Emergency shelter is a finite resource outpaced by community demand. In the past year alone, there were 30,190 calls to IMPACT from people seeking access to shelter or housing-related assistance.
Of that total:
3,409 calls were from families, while there are a total of 67 rooms for homeless families in the community;
and
2,856 calls were from single women, while the community has a total of 74 available spaces for homeless women.
With the need for shelter high and available shelter space low, the Coordinated Entry system emerged, and transitioned shelter access from 'first come-first served' to 'needs-based' shelter access. The first populations served through Coordinated Entry were women and children.
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The Coordinated Entry system is more efficient because the consistent requirements and shared resources result in shelter staff being able to focus on case management and client-focused services such as resume assistance.
