Solving Homelessness through Coordinated Access and the End of First-Come/First-Serve Leasing Housing California April 17, 2014 Sacramento, CA Katharine Gale kgaleconsulting@sbcglobal.net www.focusstrategies.net
Overview What is coordinated access? Benefits and challenges Key components of a coordinated system
An approach with many names Coordinated Assessment Centralized Intake Coordinated Entry System Single point of access System front door
What is it? A single place or process for people to access the prevention, housing and/or other services they need. From Cloudburst white paper on Centralized Intake
From the CoC Regs A centralized or coordinated assessment system: Covers the Continuum of Care's (CoC) geographic area Is easily accessible by households seeking housing or services Is well-advertised Uses a comprehensive and standardized assessment tool Responds to local needs and conditions Covers at least all CoC and ESG programs Must include a policy to address needs of those fleeing domestic violence but seeking service from non-victim service providers 3
Opening Doors Objective for Local Communities Transform homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to stable housing - Opening Doors, p. 7
Benefits of Coordinated Access Simplify and speed the process of access and take the burden off of the clients Connect people to the right/appropriate services target limited resources more effectively Reduce duplication of efforts among providers and allow staff to focus on services rather than paperwork
Benefits of Coordinated Access Improve ability to deliver culturally competent services through language capacity and other service links Be available on weekends and after hours Improve system data on needs, gaps and performance
Coordinated access can help meet system goals but its not a panacea Should get people to housing faster but, programs still have to house them quickly Likely to free up staff capacity (reduce front end work) but doesn t create new housing or services Gives info about bottlenecks, but alone can t fix them May affect demand consider how impacts client and program behaviors Some agencies may never join
Components of Coordinated Entry The place or means to access assistance, such as 211 call center, a resource center, one or more shelters (or a combination of these ) Current and complete information about programs that provide services and housing in the community
Components of Coordinated Entry A screening and assessment process to look at needs, eligibility and conditions of individuals and household for referral to appropriate housing and programs A method and tools for prioritizing, making program referral decisions and in some cases, admissions or reservations
Components of Coordinated Entry Information in the community about how to reach the intake point(s) Data collection and regular review A feedback mechanism to refine and improve the process and to modify as needed to meet needs
Different Front Door Models Single location walk-in or appointments with site-based staff Several locations using coordinated assessment system (front door shelters, geographically based resource centers) Virtual location/phone line such as 211 Outreach workers conducting assessment on the streets Combinations/hybrids
Key questions for all models Target population to be served: homeless subpopulation, all homeless, all with housing crisis, all low-income with a mainstream service need? Level of decision making at entry point: referral, pre-screening, shelter bed reservation, housing unit application, placement/admission?
Key questions for all models Type and level of assessment and verification (relates to decision making authority and program model.) Use and management of data and data quality issues