The role of the Master List, PIT, HMIS and VA data in Ending Veteran Homelessness: A Ground-Level View Enumeration of Homelessness Homeless Evidence and Research Synthesis Roundtable Series July 14, 2015 Martha J. Kegel, J.D. Executive Director, UNITY of Greater New Orleans

After an intense Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness campaign, on Jan. 2, 2015, New Orleans permanently housed in their own apartments the last two homeless veterans on our Master List who could be found and who would accept housing. New Orleans First City to Effectively End Veteran Homelessness

Ending veteran homelessness in New Orleans meant we provided permanent housing to all veterans living on the streets and in emergency shelters who could be located and would accept permanent housing. Between July 25, 2014 and Jan. 2, 2015, we permanently housed 227 veterans living on the streets or in emergency shelter. Nine veterans adamantly refused housing so their cases were “rolled over” into our Functional Zero, which we call the Rapid Response for Homeless Veterans Initiative. New Orleans First City to Effectively End Veteran Homelessness

Methodology: Each night, HMIS staff enter shelters to identify all veterans, and outreach workers comb the streets. SSVF agencies quickly perform assessments, VA confirms veteran status, and SSVF agencies place confirmed veterans in apartments. (Those ineligible for SSVF are placed in Rapid Rehousing.) Quarterly PIT nighttime street surveys are done to ensure periodic comprehensive scans of the streets. The system is coordinated by UNITY, the CoC lead agency, in partnership with the VA and City. New Orleans Definition of Functional Zero: Every newly discovered veteran living on the streets or in emergency shelter is provided permanent housing within an average of 30 days of finding them, unless they choose to enter a longer-term treatment program instead.

Since July 2, 2015, an additional 72 veterans have been permanently housed, including five of those who had adamantly refused housing during the Mayors Challenge campaign. Functional Zero: Our Progress to date Average length of time to house them: 22 days Median length of time to house them: 15 days

The Master List In June 2014, UNITY began compiling a comprehensive Master List of all veterans known to be living in emergency shelter, on the streets or in abandoned building using HMIS, 2014 PIT, and PSH Registry data. VA was asked to review the list and add others, as well as begin the process of verifying veteran status. By July 25, 2014, the list was compiled. The Master List is dynamic and is never closed. Every day every effort must be made to scour shelters and streets to find more homeless veterans, as well as find those already on the list. The list is verified. Just as important as who you add to the Master List is who you do not add. We add only those whose veteran status is independently confirmed. We do not add persons who are not living on the streets or in emergency shelter. We do not add those whose homeless status is self-certified or certified only by friends and relatives, or certified by professionals who have not actually seen the person sleeping on the street. Otherwise scarce housing resources intended for homeless veterans will be spent on those who are not actually homeless, and you will not end Veteran homelessness.

VA’s role in the Master List Very close communication between VA and CoC is essential. The CoC typically has the best capacity to find the homeless veterans, while the VA can best verify their veteran status and determine what VA-funded housing programs they are eligible for. Everyday UNITY submits a list of newly found homeless veterans, and the VA confirms whether they had military service, whether they are eligible for VA health care, and whether they have been dishonorably discharged. In New Orleans, about percent of those who claim to be homeless veterans turn out not to have served in the military. To confirm military service, we check the VA’s military service data base (HINQ), our Navigators request DD214s, and any documents veterans have are examined. The VA does sometimes know about homeless veterans who are not known to the CoC or SSVF outreach teams. In these cases, the VA places the veteran on the Master List via a number rather than a name.

It’s the only way to be sure you have ended veteran homelessness It brings all partners together on the same page, focusing housing resources on those living on street and shelter who clearly should receive the highest priority for housing While the Master List draws on PIT and HMIS data, those sources alone are inadequate PIT is only once-a-year snapshot; much of the street data is collected by volunteers who may have higher error rates HMIS data is unverified and has inadequate coverage of those living on the street VA homeless data includes many who are not on the streets and in shelter but instead may be in the outer bands of the HEARTH definition of homelessness; also homeless status is not verified by independent sources who have actual knowledge of the person’s homelessness Why is a Master List Necessary?

Since veterans have a disproportionate rate of poverty and disability, they continue to have high rates of being newly pitched into homelessness. Functional zero communities need to be assured that their hard-earned progress will be rewarded and supported by sufficient supplies of SSVF and VASH on an ongoing basis with which to maintain functional zero. SSVF is especially needed, because it must play the essential front-line role of maintaining functional zero. The VA and HUD can feel confident in giving VASH and SSVF to functional zero communities because in order to reach that status, these communities have proven that they are properly prioritizing the veterans in the most dire homeless situations. Therefore, VASH and SSVF are being especially well-used in these communities. A further reason not to reduce resources to these communities is because doing so would undermine the goal of ending veteran homelessness everywhere. One of the greatest barriers to getting to zero in the first place is the widespread belief that VA resources will be taken away if a community ends veteran homelessness. Communities that have achieved functional zero should in no way be penalized by decreasing VA housing resources.