Charlotte Coordinated Assessment FAQs
Where can I find past presentations or other materials used during your work with
Charlotte/Mecklenburg County on coordinated assessment?
You can find these materials on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Housing Coalition
website:
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/nbs/housing/housingcoalition/Pages/default.aspx .
Who will be served through coordinated assessment?
Our intention is that ALL people experiencing or who perceive themselves to be at-risk
of homelessness will be served through this process, including families, single adults,
youth, etc. We (the Alliance) have consulted with Veterans Affairs service providers,
domestic violence service providers, programs serving substance users and chronically
homeless households, and mainstream institutions including the jail and hospitals to
ensure that they are a part of the process.
Which programs and services will be coordinated through the coordinated assessment
process?
The emphasis of this process will be connecting people with housing, temporary and
permanent. This will include temporary homeless assistance programs (emergency
shelters, transitional housing programs, etc.) and permanent housing resources (rapid
re-housing and permanent supportive housing) as well. Services available to people
experiencing homelessness will also be coordinated through this process, when
appropriate, as much as possible.
When will the new process begin?
We expect to begin piloting pieces of the new process April 1, and to launch it fully
across the county May 1.
How does street outreach fit into this?
Street outreach will be a crucial element of coordinated assessment. Because only a
small number of community partners are engaged in outreach now, we will be working
with them individually to tie their outreach workers’ efforts into this new process.
When will we know which agencies are the coordinated assessment centers?
Applicants will be notified March 7th, and this information will be shared with the
community shortly thereafter.
Will coordinated assessment centers be spread throughout Mecklenburg County?
This depends on which agencies chose to apply to be coordinated assessment sites and
where they are located.
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How will agencies who are not selected as host sites participate in coordinated
assessment?
Once the new process is in place, agencies that are not host sites will be expected to
send people experiencing homelessness to one of the new designated coordinated
assessment centers as soon as they arrive. This will ensure they have access to the same
assessment process and resources as everyone else.
What if the program the client is being referred to is not available or does not have
space?
The assessment process will take bed availability into consideration when making
referrals to ensure as much as possible that someone is not being referred to a program
with a very long wait list. We will not send people to shelters or other immediate
housing programs if there is no available space there. CHIN should allow us to see bed
availability, so as long as this information is accurate, we will be able to prevent
referring people to shelters that are already full.
Will agencies be penalized for refusing referrals from coordinated assessment?
No, though the policies and procedures for coordinated assessment will include more
guidance on what will happen if an agency has what appears to be an excessive number
of refusals. There will be some kind of accountability mechanism when a refusal
happens to ensure that the person that was turned away is not left with no place to go.
Do we have enough beds and housing resources to meet every homeless persons’
needs?
We don’t know the answer to this yet. However, the assessment tool we will be
proposing that the City/County uses will include some questions to help determine what
the gaps are. The community can then use this information to help make decisions
about which programs, beds, and resources are most needed and should be created or
developed from current housing programs or stock.
Why do we need to submit our program’s eligibility/admissions criteria?
While improving efficiencies at the front door will make a positive difference in many
consumers’ lives, the true difference will be made by having a system that is better
designed to meet their needs. To create this system, we need to identify gaps in services
by looking at who programs accept and who they cannot/will not serve and why. This
will help us make sure that the appropriate referrals are made and allow us address any
issues we’ll have serving certain populations as soon as possible.
Will we be forced to change our eligibility criteria?
In short, no. However, we will ask that programs take a hard look at what our analysis of
system gaps reveals and see if they are comfortable with the results. If no one is willing
to reexamine their current criteria, the same gaps that currently exist in the system will
remain.
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What kind of training will assessment staff receive?
Once an assessment tool has been finalized, staff will be trained on the tool, entering
assessment tool data into CHIN, and the referral protocol they should follow.
Additionally, we hope to train virtual (telephone) staff on the new process, and all
onsite assessment staff will receive training on how to best serve domestic violence
survivors through the coordinated assessment process.
Where will funding for this process come from?
We have had conversations with various private funders, the City, and the County about
the coordinated assessment process and provided estimates to them of what
implementing coordinated assessment might cost. They are currently in talks to
determine how different elements of the process will be funded.
Have any questions that weren’t answered here? Please send them to Kim Walker at
kwalker@naeh.org.
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