Coordinated Entry Systems

The Coordinated Entry System (CES) is a Continuum of Care (CoC)-wide process for facilitating access to housing services and resources for individuals and families at-risk of or experiencing Homelessness, identifying, and assessing needs in fine consistency, and referring clients to the most appropriate service strategy or housing intervention. Thus, the CES ensures that the BoS CoC’s limited resources are allocated to achieve the most effective results. The system ensures that people at-risk of or experiencing Homelessness obtain equitable and timely access to housing resources, provided in a person-centered approach that preserves choice and dignity.

The Coordinated Entry Process can be divided into four distinct phases: Assessment, Scoring, Prioritization, and Eligibility. These phases direct how households are placed on the waitlist and removed from the waitlist. Within these phases are several distinct elements: Pre-Screen, Assessment, and Scoring occur before placing people on the waitlist. Prioritization, Referral, and Follow-Up occur while people are on the waitlist. Determining Eligibility, Diverting, and Program Enrollment occurs to remove people from the waitlist.

WITHOUT Coordinated Entry

Without coordinated entry, clients are left to navigate the system without much structure.

WITH Coordinated Entry

With coordinated entry, client are given structure and navigation on how to traverse the system for housing.

On a given night, around 350 people experience homelessness in the rural regions of Mississippi.

from the 2022 Point-In-Time Count

ABOUT COORDINATED Entry

CES Defined

As defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Coordinated Entry is “a process developed to ensure that all people experiencing a housing crisis have fair and equal access and are quickly identified, assessed for, referred, and connected to housing and assistance based on their strengths and needs.” Starting in 2013, HUD began requiring recipients of federal Continuum of Care (CoC) or Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding to practice Coordinated Entry, as its efficacy had been proven in a number of different communities with significant homeless populations

MUTEH Inc., as both the CoC lead and the HMIS lead agency in the MS Balance of State, ensures that Coordinated Entry is practiced by managing the Coordinated Entry System, an organized network of homeless service providers, system funders, and other partners from across the State who coordinate their resources and services according to a set of common principles and shared procedures. These principles work to standardize approaches on:

  • How people access services and how their needs are assessed.
  • How people are prioritized for limited resources

CES is held together through the use of a database accessible by providers in CES called the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). HMIS holds the information of CES participants and is integral to how homeless individuals are prioritized, referred to, and tracked as they move on their journey toward housing.

CES Guiding Principles

Who Does CES Serve?

How CES Guides People Through Their Housing Crisis

CES REsources

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