Rapid Results Veteran Boot Camp Westchester County, NY 30 Day Review

1. Rapid Results Veteran Boot Camp Westchester County, NY30 Day Review September 16, 2013

2. 100 Day Goal & Progress • Goal: 10 new landlords signed up to take chronically homeless veterans • Progress towards the goal: • Westchester Patriot Housing Initiative chosen as name • Logo and letterhead created, landlord letter drafted • Website (with countdown), Facebook page, Twitter created • CVR will send 200 letters to Section 8 landlords by 9/16 • VA will mail 164 letters to HUD-VASH landlords by 9/18 • CVR will send 1,000 emails to Section 8 landlords by 9/27 • WestCOP planning Congressional press event for 10/7 • WC Veterans Agency organizing events in 5 cities • Met with all local Section 8 agencies and HUD on 9/12 to ask them to give priority to homeless vets

3. 100 Day Goal & Progress • Goal: Pilot wrap-around services for 25 non-HUD VASH chronically homeless vets • Progress towards the goal: • DSS reorganization plan submitted to County Exec • DSS will release details by 9/30 • New DSS Homeless Services Director will be announced and join our team by 9/30 • Existing peer counselors identified at WestCOP Priority needs: • details from DSS on their reorganization, • Confirm DSS commitment to use CTI, • County Exec. approval to fill 1st new position, • Push partners to prioritize planning peer supports

4. 100 Day Goal & Progress • Goal: Get buy-in of Bronx VA + 4 out of 5 major unrepresented allies • Progress towards the goal: We have buy-in from: • Bronx VA (~15 of 25 new HUD-VASH committed), • Westhab (largest homeless housing provider), • Common Ground (largest veteran shelter provider), • Westchester County Veterans Service Agency, • Yonkers Dept. of Veterans Services. Priority next steps: Still working on firming up commitment from Westchester Dept. of Community Mental Health to give vets priority for CoC-funded rental assistance.

5. 100 Day Goal & Progress • Goal: Develop and pilot a common assessment yielding data that everyone can access • Progress towards the goal: • Decision reached to use VA HOMES for VA resources + VI-SPDAT for non-VA programs • Plan is that VA will use HOMES to maintain list of VA housing placements, other placements will be tracked using VI-SPDAT, PD&D will send VI-SPDAT unique IDs (e.g. BER56) to Montrose VA weekly, VA will deduplicate lists and send current Y-T-D count of placements before weekly team meeting • VI-SPDAT database converted for WC by 9/16 • Local users (already using VI) will be trained on VI-SPDAT on 9/17

6. Early Successes • 172 homeless veterans identified • Strong immediate support from CVR (HUD-VASH agency), Bronx VA, and Common Ground • Approximately 15 of 25 new HUD-VASH approved in first 30 days, including vets from non-VA programs • Westchester Veterans Agency now on board, met with all local veterans service agencies on 9/9 to inform them of program • Massive outreach to 1,000+ landlords will be completed by 9/27

7. Early Difficulties and Setbacks • August vacations and September religious holidays have slowed implementation • DSS can’t reveal details of reorganization until new budget for next year is approved by County Executive, delaying announcement until 9/30 or earlier.

8. Level of Confidence Given all of this, what is your level of confidence that the goal will be achieved?

9. Support Needed: • HUD: provide materials for Section 8 and public housing administrators to encourage them to work with our CoC and amend their Operating Plans to give preference to homeless veterans. • VA: encourage Montrose to move toward a Housing First mode. Local Grant Per Diem requires treatment compliance with programs.