Coordinated Entry
Housing Services
Coordinated Entry (CE) is a system designed to create a more equitable and streamlined process for connecting and allocating our community's all too limited homeless related resources. Through CE, households in need of assistance are identified, assessed for, referred, and connected to housing and assistance based on their strengths and needs.​
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​​​Coordinated Entry is one way that some housing programs enroll individuals and households identified as those in our community with the greatest housing and service needs. This includes individuals and households that have been sleeping in emergency shelter, outside, or in a vehicle, and have experienced long-term homelessness.
Access
Households connect to Coordinated Entry when they enroll in Street Outreach Projects and Emergency Shelters, including Domestic Violence shelters.
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Assessment - Two-Tiered System
The Tier 1 process uses data in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) regarding the client's HMIS history and responses to the Madison/Dane CE questions asked at enrollment into Emergency Shelter and Street Outreach Projects. This information assesses vulnerability and prioritizes referrals for the Tier-2 assessment.
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Households who are prioritized into Tier 2 will be invited to complete the VI-SPDAT (called the Tier 2 Assessment) or the Vulnerability Index Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool. The assessment consists of a series of personal questions about an individual or family's history of housing and homelessness and interactions with outer systems, including health care, criminal legal, etc. There is an assessment for single adults, households with children and transition age youth (ages 18-24).
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Upon completion of the Tier 2 Assessment, households are referred to the Tier 2 Priority List. There is a list for Single Adults and a list for Households with Minor Children. The housing priority list is a fluid list, not a waiting list. It will continue to prioritize households based on their assessment score.
Projects that use Coordinated Entry to fill vacancies (coming soon)
Nondiscrimination Information
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The CE system and CoC, EHH, ESG funded and other participating housing and supportive services must comply with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of Federal civil rights laws including the following:
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Fair Housing Act prohibits discriminatory housing practices based on race, color, national origin/ancestry, religion, sex, age, family/familial status, disability/handicap, actual or perceived sexual orientation, lawful source of income, gender identity, marital status, domestic abuse/sexual assault/stalking victims, military discharge status, physical appearance, political beliefs, student status, domestic partnership, tenant union association, genetic identity, citizenship status, Section 8 housing voucher participant, nonreligion and homelessness.
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
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Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin under any program receiving Federal financial assistance.
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Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits public entities, which includes State and local governments, and special purpose districts, from discriminating against individuals with disabilities in all their services, programs and activities, which include housing, and housing related services such as housing search and referral assistance.
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Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits private entities that own, lease and operate places of public accommodations, which include shelters, social service establishments, and other public accommodations providing housing, from discriminating on the basis of disability.
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If you feel you have been treated unfairly due to any of the above reasons, you may file a discrimination complaint. Information on how to file a complaint can be found on the City of Madison and Dane County websites.
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Information and complaint forms are available at Emergency Shelter and Street Outreach offices.
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