Miranda DeNovo testifies on Homebase staffing and lost referrals
Miranda DeNovo, who has lived experience of homelessness, describes helping a friend who has been homeless for over two years. She says a referral was lost, a shopping letter promised within two weeks has not arrived after six, and the case was passed between case managers.
Hi, my name is Miranda DeNovo.
I don't have a ton to say.
I was doing the nodding in the back to all of this.
So mostly just wanted to add some specific examples about timelines that I've experienced.
Like the gentleman who spoke, whose name I didn't catch, I have lived experience of homelessness and have just kind of fallen into like trying to help my friends because as everybody has said, it's pretty impossible to navigate this if you don't
have anybody to advocate for you.
So everything that everybody has said already, I agree with.
Was going to say just as like an example of timelines, a friend that I have been trying to support for, they've been homeless for almost two and a half years.
The most recent engagement with Homebase started in June of this year.
Actually, I think it was before that.
So some amount of weeks or months before that, we put in a referral.
We heard back from the referral in June, did the two eligibility interviews, and then at some point last month we're told, sorry, we submitted the documents.
Some way last month we're told that this person would receive a shopping letter.
Within two weeks, it's now been, I think, about six.
Part of what seems to be happening is that the case has been passed through at least a couple of different case managers.
And so I finally did get a call from the case manager last week, and it had just been on her desk, and she hadn't had a chance to look at it.
I'm like, that's not even her fault.
That's a staffing thing.
But she just truly, I don't think, had even opened the file until I got on the phone with her.
And then now the shopping letter is hinging on, I think,
some piece of documentation that we submitted that she just said, I'm not familiar with this.
I've never seen this particular documentation of the eviction before.
I have to ask my supervisor, but like, who knows how much longer it's going to be.
Um, before this first, like this, this interaction that's actually led to maybe a shopping letter coming someday soon.
Um, the very first time that we tried to submit a referral was over a year ago.
They lost the referral, had to submit a new one three months later.
Um, also, sorry, I know my time.
When APS gets involved, because that is one of the only eligibility pathways, as you know.
APS is not helpful.
They do not know how to follow up on the existing applicant.
They only know how to start a whole separate application from scratch.
So that is a terrible system.
Thank you.
Thank you.