DPSS ePolicy

The Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) has established a short-term referral pilot to be implemented at the San Gabriel Valley district office to explore the most efficient way in which the Department may provide support to the Union Station Homeless Services (USHS) Coordinated Entry System (CES) Homeless Case Managers (HCMs) as they serve our homeless customers. The USHS CES HCM will administer a comprehensive homeless assessment and an in-depth evaluation.

The services USHS CES HCM offer includes, but are not limited to:

1. Housing location;
2. Domestic violence;
3. Medical or mental health;
4. Substance use disorder;
5. Legal matters; and
6. Family Reunification.

The pilot will assist homeless case management by:

1. Helping homeless individuals connect with the USHS CES HCM at an off-site location;
2. Responding to the USHS CES HCMs inquiries, questions, and concerns; and
3. Participating in weekly pilot stakeholder meetings for addressing pilot concerns and/or the needs of the homeless individual.

The San Gabriel Valley district START Program staff are to support the USHS CES HCMs with the delivery of services to homeless START participants, effective July 31, 2018. HCMs generally work for community-based organizations and often participate in the single adult CES or Homeless Family Solution Systems (HFSS).

START Program staff are to support the CES HCM through the following 90-day pilot:

Pilot: The START Case Manager (SCM) will refer GR homeless applicants/participants who are participating in START and are interested in receiving additional homeless services through the USHS CES agency.

The Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative directs the Chief Executive Office (CEO) and Los Angeles Housing Services Authority (LAHSA) to collaborate with other county departments to develop and implement a plan for each department to support community-based HCMs.

Supporting HCMs play a key role in combatting homelessness by engaging homeless families and individuals. The USHS CES HCMs will engage homeless GR applicants/participants by connecting them to homeless services, such as housing, mental health, legal, family reunification, and other supportive services.

Coordinated Entry Services

A regionally based system that connects new and existing programs into a “no wrong-door network” by assessing the needs of families and single adults experiencing homelessness and linking them with the most appropriate housing and services to end their homelessness.

Chronically Homeless

Chronically homeless is defined as:

1. An individual must have a “disabling condition” and have been living in a place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter, or in a safe haven for the last 12 months continuously or on at least four occasions in the last three years where those occasions cumulatively total at least 12 months;
2. Occasions are defined by a break of at least seven nights not residing in an emergency shelter, safe haven, or residing in a place meant for human habitation (e.g., with a friend or family). Stays of fewer than seven nights residing in a place meant for human habitation, or not in an emergency shelter or safe haven do not constitute a break and count toward total time homeless; and
3. Stays in institutions of fewer than 90 days where they were residing in a place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter, or in a safe haven immediately prior to entering the institution, do not constitute as a break and the time in the institution counts towards the total time homeless. Where a stay in an institution is 90 days or longer, the entire time is counted as a break and none of the time in the institution can count towards a person’s total time homeless.

Homeless

Homeless is defined by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as:

1. Homeless individuals are individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning:
   1. An individual with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, or camping ground;
   2. An individual living in a supervised publicly or privately- operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local government programs for low-income individuals); or
   3. An individual who is exiting an institution where he or she has resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution.
2. An individual who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, provided that:
   1. The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless assistance;
   2. No subsequent residence has been identified; and
   3. The individual lacks the resources or support networks, e.g., family, friends, faith-based, or other social networks needed to obtain other permanent housing.
3. Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition, but who:
   1. Are defined as homeless under Section 387 of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a), Section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832), Section 41403 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e-2), Section 330(h) of the Public Health Services Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(h)0), Section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012), Section 17(b0) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b00)), or Section 725 of the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434 a);
   2. Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 60 days immediately preceding the date of application for homeless assistance; and
   3. Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more during the 60-day period immediately preceding the date of applying for homeless assistance.
4. Can be expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of chronic disabilities, chronic physical or mental health condition, substance use addiction, histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse (including neglect), the presence of a child or youth with a disability, or two or more barriers to employment, which include the lack of a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED), illiteracy, limited English proficiency, a history of incarceration or detention for criminal activity, and a history of unstable employment; or any individual who:
   1. Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual that has either taken place within the individual’s primary nighttime residence or has made the individual afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence;
   2. Has no other residence; and
   3. Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g., family, friends, faith-based, or other social networks needed to obtain other permanent housing.