Western PA CoC Homelessness Prevention Toolkit

The Western PA Continuum of Care is pleased to release our new Homelessness Prevention Screening Toolkit. This toolkit includes a Homelessness Prevention (HP) screening tool, HP Targeting Matrix, which scores and prioritizes households for assistance, and incorporates HP into the CoC’s Coordinated Entry System.

The development of the Homelessness Prevention Screening Toolkit was necessary in order to meet the following HUD requirements:

• All ESG-funded projects, including homelessness prevention, are required to utilize the CoC’s Coordinated Entry System. 
• Each CoC must have policies and procedures for determining and prioritizing which eligible households will receive homelessness prevention assistance.

Beyond meeting HUD requirements, the purpose of this Toolkit is to prioritize households who are at high risk of becoming homeless without assistance. High risk households will be identified through the utilization of a scoring tool that incorporates factors known to commonly predict homelessness. There will always be more households who meet ESG eligibility requirements, than HP funding available within the CoC. As such, the use of a scoring tool that incorporates factors known to commonly predict homelessness will allow the CoC to allocate resources strategically.

In addition to ESG-funded homelessness prevention, it is the hope of the CoC that prevention programs funded with other resources will also consider using the Toolkit. Targeting these households will promote the most strategic use of resources and further the CoC’s mission to prevent and end homelessness in Western PA.

The use of this tool will be required for any household who presents for ESG-funded homelessness prevention assistance in the Western PA CoC on/after November 1, 2020. This includes 2019 ESG, 2020 ESG, ESG-CV1 and any subsequent ESG contracts. You will not need to go back and use this process/tool on any clients enrolled prior to November 1, 2020.

For more information about the strategic use of homelessness prevention resources, the below linked publications from HUD are recommended.

• Homeless System Response: System Planning: A Framework for Homelessness Prevention
• Homeless System Response: Five Things to Consider When Investing ESG in Homelessness Prevention

Western PA CoC Homelessness Prevention Toolkit

• Western PA CoC Homelessness Prevention Screening Toolkit
• Homelessness Prevention Screening Tool - Quick Guidance 
• Western PA CoC Coordinated Entry System Flow - Homelessness Prevention