Georgia Balance of State Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry
Coordinated Entry System
Coordinated entry is an important process through which people experiencing homelessness can access the crisis response system in a streamlined way, have their strengths and needs quickly assessed, and get quickly connected to appropriate, tailored housing and mainstream services within a community or designated region. Standardized assessment tools and practices provide the ability for households to gain access to the best options to address their needs, incorporating participants’ choice. The most intensive interventions are prioritized for those with the highest needs.
HUD requires that Continua of Care establish and operate a coordinated entry system (CES). Designing a CES in your community that complies with the requirements established by HUD can seem like an overwhelming challenge. The Balance of State (BoS) Continuum of Care (CoC) understands these challenges and seeks to support communities in the transition to a housing crisis response system that ends current homelessness for all households and ensures that future homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring.
For more information, check out these Frequently Asked Questions or contact the Coordinated Entry System Coordinator, Rebecca Hickom, at Rebecca.hickom@dca.ga.gov.
Coordinated Entry Toolkit
Coordinated entry in the BoS will have aspects that are standardized across all communities and aspects that are community specific. Communities should form a planning body that meets regularly in an effort to plan and implement their CES. Agencies with CoC or ESG funding must participate in these efforts. These groups are responsible for planning and and ensuring implementation of coordinated entry in their community or region within the framework approved by the BoS CoC. These planning bodies will make decisions about the community specific aspects of their CES and create a plan for implementation using the Coordinated Entry Planning Guide. To assist communities in this transition, the BoS CoC has provided a Coordinated Entry Toolkit which is comprised of the following documents.
Upcoming Trainings
VI-SPDAT Training Webinars- Details TBD. Tentatively planned for the week of December 11-15.
Timeline and Deadlines
| September 15, 2017 |
Planning Groups must submit first part of the Planning Guide (Names of members of the planning group, planning group lead, counties served, CE lead) |
| November 15, 2017 |
Completed Coordinated Entry Plans submitted to CoC office. Coordinated Entry Planning Guide used as a template |
| December 2017 |
Coordinated Entry Plans returned to Planning Groups with comments |
| January 2018 |
Coordinated Entry implementation across the Balance of State |
Contact Information
Rebecca Hickom by Email or phone (404) 679-4942
Coordinated Entry System Coordinator
Georgia Department of Community Affairs
60 Executive Park South N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30329
|
