Sonoma County Continuum of Care
Board Meeting– May 26th, 2015
Sonoma County Community Development Commission Offices
Notes
Present: Tom Bieri (CSN), Clara Else (CFSA), John Haig (SCCDC), Jennielynn Holmes (Catholic Charities), Mike Johnson (COTS), Ray Navarro (SRPD), Kim Seamans (Human Services Dept), Kym Valadez (Veteran’s Administration). Absent: Sue Castellucci (City of Petaluma), Cruz Cavallo (SCBH), Michael Crawford (Consumer Seat), Nancy Gornowicz (City of Santa Rosa), Karen Holbrook (Dept. of Health Services). Guests: Oscar Chavez (Department of Health Services), Kristina Griffith (Department of Health Services), Kelli Kuykendall (City of Santa Rosa), Laurie Mitchell (Sonoma County Behavioral Health), Sally Walker (SAY), Carol West (CHW). CoC Staff: Michael Gause, Chuck Mottern.
Meeting convened at 12:04 by Jennielynn Holmes.
1. Good News and Announcements
Jennielynn, Ray, and Michael provided an update on the law enforcement and discharge planning meeting which will take place on June 3rd at the Catholic Charities Family Support Center at 465 A Street from 12:30-2pm. This is a follow up on the discussion at the February Board meeting regarding linking homeless individuals in custody with Coordinated Intake and other services. So far, the Probation Department, Santa Rosa and Petaluma Sheriff’s Departments, Santa Rosa Public Defender, and Santa Rosa District Attorney’s office have been invited and confirmed. Ray Navarro is helping Michael and Jennielynn with outreach and will also reach out to other stakeholders in Sonoma County (including Bill from Petaluma Sheriff Department). Lunch will be provided at the meeting, and Board members can rsvp to Michael or Jennielynn. Michael will send out the agenda and description of the meeting to the CoC Board.
Jennielynn and Michael also advised the group that the new Housing Locator Working Group will have its in initial meeting in June. A doodle poll was sent out to people who are interested in the group. Board members are welcome to attend. We need to have more realtors or landlords included in the group. Michael can send out the information on the meeting once a date is confirmed.
Chuck Mottern provided an update on Code Blue, and it that effort is now named Homeless Winter Weather Response Plan. There has been a greater disaster preparedness effort with the county and creating volunteer opportunities with rotary clubs and procuring funding for organizations participating in effort. There was a feeling of disconnect with County’s Emergency Responders (per Mike Johnson). Chuck noted that there has been great input with some of first responders. The next meeting is June 17th.
Mike Johnson announced that North Sonoma Community Services has now been established as independent 501c3. They have 11 units of TH and approached COTS to help them with putting policies and procedures in place. A funding arrangement with the City of Healdsburg was done with COTS to contract with NSCS starting July 1st. NSCS will enter into Continuum of Care and expand approximately 40 beds of TH (family).
Michael announced that the SOAR Forum would be held on June 24th at the CDC and to RSVP by the second week of June.
Laurie Mitchell introduced herself and announced that she will be taking Gary Pierce’s place at SCBH as Gary has retired.
2. Debrief on Critical Incident at PSH Property
Two weeks ago, a resident of a Catholic Charities Continuum of Care funded PSH Project was murdered outside the property. Jennielynn, Sue, and Michael put this on the agenda to have a brief discussion on what this means for the Continuum as we move to Vulnerability-based services. Shared housing has not worked as well with some residents in communal living.
The population being served is very different than in the past and dealing with more challenges. Ray noted that law enforcement is seeing people still making contact with previous associates when the individuals were homeless. Tom commented that there should be questions for HUD on their policies and that some people might not be “ready” for housing and that there could be program agreements and not lease agreements.
Jennielynn also noted that Catholic Charities and Sonoma County Behavioral Health were working closely with the individual who was killed in the weeks before the incident. Mike stated that stability and safety of entire house are essential and agreements between housemates can be used as a proxy for program requirements. Tom noted that there was an emergency at Stony Point Commons with a resident who attempted self-harm recently and that there was concern on how to support individuals who are the most vulnerable.
There is a perceived need for more resources to get someone “housing-ready” and also reduce isolation for individuals. Continuum wide adoption of communal living policies in housing should be made a priority, and Michael will add this to the agenda of the next PSH Standards meeting.
