NE Continuum of Care

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board Offices

Eveleth, MN

Governing Board Meeting Minutes

10:00am – 12:00pm

May 11, 2017

Board Members

Present

  1. Diane Larson, Itasca HRA
  2. Debra Shaff, Cloquet/Carlton HRA
  3. Patricia Pylkka, HDC
  4. Barb Larson, Range Mental Health Center
  5. DeAnna Winge, AEOA
  6. Rozanne Casey, KOOTASCA Community Action
  7. Toni Thorstad, MACV
  8. Kathleen Saelens, Salvation Army
  9. Audrey Moen, Northland Counseling Center
  10. Ariana Daniel, Servants of Shelter
  11. Ron Oleheiser, Grace House
  12. Angela Neal, AEOA

Absent

  1. David O’Leary, Hearth Connection
  2. Lisa Pollak, FDL
  3. Lisa Hamilton, AADA

Quorum: 12 of 15 Board members present

Others in Attendance

  1. Cara Lundquist, CoC Assistant
  2. Patty Beech, CoC Coordinator
  3. Jackie Meyer, HDC
  4. Jessie Hendel, Commonbond Investments
  5. Jared Ackmann, Roer Investments
  6. Paul Keenan, Roer Investments
  7. Drew Klinkert, ICA
  8. Lori Maegrl, MACV
  9. Connie Kaddatz, North Shore Horizons
  10. Ben Wilson, Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs
  11. Nathaniel Saltz, MACV
  1. Introductions
  1. Review Meeting Minutes – 04/13/2017 (attached)

Discussion / Actions Identified
  • Minutes approved as written
/ Motion to approve minutes as written:Connie Kaddatz
Second:Toni Thorstad
Voting ay:All present
Voting Nay:None present
  1. Cloquet Middle School Apartments - Jared Ackmann/Paul Keenan (Roers Investments), Jessie Hendel (Commonbond)

Discussion / Actions Identified
  • 2016 project: 50 units
  • 2017 project: 57 units
  • Reduced the number of 3 bedrooms to 14
  • Added studio units (9)
  • Will maintain the gymnasium for community and resident use
  • Will demo the pool for parking
  • 7 LTH units
  • Not requesting any further assistance from the City, locals, or the County
  • All 7 LTH units will be layered with tax credit program
  • Rents are underwritten to a lower threshold
  • Tenants must meet income requirements
  • Working with HRA to possibly have Project Based Vouchers to help with the project
  • Underwriting about a 15-30% of AMI on 7 LTH units
/ CoC will vote to authorize Certificate of Consistency at the June 8th meeting
Cara will forward Middle School Apartment information to CoC to review
Commonbond Communities (Jessie Hendel)
  • Commonbond’s closest current housing is in Aitkin County
  • 200 units of housing where services are provided
  • Will hire a service coordinator/case manager staff to be on-site. (.5FTE) in addition to other staff (full time property manager)
  • Individualized graduated model of case management
  • Build initial relationship through lease up process – primary focus helping families remain stably housed
  • Solid experience working with CoC’s and Coordinated Entry Systems but will be new to this system
  • Tenant selection standards – one set for general population units and one set of standards for LTH units
  • Criminal background – looks at history, impact on housing, severity of charges
  • Crimes that may prevent housing include – harm to another individual or property, arson, sexual offenses
  • Felonies – if the felony occurred within a certain amount of years, may not be available to be housed.
  • Jessie is open to offline conversations to discuss more about the project/criminal backgrounds
Criminal history matrix
  • A sex offender, regardless of level, while registered would not be accepted
  • Felony – related to fraud (allowed), weapons (5-7 years), drug charges (high level – 5 years post conviction, lower level – allowed in), violence (assault – 7 years)

Q&A
Question: How do you think the changes you’ve made to this project will score vs. how the project was scored last year? Are there things you are doing differently that will make it point higher?
Answer: Biggest advantage is related to the historic tax credit approval.
Lost out on a lot of points last year related to financial stability that shouldn’t be an issue this year.
CoC Discussion - Cloquet Middle School Apartments
  • 7 more units being proposed compared to last year
  • Concern with high number of 2 bedroom units
  • Little income/middle income neighborhood
  • Push from business community is that it will cost the school $114 million to tear down
  • How does this meet the need for affordable housing or supportive housing in our community?
  • Does it meet the CoC objectives?
  • Would like to see more affordable workforce housing being developed
  • If it’s a fully tax credit property, every family admitted would have to meet 60% of median area income
  • Studios – tenants outgrow studios very quickly, are more successful with one small bedroom
  • IRS funded programs – 30 year requirement for compliance on projects before going to market rate
CoC’s role in a Certificate of Consistency – Patty Beech
  • The way we’ve looked at it in the past is more in terms of “we need more housing for homeless people”
  • We have a need for more housing for homeless people in Carlton County
  • It’s not saying we approve of all of the details of the project but that we agree that it meets the needs that we see for homeless people
  • Want to provide guidance to MN Housing about what our area needs are
  • Carlton County priority is individuals
  • Certification would say that individuals are set as a priority and we would certify that they are meeting that need

