Coordinated Entry Prioritization
Coordinated Entry will assess households based on level of need, eligibility, and housing needs and preferences. As part of CE coordination, the CE team will present cases in monthly case conferencing to review cases to help ensure referrals are appropriate and as a holistic view to understand one’s vulnerability for the top prioritized households.
As some priorities established below are not applicable to households that are not currently homeless, CoC and ESG will continue to discuss any possible further considerations for the prioritization for at-risk households served by homeless prevention programs.
Permanent Supportive Housing: Prioritized for Chronically Homeless Single Adults that are Homeless Longest (years)
There are approximately 1,100 single adults and adult couples that are homeless at any given time on Long Island (about 80% in shelter, 20% living in the woods, in vehicles, train stations, and other places not meant for human habitation). The percentage of people living unsheltered has increased throughout the pandemic, with the highest increases in Suffolk County. LICH projects to have about 36 turnover beds in CoC-funded permanent supportive housing each year (3 per month) for chronically homeless single adults. Due to the scarcity of resources of permanent supportive housing, the CoC adopted HUD Prioritization Order CPD-16-11, in which all CoC-funded permanent supportive housing is dedicated for people experiencing chronic homelessness for the greatest lengths of time with the most severe service needs. These turnover units are typically matched for CES clients that have been living on the street or in shelter for several years, are disabled and have severe service needs. Of those that are experiencing chronic homelessness, those homeless longest with the greatest barriers to exiting homelessness on their own (as determined by the CE Assessment Tool) are prioritized first.
Each year, CES is projected to place 36 chronically homeless single adults in CoC-funded permanent supportive housing, 36 chronically homeless single adults in non-CoC-funded permanent supportive housing, and about 24 chronically homeless single adults in other permanent housing including rapid rehousing. CES projects to exit approximately 100 chronically homeless single adults out of homelessness, or 9% of the single adult homeless population at any given time (1,100). This is lower than the inflow of single adults entering or returning to the homelessness and projects to result in an increase in the number of homeless single adults (as has been the trend over the last two years, notably with a large increase in those entering shelter directly from jails and prisons and the number of elderly adults becoming homeless).
Rapid Rehousing: Prioritized for Families Living in Shelter that are Homeless Longest (years)
There are also approximately 500 family households (about 2,000 people) that are homeless on a given night on Long Island (over 99% in shelter), about 30% of which have remained homeless for greater than one year. LICH projects to serve about 200 families through Rapid Rehousing openings in a given year. This means that although all families homeless one year or more will be added to the waiting list, not all families that have been homeless for greater than one year can be prioritized for Rapid Rehousing referral. The majority of Rapid Rehousing referrals are for families that have lived in emergency shelter continuously for over 36 months, some longer than 5 years. The majority of families homeless greater than one year are placed in motels within Nassau County.
The CoC prioritizes Rapid Rehousing referrals for family households that are homeless the longest in the region. Due to the backlog of families living in shelter for years, it is unlikely that CES will be able to refer any family in a shelter for less than one year, unless that family has a household member that is a Veteran, or the head of household is actively fleeing domestic violence.
Each year, CES is projected to place 200 families in CoC/ESG rapid rehousing, 10 families with housing choice vouchers, 6 families in CoC-funded permanent supportive housing, and about 24 families in other permanent housing. CES projects to exit approximately 240 families out of homelessness, or 24% of the family homeless population. This is slightly higher than the inflow of families entering and returning to the homeless system and projects to result in a slight reduction in the number of homeless families (as has been the trend over the last three years, notably with many SCDSS family households exiting the homeless system with TANF rental assistance dollars).
This year LICH referred over 450 households to Emergency Housing Vouchers, totaling over 700 households referred directly to permanent housing resources in the last year.