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MUTEH 2012 Annual Performance Report | 2

MUTEH 2012 Annual Performance Report

Mississippi United To End Homelessness

! Old River Place, Suite 23!, Jackson, MS :;232

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Introduction The following Annual Report takes a quick look at what MUTEH has accomplished in the past year. In an effort to keep the report brief, this report contains only a small portion of our total accomplishments. Certain themes and core components, such as training and reporting, were maintained in MUTEH’s actions this past year. We ensured that participating agencies had access to regular training opportunities while supplying reports to agency staff to keep them apprised of their HMIS status. Accordingly, MUTEH followed up with interested agency leaders in how to resolve problems indicated by the reports. Most other actions were built upon these few core elements.

CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Executive Summary 5

MUTEH General Operations 5

MS Permanent Housing Alliance 5

Homeless Management Information System 5

PATH Grant 5

Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-‐Housing Program 5

Emergency Solutions Grant 5

HMIS Data Summary 6

Data Quality Trends 6

Data Quality Breakdown 6

Annual Reporting 7

Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) 7

2012 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) 7

MUTEH Continuum of Care (CoC) Regional Coalition Map 8

ESG Agency Participation 9

Permanent Supportive Housing Agency Participation 10

Transitional Housing Agency Participation 11


Projects & Programs Summary 12

HPRP Closeout 12

Emergency Solutions Grant – Secured 12

Mississippi Permanent Housing Alliance 12

PATH 12

Organizational Advancements 13

HUD Housing Pre-‐Conference (August 2011) 13

Homeless Systems Workshop: ELEVATE 13

Trainings 13

Domestic Violence Comparable Database 14

MUTEH’s Website Redesign 15

Upcoming Initiatives 16


Executive Summary MUTEH General Operations

• MML: Overview and Outcome expectations

MS Permanent Housing Alliance

• Grant period: 6/2012 – 5/2013 • APR in process, will be submitted by July 31th (Due Aug 31st) • Technical Submission due for new project • Desk Review by State HUD Office, must submit requested documents by July 30, 2012

Homeless Management Information System

• Technical Submission due for new project • Comparable Database Implementation for DV Shelters (ESG Hearth Requirement)

PATH Grant

• Effective dates April 1, 2011 – September 30, 2012. (18 months) • Accepting referrals

Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program

• Project Completed

Emergency Solutions Grant

• MUTEH Awarded one-‐time funding for Rapid Rehousing Statewide from 2011 ESG

• Amount Awarded: $704,360.00 (Rapid Rehousing) + $16,211 (Administration)

= $720,571 -‐ Total Budget

• Activities Funded: Housing relocation, stabilization and short and medium term rental assistance

• Anticipated Funding Cycle: 6 weeks from HUD approval (estimated Sept. 1 implementation)

• Funds available for Rapid Rehousing Statewide:

$1,053,758 (Rapid Rehousing) + 21,000 (Administration) =$1,074,758 – Total Available Funds


HMIS Data Summary

Data Quality Trends

Programs are evaluated on the percentage of missing, unknown, refused, and invalid data for all required Universal Data Elements. High percentages of missing data result in less meaningful data. If an agency does not complete data, they inhibit HMIS's ability to: produce unduplicated counts, report population trends, and produce an acceptable AHAR for the CoC.

The figure to the right represents an average of all HUD-‐required fields in HMIS. Since 2010, MUTEH’s unknown data percentage has decreased by 50%.

Data Quality Breakdown

STAFF PARTICIPATION HIGHLIGHTS

� HPRP OPENING 2010 logins increased due to staff training and implementation of HMIS.

� MPR & QRC In 2011 MUTEH implemented the use of monthly progress reports and quarterly report cards to increase staff participation.

� HPRP CLOSEOUT In June 2012, HPRP closed resulting in a decrease in staff participation (due to unemployment).

