Training Series

Understanding and Utilizing the Central Access Point (CAP)

Christie Jackson, MSW, LSWCAP/ Shelter Diversion Coordinator

Kevin Finn, MSW, LISW-SPresident & CEO

Central Access Point (CAP) Training Objectives

This presentation will help those working with the homeless gain a basic understanding of:

• Electronic Intake Process CAP uses to place individuals and families who are homeless into shelter and other programs

• Screenings and factors that contribute to placement into programs

• How to connect clients who are homeless or facing homelessness with CAP

• Things CAP callers should know about accessing services

What is the Central Access Point

• Single point of entry for homeless individuals and families seeking emergency shelter

• Completes electronic intakes, screenings, referrals, and placements using VESTA

• Makes referrals and placements to individual shelters, family shelters, transitional housing at Parkway Center, Supportive Service for Veterans & their Families (SSVF), and the Shelter Diversion Program

Where is CAP

• CAP is a program of Strategies to End Homelessness and operates in their office. CAP is a telephone only service and does not have a walk-in component.

• Hours of operation:o Monday- Friday 10am-8pm (CAP takes calls at 9am

for individuals seeking placement in shelter/transitional housing)

o Saturday-Sunday 10am-2pm for all calls

• Highest call volume: 10am- 12pm Monday- Friday

• Operated by six intake specialists (three full time staff during the day and three part time staff on evenings and weekends)

Who Should Access CAP

• Anyone who is in need of shelter– If they have no place to sleep tonight– If they going to be without a place to sleep within

the next week• Who should not call CAP

– People behind on their rent/ utilities or looking for financial assistance

– People who receive a notice to vacate – Those who are able to stay with friends or family– People who do not want to go into shelter– People only wanting a homeless certificate

CAP should only be called if a person is in imminent need of shelter and is able to go into shelter that day

Who Should Access CAP

• CAP is for people looking to get into shelter PLUS:– Veteran families who are homeless or at risk

of homelessness

– Single men wanting to get into Parkway Center

• CAP must talk to person needing services before placement is scheduled– Other people can call to inquire about space but beds

won’t be held until the person needing services contacts CAP directly

CAP Placements and Referrals

• Family Emergency ShelterMercy Health at St. John Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater CincinnatiThe Salvation Army Bethany House Services

• Emergency Shelters for SinglesSt. Francis / St. Joseph Catholic Worker House (men able to work)Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth (men and women age 18-24)Bethany House (women)DIC women’s dormNew women’s shelter (2014-2015)City Gospel Mission (single men) (2014-2015)

CAP Placements and Referrals

• Supportive Services for Veteran’s Families Goodwill and Talbert House- both have RRH

and prevention programs

• Transitional Housing Parkway Center

• Shelter DiversionFreestore FoodbankJewish Family ServicesMercy Health at St. John

Emergency Shelter EligibilityAll shelters require that you have no where else to stay and no longer have keys to an apartment

Family shelters require at least one child under 18 entering shelter with you

Can place single head of household (male or female) or couples with children- will accept same sex couples with children

No shelters accept couples without children

Shelters do take boys over age 12

If a child is over 18, they must still be in high school to go into family shelter with family; if not, they need to seek shelter on their own

No sexual offenses

Emergency Shelter Eligibility

• Catholic Worker House is for single men who are willing and able to work- must secure employment within 30 days

• Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth is for single men and women ages 18-24- a step up shelter that requires people to work a case plan that addresses income and housing

Supportive Services for Veteran’s Families (SSVF)• There is a Veteran in the household that served

beyond basic training and has anything other than a dishonorable discharge

• Homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness (within 14 days)

• Household income below 30% AMI

• No other financial resources or support networks to prevent homelessness

• Serves Boone, Butler, Campbell, Clermont, Hamilton, Kenton, and Warren counties

Shelter Diversion VS Homelessness Prevention/Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP)

HPRP

• Stimulus funding• Eviction Prevention• More money• Money had to be spent• Larger case loads so

could accept more people

Shelter Diversion

• ESG funding= less $• Targeting people who

are already doubled up and will be entering a shelter

• More stringent criteria• Smaller case loads

Shelter Diversion

• Imminent risk of entering shelter

• Household income is less than 30% AMI

• No other support networks or financial assistance to prevent entering shelter

• Willingness to work with a CM

• No active homeless certificates, shelter stays, previous HPRP assistance or shelter diversion assistance within past 12 months

• Hamilton County resident

Shelter Diversion

• If a person meets criteria for Shelter Diversion, and has a safe place to stay, CAP makes referral to a Case Manger in the program

• Case Manager and Housing Specialist assist client with finding housing within 30 days

• Financial assistance is provided to help obtain and maintain housing

• Please do NOT tell your clients to call for Shelter Diversion- if they are in need of shelter, have them call CAP. • Every person calling for shelter is being

screened for Shelter Diversion

Transitional Housing

• Mt Airy Center closed and is now Parkway Center Transitional Housing operated by Talbert House

• Single male (Veterans & Non-Veterans) needing substance abuse treatment

• Non-Vets need to have current homeless certificate and be referred from shelter or street outreach worker where homeless certificate was issued

• Veterans call CAP for a Grant Per Diem (GPD) bed

• No sexual offenses or open warrants

• Must be clean and sober

CAP DOES Inform callers of availability of shelter beds & refer to programs-

• Information is recorded in VESTA in real time• Once a program has updated their availability, CAP is

able to place someone else there

Place people in appropriate beds-• A person may contact a shelter and be informed there is

space and instructed to call CAP, but CAP may tell people there isn’t room due to several factors:• Shelter may not have exited person in bed finder so

bed still looks occupied• Another person contacted CAP at the same time &

was placed into the beds first• Available beds might not fit person’s household.

