1. 2:12 Envisioning an Effective Systemic Response to Rural Homelessness
July 24, 2018
Rebecca Hickom
Coordinated Entry System Coordinator

2. GA BoS CoC
152 Counties
Largely rural, some suburban, a few urban areas
Resource deserts in the most rural parts of the state
Department of Community Affairs is the collaborative applicant and ESG recipient for the state wide entitlement
No local leadership/regions
Add population heat map from census

4. Down to the Numbers 2017 PIT 3,716 Literally Homeless
Unsheltered: 1,843
Sheltered: 1,873
2018 HIC- Total 6,159
ES: 1,651
TH: 815
RRH: 1,229
PSH: 2,464
55% of beds funded by HUD McKinney-Vento funds
Unsheltered #’s decreased due to housing 1st and RRH
Only 12% of families unsheltered
6.5% Chronic
MI: 373, 10%
SAD: 496, 13%
HIV/AIDS: 17, .5%
DV: 694, 18%
Vets: 157, 4%
Chronic: 242
Race: 41% white, 53% Black, 6% Other
Children under 18= 23%
Btwn 18 and 24 = 8%
Abandoned building %
Bus or train station, airport 3 <1%
Emergency Shelter or Domestic Violence Shelter %
Hotel or Motel %
In a car, truck, or van %
In the woods or campsite %
On the street
Permanent Supportive Housing 21 <1%
Under a bridge 20 <1%

5. Challenges and Solutions
1. Buy in
2. Number of unfunded projects
Leveraged partnerships with CAAs local municipalities
System mapping
Community wide meetings-bringing ALL partners together
ESG $
1. Diverse and expansive geography
2. Staff capacity
CES Planning Guide- standard aspects across CoC, flexible template allows for community level decisions
CES Toolkit
Letting “regions” develop organically
State wide toll free hotline that connects to access points & funded agencies
Accessible training
1. Resistance
2. Diverse systems
System mapping/model visioning/lowering barriers exercise
CES Planning Guide
Local leads
Leveraged state level partners to put pressure on local partners
1. Lack of/Inaccurate data
Restructuring PIT
Made HMIS free for all housing projects (funded or unfunded)
Hired additional HMIS staff
19 agencies have been added as users of our HMIS system in the last year and a half. Additionally, we switch systems in January of 2017 and we had a lot of agencies who were inactive users of our previous HMIS system who are now active users.

6. CES in the GA BoS CoC
As of July counties have CESs. 4 additional communities are in planning stage. 1 additional community starting later this year.
By end of year 2018, 10 sites in full implementation. In early last 3-5 sites will begin planning.
Those sites that are initially only covering 1 county will grow to cover a multi-county area
Assessment, Prioritization, Referral processes managed in HMIS
Funded 7 CES lead agencies/implementation sites with ESG funds outside of yearly ESG competition
ALL ESG/CoC funded agencies currently prioritizing by CoC standards and assessing and referring

7. CES Planning Guide
152 counties, each with different resources, needs, partners. One size does not fit all
System wide standards and procedures outlined in GA BoS CoC CES Written Standards
Questions prompt communities to think through community level decisions (Model type, vacancy reporting, safety planning with local VSP, system roles, outreach and advertisement, messaging, defining training needs, grievance policies, etc.)
Empowers communities to be the expert on their own community
Completed planning guides become formal CES plans, submitted to DCA for comments and approvals
Serve as a local P&P

8. Planning Process System Mapping
Community wide meeting. How are people moving/not moving through the system
Identify what is and isn’t working well, perceived gaps
Model Vision Exercise
Walk through each CE model type
Talk about resources needed, system roles, HUD requirements
Lowering Barriers
Identify barriers and a few tangible ways the system can move towards eliminating those barriers
Frame the convo to focus on the hardest to serve
System focused. Me vs Us

9. CoC Competition 2017-2018 CoC Competition 17 Million 56 PSH 17 RRH
Planning: $400K
Coordinated Entry: $189K
HMIS: $100K

10. PIT Count Methods
In the past, we focused on getting as many counties counted as possible
Now we’re focusing on QUALITY over quantity
Moved from paper surveys to app
Predictive model
Providing more TA and training to count coordinators and communities

11. Contact Rebecca Hickom Rebecca.Hickom@dca.ga.gov 470-423-1432
Coordinated Entry System Coordinator
GA BoS CoC