2010 30.3% 2011

18.9%

2012 16.0%


Emergency Shelter Utilization

Annual Reporting Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)

Each year Congress reviews a report on homelessness in America referred to as the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR). To contribute to this report, communities must meet 3 criteria:

1. Have greater than 50% HMIS coverage rate per housing category (ex. 50% or more Emergency Shelters for Individuals in MUTEH's coverage area must have implemented HMIS)

2. Of those participating agencies, they must have a utilization rate higher than 65% 3. Community must have quality data (minimal "don't know/refused/other/missing")

This criterion has kept MUTEH from submitting in many categories year after year. This past year, MUTEH staff worked tirelessly to increase HMIS coverage in every category by bringing on several new agencies. MUTEH staff also worked with agency directors to insure that bed numbers were set up correctly resulting in accurate utilization rates producing the best possible utilization numbers. HMIS staff was able, in certain situations, to retroactively correct data quality issues. These efforts enabled MUTEH to submit more categories than on any previous AHAR. Following the AHAR submission, HMIS staff implemented several initiatives that should result in even further categories being submitted in the 2012 AHAR.

2012 Housing Inventory Count (HIC)

The following pages contain maps representing data from the 2012 Housing Inventory Count. The figures represent Emergency Shelter, Permanent Supportive Housing, and Transitional Housing Participants. All organizations for the State of Mississippi are not represented due to non-‐participation with 2012 Housing Inventory Count.

Figure 1 -‐ MUTEH Emergency Shelter Utilization has increased steadily over the past year from 37% to 60.5% due to our pro-‐active attempts to implement, train, and gain agency participation in HMIS.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

ESG Utilization


MUTEH Continuum of Care (CoC) Regional Coalition Map


ESG Agency Participation


Permanent Supportive Housing Agency Participation


Transitional Housing Agency Participation


Projects & Programs Summary HPRP Closeout

The purpose of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-‐Housing Program (HPRP) was to provide homelessness prevention assistance to households who would otherwise become homeless-‐-‐many due to the economic crisis-‐-‐and to provide assistance to rapidly rehouse persons who are considered homeless as defined by section 103 of the McKinney-‐Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302).

As of June 30th, MUTEH has closed its Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-‐housing Program. Over a span of 3 years, MUTEH used $7.9 million dollars to help 7,073 people. A more detailed report of MUTEH’s HPRP program will be published at a later date.

Emergency Solutions Grant – Secured

The Mississippi Development Authority selected MUTEH as the recipient of ESG Rapid Re-‐housing Grant. The funds will assist those needing housing relocation and stabilization services along with short and medium term rental assistance on a one-‐time basis.

Mississippi Permanent Housing Alliance

MUTEH also administers the Mississippi Permanent Housing Alliance program. The program houses disabled homeless clients in Hattiesburg, Meridian, and Cleveland. Chris Wilkes serves as the case manager to clients in program. He works in conjunction with point agencies located near to the clients. Thanks to additional funding, MPHA will double its capacity over the next year.

PATH

MUTEH’s PATH Grant has moved homeless clients battling addiction from homelessness into Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities to get them started on the path to recovery. PATH (in coordination with other MUTEH programs) was then used to transition them into housing. PATH funding was also used to purchase items to aid in MUTEH’s 2013 Point in Time count. For instance, backpacks were purchased that will eventually be stocked with supplies donated to our regional homeless coalitions which will in turn be distributed to unsheltered homeless during out 2013 point in time count.

Sheltered homeless, interviewed during our 2013 PIT, will be given 1G USB drives provided by our PATH grant. These flash drives contain: an easy to use Electronic Resource Directory, Resume Templates, and a variety of ‘How To’ Documents (Access Veteran Services, Apply for Disability, Apply for Food Stamps, Get a Picture ID, Get a Job). With the provision of PATH funding, MUTEH has been successful in helping clients access substance abuse treatment services, transition into stable housing situations, and equip clients with tools needed to remain stably housed.

Image 1 -‐ Sheltered homeless interviewed during our 2013 PIT Count will receive 1 GB USB drive (with Electronic Resource

Directory) provided by the PATH Grant.


