Chris discussed the work the Executive Committee has undertaken the last few months regarding the direction of the CoC. In January, the Coordinating Team discussed this year s goals and as part of that effort the Executive Committee has undertaken a prioritization exercise that included looking at the CoC from a 30,000 ft view from the Executive Committee to service providers to our clients. Mapping the system has led to some tough conversations about huge gaps that are apparent. One major issue is education the Executive Committee is still learning about what s out there and who does what and how services are provided in the community. We don t know what we don t know but we do know that the supply is not keeping up with the demand to what degree and in what areas is what we need to find out. HMIS transition will help us start to better answer these questions and help us get to a place where we can start to fill gaps. The Coordinating Team voted on the appointment of two new members to the Executive Committee: Stephanie Day from Our Path Home and Anna Johnson-Whitehead from the VA. The motion was made by Chris Saunders, seconded by Richard Morgan and passed. The appointment of Stephanie and Anna will now go to the Mayor. HMIS Transition Maureen Brewer, Alissa Parrish, Chris Saunders Maureen discussed the on-going HMIS transition and next steps, which include the decision to pull our CoC s data off the current, shared implementation and into our own implementation. Certainly this transition is inconvenient in the short-term, especially the blackout period but ICA and Maureen are available for questions and support. Maureen will notify HMIS users/agencies as soon as information starts to become available about a timeline for the transition. An email went out last week explaining this decision and notifying users/agencies of the change. This decision was not made lightly and there will be growing pains, but the CoC will be better positioned to move forward towards and goals and make data driven decisions. We will also have access to our historical data which is huge. Chris thanked the City of Boise for making this possible, particularly AnaMarie Guiles and Diana Lachiondo. HMIS and its use and potential is mission critical to the CoC.
Coordinated Entry Update Wyatt Schroeder 175 family assessments completed thru June. Of those, 30+ households are into programs. Coordinated Entry is creating a system of care, not new housing opportunities. Right now, 12% of people have self-resolved and it hasn t always been those with the lowest VI-SPDAT scores. o Average length of time experiencing homelessness scoring into RRH (rapid re-housing) 18 months Median is 6 months o Average length of time experiencing homelessness scoring into PSH (permanent supportive housing) 60 months Median is 31 months 15 MOUs signed as partner agencies of coordinated entry Shawn Hall s last day is July 31. Three MSW interns are coming on each at 16 hours per week. Two will do intakes and one will work on housing counseling. One new AmeriCorps member will start around Sept 1. Coordinated entry must fully launch by January 23, 2018 as required by HUD. Plan right now is to do a soft launch with individuals in October by migrating wait lists and officially launch to the public in the winter. CoC Application Maureen Brewer Maureen reviewed a brief presentation now posted on our website to orient the Coordinating Team to this year s NOFA and competitive grant application process: Discussed HUD policy priorities Our CoC s ARD is less than $900,000 o Tier 1, Tier 2 and the permanent housing bonus were discussed. If we don t get Tier 2, we re talking about programs getting cut. We have no more systems (i.e., HMIS and Coordinated Entry to cut; they ve already been lost). o The permanent housing bonus can be used to expand an existing renewal project see pg. 14 of the NOFA, point #4. The group talked about how that may make the most sense for our CoC this year given that our permanent housing bonus amount is only roughly $50,000. Discussed DedicatedPLUS and what that means new for this year Clarified what reallocation means and how that works likely not as applicable for our CoC but there is that potential depending on the number and type of applications received. New and renewal projects are welcome to apply! Maureen will listen to the webinar offered on the new Joint TH and PH-RRH component project and be ready to answer questions from anyone who may have them. Several members stressed the importance of working collaboratively on the application because our CoC needs every point possible on the NOFA o Maureen will be reaching out to people who can assist her in writing the application Maureen shared the local process and timeline for submission. This information is also available on the website:
o http://hcd.cityofboise.org/homelessness/mckinney-vento-homeless-assistance-act/ Working Group Updates Fair Housing Chris Pope o Didn t meet in July o In June, talked about what they re trying to do and where they re trying to go o Goal is to take the working group and go through the Impediments to Fair Housing in the region and what to do to overcome those barriers Much revolves around education Also identified infrastructure and transportation as impediments to Fair Housing Training to landlords and the community o Advocacy work to combat NIMBY-ism o Meetings are the last Thursday of every month Funding Development Diana Lachiondo o Diana is the vice chair, no chair right now o We have great representation on our local scoring and ranking committee this year, including representation from United Way, Key Bank, Idaho Community Foundation, and the Albertsons Foundation in addition to Diana, Linda, and Chris. This will be a good opportunity for them to see the opportunities and also constraints we have. o Group of funders have asked the CoC to prioritize needs this is the work Chris discussed in reference to the Executive Committee so it s underway. How might these funders fit into the big picture given our needs, gaps, and priorities? What can federal dollars do versus what still needs to happen locally? Housing Deanna Watson o Landlords would like to know what kind of resources they can offer to clients who may be experiencing housing instability for any number of reasons Flyers distributed at the last landlord engagement event (held in early July) that identified food resources, legal resources, housing services, and financial and utility assistance. o Landlord training held in July was mostly specific to refugees and their experiences 20+ attended but mostly consisted of landlords already sympathetic to their plight Housing Working Group will be working on extending our outreach o A member of our Coordinating Team that is currently experiencing homelessness spoke of her experience with landlords: Been looking for housing since September 2015 Has a significant amount of SSDI income Still unsuccessful in finding housing Disability an impediment It s not the people in the offices, the managers it s the predatory management companies She had a Section 8 voucher and they are utterly useless Rents are higher than the parameters being allowed to use
Performance Measurement Alissa Parrish o Will be working through the CoC NOFA SPM section o After NOFA submission, revisit putting together performance measures by project type o Next meeting is Tuesday, Aug 1 Youth Homelessness Maureen Brewer o Meeting without a chair still o Working through some system mapping in terms of what s available within the CoC for youth specifically and getting organized in terms of what data we have and what we need o Several questions on the NOFA ask CoCs to explain what they are doing to combat youth homelessness o Point-in-Time Count conducted specifically for youth last summer thru VOYC final report is pending o Next meeting is August 14 th second Monday of every month Provider Spotlight Ada County Sheriff Not a traditional role for law enforcement to be involved in the CoC, but it makes sense when you look at the scope of the Sheriff s Office Focus on being engaged and involved in the community Being interactive rather than reactionary 5 th year that the Sheriff s Office has been actively involved in the CoC Five branches of the Sheriff s Office o Emergency communications (911) o Police services patrol o Administrative services o o Court services Jail services roughly 1200 beds Currently housing about 1000 7-8% are homeless has been as high as 13% on Point-In-Time count Transition from jail to community is crucial 15,000 booked per year and 98.5% are released Member Updates New Path Groundbreaking September 20! Corpus Christie closed July 31-Aug 12 but will be serving breakfast 7:00-9:00 each day. Interfaith will be offering showers in the morning during this time. Meeting Schedule Executive Committee: Monday, August 14, 9:30 am at Boise City Hall Coc Coordinating Team: Thursday, September 28, 1:30-3:00 pm at Meridian City Hall Fair Housing: Thursday, July 27, 3:30-4:30 pm at Meridian City Hall Funding Development: TBD Housing: Wednesday, August 16, 3:00-4:30 pm at Boise City Hall
Performance Measurement: Tuesday, August 1, 10:30 am-noon at El Ada Youth Homelessness: Monday, August 14, 1:30-2:30 pm at Casey Family