Coordinated Dedicated Entry Assessor

Description

Dedicated Assessors are members of the CoC-wide (Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, “Alliance”) cohort responsible for assessing and entering individuals into the Coordinated Entry (CE) system for consideration of matching to CoC-funded housing opportunities within the Suburban Cook County CoC and ensuring that all individuals are properly screened for Diversion and Prevention prior to being entered into the system.

The goal of the Dedicated Assessor Cohort in the Suburban Cook County CoC is to reduce capacity and staffing inequities within and across regions, ensure consistent and accurate data entry, and to increase equity in access to housing matches made through the Coordinated Entry System.

The CE Dedicated Assessor will, with support of Senior CE Dedicated Assessor, identify households eligible for assessment by monitoring the Alliance’s assessment referral list and reconciling with Housing Forward’s Homeless Client List. They will work with households across the agency’s crisis‑response programs who have been unable to rapidly resolve their homelessness and desire assistance securing stable housing. The Dedicated Assessor will assess the household’s need, help identify potential housing resource eligibility and work with program case staff to complete necessary eligibility documents.

They may be required, by the Alliance, to travel throughout suburban Cook County to ensure that there are not gaps in service that create barriers to progress toward stable housing.

• Coordinated Entry is a community-wide system to standardize and expedite the process by which people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness access housing and homeless resources. Through Coordinated Entry, people experiencing homelessness are matched to services and housing based on their preferences and level of need.
• Core Areas of Responsibility of the CoC Dedicated Assessor Cohort:
• Obtain CE Consent, Complete Housing Assessment and Open Progress Tracker after appropriate waiting period, meet with clients from referral report to obtain CE Consent, complete Housing Assessment, and open Progress Tracker.
• Review Universal Intake Data for new clients prior to meeting to ensure homeless history questions and the sub assessment for disabling condition are complete and logical.
• Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Eligibility Documentation may include any or all of the following depending on need: identifying and notifying case managers/outreach specialists of clients who appear to be eligible for PSH; ensuring documentation is appropriate and complete; helping to secure documentation; fielding questions from agency staff regarding appropriate documentation.
• Address gaps in access to CE by holding “office hours” at agencies, libraries, or other locations to screen clients for homeless status and enter initial data and contact information for clients unable to connect with programs that feed into CE (i.e., those who are unable to be diverted and lack available shelter, outreach, or homeless day center services).
  * Implementation of this area may be delayed.
• Other will include travel throughout Suburban Cook County as needed to reduce transportation burden of clients; use of translation services when working with clients for whom English is not their preferred language; completion of all required Coordinated Entry Trainings; participation in all cohort meetings and calls lead by the Coordinated Entry Lead Agency and other duties as required by the Coordinated Entry Lead Agency.

• Monitor Assessment Referral list from the Alliance and compare it with Housing Forward’s Homeless Client List to identify clients eligible for assessment. Perform additional review, as needed, of any inconsistent client information between the two lists to ensure clients are not being missed.
• Conduct needs assessment for three-quarters of households in Street Outreach, Interim Housing, Families-In-Transition and Medical Respite programs who have participated in diversion and rapid resolution case management but were unable to rapidly resolve their…