  1. Veteran Homelessness - Ben Wilson, MN Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Discussion / Actions Identified
  • Ben Wilson spoke with CSVO’s in the region except for Koochiching County
  • All CSVO’s stated that we have their support if CoC’s choose to move forward with Declaring End to Vets Homelessness
  • Not enough Emergency Shelter stock
  • Average number of days from location to permanent housing is 37 regionwide
Nathaniel Saltz, MACV
  • May be ambitious to declare end to Vets homelessness
  • Resources are in place to house Vets – today there are 0 on the registry – declaration means we have the resources and connections in place to get homeless vets into housing

Q&A
Question: What is the CSVO (Itasca County’s) overall feeling of ending Vet homelessness?
Answer: CSVO had some misconceptions about what functional zero meant.
  • It doesn’t mean that a Veteran is never going to experience homelessness.
  • Once a declaration is made, it allows us to focus on prevention strategies.
  • The NE CoC has met that criteria and continues to meet it – over a pretty extended period of time.
Question: One Region in the State (SW CoC) has made the declaration. Can you tell us about their experience?
Ben: It’s been really good. Since announcement, there has been more of an outpouring from organizations that want to help.
  • In a lot of cases, Vets don’t want to access services through the VA. Vets are able to connect to services through providers outside of the VA.
  • In communications with Justin Vorbach (CoC Coordinator), there has not been mention of backlash. CoC has been able to identify additional homeless vets.
Concerns(Carlton County)
  • Carlton County has very limited services – unable to meet the need in Carlton County.
  • There isn’t anywhere to place Vets. MACV services the area but does not have housing in the area.
  • Where are we putting them up? For how long? What is the benefit to making declaration?
  • What are resources in Carlton County?
  • Housing is critically short in Carlton County.
Q: Are there a lot of veterans in the Carlton County area?(Ben)
A: Vets automatically get 25 points for HRA housing. See at least 1 Vet come through the door every month. (Deb)
  • If there are no resources right there, we hope that they can relocate. (Ben)
  • Limited motel vouchers (72 hours for a single and up to 45 days for a Vet with dependent children). Rule determined by the VA.
  • What other providers can be brought into the mix? Are the service providers willing to shelter a Veteran to give us time to house people? (Nathaniel)
  • Deb would feel more comfortable making a statement that we are making steps toward ending Vets homelessness.
  • Ben is willing to come to Carlton County to build some engagement around this
  • What about continued funding for MACV because of this proclamation?
  • What happens with MACV’s budget for RRH?
  • Better to showcase services provided and what’s been achieved but not making the proclamation (Connie).
  • Not enough information to show functional zero because of lack of full data about vets choosing not to be on the registry (Audrey).
  • Proclamation is not “mission accomplished” it is focused on stating that the resources are in place to house Vets homelessness. It also shows that there is still a need for funding and services. (Ben)
  • Disconnect from understanding how services keep people in housing. Worry that with a message that shows that it’s done, it shows people that the government should not be providing funding for services. (Ariana)
  • The headline stating “ending Veterans homelessness” – people may not read the supporting facts included and take the wrong message. (Ariana)
  • Would be good to have a quarterly/ongoing announcement about what we are doing for not only Vet homelessness but homelessness overall (Connie)
  • Ben – holding a press conference on what steps have been made and what can still be done.
  • Nathaniel – VA SSVF grant – spent 60% RRH and 40% prevention. As more regions claim an end to homelessness, we are able to shift more funding to prevention. It would allow for more assistance to be provided to individuals that are doubled up (prevention funding).
  • Goal – if we have these things in place, then we have reached a goal. Makes a strong argument to the community about where we’re going and why we need support.
Q: Are there Vets on Coordinated Entry that are not on the homeless Veteran registry?
A: Audrey – every time we come across a Veteran in Itasca, we directly refer them to the CSVO. (Audrey)
Diane – by answering the questions on the application would mean taking the steps to declaring an end to Vets homelessness
Ben – You can apply, don’t be discouraged if they don’t believe CoC has met the threshold, may identify areas that need to be targeted further, no negativity that comes from applying
Deb – take application/questions back to community to look at questions and evaluated where we are. Hold a press conference to show the steps taken in communities to end Vets homelessness. (take the tool back to the VFW and other Vets providers in community to get feedback)
Ben – would it make sense to have a working group that discusses next steps?
Ron – each County should look at how the County answered the application and can come back as whole group or subgroup and review.
Diane – representative from each County will take the lead and make a report back.
Contact Ben Wilson with questions about data – can get down to county level as much as possible / Cara will send out application to entire group to review individually and bring back to the table
Process of declaring Vets homelessness
  • Community needs to complete application (NE CoC)
  • Asks a lot of questions about main points of contact in the community
  • Brief overview of how you achieved the goal and who is involved
  • Community participation in TA (Mayor’s challenge)
  • How many days community waits to change Vets status to missing (registry – at least 90 days, many times longer than 90 days)
  • Data should be comprehensive – include all Vets that are homeless
  • Programs in community not accounted for in data
  • Ending chronic homelessness among Vets
  • Community housing stock and affordability
  • Application is submitted
  • USICH, VA, and HUD have a workgroup that reviews application
  • Ben – You can apply, don’t be discouraged if they don’t believe CoC has met the threshold, may identify areas that need to be targeted further, no negativity that comes from applying

