1. Follow-Up Question and Answer from
“Coordinated Entry, Part II: Serving Singles and Families in Columbus, OH”
Please note: The questions below only include questions that were not answered during the
webinar presentation. Questions came from webinar participants – answers came from the
featured speaker on the webinar, Lianna Barbu.
Question: Had the YWCA been involved in working with families experiencing
homelessness prior to becoming the front door assessment organization?
Answer: I believe so but I am not sure…
Question: Are intakes only completed for those who come into shelter? If so, how are
you tracking those who call in and receive referrals to other options/resources? Also, are
you using the Client ID function of ServicePoint? If so, how has that worked for your
organization?
Answer: Full intakes are completed for only those that enter shelter. The
triage/diversion assessment tracks those who call but do not receive an intake. We track
minimal demographic info in ServicePoint for all individuals, even those that do not
enter shelter. Yes, we do use the Client ID frequently; it is our way to communicate
about a client without disclosing private information. We also use the Client ID for some
reporting.
Question: As a central intake program using ServicePoint, are you using ONLY the
database to make referrals, or do staff also make calls to programs that a client may
need?
Answer: Staff will also make calls to programs.
Question: Can you talk more about the Job2Housing Program? What are the
requirements for program entry? Is this program available for those at risk of
homelessness and receiving prevention assistance?
Answer: The program is available only to those that need rapid re-housing assistance
and are already homeless. The most important requirement for program entry is that the
household has to be willing to participate in vocational training or other training
programs to improve on job skills. In general, the household has to be identified as

2. needing longer term assistance.
Question: Do you maintain a list of clients who can no longer be served due to past
behavior, violence, SA, etc.? If so, how is that facilitated within your program?
Answer: ServicePoint tracks “infractions” for a client and when those start and expire at
the client level. I do not believe that we have bans for life…
Question: How have issues and laws regarding sex offenders impacted this program?
Answer: Our shelters do not serve Tier III sex offenders
Question: How is a "successful housing outcome" calculated? Are these requirements
stated in the performance based contracts?
Answer: Please see our website for definition of our metrics, link below:
http://www.csb.org/files/docs/Resources/money/CSB%20Gateway/Applying%20for
%20Funds/2011/FY2012%20Methodology_final.5.11.11.pdf
Yes, the requirements are stated in the performance-based contracts.
Question: Can you describe the demographic characteristics of families served in your
system? How to you ensure a diverse community is served equally within the system?
Answer: Please see the publication section of our website, link below:
http://www.csb.org/?id=publications
There are multiple reports there that show the demographics of our families. Our system
serves every family that needs emergency shelter.
Question: For adults who are not self-caring, is there a plan to get them from the mental
health referral to permanent housing?
Answer: Not a structured plan at this time. However, our mental health system has set-
aside units at most of our new permanent supportive housing developments. In
addition, we are coordinating with our mental health board on assessing the homeless
individual’s service utilization within the mental health system to prioritize vulnerable
individuals into housing. Our shelters have also established a quarterly meeting with
our mental health board to coordinate activities.
Question: How do you improve diversion rates? How do your promote your programs
to try and get families to contact you before their crisis gets too deep?
Answer: That is the question that we are struggling with as well. We don’t yet have a
good response.

3. Question: Considering the worsening federal and state funding climate, how stable do
you see your current programs being in 2-5 years?
Answer: The family programs are fairly stable. We are more concerned about the
funding stability for the single adult programs. We are planning at this time to see how
we can improve the funding stability for these programs.
Question: Are there still singles who are chronically homeless and facing barriers to
housing?
Answer: Yes, there are. Sex offenders and individuals with arson histories are difficult to
place. We are prioritizing scattered-site developments for these individuals.
Question: Where does your local Social Services (public assistance) department fit in?
Answer: We are working to improve our relationships in this area. We currently have a
program that we call “Benefits Partnership” – is in its piloting phase - where we have
dedicated staff working with homeless individuals to access SSI/SSDI and other public
benefits they are eligible for.
Question: How are single adults transported to the centralized point of access (CPOA)?
What program or who bears this cost? How is this component funded?
Answer: Single adults are not transported to the CPOA, they make their way there on
their own (downtown location, on bus line). The CPOA will transport individuals to
their assigned shelter.
Question: How long is the wait list? What happens to individuals while they wait?
The length of the wait list varies. In the summer the list is the longest when there are no
overflow beds available. Right now we have about 20-30 individuals waitlisted.
Unfortunately these individuals will have to find other sleeping options for the night,
including the street.
Question: For both families and singles, are the 24/7 intakes available by phone or in
person?
Answer: Both by phone and in person.
Question: What has been the response/feedback from clients who have to physically go
to the coordinated entry location, then physically go to another shelter?

