Agenda Packet 5-13-19 Joint Work Session

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F. Expand and Increase Utilization of Tenancy Supports While rental assistance and subsidies are an important component in ending homelessness, tenancy supports also play a critical role in ensuring clients can maintain their housing permanently. Data on returns to homelessness from PH suggests that tenancy supports may not be as available or effective as needed; in 2017, 21 percent of people who exited to permanent housing returned to homelessness. Tenancy supports are activities related to ensuring a tenant complies with their lease. This might include budgeting assistance to ensure rent is paid on time and in full, training on keeping the apartment clean, providing support to request reasonable accommodations, and developing a positive relationship with the property owner. Lane County should consider system-wide training and support protocols that allow for ongoing professional development of case managers and other housing specialists. This could include a mix of online, in-person, and peer-to-peer training and sharing opportunities. In contracting, funders should ensure that proposals include an adequate level of supportive service and case management staff for the target population. Housing providers must build a culture of housing first, whereby tenant screening barriers and housing retention barriers become the primary focus of all housing intervention; that is, ensure clients can pursue larger personal goals but keep the primary focus of services on ensuring housing can be obtained or maintained even if a client still faces significant personal challenges or engages in risky behavior. 1. Ensure providers are able to effectively provide and bill for tenancy supports. 2. Require capacity development on service delivery and billing, and training and supports on the delivery of best practices. G. Increase Effectiveness of Coordinated Entry A community’s coordinated entry system is the primary mechanism for ensuring that those experiencing homelessness are connected to interventions that will rapidly end their homelessness. Coordinated entry works by establishing a common process to assess the situation of all households who request help through the housing crisis response system. Each coordinated entry system should incorporate four core elements within their process: 1) Access Points, 2) Standardized Assessment Process, 3) Prioritization of Households, and 4) Referral to Housing and Supportive Services Resources. While Lane County has established a coordinated entry system with each of these core elements, there are a number of specific areas where improvements are needed to increase system access, improve housing connections, and implement an effective and consistent process throughout the system. In order to increase system access, it is necessary to establish a direct connection between outreach staff and the coordinated entry system. This should include ensuring that outreach staff act as assessors and developing an ongoing communication plan between outreach staff, the Outreach Coordinator/Manager, and the Coordinated Entry Administrative Analyst/Manager. Given that outreach staff are primarily in the field, it is important that mobile technology is available to staff to conduct assessments. In addition, Lane County should add two full-time county-funded assessor positions. These assessors should be placed at a location that allows for walk-in appointments, and they should also be able to conduct assessments over the phone as needed. In order to improve the efficiency of the assessment process, Lane County should consider implementing a phased assessment approach in order to capture information on an as-needed basis throughout the process. The initial assessment phase could occur at the first interaction with the system and collect only the information essential to understanding the person’s immediate needs, which may include verifying the household’s current housing status and whether they are at risk of harm due to a variety of factors such as a perpetrator of domestic violence or a medical condition that requires immediate attention to ensure the physical health and well-being of the household. Additional assessment phases, including the completion of a VI-SPDAT, would occur only after a household has been unable to resolve their housing crisis after a certain period of time (e.g., 14 days after initial assessment) and based on their homeless history (e.g., only chronic singles receive a VI-SPDAT assessment). Once a VI-SPDAT is completed, the system should provide a straightforward way to make updates to the assessment if a household’s circumstances change or to confirm that the information is still valid. This should help minimize the number of “expired” assessments. In addition to the recommendations related to access points and assessment phases, there are specific changes needed in the prioritization and referral processes to incorporate a dynamic prioritization process. The Coordinated Entry process currently “assigns” referrals to the CWL for PSH or RRH based on the VI- SPDAT score. Instead of trying to “match” vulnerability levels to particular interventions, the system should prioritize people for whatever resources are available at that time. This means that if a RRH slot is available, the person with the highest need on the CWL should receive it, even if that person scored a “17” on the VI-SPDAT. Dynamic prioritization takes into account both the changing nature of the population of people who have been prioritized as well as the availability of resources. It supports a faster and more efficient process for matching and referring people to programs, and accepts that there may not be enough of the most needed resources to help all households who request help. As part of implementing a dynamic prioritization process, it is important that the system have robust housing navigation and case conferencing protocols in place. Lane County requires at least 2-3 Housing Navigators to assist those individuals and families with the highest need to prepare for housing. This may include accompanying persons to all housing-related appointments and other necessary social services. Housing navigators should have in-depth knowledge of local systems to keep the process running smoothly and eliminate any barriers to moving a household off the street STRATEGIC POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS PAGE 16 May 13, 2019, Joint Work Session – Item 1