Emergency Shelter
Component Type Description
Emergency Shelter programs providing stabilization and assessment; focusing on
quickly moving all persons to housing, regardless of disability or background.
Short-term shelter that provides a safe, temporary place to stay (for those who
cannot be diverted from shelter) with focus on initial housing assessment,
housing placement and linkage to other services.
In the Hennepin County CoC, emergency shelter is available for adults,
families, and youth.
Essential Elements
Entry point shelter with:
• showers,
• laundry,
• meals,
• other basic services,
with the goal of helping households move into stable housing as quickly as
possible. Shelters include an array of stabilization options that allow for
varying degrees of participation and levels of support based on client needs
and engagement at the time they enter the system (i.e., for those with chronic
addictions, mental illness, and co-occurring disorders).
Eligibility and Prioritization Criteria
Emergency shelter must be available to all persons in need who seek shelter,
and who meet program eligibility requirements that are CoC/ESG approved and in
alignment with Housing First practices. Homeless parenting or pregnant youth
and families.
Performance Standards
• Coordinated entry assessment completed within ????—WHAT ARE LOCAL CE
STANDARDS ON THIS, IF THEY EXIST?
• All emergency shelter clients residing in county funded shelter receive next
step assessment andplacement score, and
• 85% of emergency shelter clients are referred to the most appropriate,
availablehousing stability program type, based on their placement score
• Emergency shelter clients are referred to community resources and/or housing
within an average of 45 days. Housing placements include:
o Safe reunifications, including doubled up situations
o Rapid Rehousing
o Transitional Housing
o Permanent (non-subsidized) Housing
o Permanent Supportive Housing
Discharge
• Households may be terminated for the following reasons:
o Household is stable and connected to community resources
o Household has stated that they no longer wish to participate in the program
• In order to discharge households from emergency shelter involuntarily:
o Make a very strong effort to find alternative shelter for the household
o Have an appeal process that is clearly communicated to the client
o Contact or document attempts to contact the participant to inform him/her of
the discharge
Rapid Re-Housing Assistance (RRH)
Component Type Description
Rapid re-housing is an intervention designed to help individuals and families
to exit homelessness quickly and return to permanent housing. Rapid re-housing
assistance is offered without preconditions (such as employment, income,
absence of criminal record, or sobriety) and the resources and services
provided are typically tailored to the unique needs of the household.
Rapid re-housing assistance consists of three core components: housing
identification, housing stability services, and direct assistance. While a
rapid re-housing program must have all three core components available, it is
not required that a single entity provide all three.
In addition to the requirements outlined in this document, RRH providers must
ensure that they are operating in accordance with the standards and processes
that are outlined in detail in the CoC’s Coordinated Entry (CE) system Manual.
Essential Elements
Housing Identification
• Recruit landlords to provide housing opportunities for households
experiencing homelessness.
• Address potential barriers to landlord participation such as concern about
short term nature of rental assistance and tenant qualifications.
• Assist households to link to appropriate rental housing.
Housing Stability Services
While the program participant is still experiencing homelessness, focus solely
on housing, and meet at least weekly, in-person whenever possible.
• Refer zero income households to County and/or Social Security office
immediately to apply for benefits
• Help households address credit history, arrears, legal, and other tenancy
issues
• Help households negotiate manageable and appropriate lease agreements with
landlords
• Ensure that the housing unit passes a Habitability Assessment before move-in
• Complete a rental assistance agreement between the tenant, property
management, and provider
• Providers may not discharge households from rapid rehousing before housed
unless they cannot find the household after diligent efforts
Once housing is secured, meet weekly for first 2-3 months, and at least monthly
thereafter.
• Create a Housing Stability Plan/Case Plan
• Make appropriate and time-limited services and supports available to
households to allow them to stabilize quickly in permanent housing.
• Refer to resources that help improve their safety and well-being and achieve
their long-term goals
• Ensure that services provided are client-directed, respectful of individuals’
right to self-determination, and voluntary. Unless basic, program-related case
management is required by statute or regulation, participation in services
should not be required to receive rapid rehousing assistance.