• If there are only 2 beds available, CAP can’t place a family of 6

CAP can only place people when availability is shown in bed finder. If shelters haven’t updated VESTA, new people can not be placed in a bed

CAP DOES• Need to talk to the person directly seeking services

• Adjusts to each shelter/ program and follows their eligibility guidelines. CAP knows the different requirements for each program and is able to place people in the program that best fits their needs

• Place callers into shelter according to the intake times the shelters tell CAP they are available

• Inform callers of ineligibility for services if noted by former agency in VESTA• If a program noted that a household is ineligible to

return, CAP staff will not the refer person to that program

• Maintain a “Call Back List” for families on the street• CAP will attempt to call a family back when space

becomes available but beds aren’t held. • If CAP does not reach the family, the beds may be given

to another caller

CAP Does NOT• Have the ability to make shelter beds available. Shelters

make beds available in bed finder before CAP can make new placements

• Schedule shelter placements for more than 24 hours in advance. Intakes are scheduled for the same day.

• Tell shelters/programs what their eligibility criteria should be. Each program tells CAP what their eligibility requirements are.

• Have a waiting list

• Transport clients to/from shelter

• Have a walk in component

Clients entering shelters without referral from CAP

• Since CAP places households who are most imminently in need of shelter, intakes outside of CAP may give beds to people whose situation is less desperate

• Word will spread and people will call shelters directly to get in instead of CAP

Since CAP does everything over the phone:

• All referrals are based on self reports• Only exception- Parkway Center

• People sometimes tell CAP what they think CAP staff “want to hear”; story may be a little different what they arrive at shelter, etc.

• If people report something that makes them ineligible, please contact CAP to find out what information they disclosed to CAP

• If any questions about a referral, please call CAP staff or CAP supervisor

Factors that Contribute to Placements and Referrals

Space- Are there available beds in shelter or other programs for referrals? Shelters have a fixed number of beds. Shelter Diversion and SSVF has a fixed number of openings.

Eligibility- Did the caller meet the eligibility requirements according to the screening? Is the individual/family eligible to return to shelter? The prevention program and shelters have eligibility requirements. Each program tells CAP their eligibility requirements

Self Determination- What course of action does the caller want to take? Family, friends or case managers may think the person needs to go into shelter but that has to be what the person wants

Immediacy- How soon will the caller become homeless? How soon are they able to enter shelter? How urgent is their need for services?

Program Suitability- What program best meets the needs of the caller?

CAP Improvement

• CAP has been meeting with shelters who are on CAP to discuss ways to improve the working relationships

• Procedures were developed between CAP and the shelters

• Will have ongoing meetings to strengthen the relationship between CAP and shelters

• CAP survey collected feedback from shelters, programs and other community providers

CAP Survey results

• 22 people completed the survey- average overall rating was 6.69 on a scale of 1-10

• Recommendations to improve CAP assessment

• Multiple comments about the difficulty getting through when CAP lines are busy

• Many comments about lack of available shelter space. CAP has no control over shelter beds or when space is available at shelter.

CAP records clients’ needs in VESTA

CAP checks for shelter availability and reserves beds in VESTA Bed Finder

CAP continues to expand

The Single women’s shelter and the City Gospel Mission for single men will come onto CAP when they open in 2014-2015

CAP 2013

There was a total of 21,404 calls from 4,596 callers

Family shelter- 12,384 calls from 2,187 callers489 placements

Individual Shelter- 4,755 calls from 1,486 callers169 placements (31 to BH, 13 to CWH, 124 to

Lighthouse, 1 to DIC women’s dorm)

SSVF- 646 calls from 411 callers272 referrals

Transitional housing- 1,917 calls from 473 callers207 placements

Shelter Diversion- 221 referrals; 753 total people served; total financial assistance $544,511, 170 exited in 2013 with 3.5% returning to homelessness

CAP Quick Review513-381-SAFE (7233) Monday- Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday-Sunday 10am-2pm• Completes electronic intakes and placement into family/single shelter, shelter

diversion, and SSVF

• Assists single males/females, families, single parents

• Is a single point of contact, no need to call several agencies

• Completes screening completely over the phone, no walk in service

• Makes referrals and placements into:

Emergency Family Shelter( FSP) Emergency shelter singles Mercy Franciscan at St John Bethany House Services Interfaith Hospitality Network Catholic Worker House The Salvation Army Lighthouse Sheakley Center for YouthBethany House Services DIC women’s dorm

Single women’s shelter (2014-2015)City Gospel Mission (2014-2015)

Transitional Housing Prevention ServicesParkway Center SSVF- both RRH and prevention

Social Services agencies for Shelter Diversion

QUESTIONS?

For more information, please visit our website:www.strategiestoendhomelessness.org

Email CAP: CAP@end-homelessness.org

Call CAP: 513-381-SAFE (7233)

Contact CAP Supervisor: Christie Jackson 513-263-2793 cjackson@end-homelessness.org