Preliminary Results from Coordinated entry in Addison County

Since mid-2018, Addison County has been participating in Coordinated Entry (CE), a HUD initiative to streamline how people in need of housing access various kinds of resources for housing assistance including rental assistance vouchers.  Agencies in Addison County that provide these resources, including Charter House Coalition, John Graham Housing and Services, HOPE, CVOEO, Pathways, the Parent Child Center, CSAC, and WomenSafe, participate in data sharing so that applicants for housing don't have to fill out new forms at each provider through which they may be eligible for resources.  This data sharing results in a "Master List" of applicants for housing resources, who then receive resources according to their need and priority on the list.

While CE has experienced many implementation issues, there are some preliminary results worth celebrating.  In particular, 41 households out of 75 who were placed on the Master List between May and December of 2018 obtained permanent housing.  37 of those 75 households were homeless. 

We still have our work cut out for us, and more resources are needed to reduce wait time on the list.  Over 40 households still remain to be housed.  Additionally, the average length of time a household on the Master List was waiting for housing was 103 days.  A survey of CE customers suggests that a lack of available units is the biggest contributor to the length of time it takes to become housed.  

ACCT participates in CE as a referral partner, meeting monthly with local agency leaders via the Addison County Affordable Housing Coalition and weekly with the Housing Review Team, which allocates housing resources off the priority list.  In 2020, we hope to add 24 permanently affordable apartments to Addison County's rental inventory, including four units for formerly homeless households through a partnership with John Graham Housing and Services and WomenSafe.