Organizational Advancements HUD Housing Pre-Conference (August 2011)

In an effort to use any available medium to educate Homeless Advocates on MUTEH's programs, including training them in HMIS, MUTEH gladly accepted an offer from HUD staff to use a meeting space at the Hattiesburg Convention Center to meet with member (and potential member) agencies. MUTEH brought in a representative from Foothold Technologies to conduct a formal AWARDS training. Attendees (both member and non-‐member) were welcomed at MUTEH's membership meeting held onsite at the Pre-‐Conference.

Homeless Systems Workshop: ELEVATE

In May of this year, MUTEH provided training in HMIS and Case Management for the staff from Emergency Shelters statewide. This training facilitated roundtable discussions of issues affecting homeless processes in MS and provided insight as to the purpose and available assets of MUTEH. With 59 attendees representing 29 agencies, the workshop proved beneficial to all involved.

Trainings

MUTEH took great effort to insure that every HMIS using agency attended trainings over the past year. New user codes of ethics forms dictate that each HMIS user will attend two trainings per year (one of which must be attended in person). Onsite and Regional trainings were offered throughout the state to make training attendance as convenient as possible. Agency staff that needed more instruction were given one-‐on-‐one training through online meetings or by meeting with staff at our Jackson office. These efforts led to every HMIS-‐participating agency attending training over the past year.

To provide better cost-‐benefits to agencies, MUTEH expanded use of the online meeting application, WebEx (http://www.webex.com/).


CISCO WEBEX TRAINING BENEFITS

� DECREASE TRAVEL COSTS Use of WebEx allows agencies to attend training without travel costs.

� INTERACTIVE TRAINING Use of WebEx allows for very interactive training as attendees can be given control of meeting and computer control can be shared.

� SECURE WebEx also allows secure interaction online (HIPAA compliant).

Domestic Violence Comparable Database

Through a roundtable session held with DV shelter providers from all over the state, MUTEH presented and vetted several options in producing a comparable database for DV shelters participating in the Emergency Solutions Grant. The plan is to implement an entirely separate but similar database as a Domestic Violence Comparable Database (DVCD). This database will in no way be connected to MUTEH’s HMIS database. The database will be completely devoted to DV shelter providers. Each participating DV shelter program will be ‘siloed’ in the database, thus program workers will only be able to see clients enrolled in their program. The DVCD will also be given a revised set of Policies and Procedures that tighten the already stringent HMIS policies and procedures. The revisions will include: requiring a legal warrant for release of information (release of information must be approved and documented by program staff and MUTEH Executive Director), limiting number of program staff with DVCD access, regular audits on database security by a third party DV shelter agency, and zero access granted to MUTEH HMIS staff. The database will be a 128-‐bit key encrypted database rendering it completely protected against anyone trying to “hack” into the system.

MUTEH’s goal from the beginning has been to bring as many voices from the DV Shelter community as possible to the table. We have reached across continuum and state lines to insure that we implement a database that complies with VAWA regulations while allowing DV programs to participate in the Emergency Solutions Grant. We believe that MUTEH’s DVCD will meet the needs of VAWA and HUD. Furthermore, we believe it will better processes to reach homeless victims of domestic violence while taking every available precaution to insure their safety through confidentiality.


MUTEH’s Website Redesign

MUTEH's website was updated to be more informative, communicative, and current. The aesthetics were also improved to incorporate MUTEH's logo. The website now informs visitors as to MUTEH's history, structure, and current program dynamics. It is utilized as a means of communication to member agencies regarding events and updates on MUTEH initiatives. The website also makes a variety of tools and resources available.


Upcoming Initiatives

Staff Connect Promotion

ESG HMIS Implementation & Follow-‐Up (Largest HMIS Implementation Since AWARDS 2008 inception)

Continued Development and Implementation of the Domestic Violence Comparable Database

Growth and Expansion of Quarterly Report Cards & Monthly Progress Reports

Computer Skills Webinar Offered Monthly

Rapid Re-‐housing Program Implemented By MUTEH (State-‐Wide)

Mississippi Permanent Housing Alliance Will Double Capacity