Resources for Homeless-serving partners

Coordinated Access is the process through which community providers work together to streamline access to resources for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. This process aims to remove barriers individuals experiencing homelessness face when trying to navigate services and programs run by different organizations. Without Coordinated Access, a client must tell their story repeatedly through multiple intakes, applications, and interviews without necessarily landing at the right program or set of resources to meet their needs.

Our vision through Coordinated Access is that an individual experiencing homelessness can access any door to the homeless-serving system (e.g. emergency shelter, outreach, drop-ins, Housing Services Division) in order to access a whole community of supports. Clients are asked to share their story one time through common intake and consent for inclusion in our shared HIFIS database. Common assessment supports a community-wide approach to assessing and triaging clients to effectively connect them with the right range of supports. This helps move from an approach where clients are served by single organizations to one where we take shared responsibility for ensuring everyone accesses their right to housing as equitably and efficiently as possible.

These policies and processes guide our collective efforts in coordinating access to resources within Hamilton’s homeless-serving system and exits from the experience of homelessness.