Leadership Council Meeting
October 26, 2016
In attendance: Father Stan Aksamit, Our Lady of Peace Church, Paul Bailey, Springfield Partners for Community Action, Dave Christopolis, Three County Coc/Hilltown CDC, Ken Demers, BerkshireWorks, Jenna Day, Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Rose Evans, DHCD, Sue Fortin, DMH, Lisa Goldsmith, DIAL/SELF, Mike Hagmaier, Soldier On, Jen Hohn, City of North Adams, Nat Karns, Berkshire Community Development Corporation, Peg Keller, City of Northampton, Jennifer Kinsman, United Way of Pioneer Valley, Charlie Knight, Rainville/former consumer, Joanne LaCour, DTA, Gerry McCafferty, City of Springfield/Hampden County CoC, Andrew Morehouse, Food Bank of Western MA, George Ryan, Hanpden County Regional Employment Board, Jay Sacchetti, ServiceNet, Pamela Schwartz, Network, Jim Seney, VAMC, Sarah Tanner, Friends of the Homeless, Lauren Voyer, HAPHousing, Jennifer Wuest, Behavioral Health Network
Leadership Council Meeting Minutes of 8/3/16:
Motion to approve: Charlie Knight
Seconded: Nat Karns
Approval: Unanimous
Collective Impact Conference Report: Pamela attended a 3 day conference in San Antonio, TX from October 17-20 sponsored by the Collective Impact Forum (http://collectiveimpactforum.org). Click here for the Powerpoint summary of lessons learned. Pamela shared that she was inspired by the framework of Collective Impact and invited the Network to look deeper into what it would mean for the Network to explore this approach. All agreed that that possibility, including the potential allocation of training dollars, would be further discussed at the Steering Committee.
Network to End Homelessness Progress Report: Click here for the Powerpoint summary data update. Gerry and Dave provided an update on the progress with each population – families, chronically homeless, youth and veterans. Additional comments included:
- Soldier On has moved many veterans into new veteran housing in Northampton and Chicopee. The Point in Time Count in the 3 County region will go down significantly this year (currently 144 Soldier On beds are occupied out of 266).
- The advance of using By Name Lists has closed off gaps, preventing more people from slipping through the cracks.
- Deputy Undersecretary Rose Evans offered TA on the challenges related to releases of information; Gerry also suggested bringing this state level support to the next statewide CoC meeting
- Gerry provided an update on the Hampden County CoC’s application to HUD for a Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project. This is a highly competitive process – 10 awards nationwide; Boston and Worcester are also applying – that would provide between $1m and $15m for 3 years (then subject to renewal) to support innovative programs to address youth homelessness. The Network Youth Committee is supporting this process (with the 3 County CoC, which did not have the capacity to apply for this particular grant). Decisions on pilot projects for the initial planning period (6 months of TA from HUD) will occur in early 2017.
Feedback on Data Review (from break-out group discussions)
- Families:
- Encouraging:
- Decrease to 0 of number of families in motels
- Funds for families to leave shelter have increased
Questions/concerns/hopes:
- Challenges with housing stock – rent/income disparity
- Lack of new affordable housing to absorb families
- Where did families leaving hotels get placed?
- What is happening to families who are not EA eligible?
- What is happening with area housing production?
- What are the current numbers? This data is almost a year old
- How do we cover and serve families in the interim of waiting for services; need a better understanding of the process to serve families.
- Especially concerned about the # of young families in shelter
- Concerned about multi-generational homelessness; how to create mobility of opportunity
- How to connect the wider community – do public relations – on what homelessness is and who they are
- Where are the “unsung heroes” around our table
- Publicize successful housing stories after one year; emphasize how Housing First works
Individuals:
Encouraging:
- Use of By-Name List
- Impressive to house 14 chronically homeless individuals in one quarter
Questions/concerns/hopes:
- Is there enough shelter capacity in the region?
- What about people who are doubled up – how are we accounting for them?
- Support more state budget dollars to stabilize tenancies for this population (increase RAFT funds)
- How to connect the wider community – do public relations – on what homelessness is and who they are
- Where are the “unsung heroes” around our table?
- Publicize successful housing stories after one year; emphasize how Housing First works
Youth:
Encouraging:
- New focus on youth population; awareness of need is greater
Questions/concerns/hopes:
- Start engagement well before homelessness occurs
- Gain greater school involvement
- Youth are undercounted – many couch surfing, more likely to be in unsafe situations
- How to connect the wider community – do public relations – on what homelessness is and who they are
- Where are the “unsung heroes” around our table
- Publicize successful housing stories after one year; emphasize how Housing First works
Veterans:
Encouraging:
- Use of By-Name List
- Resources yield results; demonstrates the importance of services + housing
Questions/concerns/hopes:
- Continuing effort to educate around language: “Did you serve” vs. “are you a veteran?”
- Data does not capture all the work that is occurring
- HUD vs. other funding streams and agendas – state/SAMHSA – creates lack of flexibility
- Veteran cost to communities needs to be addressed
- How to connect the wider community – do public relations – on what homelessness is and who they are
- Where are the “unsung heroes” around our table
- Publicize successful housing stories after one year; emphasize how Housing First works
Presentation by DHCD Deputy Undersecretary Rose Evans:
Rose presented summaries of findings from State commissioned studies of family homelessness that spanned 2007-2016. The studies will be released in the next couple of months, at which time we can report publicly on them (and until that time, a public record is not available). The Leadership Council thanked Rose for her time and presentation and looks forward to further learning and discussion.
FY17 Network budget:
Please click here for the FY17 Financial Statement for Quarter 1 with draft budget adjustment (highlighted) for future consideration once/if we receive DHCD funding. We are awaiting the Governor’s decisions around 9C cuts and until then the Network is relying on carryover funds (roughly $21,000). Without the earmark funding, the Network has approximately 5 months of funding left. Assuming the Network is funded, it will proceed along the lines of the budget allocation outlined and decided upon at the August meeting and will consult further with the Leadership Council via email.
Next meeting date: Thursday, Feb. 9; snow date Feb. 16, Hampden County, location to be determined.
