Veterans Committee Meeting Minutes
In attendance: Ben Cluff, DPH, Steve Connor, Hampshire Veterans Services, Chris Lizotte, West Springfield Veterans Services, Jim Mahoney, Holyoke Veterans Services, Melissa Mateus, Springfield Partners, Sue Moorman, HUD-VASH, Katherine Person, Veterans Inc., Farah Rodriguez, HAPHousing, Rick Sabellico, Soldier On, Pamela Schwartz, Network, Kate Sweetster-Owens, HUD-VASH, Sabrina Willard, Soldier On, France Wolfe, HAPHousing
Hampden County 2017 Point in Time Count
Gerry provided this summary by email:
The Hampden County PIT Count identified a total of 19 homeless veterans, as follows:
- 2 unsheltered
- 10 in emergency shelter – this includes 1 family headed by a veteran
- 7 in transitional housing (BiLingual Veterans – 53 Maple Court)
The two unsheltered veterans were 1 in Holyoke and 1 in Chicopee. These are both new to us and not on our by-name list. They were identified by Eliot, which is doing follow-up with them.
We identified 1 chronically homeless veteran–it is the Family head of household, who has been in shelter for over 2 years. She is not VASH-eligible.
The 19 counted this year is a reduction from the 2016 count, where we identified 25 veterans.
Group discussion:
- There was some confusion about why the chronically homeless family is not finding another resource for housing support, e.g., SSVF.
- Jim Mahoney would like to find out more about the unsheltered veteran in Holyoke.
- There was general interest in finding out which veterans among all of those identified were not VHA eligible. Sue Moorman raised the concern of the rising number of veterans who are in need of assistance who are not VHA eligible while there is a large pool of HUD VASH vouchers not being used (anecdotally at last meeting, Sue said roughly one-third of veterans being seen were not VHA-eligible). We agreed we would devote more time to this topic at our next meeting. Is there some advocacy we can do with VA/HUD? We need to turn VA eligible vouchers into non-VA eligible vouchers.
- At the same time, there was confusion around the number of referrals in relation to the number of unused vouchers. Kate pointed out the slow-down in the Springfield office due to lack of staffing – case manager being hired now. There are veterans in the pool who are lacking case managers and therefore not moving as quickly as they would otherwise. Improvement on this is in process.
- It was also noted that Soldier On’s opening up of 88 beds is having a positive impact in housing veterans.
- Pamela will invite Mike Hagmaier of Soldier On to a meeting with committee members to discuss the issue of referrals/non-VHA eligible veterans.
Hampden County Sheriff Roundtable Planning Effort:
Steve Connor obtained a letter from the DVS Commissioner supporting the roundtable effort that he will provide to Dan Boyea to present to the Sheriff.
As to the sample MOU Dan is looking for, Steve has not been able to reach Carl at the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office. Pamela will reach out as well.
Veterans NOFA
Steve raised the question of the NOFA and how discussions are happening around the state around funding requests for different bed types (there are 5 options). The group agreed it wanted to have more dialogue locally around the types and number of beds for which funding is being sought. Pamela will reach out to Sue White, Mike Hagmaier, Sara Polidore, and Jim Seney to invite them to a meeting to discuss this. This is time sensitive because the application is due at the end of March!
Network update:
Due to current funding arrangement – Hampden County CoC paying for Network meetings in this phase of limited Network funding – the veterans committee will meet exclusively in Hampden County (at MHA) until further notice. 3County participants are always welcome and encouraged to attend!
Announcements:
- Veterans Inc has opened a clinical stabilization services in Shrewsbury for post detox. Length of stay between 10 and 21 days.
- VOC has 10 SRO rooms currently available in Chapin Mansion – must be sober for 6 months.
Next meeting date: (we meet regularly on 4th Friday of the month): March 24 9:15- 10:30 am, Mental Health Association, 995 Worthington Street, Springfield