4. Answer: The advantage of the single location is that the individual has to visit one single
place to gain access to shelter. Previously an individual could have visited multiple
locations in search of a bed. When the bed is assigned the client receives a bus pass or is
transported to the location. We did not receive negative feedback about this change.
Question: Is your centralized intake location embedded within an existing service
provider? Or is it a completely stand-alone entity that only does intake?
Answer: At this time, it is embedded within an existing shelter provider. We are in
discussions about whether or not this is the best option.
Question: In addition to streamlining the intake process for clients and having a better
idea of the true incidence of homelessness, has reduced duplication of services and/or
cost avoidance due to the CPOA been tracked or projected? Have there been staff
reductions/cost savings that have been identified? If so, at what level and/or how much?
How many agencies are involved in the coordinated intake group? Has the CPOA
model resulted in additional funding or community support for programming and/or
client services?
Answer: Currently we are using HPRP funds for the piloting phase of the CPOA. We
have not identified costs savings so far related to the implementation of CPOA, but that
was one of the goals of this implementation. We are expecting costs savings from
increased diversion rates and better service provision at shelters. Shelters no longer have
to spend staff time doing intake work so our expectation is that service levels will
increase, thus speeding up and increasing the successful outcomes for individuals in
shelter. For the single adults we have 3 agencies involved in this coordination. We are
not looking to increase our $ investments in this area, we are looking to achieve cost
savings.
Question: Does the community have Gospel/Rescue mission/shelters? If som do they
participate in the Single Point of Entry?
Answer: No.
Question: I’m interested in hearing about how the wait list is managed. How is it that
there is a wait list AND there is a 65% connection to a shelter bed in one day?
Answer: The wait list is organized as a bedlist in ServicePoint, as a first come-first
served list. Individuals on the wait list are checking in at given times to see where they
are on the wait list and if they will receive a bed for the night. 65% of individuals receive
a shelter bed within a day; the rest do not, so they remain on the wait list as long as there
is no bed available.

5. Question: Is HMIS done in "real time"?
Answer: Yes, at the central intakes.
Question: How does transitional housing fit within your system flow for families?
Answer: We do not have a significant amount of transitional housing for families – we
have one program only that provides addiction services to homeless families.
Question: What percentage of clients arrive with pets?
Answer: We do not have data on this. We are also not able to accommodate pets at this
time.
Question: Can you draw indicators of cost savings using this system?
Answer: Not at this time for the single adults – we are still in the piloting phase. For
families the costs savings relate to the families that are diverted from the shelter and
don’t have to become homeless. We evaluated our prevention program for families vs.
shelter stays and we saw costs savings in the prevention approach. The evaluation is
available on our website (www.csb.org).
Question: Where can the daily public numbers related to shelter intake/wait list be
found on your website?
Answer: This report that is e-mailed out daily to our community and is not posted on
our website.
Question: How long is the intake process for an adult? For a family?
Answer: 30 minutes for an adult, 1 ½ hours for a family.
Question: What would you identify as parts of the system that could be improved?
Answer: The wait list management at the CPOA could definitely be improved – we
want to get to the point where there is no wait list and no concentration of homeless
individuals looking for a shelter bed at the CPOA. The diversion part can be improved
as well; we are not at the diversion rate we would like to see. Lots of work still to be
done here.
The Family System is functioning efficiently so there are no significant improvements
needed.