Partners Ending Homelessness

• Action 2.1
• Action 2.5

Nonprofit

• Housing First is a philosophy and an intervention. As a philosophy (lower case “h”, lower case “f”) it is the belief that all people should be housed prior to working on anything else. This philosophy can permeate every individual program and the collective system to focus on moving people into housing as quickly as possible, then providing the appropriate level of support to ensure long term housing stability. This philosophy also lowers barriers to program access, prioritizes people that have the highest barriers (highest “acuity level”) to stable housing first, and believes that everyone is housing ready.

• PEH serves as the HMIS manager for the Guilford County CoC. A Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a local information technology system used to collect client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and persons at risk of homelessness. Each Continuum of Care (CoC) is responsible for selecting an HMIS software solution that complies with HUD’s data collection, management, and reporting standards.
• PEH’s Street Outreach Program: Essential Services related to reaching out to unsheltered homeless individuals and families, connecting them with emergency shelter, housing or critical services and providing them with urgent, non-facility-based care. Eligible costs include engagement, case management, emergency health and mental health services and transportation. An unsheltered location means sleeping in encampments, under bridges, in cars, or other places not meant for human habitation.
• PEH serves as the Coordinated Entry Lead for the Guilford County CoC. Coordinated Entry prioritizes entry into the system, improves efficiencies, and helps to limit duplication of services. Implementing this person-centered process is a key component toward shifting our entire system to a Housing First approach. Success hinges on system-wide buy-in and compliance.  Additional factors include the ability to obtain and analyze accurate, high quality, real-time data. PEH is committed to this implementation and to using accurate data to inform system-wide decision-making, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our system, and maintaining a culture of accountability and transparency in our effort to end homelessness in Guilford County.