Shelter Planning Task Force

Shelter Planning Task Force May 27, 2015 Meeting Notes Attendees: Bob Fowler Milestone Norm Maze Shalom House Dave Maclean City of Portland, HHS, Social Rob Parritt MaineHousing Services Division Angela Giordano City of Portland, HHS, Social Jim Devine Homeless Voices for Justice and Services Division Region 1 Homeless Council Sean Kerwin Bayside Neighborhood Assn Claude Rwangje Immigrant/Refugee/Asylee Communities Nicole Evans United Way of Greater Portland Mark Swann Preble Street Bill Higgins Homeless Voices for Justice Peter Driscoll Amistad Dory Waxman Off-peninsula Cindy Namer MaineHousing Dawn Stiles City of Portland, Health & Cullen Ryan Community Housing Options of Maine Human Services Dept Kim Cook Off-peninsula Julie Sullivan Staff to the Task Force, City of Portland 1. Welcome, (re-)introductions 2. Milestone Foundation adult emergency shelter programmatic overview  Executive Director Bob Fowler described the services provided  Licensed as a substance abuse treatment agency; has long-term treatment facility in Old Orchard Beach for 16 men who have had multiple unsuccessful prior treatment attempts  Located at 65 India St o 16-bed, co-ed, medically managed detox  3-7 day stay  Staffed 24 hours by nurses  Alcohol, benzos, opiates  Do accept MaineCare; folks not turned away for inability to pay o 41-bed shelter for men – state’s only wet shelter (have to be intoxicated)  Over capacity every night  Coordinate closely with Oxford Street Shelter  Shower, laundry, meals  Some cots, rest are mats  Open around 5 pm, clients leave around 6 am  Front part open 24 hours – police calls, somewhere to put intoxicated male  Shelter staff – 2 FT attendants during the day, 3-4 in the evenings, 2 overnight; also serve as back-up for detox unit if there are problems Page 1 of 3   Used to be 3 spots for intoxicated women, but eliminated 3-4 years ago when PMI funding gone  Florence House does take intoxicated women; Oxford Street has 9 female spots on the 1st floor (where intoxicated women would have to be), but those are also for those with physical disabilities, so intoxicated women would likely end up in chairs  HOME team – staffed 6 days per week, 12-8 pm, adding Sundays via Amistad. o Respond to first responder calls, merchant calls, general patrolling o Additional work with long-term stayer initiative  Financials not provided – Board not comfortable with sharing that information 3. Long-term stayer approach as best practice/what is working well  Community Housing Options of Maine (CHOM) Executive Director Cullen Ryan presented data showing that around 55% of shelter users stay for less than 2 weeks – these people are not the priority population o Another 40% of shelter users stay for 15-179 days, and would benefit from rapid re- housing, but are also not our first priority o Less than 5% of shelter users are the long-term stayers and require our focus for a housing first approach, though they are far harder to engage, they are the ones that, when housed and supported, lead to a significant decrease in bed-night usage. o In 2013, the City housed 660 people, but the need for overflow did not go away, because they were not the right people – we have to focus on the longest-term stayers.  ADA requirements for reasonable medical accommodations further reduces shelter capacity, as cots take up more space than mats; Oxford Street loses 11-20 spots per night  In order to house the longest-term stayers, we need enough staff as housing counselors; rental subsidies; and support after folks are housed is critical – need for warm hand-off from housing counselors to support services, who check in as much as is needed at the person’s apartment o The Portland Continuum of Care could be coordinating this o Lack of MaineCare expansion in Maine hampers the provision of support services o City housing counselors are also providing support, which limits the housing counseling they can do  The Oxford Street Shelter is the primary adult emergency shelter o 75 spots at Preble Street as first overflow; used nightly o the GA waiting room in the Social Services office at 195 Lancaster serves as a the second overflow, usually a warming center, but could have mats; used intermittently o the Refugee Services office within Social Services was the third overflow, which is no longer used  Need to use Vulnerability Index Service Prioritization Data Assessment Tool (VISPDAT) – for those staying 1-2 months, at risk of becoming chronically homeless – also indicates what type of housing and supports best fit their needs Page 2 of 3  4. Best practices – increasing resources to focus on longest-term stayers is clearly a best practice and is currently a focus via ESAC.  What else would the task force like to look at?  Governance, funding, how shelters operate  Burlington, VT; Salt Lake City, Utah; Bangor; Charlotte 5. Wrap up and next meeting  Weds 6/10, 9-11 a.m., City Hall, STATE OF MAINE RM o Best practice models – structure, scope, funding, governance  Web site: www.portlandmaine.gov/1512/Shelter-Planning-Task-Force o User name: taskforce o Password: portland15 Julie Sullivan Acting Chief of Staff 207.756.8363 jas@portlandmaine.gov Page 3 of 3