About the Project
Under the direction of Reaching Home & Regina’s Plan to End Homelessness, the development of a Coordinated Access System (CAS) in Regina is paramount in our response to ending homelessness. Sometimes called a Coordinated Entry System, CAS is an essential element of any effort to prevent and end homelessness. These systems have been in place in the United States for several years and are being implemented in a growing number of Canadian communities. Coordinated access systems are designed to streamline the process for people experiencing homelessness to access the housing and support services needed to permanently end their homelessness. Flow Community Projects is working on the Coordinated Access Design, which will eventually be handed off to an operational lead.
By standardizing the intake and assessment process, sharing information in real-time within a community, adopting uniform prioritization policies and coordinating referral processes, coordinated access systems connect people to the right housing and supports as efficiently as possible based on their preferences and level of need. This ensures communities get the most out of limited resources and we can more rapidly and effectively prevent and end homelessness for those in greatest need.
A strong coordinated access system follows the principles of housing first and shares real-time data to facilitate the housing process.
Common Assessment & Prioritization.
In a CAS, communities establish mechanisms for determining which individuals will be prioritized for access to supports and housing. A healthy CAS is not based on “first come first served”. Instead, it should include a standardized intake process that includes an assessment tool that provides understanding and insight regarding the strengths and vulnerability of each person. This aids in the system being able to accommodate those with the highest level of need first.
Referral Process.
In order to make effective referrals from your CAS it’s important to complete a thorough mapping of services that could be considered touch points for those experiencing any level of homelessness along with documented and approved policies help to match individuals to available and appropriate housing and supports. Vacancies are then filled based on the community’s established prioritization guidelines. The entire system is kept aware of the availability status of housing options and any new resources which keeps everyone on the same page. As with the access portion of the system dynamics, the more formal the linkages of all parties within the system are, the more accountable each party will be and those given charge of it will better be able to monitor CAS performance.