The Homeless Response System of the NW Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness
An effective homeless response system is able to identify and quickly connect people who are experiencing or are at risk of experiencing homelessness to housing assistance and other services. It works because it aligns a community, its programs and services around one common goal — to make homelessness rare, brief, and one-time.
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Call Center
The Coordinated Entry Call Center is a dedicated phone line administered by the NW Michigan Community Action Agency that persons who meet the HUD definition of homelessness can call to complete a housing assessment.
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Street Outreach
Coordinated street outreach identifies and engages people living in unsheltered locations, such as in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, encampments, and on the streets. Effective street outreach reaches people who might not otherwise seek assistance or come to the attention of the homelessness service system by offering housing-focused services.
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Temporary Emergency Shelter
Temporary Emergency Shelters exist to resolve a person’s homelessness and connect them back to permanent housing while meeting their base needs. Temporary Emergency Shelters are not destinations, and should operate from a low-barrier, housing-focused philosophy.
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Shelter Diversion/Rapid Exit
Diversion immediately address the needs of someone who has just lost their housing and become homeless. The goal is to help the person or household find safe alternative housing immediately, rather than entering shelter or experiencing unsheltered homelessness. It is intended to ensure that the homelessness experience is as brief as possible, to prevent unsheltered homelessness, and to avert stays in shelter.
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Rapid Rehousing
Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) is a Housing First intervention designed to help households quickly exit homelessness, return to housing in the community, and not become homeless again in the near term. While RRH is not designed to end poverty, it is designed to help households establish a foundation to support long-term permanent housing success.
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Permanent Supportive Housing
Permanent supportive housing is a proven solution to homelessness for the most vulnerable chronically homeless people. It pairs housing with case management and supportive services. The services are designed to build independent living and tenancy skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment and employment services.
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Housing First
Housing First is an evidence-based approach to addressing homelessness that prioritizes providing stable and permanent housing to individuals experiencing homelessness, without preconditions or requirements, such as sobriety or participation in treatment programs.