Coordinated Entry and Intake/Assessment Tools

This Coordinated Entry Guidebook focuses on the four core elements of Access, Assessment, Prioritization, and Referral. It covers basic requirements and advanced considerations for each core element. This Guidebook is intended to be a comprehensive tool for CoCs that are designing and implementing coordinated entry. The Guidebook also is intended for CoCs that have already made significant progress in planning coordinated entry, as well as those that have already implemented it. CoCs should use the Guidebook as a reference to ensure their coordinated entry process complies with all of HUD’s requirements.

Coordinated entry is a process developed to ensure all people experiencing a housing crisis have fair and equal access to the community’s housing and homeless assistance resources. Coordinated entry processes also help communities prioritize assistance based on vulnerability and severity of service needs. Victim service providers play an integral part in their community’s housing and homeless response system. This document answers several frequently asked questions around the integration of victim service providers in their community’s coordinated entry process.

This presentation debunks some myths about the DV provider system, encourages collaboration between the homeless/housing system and DV systems, and suggests a path forward on the issue of data-sharing.

The toolkit was constructed to provide a framework that counties in the state of Washington can use to construct coordinated entry systems that reflect best practices and respond to the unique needs of their communities. The Building Changes toolkit offers guidance on Planning, Implementing, Data Collection, and Evaluation.

This webinar focuses on the importance of safety/safety planning considerations in Coordinated Entry Systems for domestic and sexual violence survivors. Designed specifically for CoCs, these webinar slides provide practical approaches for addressing safety issues facing survivors.

This paper briefly describes how early engagement can be used to move families from the street to housing, thus freeing shelter resources for those who have no other option.

Presentation focusing on the Front Door Assessment, a 10 year plan that first assessed and subsequently addressed challenges faced by homeless people with navigating and engaging with existing systems. Participation was a requirement for local and CoC-funded programs.

Summarizes a number of useful pieces in the HUD policy document that may be useful as DV coalitions and programs advocate for survivors in their local Continuums of Care.

In March of 2015, the Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD)  released a policy brief on the coordinated entry process. This newsletter highlights key aspects of  HUD’s policy brief that may be helpful  for advocates working with survivors on accessing housing.  

This document is a checklist for Continuums of Care to use to make certain that they are considering and incorporating the needs of households fleeing domestic violence and other similar forms of assault and harassment into their coordinated assessment processes. Systems should also ensure they are including domestic violence providers in the discussion of how the assessment system is structured from the beginning.

Excerpted from NNEDV's Transitional Housing Toolkit, this paper outlines best practices for designing and implementing intake forms and practices when serving survivors in your housing program.

This policy brief summarizes selected literature on homeless families with children who are less than five years old, and incorporates findings from a project prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) on the challenges facing families with young children who are temporarily staying with others or in motels/hotels. The aim of this policy brief is to examine the following questions from the project: (1) What are families’ current living arrangements, and do they have alternative plans for shelter if they cannot stay at their current temporary location and are unable to receive the services of a shelter? (2) What conditions are homeless families and children exposed to when they cannot or do not access the services of a shelter? (3) To what extent are families knowledgeable about the federally sponsored early childhood support services available to them?

As shelter and housing assistance providers help vulnerable children, youth and families exit homelessness and partner with these families as they work to obtain permanent housing, it's important to talk to families about their child’s development. If developmental concerns are caught early, providers can help ensure that children are linked to the appropriate services and receive the extra support they may need. Partnering with families and specialists to learn the signs and act early will assure that children have the best possible start to a bright future. This Developmental and Behavioral Screening Guide has been specifically designed for shelter and housing assistance providers. In this guide, you will find information on how to engage clients with children under age 5 in conversations regarding the developmental and behavioral health of their children, and how to facilitate referrals for further screening and evaluation when required.

This document provides guidance on coordinated entry (CE) model best practices. The guidance was developed based on feedback from practitioners in the victim services field who are currently participating in HUD Continuums of Care (CoCs) and are in compliance with the confidentiality-related legal requirements of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA). These insights aim to adhere to federal confidentiality requirements that were created to ensure safety by protecting the identities of victims of domestic violence, while simultaneously ensuring that those victims have access to the type of housing they need in their community of choice.