Meeting Information

MINUTES
SHELTER MONITORING COMMITTEE
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
10:00 AM
City Hall, Room 408
San Francisco, CA 94102
Members present:
Chair Quintin Mecke
Vice Chair Henry Belton
Secretary Aram Hauslaib  
 Committee Member Elihu Hernandez
Committee Member Rita Lark
Committee Member Aubrey Moore
Committee Member David Nakanishi
Committee Member Maxine Pauson
Committee Member Ramses Teon-Nichols
Committee Member Amanda Thompson              
Committee Member Cindy Ward

 Members absent:
 Committee Member Anthony Beliso
 Committee Member Diana Greer

 The meeting was called to order at 10:07 AM
 
I. MINUTES      
Action: Approved June 3, 2009 Minutes
m/s/c (Belton/Nakanishi/Unanimous)

No Public Comment

II. PUBLIC COMMENT     
Kevin Joseph, a resident at Sanctuary, read the creed of that shelter to the committee and said that with the recent budget cuts the creed means nothing. He asks for the restoration of the budget cuts.

Paul Weston commented on the Methodology. He said since the SOC have both technical and subjective components, so should the methodology, and situations should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Robert Livingston said that funding for daytime shelter operation should be restored, that the budget issues have become intensely partisan, that open-source software should be used in the shelter system, and that we should reexamine the definition of what a shelter is.

Kim Clark echoed Mr. Livingston's IT concerns, and said there needs to be a more effective and efficient system. Even though it may cost money in the short term, it will save money long term and will avoid client trauma.

Jackie Jenks from Hospitality House thanked the Committee for the joint letter sent to the Board, and asked the Committee to continue to push the City to avoid cuts to homeless programs.

Jenny Wiley from Hospitality House also thanked the Committee for the collaboration with the LHCB and said ongoing participation in the conversation is needed, especially regarding questions about technicalities.

Lindsey Parkinson commented on the new shelter reservation policy, and said that there is currently no grievance policy for the first 21 days a client stays in a shelter, and that the database needs work so that immediate updates happen when DOS are entered or overturned.

Mike Morose said that each Committee Member is being named in a lawsuit, and that all Members are fired.

Briana Moore stated that the system had not crashed that morning, the system was just offline until 9:00 AM. She also said that Human Service Agency is in the process of ironing out the Denial of Service Grievance policy and will provide an updated copy when it is finalized.

III.  REPORTS      
A.     Standard of Care (SOC)  
Chair Mecke clarified that the Committee is not limited by the SOC, but that the SOC are expansions of the Committees powers, and that the Methodology clarifies what noncompliance is for each Standard so sites can understand when they are not in compliance and how they can correct. Additionally, Chair Mecke commented on how the Committee is really looking at if the goals of the Standards are being met beyond just the technicalities of adhering to the Standards.

Chair Mecke reviewed the changes in the Methodology that occurred after workgroups were held to discuss specific Standards.

Vice Chair Belton state that he supports the Methodology and thinks it will be very useful on site inspections.

Committee Member Nakanishi noted that on inspections the Committee should not just be looking for noncompliance, but focusing on a plan of correction and ways to improve the system.
 
Action: Approve SOC Methodology
m/s/c (Belton/Thompson/Mecke/Hauslaib/Hernandez/Lark/Moore/Teon-Nichols)
Opposed: Pauson/Nakanishi

Public Comment
Mr. Weston said the Methodology should be rejected as written, and especially noted Standards 1 and 12. He also stated that the Committee should be supporting the SOC legislation not undermining it, and Members who feel the SOC are too subjective and complex should resign.

Ms. Clark approved of Chair Mecke's description of using the Methodology to be proactive and to promote accountability.

Ms. Wiley stated that as a provided she appreciates the concrete examples the methodology provides, and examples of best practices. She also reminded the Committee that every inspection may produce different levels of compliance depending on what is occurring at that point in time at the site.

Mr. Livingston agreed that the point of the inspections is not to fault, but to improve the sites and the system, and that reaching goals are more important than fulfilling the Standards.

Mr. Wright disagreed with the Methodology of Standard 1.

Mr. Pitts state there was a problem with Standard 1 and the example provided in the methodology.

B. Department of Public Health   
Committee Member Nakanishi stated that the city budget add-back process was ongoing, and that more changes will likely occur once the state budget is finalized. He also provided an update on the status of the SOC Investigations that have been forwarded to DPH.

C. Human Services Agency    
Committee Member Ward said she would forward the vacancy reports to the Committee as they became available, and stated that the family turn aways at Hamilton increased from May to June from 16 in May to 29 in June, and the Connecting Point waitlist has increased to 176 families.

Committee Member Ward also stated that the city budget was still up in the air, and the state budget cuts may result in additional cuts.

Brianna Moore stated that all new contracts have been implemented, that there is no longer daytime access in the Big 3 shelters, but there is a new Rest & Recline program for clients that have medical needs or work at night. MSC South Drop-In will open and 150 Otis will close on August 1. A Woman's Place still has available beds but they are no longer accessed through the Changes system.

Ms. Moore explained that most reservations ended June 30, but a certain percent of newly arrived residents at each shelter had their reservations extended until July 7, and that as per the new system they can receive extensions for 14 days and then 90 days if requested. Additionally the new Shelter Behavioral Health Team will be providing orientations at shelters for clients on the new system.

Ms. Moore also discussed recent technical issues with the Changes reservation system that resulted in clients losing reservations, but that the sites did an excellent job at switching to manual check-ins.

IV. NEW BUSINESS     
A. Review of Food/Nutrition Information   
Kathleen da Silva reviewed her top three recommendations for sites to take to continue to improve food service at shelters.

V. INFORMATION REQUESTS     
A. Staff Report      
Ms. Casey was not in attendance, but she provided a handout with updates and training notices. Ms. Casey will return July 6, 2009.

B.   Information Requests    
The Committee will reviewed the Information Request responses Department of Public Health's Standard of Care Timeline Response; Department of Public Health's Meal Contract Response, Department of Aging and Adult Services' Meal Contract Response, Human Service Agency's Vacancy Information Response, and Human Services Agency's Meal Contract Response.

Chair Mecke asked for a new information request from HSA, to provide a detailed list of clients that were denied extensions of reservations by site, and what their length of stay was up to that point.

B.   Announcements
Chair Mecke announce that after the September meeting he will be resigning from the Committee.

Committee Member Nakanishi expressed surprise at Chair Mecke's resignation, acknowledged the work Chair Mecke has done with the Committee and in passing the SOC, and voiced support for Vice Chair Belton to take the lead.

Committee Member Hernandez said he will miss Chair Mecke, and announced an opportunity for advocacy by participating in the die-in occurring in front of City Hall.

IV. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:13 PM.

To obtain copies of the agenda, minutes, or any explanatory documents, please contact Bernice Casey at 415.255.3653 or Bernice.casey@sfdph.org 72 hours before the meeting.

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