3. 2015 Point In Time Homeless Count
Michael presented the preliminary data on the 2015 Homeless Count, which shows a 28% decrease in homelessness from 2013.
Mike noted that there could be an impact in the community if we are too successful. Jennielynn said it’s hard to reconcile the numbers with what she’s seeing in Santa Rosa. Mike also mentioned that SMART has displaced a lot of people and Clara mentioned that people are being pushed further out.
Gale requested talking points from the Continuum of Care so that individuals can spread the information and also be consistent with messaging in discussing the reduction. Positive economic message could potentially deflate effort and time and energy.
Ray also noted that it’s about messaging and focusing on positives as well as concerns (especially with higher evictions) and people are more visible due to cleanups and camp removals but that this doesn’t necessarily mean there are more people homeless.
Per Mike, is there a way to do a trend line from past years? Several members also wondered if individuals and families had given up on finding housing and moved out of the area.
Michael stated that the full Count report would likely be completed in June, and our goal was to present the full report to the Board of Supervisors in July. Michael also stated that we should be cautious in discussing too much detail in the numbers as we are still verifying the exact and finalized numbers. Talking points on the preliminary data will be sent to the Board next week.
4. CoC Board Member Elections
Michael advised the Board that Member elections usually take place at the July Quarterly Membership meeting. Michael, Sue, and Jennielynn discussed this prior to the Board meeting, and due to timing, it would be extremely difficult to have member elections at the July Quarterly Meeting, and a recommendation was made by Michael (with Sue’s agreement prior to the meeting) that member elections take place in October and have members seated at the November meeting. Tom made a motion to move elections to October, Mike seconded and all were in favor. Michael will also add this to the agenda for the June meeting.
5. Coordinated Intake Implementation and Discussion on Collaboration with Preventative Services
Oscar Chavez from Human Services discussed how to address the complex issue of homelessness amid the housing crisis with a focus on collective impact. 30-40% of individuals in jail are dealing with mental health conditions. We should focus on prevention and early intervention; Cradle to Career is an example of collective impact to address education and closing achievement gaps.
Oscar stated that we need to change the narrative around homelessness; some of the things impacting all of us are very specific funding sources, jurisdictional specificity, and competition between organizations due to proposals being written. How are we going to work together collectively to address this complex issue?
How are we addressing the housing needs of individuals who interact with health and human services program? Oscar noted that there are a lot of systems working together, and we can begin to look at housing as a continuum.
How are we addressing social and emotional issues and community? Is there a desire to bring this to the Continuum of Care and involve business, government, homeless individuals, etc? Oscar would like to contribute resources for facilitation of a complex problem.
Tom noted that it’s an easy “yes” for people in the room but it’s figuring out who is not in the room and what is getting in the way of fostering more collaboration. There’s a shift in the way services are being rendered. This could be a very positive thing in the long run.
Mike noted that there are systemic barriers to working together as well as fear based issues (other organizations are afraid of pirating of donor bases or policies that have been developed). We should pick several achievable goals that are focused in specific problem areas (ex: Utah and chronic homelessness).
Gale asked if there are other communities that have utilized a “shelter-to-home” approach. Oscar said that there has been a literature review on best practices. What would a successful shared housing model look like? Mike noted that we could double our impact if we could double the housing stock. The effectiveness of the system is not at the core of the issue and that we could spend a lot of time and effort and money and only get marginally better results.
Tom asked Oscar if there was someone to raise the political will to raise money for capital and housing. Opportunity is there to build political will and make it safe for elected officials to lead on this issue.
Oscar stated that there is a need for a “backbone” organization. The question is what the mechanism is to capture savings from housing individuals and who owns the work that needs to happen among homeless and housing providers. Is this through Continuum of Care, Economic Wellness, etc? Do CoC members see the complexity of the issue and that traditional methods aren’t working?
Human Services has tools to offer, including a data referral tracking system to see how we can support a family across the entire spectrum. Housing for people who are homeless is different than housing for community at large. More discussion is needed in the community that affordable housing is the major issue (per Gale Brownell).
The Board would like to continue this discussion at a future Board meeting.
Meeting concluded at 2:15pm.
4