Membership Council – Minutes
Wednesday, December 9th, 2015
10:00-11:30AM
LifeWorks-East Multi-Purpose Room
Attendance: Ann Denton (ECHO Board); Jo Kathryn Quinn (Caritas); Darilyn Cardona-Beiler (ATCIC);
Lauren Avioli (NHCD); Stephanie Hayden (Chair); Mariana Salazar; Niki Paul; Becky Casey (ECHO Staff);
Vella Karman (City HHS); Natalie Metzger-Smit (LifeWorks); Mandy De Mayo (Housing Works); Julia
Spann (SafePlace); Monica Keller (VA); Susan McDowell (LifeWorks); Michelle Wilkinson (Easter Seals)
10:00-10:05
Welcome and Introductions
Stephanie Hayden, Chair
10:05-10:10
Approval of October 28th 2015 Minutes
Stephanie Hayden, Chair
 Will approve minutes in January. Did not reach quorum.
 Thank you to departing 2015 Members!
10:10-11:15
HUD Continuum of Care Business
N. Paul/K. Manganella
 2015 HUD NOFA
 Submitted 11/17/15-Early bonus points achieved
 Review: After Action Summary Report-Niki P.
o Some areas of benchmarks we have not reached yet as a
community-will not receive points
 Opportunities for improvement:
o Currently do not have representations from school liaisons or
law enforcement on CoC Board
 Reach out to Edna Betts/Cathy Requejo about joining
board; reach out to Don Baker
 Ann Denton to speak with Captain of Sheriff’s
department
o Follow up with LGBTQ stakeholder group
o Focus on human trafficking victims
o Do not meet 75% threshold to receive points for being a
majority of a low barrier community-Did not receive points for
Housing First
 Several Housing First projects partnering with nonHousing First projects-ineligible for 12 points
immediately
 Criteria for low barrier:
o Intake criteria-screening out for credit history, criminal
background, required income, sobriety
o A program that is low barrier is most likely also Housing First
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Project threshold for any renewal projects need to be drawing down
their funds quarterly and have timely APR
 Inaccurate reporting of beds being utilized for VASH-makes our
percentage of beds filled seem low
 Need to focus on improving timely data entry
 System Performance:
o Did not reduce overall unsheltered count
o Did not reduce number of unsheltered chronically homeless
o Need to monitor number of first time homeless
o Need to monitor length of time homeless
o Need to ensure family separation policies are followed
o Need to prove we are meeting goals of rapidly re-housing
families within 30 days
o Place more weight on serving families, victims of domestic
violence, and unaccompanied youth as we know
o Identify strategies to reduce youth trafficking and exploitation
o Did not decrease veteran homelessness by 75%
Review: HUD Chronic Homeless Definition-Final Rule Issued
 Significant changes:
o Cumulative amount of time spent homeless in each episode
must add up to 12 months
o Replaced “disabling condition” with “homeless individual with a
disability”
o Not a minimum number of days in which each occasion must
total but instead, occasions are defined by a break of at least
seven days not residing in an emergency shelter, safe haven, or
residing in a place meant for human habitation
o Stays in institutions of fewer than 90 days do not constitute a
break and count toward total time homeless
o Establishes recordkeeping requirements for documenting
chronic homelessness that take into account how providers use
HMIS
 Concern with loss of funding due to numbers of chronically homeless
decreasing and individuals who are experiencing significant
homelessness being overlooked due to not being chronically homeless
CoC Funded Projects: Quarterly Perf. Report Process Update
 Katy Manganella is to present at January Membership Council Meeting
Point in Time Count Planning Update-Mariana S.
 Volunteer Status
o Recruiting 10-15 ServicePoint Users as volunteers to assist with
shelter data entry
o In case of cold weather shelter night-will work to complete
surveys at shelters
o Katy Manganella will be stationed at Front Steps to lead
ServicePoint Users in collecting/inputting data
 Sheltered Count Procedures
o
11:15-11:30
11:30 AM
ECHO team created instructions for non-cold weather night vs.
cold weather night
o Summarize Universal data elements-9 data elements; 4 program
specific
o Encouraging shelters to check data quality prior to day of Point
in Time Count
o Night of count: collect all information; collect any data entry
errors-due diligence on ensuring data entry is as efficient as
possible
 State ESG Funding Local Competition Option—Mariana S.
 TDHCA receives annual funding from HUD so they can run local
competition where they give state ESG funding to chosen recipients
 Currently asking if CoC’s are interested in competing-Travis County has
been approached
 Tentative timeline-must apply by mid-January
 To become ESG Coordinator-must complete a NOFA and collect
applicants within the CoC; must submit applicants by May
o Not beneficial for the CoC to run the competition if only two
programs will apply-based on capacity and time
o Other programs (besides LifeWorks and SafePlace) can apply
directly to TDHCA if they want
 Create annual report to show integration of feedback without having to
take on the local competition
ECHO Update
Niki Paul, ECHO
 Pay for Success Update
o Brief opening today on Pay For Success
 Veteran Functional Zero Update
o Drafted report for USICH-receiving feedback from VA and transitional
programs
o USICH has fleshed out criteria for achieving functional zero-very narrativebased; describing our system including changes we have put in place
o USICH benchmark: taking average of past 90 days-how many new veterans
have come into our system and how many veterans have been housed;
veterans being housed needs to equal or surpass veterans entering our
system
o System in place that allows veteran homelessness to be rare, brief, and nonreoccurring
 Council for Social Work Education Initiative
o Opportunity with the Council for Social Work education initiativecommunity support for social work programs; priming social work students
to come into this field (i.e. training in HMIS)
 Medicaid Update
ADJOURN
Stephanie Hayden, Chair
*Next Scheduled Membership Council Meeting: January 6, 2016, LifeWorks East Multi-Purpose Room
10AM-11:30AM
**New MC Member Orientation: 1/6/16, 8:30-9:45AM (New 2016 members are required) Preceding
January MC Meeting