Archived: Increase the percentage of people housed by the homeless housing system who were unsheltered

The most direct and proven method to reduce the number of people living outside is to house people living outside. Multiple research studies have shown that it is very difficult to predict who will actually end up living outside, even when in-depth assessments are done regarding “risk of homelessness.” Providing homelessness prevention using the most refined screening tools results in only actually preventing homelessness for two out of every ten people served. In addition, many who become homeless never exhibit the characteristics of those “at-risk,” meaning a system focused on homelessness prevention will not serve them. Homelessness prevention continues to be an important part of the homeless housing system, but at least half of the people housed should be people actually experiencing homelessness.

We are on track with both measures, and have a contract management and technical assistance plan to keep on track.

These and other measures are written into the contracts that fund local homeless crisis response systems. The data on performance against these measures is available online for grantees and others to monitor progress:

https://public.tableau.com/profile/mary3342#!/vizhome/CountyReportCardWinter2017/2017ReportCard

Grantees/communities not achieving the contracted measures enter into corrective action plans that include technical assistance. Ongoing failure to perform at a level consistent with peer counties can result in a reduction of funding or termination of our contract.

This website includes a description of problem, thestrategic plan, and related performance data:

http://www.commerce.wa.gov/serving-communities/homelessness/

This page provides contact information for local systems forthose wanting to learn more about local efforts:

https://deptofcommerce.app.box.com/s/8nt4mgmr3izkj9juizisji9w6igdgjd6