Direct assistance standards
• Households may receive direct assistance for a maximum of 24 months,
typically 6 months or less.
• Use progressive engagement to determine financial assistance based on
households individual needs. Offer assistance using a light touch; start with a
small amount of assistance and increase if needed.
• Households must contribute at least 30% of their total income towards rent.
This percentage includes earned income and benefits, and should not exceed 50%,
so as to ensure that clients are not put at risk for further housing loss or
instability.
• Pay full housing cost for households with no – or very low – income, and
provide only move-in costs for households with incomes higher than 30% of the
AMI (but lower than 200% FPG).
• Consider gross incomes with the following deductions:
o deductions for all non-traditional income (i.e. assets, child-care subsidy)
o deductions for non-recurring income (i.e. SSI back-pay, tax refund,
settlement pay-outs)
o deductions based on household size (i.e. deduct an additional $50 for every
two children)
Eligibility and Prioritization Criteria
• Hennepin County residents who are literally homeless at program entry
• Household income at or below 50% of the Area Median Income
• Families scoring 4-8 on the VI-F-SPDAT, and single adult and youth scoring
4-7 on the VI-SPDAT or VI-TAY-SPDAT
o Those with the highest VI-SPDAT scores are prioritized first
o Families scoring 9 on VI-FSPDAT will be offered Rapid Re-Housing if they
maintain on the Priority List for over 45 calendar days
Referral
All rapid rehousing participants will be referred by a Coordinated Entry System
Housing Referral Coordinator. Providers should follow all Coordinated Entry
System processes and policies.
Adjusting and continuing direct assistance
• Use the Progressive Engagement approach to adjusting assistance.
• Complete re-certifications of continued need for direct assistance and
services at three months from the date the household was housed, and every
three months thereafter. Use the recertification to determine whether to
continue services and/or financial assistance, and at what level.
• Subsidies do not have to decrease between recertifications, but may increase
due to lost income.
• Work with households toward 0% subsidies as services end.
Discharge
• Households may be terminated for the following reasons:
o Household is stable and connected to community resources
o Household has received services for the maximum program period
o Household states that they no longer wish to be in the program, and the
program believes that this is the best course of action
• In order to discharge households from rapid rehousing involuntarily:
o Make a very strong effort to rehouse households who lose their housing
o Have an appeal process
o Make a reasonable attempt to contact the participant to inform him/her of the
discharge
• Provide a formal termination notice to the participant and document any
attempts to notify the client, if they are unable to reach him or her
• Providers are prohibited from transferring a household from one service
intervention to another (i.e., RRH to PSH, internally or externally) without
permission from the Housing Referral Coordinator. However, transfers can be
made if the client no longer meets program eligibility requirements, such as
income or age.
Performance Standards
Of households served by rapid rehousing programs:
• 95% of participants will complete an intake within 14 calendar days of
referral to the rapid rehousing provider
• 90% of participants will obtain housing in fewer than 60 calendar days from
intake (90 days for households with zero income)
• 25% of participants will increase their income through employment from
program entry to exit
• 80% of all participants will be stably housed at program exit
• 85% of participants who were stably housed at exit will not enter shelter
within 6 months after their exit from rapid rehousing assistance
• 75% of participants who were stably housed at exit will not enter shelter
within 12 months after their exit from rapid rehousing assistance
HMIS data will be expected to meet the following outcome:
• 90% of the data will be complete and accurate during monthly data checks
Transitional Housing
Component Type Description
Safe, temporary apartments located in project-based or scattered-site housing
that focuses on housing planning, addictions treatment, stabilization, and
recovery for individuals and families with temporary barriers to
self-sufficiency.
Essential Elements
Safe units located in site-based or scattered site housing that focuses on
housing planning, addictions treatment, stabilization, and recovery for
individuals and families with temporary barriers to self-sufficiency.
