SUMMARY MEETING MINUTES CONTINUUM OF CARE WORKING GROUP FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013 8:30 A.M. MANCHESTER ROOM TOWN HALL Members Present: Andrea Hakian - CHR, Manuel Maldonado - BoE, Sarah Melquist - MACC, Jennifer Moriarty - VA, Penni Micca Interval House, Matt Morgan Journey Home, Kelly Kearney First Choice Health Center, Shannon Fry Veteran Support Foundation Also Present: Heather Guerette Community Development Program Manager ROUND OF INTRODUCTIONS There were two new members at this month s meeting, so we started the meeting with a round of introductions. AGENCY UPDATES Andrea Hakian - CHR Working on approval of proposed new CHR apartment building on Center St. o Single and family units, Veterans not eligible for VASH vouchers, too. Will use the DMHAS definition of homelessness at risk or actual CHR is still accepting applications for the Rapid Rehousing Program o Available for homeless or persons fleeing domestic violence o They have already housed 37 families o Contact Amber Higgins at 860-432-8775 for more information. Shannon Fry Veteran Support Foundation Veteran Support Foundation is based out of West Haven but they run Dinda House, a transitional housing property on Center St. in Manchester that opened in 2001. Shannon has recently been working on grant writing. Dinda House has 9 beds, 7 of which are currently occupied. o 3 beds are handicap accessible o The typical stay at Dinda House is 8 months. o Lately, many former residents have found permanent housing through Chrysalis and VASH vouchers. Jen Moriarty - VA Homeless Veterans Support on November 5 th at the Lyceum.
o Information on the event was distributed via CoC group e-mail on Friday 10/18. There are about 10 HUD VASH vouchers still available. Healthcare for Homeless Veterans Program see information at end of minutes. o For more information, contact Jim Plante at (203) 231-1784. Matt Morgan Journey Home The Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program grant has been renewed this year. o Through CRT and Journey Home, serves Hartford and Tolland County o Program designed to help Veterans gain employment o Need to serve (place in jobs) 35 Veterans during the year. Coordinated Access required by HUD. Journey Home is working at the regional level. o 2 parts: shelter and prevention & housing (1) Shelter and prevention: two tracks Families and individual women Individual men (2) Housing Universal Housing Application o Have finished the technical piece o Case worker won t have to know eligibility criteria for all programs o Program users can update contact info, etc. in one place o A person could call one place to see what relevant shelter beds are available, rather than having to call all places separately. CT Integrated Housing and Healthcare Neighborhoods Program o Align healthcare with housing and vouchers o Eight partners are now helping with housing case management o Have RAP certificates - targeting high cost Medicaid users. o 7 people housed so far in the Hartford area. o Target: finish by April 2014. Kelly Kearney First Choice Health Centers Outreach Certified Application Counselor for Obamacare o During the last two weeks, enrolled 3-4 people o Have to verify identity on the spot o Outreach workers travel to food pantries, senior centers, etc. - 2 -
Manchester s First Choice Health Center is located at 150 N. Main St. on the second floor of the EHCN building. Manuel Maldonado BoE Manchester schools will have a new superintendent as of June 30, 2014. o He is currently the high school principal Residency verification has been challenging lately due to evictions, people providing incorrect information, etc. Sarah Melquist CHR 801 Main St. fire MACC is collecting donations for the fire victims. o Right now, can only accept financial donations. Make checks payable to MACC and, if desired, can designate who you would like the money to benefit: residents, Great Harvest, CT Valley Coin, businesses, employees. o Seeking immediate new housing for people if they qualify. The shelter is not full. Those that are there are primarily young and transient. The soup kitchen is packed and the pantry is also very busy. There is a Crop Walk on Sunday, October 20 th, starting at St. Bridget s Church at 80 Main St., Manchester. o Registration begins at 12:30pm and the walk starts at 1:15pm. o For more information, visit http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/pageserver?pagename=events_ct Seasonal Sharing for families who have nothing provides food for Thanksgiving and gifts and food for Christmas. o The program will stop running at the end of October. MACC will be renting the MCC on Main Gallery for their Face the Need exhibit. o Students from East Catholic and Manchester High have been asked to create artwork depicting their understanding of the face of need. o The event at MCC on Main will be on the evening of Thursday, November 7 th. The students work will be judged and the top 3 pieces will be announced. All work will then be auctioned off to benefit the work of MACC Charities. Penni Micca Interval House Most domestic violence houses in Connecticut are currently full. o Permanent affordable housing has been too difficult to find. - 3 -
o Housing is the primary problem and it is one that is becoming increasingly complex Heather Guerette CDBG The new program year began on October 1 st, though with the government shutdown, final HUD approval and the release of funding has been delayed. All necessary paperwork has been submitted, though, and now that federal employees are back to work the final approval should come shortly. All public service sub-recipients for this program year are repeat funding recipients: CHR for their mental health and substance abuse counseling, the Human Services Department for Earned Income Tax Credit filing assistance, and the Urban League for a Pharmacy Technician training program. The Housing Rehab Program will be receiving over $195,000, which is a significant portion of the entire CDBG budget. And Rebuilding Together will again be funded for their Roof Replacement Program they will be receiving $100,000. Mary Ann Murray - MHA Mary Ann was not able to attend this meeting but she passed on information via e-mail to Heather to share with the group. The Manchester Housing Authority is accepting applications for their North Elm St. apartments. Applicants must be 62 or older and a current Manchester resident to qualify. MHA is also accepting general applications for disabled applicants these will be entered into a lottery at a later date. Applications are also being accepted for the congregate units. Medicare open enrollment screenings are scheduled (for MHA residents only) for October 15 th December 7 th. This will enable residents to check their current medical coverage and prescription drug plan. This is especially important considering all of the changes to health care coverage this year. Ed Paquette SAFS Ed was not able to attend this meeting but he passed on a question via e-mail to Heather to share with the group. Ed was unable to attend this meeting due to his daily meeting with the victims of the 801 Main St. fire. He asked that Heather discuss with CoC members whether they had any recommendations for inexpensive rooming houses with availability in Manchester. He has to permanently relocate nine residents that were interested in this type of housing. o A discussion took place and recommendations for contacts were made and forwarded to Ed for his review and consideration. - 4 -
REQUESTED LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FROM COC As mentioned by Andrea in her update, CHR is pursuing construction of a new apartment building on Center St. They are seeking letters of support for this project and Jill Benson asked Heather to discuss whether CoC members would be willing to submit a letter of support for the project. Heather distributed a brief project summary provided by Jill to all CoC members in attendance for their review. All members present were unanimous in their agreement to submit a letter of support for the project. Heather said she would write and submit the letter on the CoC s behalf. The next meeting of the Continuum of Care Working Group will take place on Friday, November 15 th, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. in the Manchester Room. R:\Planning\continuum of care\2013 Meetings\18Oct13-meeting minutes.docx - 5 -