Continuum of Care — Portland, ME
Date: 2016-06-22

PORTLAND

 CONTINUUM OF CARE

 Wednesday, June 22, 2016
 10:30 – 12:00 PM

 190 Lancaster Street
 City of Portland Refugee Services
 Conference Area
  I. Introductions -Jon Bradley

 II. CA Transition -Cindy Namer

III. HUD System Performance measures - Cindy Namer

IV. CT and MA CoC Letters to HUD - Cullen Ryan

 V. -Other Business




 Next Meeting:
 Wednesday, July 20, 2016
 10:30am – 12:00pm
 Location TBD
 190 Lancaster Street

 If you should have any questions, please contact:

 Aaron Geyer Adam Harr
 Health & Human Services Department Health & Human Services Department
 Social Services Division Social Services Division
 (207) 482-5131 (207) 482-5144
 aeg@portlandmaine.gov ash@portlandmaine.gov

Portland Continuum of Care
 Wednesday, June 22, 2016
 Meeting Minutes

Jeff Tardif City of Portland, Health & Human Services Dept., Social Services Division
Aaron Geyer City of Portland, Health & Human Services Dept., Social Services Division
Adam Harr City of Portland, Health & Human Services Dept., Social Services Division
David MacLean City of Portland, Health & Human Services Dept., Social Services Division
Vickey Rand Community Housing of Maine
Ginny Dill Shalom House
Cindy Namer Maine State Housing Authority
Wendi DuBois The Opportunity Alliance
Jon Bradley Preble Street
Cullen Ryan Community Housing of Maine
Chet Barnes DHHS
Brian Townsend Amistad
Monique Gordon Department of Veterans Affairs

 I. Introductions
 Aaron started the meeting and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

 II. Collaborative Applicant Transition
 Cindy summarized the transition from the City of Portland as collaborative applicant to Maine
 State Housing Authority. MSHA has taken over the roles in HDX and esnaps and will take over
 the CA responsibilities for CoC meetings, including sending out agendas and taking minutes.
 Adam will send the CoC mailing list to Cindy and her team. Cindy stated that the NOFA is
 expected next week or the week after.

 III. HUD System Performance Measures
 Cindy presented system performance measures that she expects to become program benchmarks.
 There are 7 categories of metrics that will be entered into HDX from HMIS that HUD is working
 on a function that will automatically import data from HDX into esnaps.

 Jon asked how data on unsheltered individuals would be captured in the performance measures,
 specifically in data collection. Jon said that his staff does collect data, citing the unsheltered
 reports given at Emergency Shelter Assessment Committee meetings. Chet said that he only has
 unidentifiable information and identification numbers that would need to be matched with names
 from the data Preble Street collects on unsheltered people. Cindy suggested using a model similar
 to the VA’s “one list.” Chet said that we will be more effective if we identify people, who they
 are and where they are. Partners that don’t have an HMIS license can track their numbers; if they
 have a larger population an HMIS license may make sense.

 Jon asked why Florence House’s safe haven beds are counted as safe haven beds when they were
 counted as permanent supportive housing when the grant was first awarded. Vickey said that the
 safe haven beds have about a $30,000 line item on the Florence House budget, making the
 reallocation process necessary to change the beds from SH to PSH.

 IV. CT and MA CoC Policy Briefs to HUD
 Cullen read the MA policy brief explaining the MA CoCs’ grievances with the NOFA process,
 specifically how the cumbersome data reporting requirements and annual applications for funding
 take resources away from serving clients. He read the brief’s recommendations which largely
 suggested multiyear funding cycles and modified data reporting requirements. Cullen made a
 motion that the PCoC signs onto the letter to. MOTION PASSED unanimously.
V. Definition of Chronically Homeless
 Vickey announced that the MCoC passed a motion that expanded eligibility for Shelter Plus Care.
 She described an issue where the narrow definition of chronically homeless and the associated
 requirement for SPC has led to situations where there are no people who meet the chronic
 definition. This means there are vouchers available and people who are chronically homeless but
 lack documentation to prove so, leaving vouchers on the table while people languish in
 homelessness. Vickey asked that the PCoC make the same motion as the MCoC, as it would let
 more people with the next highest bednights access the resource and get housed when there are
 available vouchers but no eligible individuals.

 Jon said that vulnerability should be considered, as the chronically homeless definition does not
 completely capture who needs to be housed first. Everyone agreed, but Ginny and Chet explained
 that projects in this funding cycle are boxed into considering chronically homeless for
 prioritization. Ginny stated that the coordinated entry and VISPDAT should make it easier to
 make vulnerability an eligibility element in future funding cycles. She then suggested that to
 prioritize more vulnerable clients, an organization could limit the number of applications for SPC
 from a large group to the two most vulnerable people that would still be appropriate for the
 program; when an organization sends many applications, their clients compete with each other.

 Cullen made a motion that the PCoC asks to house the next highest LTS when no chronically
 homeless individuals are available to apply. MOTION PASSED unanimously.

VI. MCoC Merger Motion
 Vickey stated that the MCoC passed a motion to identify different areas of discussion of the
 merger of the Maine CoCs. The goal is to weigh the pros and cons of the merger. The PCoC came
 to a consensus to wait to pass a similar motion until after the NOFA comes out.

VII. Location
 Dave announced that this is the last meeting the group can meet in the RS conference room as the
 Social Services division loses the space as of July first. The next meeting location is TBD, but
 will accommodate members’ summer schedules by holding the next meeting on Friday, July 15,
 at 11:00 am.

VIII. New BRAP Application
 Ginny announced that there is a new BRAP application that has several changes people should
 pay attention to.