Recognizing that a zero tolerance approach does not work for all clients,
transitional housing programs employ a harm reduction, or tolerant, approach to
engage clients and help them maintain housing stability Housing assistance may
be provided for up to two years, including rental assistance, housing
stabilization services, landlord mediation, case management, budgeting, life
skills, parenting support, and child welfare preventive services.
• Housing plan within 14 calendar days.
• Average stay is six months. Could stay up to two years.
• All programs provide follow up case management post exit.
• Expectation of six months of post placement tracking to assess success.
Eligibility and Prioritization Criteria
• Homeless families,
• Youth between the ages of 18-25,
• Households who are actively fleeing domestic violence
Discharge
• Households may be terminated for the following reasons:
o Household is stable and connected to community resources
o Household has received services for the maximum program period
o Household has stated that they no longer wish to be in the program, and the
program agrees that this is best for the client
• In order to discharge households from transitional housing involuntarily:
o Make a very strong effort to rehouse households who lose their housing
o Have an appeal process
o Make a reasonable attempt to contact the participant to inform him/her of the
discharge
• Provide a formal termination notice to the participant
• Providers are prohibited from transferring a household from one service
intervention to another (i.e., RRH to PSH, internally or externally) without
permission from the Housing Referral Coordinator.
Performance Standards
• 90% households are stably housed at 6 months, as evidenced by HMIS data on
returns to homelessness.
• 75% households remain stably housed at 12 months post exit as evidenced by
HMIS data on returns to homelessness.
• 50% households remain stably housed at 24 months post exit as evidenced by
HMIS data on returns to homelessness.
• 90% households maintain or increase income through employment or benefits.
Permanent Supportive Housing
Component Type Description
Project-based, clustered and scattered site permanent housing linked with
supportive services that help residents maintain housing.
Essential Elements
Permanent housing with supports that help clients maintain housing and address
barriers to self-sufficiency. PSH programs should provide subsidized housing or
rental assistance; tenant support services. In site based PSH, projects should
place an emphasis on providing tenants with landlord mediation and eviction
mitigation services, to ensure the long term housing stability of the
households that they serve.
Recognizing that relapse is part of the recovery process, PSH programs should
hold units open for 30 days while clients are in treatment or in other
institutions. If a client returns to a program after 30 days and their unit was
given to someone else, staff should work with that client to keep them engaged
and place them in a unit when one is available. Some PSH programs should have a
tolerant, or harm reduction, approach to engage clients with serious substance
abuse issues. While in PSH, clients should receive supportive services
appropriate to their needs from their case manager and/or the ACT
multidisciplinary team.
Eligibility and Prioritization Criteria
Targeted to persons experiencing long-term homelessness, disabilities, and
significant barriers to self-sufficiency. PSH providers are responsible for
ensuring that they have collected and are securely storing all necessary third
party documentation that verifies a person’s eligibility for PSH.
PSH providers must also ensure that they are completing at least annual
assessments on households served by their projects. Annual assessments must be
used to capture changes in income, benefits, household composition, and any
other elements that are required by HUD. Additionally, annual assessment data
must be entered into HMIS.
Discharge
• Households may be terminated for the following reasons:
o Household is stable and connected to community resources
o Household has stated that they would like to leave the program
• In order to discharge households from rapid rehousing involuntarily:
o Make a very strong effort to rehouse households who lose their housing
o Have an appeal process
o Make a reasonable attempt to contact the participant to inform him/her of the
discharge
• Provide a formal exit notice to the participant
• Providers are prohibited from transferring a household from one service
intervention to another (i.e., RRH to PSH, internally or externally) without
permission from the Housing Referral Coordinator.
Performance Standards
• 90% of households maintain permanent housing (no exits to non-permanent
housing destinations), as evidenced by HMIS data on returns to homelessness.
• 90% of households who leave the program, obtain more autonomous or
independent living arrangements
• 85% Households maintain or increase income (earned and/or benefit).
• Program maintains 95% occupancy or greater for the duration of their
operating year.