The emergency shelter must be available to receive households 24/7, including weekends and holidays. During regular business hours of the HRC, admission into the emergency shelter is conducted through the City’s coordinated entry process. Referrals from the Coordinated Assessment Team should be accepted, and the bed(s) filled on the same day of the referral to the shelter. The only immediate barrier is a requirement that the emergency shelter conduct a criminal check for those people mandated to register as a sex offender. Due to the Housing Resource Center serving multiple populations to include families, sex offenders will not be permitted to enter shelter. The emergency shelter should serve as a temporary safe haven with the clear understanding that the participant’s goal is to find permanent housing as quickly as possible. The Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation (DHNP) anticipates an average length of stay less than 90 days and at least 60% exiting to permanent housing; however, participants who are the most hardest to serve may stay for a longer period while they continue to effectively pursue a permanent housing solution. The provider’s goal should be to minimize length of stays consistent with best practices as well individual needs and circumstances. Although all the participants will be placed on the Prioritization List for Continuum of Care (CoC) housing, it is important to note that not all emergency shelter participants will be prioritized to receive CoC housing. Therefore, emergency shelter staff should work with all participants to secure permanent housing beginning on day one of admission into the emergency shelter. If a participant should happen to be accepted into a CoC permanent housing program while staying at the emergency shelter, emergency shelter staff should work diligently with the participant to ensure they are document ready and collaborate with the receiving program to help the participant locate and move into the subsidized housing as quickly as possible. Recognizing that participants entering an emergency shelter are often suffering trauma, the emergency shelter must be designed and managed in a trauma-informed manner, incorporating best practice interventions. Emergency shelter staff and the overall environment must try to mitigate the effects of trauma as they work with participants to find permanent housing. As a part of the work, active, positive collaboration with all providers in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of the system and its constant improvement is required. As a shelter service provider your performance can affect the ability of other Continuum of Care providers to obtain federal and state funding for homeless services, and therefore, as a part of the homeless response system the provider’s performance both as a shelter provider and as a collaborator will be evaluated and considered during the decision to renew the contract for the additional option years.
