Monday, September 21, 2015

CAN

CAN means Coordinated Access Network; when you call 211 looking for emergency housing here in Connecticut you are accessing CAN. They oversee the emergency shelters and they know which of the area shelters that still have openings, but more important they are the gatekeepers. So they take your information to enter you in to the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
…is a local information technology system used to collect client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and persons at risk of homelessness.
So what does this mean?

When a trans person calls 211 and is looking for a homeless shelter it is the CAN operator that finds a shelter for them. So it is important that the CAN operator knows the law and that a trans person should be assigned a shelter of their gender identity.

Trans people were being placed in the wrong shelters and were being assaulted in shelters. We realized that the shelters were not following the law and HUD guidelines, that the shelters needed training to help them understand what needs to be done to obey the law. And that is what I am doing this morning, training the managers and staff. I am with a coalition of non-profits and government agencies that are going around the state training the homeless shelters on how to integrate their shelters and networks.

The group is made up of people from AIDS Connecticut (ACT), , the CT Coalition to End Homelessness, the CT Fair Housing Center, the CT TransAdvocacy Coalition, and HUD.

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