Next Steps
  • Deb – take application/questions back to community to look at questions and evaluated where we are. Hold a press conference to show the steps taken in communities to end Vets homelessness. (take the tool back to the VFW and other Vets providers in community to get feedback) (Deb)
  • Each County should look at how the County answered the application and can come back as whole group or subgroup and review. (Ron)
  • Representative from each County will take the lead and make a report back. (Diane)
  • Contact Ben Wilson with questions about data – can get down to county level as much as possible
County leads – Vets Homelessness Workgroup
  • Itasca: Ron
  • Carlton: Deb
  • Lake: Connie
  • Cook: Connie
  • Koochiching: Ariana
  • Aitkin:
  • Ben can reach out to Penny to see if she can gather information for Aitkin County
  • Toni Thorstad will represent MACV on committee
  • Tie Ben Wilson into the committee
/ Come back to August meeting with preliminary information
Put on agenda for August meeting and discuss
County leads will complete tool with their region and get together before August meeting
  1. HUD Continuum of Care
  2. HMIS

Discussion / Actions Identified
Data Quality
  • Gender conflict with head of household was a report glitch with this run of data quality

Updates
  • Will be getting a few more emails about corrections for System Performance Measures
  • Length of Stay – will be sending emails to people who have clients who have stayed longer than that to double check to make sure that data is correct

Other
Sage - APR
  • Need to download CSV APR report in HMIS
  • Under CoC APR menu
  • APR downloads as a CSV file
  • Downloads as a zip file
  • Upload to Sage

  1. APR Reviews

Discussion / Actions Identified
HDC Outreach Center Apartments
  • February 1, 2016 – January 31, 2017
  • 13th year of grant
  • PSH
  • 5 beds, 1 dedicated for chronic homeless
  • At capacity – utilization was 100%
  • Total served: 8
  • Adults: 7
  • Children: 1
  • Leavers: 2
  • Stayers: 6
  • Veterans: 2
  • Chronic: 4
  • DV: 4
  • Average stay: 354 days

  1. Updates and Announcements

Discussion / Actions Identified
Cloquet/Carlton HRA - Deb
HSASMI grant
  • Group HSASMI – submitted an application for funding for Cloquet project as long as others in Duluth
  • Gap in funding has held off on breaking ground and moving forward
  • Audrey – if awarded, Audrey will help with HSASMI grant
“Lightning round” with the State
  • Will fund entire funding gap (approx.. $900,000)
  • Will be approved at a MN Housing Board meeting
  • Hoping to still break ground in late August/early September

Itasca HRA - Diane Larson
  • For anyone with current housing trust funds through State, renewals are due May 31
  • Itasca HRA will apply to be a renewal grant – 7 slots to serve people coming into Itasca County homeless out of correctional facilities
  • Itasca HRA Annual Report (distributed)

Success Story - Kathleen
  • Client in Aitkin County
  • 28 years old
  • Lived/grew up in the cities
  • 4 daughters
  • Domestic violence survivor
  • RRH
  • Achieved her GED
  • Workforce Center paid for CNA training
  • Works full time
  • Now stably housed for the past 3 months
  • Overcome barriers

Motion to adjourn: Ron Oleheiser

Second: Kathleen Saelens

Next meeting: June 8, 2017

Host: Hearth Connection