Coming Home Of Middlesex County

Programs: Homeless hotline case management coming home is the case management provider to the countys homeless hotline. Coming home provides direct case management services to families and individuals experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness and entering the system through the 211 homeless hotline. We manage a limited fund received from the state, through the county, to provide temporary, emergency hotel/motel placement when the shelters are full or when a shelter is not a suitable placement for the individual or family. The same fund can also be used, if possible, to assist clients in establishing themselves in permanent housing, through the provision of 1 months rent. The latter approach clearly leads to a much better outcome for the client and is how we strive to use the funds, even though it entails more effort. Since it began administering this fund in august 2012, we have succeeded in placing 43% or 73 of the 155 clients we have case-managed in permanent housing. Coming homes community-based case management will serve as a model for its expanded social service navigation through coordinated assessment and other means coming home hopes to establish as part of its coming home campaign. (see sustainability).

hmis and pit on behalf of the county, coming home administers the homeless management information system (hmis), which facilitates the coordinated provision of services to all seeking them. This role as hmis administrator provides the foundation for the establishment of a needs- based system of services, including most importantly housing, for those experiencing homelessness. We manage the data from hmis and other sources, including the annual point in time (pit) survey of the homeless, to provide an accurate picture of who is experiencing homelessness and their particular needs, which makes matching resources with particularized need possible. We are now able to use the system for operational and planning purposes, as well as for reporting to funding regulators. Coming home is also the point-in-time (pit) coordinator for the county, in that it assists the state-appointed agency in the development of the survey tool used in this annual january survey of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless. We also train volunteers and agency personnel in the administration of the survey; conduct an analysis of the data gathered and develop an action plan in response to such analysis.

coordinated assessment coming home worked with homeless service providers to create a system of standardized assessment and coordinated referral of persons experiencing a housing crisis. The goals of such a system are to minimize the time anyone in the county experiences a crisis and to prioritize available assistance, based on vulnerability and severity of service needs, to ensure that people who need assistance the most, can receive it in a timely manner. A coordinated assessment (ca) system provides information about social and health service needs and gaps to help our broader community better plan its assistance and identify needed resources. The chronological waiting lists for housing become, instead, prioritization lists, making sure that we rehouse, as quickly as possible, the persons most in need.