Sonoma County Continuum of Care Planning Group Meeting
April 21, 2011, 1-4 p.m.
Summary Notes
A list of participants appears at the end of these notes.
Elections to the Continuum of Care Steering Committee
Ballots were distributed, nominees made statements, ballots were collected and tallied. A run-off ended in a tie between Katrin Ciaffa (Buckelew Programs) and Edwin Ferran (Community Action Partnership). Following the meeting a voter who had left early was asked to break the tie. As a result, the new at large representative to the Steering Committee will be Edwin Ferran.
Dee Schweitzer was thanked for being on the Steering Committee for four years total, including co-chairing for two.
Budget Updates and Contingency Planning
Mark Krug distributed a handout: “Budget Update and Contingency Planning Scenarios,” attached. Federal Homeless Assistance grants got a 2% increase, essentially to fund implementation of HEARTH Act provisions in ESG. Continuum of Care funding will be flat, which means that Continuum of Care renewals will probably return to competitive renewals. Big cuts are coming at city and county levels, but the details are still unknown.
We do know some agencies will be seeing cuts. Contingency planning was discussed.
Systems Planning Simulation Exercise
Jenny Abramson broke the large group into tables of approximately six players. Each table represented a Continuum of Care. Participants were asked to move “clients” through the system to permanent housing, keeping everyone housed as much as possible. After 6 rounds (“months”), each table opened a bonus envelope and had to decide together which one change (of 3 possible changes) they would make to their system. Each table then moved through several more “months” of activity to see what impact the chosen change made. This simulation was designed to give local planning groups experience in system-wide planning.
(Materials are available for replicating this exercise in other settings. Contact Jenny for details.)
Supportive Housing Presentation: Set-Aside Units
Paula Cook (Community Housing Sonoma County) provided a PowerPoint presentation on developing set-aside units as permanent supportive housing. She also began outlining the process of an acquisition/rehab project by describing an available property that could become permanent supportive housing. Should this project move forward, it will become a case study on which Paula will present at every stage. Paula’s PowerPoint will be available in the Files section of the CofC listserv.
Committee and Other Updates
Homeless Veterans Committee
Sonoma County Vet Connect continues to hold clinics every Tuesday morning at the Santa Rosa Veterans Building. Underutilized VA funds are available for a limited time, to send homeless veterans with substance abuse issues to Turning Point – contact Kym Valadez at or 569-2300. Currently there are no more HUD-VASH vouchers. The Homeless Veterans Committee meets every first Thursday, 12:30+2:30, in the Sonoma County Community Development Commission hearing room (1440 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa).
Mental Health/Alcohol and Other Drug Services Committee
Meets Thursday, April 28, 12:00 noon-1:30pm, at DAAC offices at 2403 Professional Drive, Santa Rosa. The next meeting will focus on Safe Haven models and possible target population.
Homeless Management Information System
Teddie Pierce, the new HMIS Coordinator, announced a training on HMIS Data Quality, next Tuesday, April 26, 8:30-11:30am. Teddie requested participants arrive 10 minutes early to make sure we can start on time.. This training will be useful for program managers, executive directors, and anyone else who wants usable data.
Health Care for the Homeless
Meeting focusing on the future of the collaborative, Monday, April 25, 3-5 pm, 3315 Airway, Santa Rosa. The Medical respite program will grow to 16 beds in July, and will move with the “A” Street Clinic to the old Brookwood Shelter in July. There has been a promising response about a proposal CMSP to provide intensive case-management and access to housing for 50 homeless people with the most complex health situations with a range of issues, beginning as hospital inpatients. The collaborative is also sponsoring Integrated Client Support Conferences: providers were encouraged to send referrals for these conferences, to get input from a broad spectrum of service providers. Lastly, a survey has been sent out for a case management wiki. This will eventually be a resource for everyone.
Announcements
Affordable Housing Week is May 9 thru May 15. One event will be at Santa Rosa Marketplace, on Wednesday, May 11: talking about how to qualify for rental assistance, barriers, how to get to the top of the list, etc. Flyers were distributed and will be on the CofC listserv. COTS is presenting a workshop on May 7 on financial issues, Northbay Family Homes and Community Action Partnership will lead a workshop on first-time homebuyers. For information, go to www.affordablehousingsonomacounty.org
DAAC will present its annual workshop: “Understanding Addiction: Moving toward an integrated system of care,” Sept. 27, 2011, 8:30 am- 4:30 pm.
Next Continuum of Care Planning Group Meeting: Thursday, July 21, 1-4 pm
Community Development Commission offices
Attendance at the April 21, 2011 CCPG meeting:
(please contact Jenny at with additions or corrections)
Jenny Helbraun Abramson, CofC
Celeste Austin, The Living Room
Megan Basinger, City of Santa Rosa
Galya Bayreuther, SC JobLink
Gina Bell, SAY
Georgia Berland, Task Force for the Homeless
Tom Bieri, Community Support Network
Gale Brownell
Lynn Carolin, SR VA
Sue Castellucci, City of Petaluma
Katrin Ciaffa, Buckelew Programs
Paula Cook, Community Housing Sonoma County
Jan De Wald, Task Force for the Homeless
Heather Dunn, Santa Rosa VA
Rob Durborough, Interfaith Shelter Network
Edwin Ferran, Community Action Partnership
Toni Fitzpatrick, 211
Darlene Fiscus, United Way
Nancy Gornowicz, City of Santa Rosa
Colleen Halbohm, CCOC/Wallace House
Jennielynn Holmes, Catholic Charities
Mike Johnson, COTS
Emily Krispin, North County Community Services
Mark Krug, SCCDC
Jennifer Lake, YWCA
John Lynch, SC Mental Health
Rosemary Milbrath, NAMI
Gary Pierce, SC Mental Health
Teddie Pierce, SCCDC
Jim Poore, Sonoma County Vet Connect
Pamela Powers, Community Action Partnership
Dee Schweitzer, Buckelew Programs
Alicia Sims, YWCA
Michael Spielman, DAAC
Crissy Tuider, SCCDC
Kym Valadez, Santa Rosa VA
Pascale Webb, West County Community Services
Joelle Werner, SC Human Services Dept
Paula Young, SC Human Services Commission