Administrator – The organization responsible for managing participation, including the onboarding of new CBOs, maintaining an up-to-date list of all active Clients, and ensuring resource information is updated. The Administrator for the Network is Community Rebuilders. 

Access Point – Locations where people can complete the standardized assessment to participate in CHC. Access points often include emergency shelters and drop-in service centers. 

At Risk of Homelessness – An individual or family who has income below 30% of area median family income for the area, as defined by HUD, and who does not have sufficient resources or support networks immediately available to prevent them from moving into an emergency shelter or other place described in the “homeless” definition (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B), and meets one if the following definitions defined under 24 CFR 578.3 (CoC project) or 24 CFR 576.2 (ESG project). This may also include a child or youth who qualifies as homeless under other Federal projects. 

By Name List – A prioritized list in HMIS of people who have completed the Housing Needs Assessment and are in need of permanent housing. The list can be sorted by basic eligibility criteria and is prioritized so that individuals and families with the greatest need are housed first. 

Chronic Homelessness – HUD’s definition of chronically homeless means an individual or family who: 

• Chronically Homeless Individual (CHI) – For HUD CoC Grants requiring that applicants be chronically homeless, under HUD’s definition, “chronic homelessness” means an individual who lives either in a place not meant for human habitation, safe haven, or in an emergency shelter immediately before entering the institutional care facility. 

• In order to meet the CHI definition, the individual also must have been living as described above continuously for 12 months, or on at least four separate occasions in the last three years, where the combined occasions total a length of time of at least 12 months. Each period separating the occasions must include at least 7 nights of living in a situation other than a place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter, or in a safe haven. 

Client – An individual who has agreed to the terms and conditions of CHC 2.0 and has entered their information into the system for the purpose of accessing Platform services. 

Community Based Organization (CBO) – An Organization that has completed the required platform documents and agreed to follow the platform participation standards. The Platform Member will collaborate and communicate with other Platform Members, the Platform Director, and the Host for the benefit of individuals in the community. 

Community Housing Connect – Web-based platform designed to progressively gather information necessary to evaluate risk and match consumers with needed resources. 
 
Community Solutions Specialists – Trained staff at participating provider agencies who employ Supported Solutions and match consumers with available support. 

Coordinated Entry – A systems-level approach for providing coordinated and standardized access, assessment, prioritization, and referral to community resources for people experiencing a housing crisis – especially for people who are unhoused. 

Crisis Needs Assessment (Discovery) – An initial screen tool to determine the clients’ most immediate needs. An assessment conducted for immediate, crisis-based needs; initial, short, focused assessment to help case workers identify immediate resolutions to address emergency needs, including shelter. 

Continuum of Care (CoC) – Group responsible for the implementation of the requirements of HUD’s CoC Program interim rule and the requirements set forth in this Policy. The CoC is composed of representatives of organizations, including nonprofit homeless providers, victim service providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school districts, social service providers, mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, affordable housing developers, law enforcement, organizations that serve homeless and formerly homeless veterans, and homeless and formerly homeless persons. 

Dynamic Prioritization – the process used to identify the household(s) with the highest needs at that point-in-time in the prioritized group(s), determine if referral is appropriate based on needs and preferences, and consider their eligibility for available housing and services within the CE system. 

Emergency Shelter – Any facility, the primary purpose of which is to provide a temporary shelter for the homeless in general or for specific populations of the homeless and which does not require occupants to sign leases or occupancy agreements. 

Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) – HUD funding source to (1) engage homeless individuals and families living on the street; (2) improve the quantity and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families; (3) help operate these shelters; (4) provide essential services to shelter residents; (5) rapidly rehouse homeless individuals and families; and (6) prevent families and individuals from becoming homeless. 

End User – An employee of a CBO who routinely uses CHC 2.0 to manage services and referrals. 

Family – households with one or more adults over 18 and at least one dependent under 18 years of age. 

Homeless – HUD’s definition of homelessness (24 CFR 578.3) has four categories: 

• Category 1 – Literally homeless individuals/families. Literally homeless means an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning the individual or family has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not meant for human habitation, the individual or family is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or federal, state, or local government projects), or the individual is existing an institution where s(he) 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. 

• Category 2 – Individuals/families who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence with no subsequent residence, resources, or support networks. 
• Category 3 – Unaccompanied youth or families with children/youth who meet the homeless definition under another federal statute. 
• Category 4 – Individuals/families fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence. Detailed definition of Category 4: Any individual or family who: (i) Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or a family member, including a child, that has either taken place within the individual’s or family’s primary nighttime residence or has made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence; (ii) Has no other residence; and (iii) Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g., family, friends, and faith-based or other social networks, to obtain other permanent housing. 

Homelessness Prevention – A project targeted to individuals and families at risk of homelessness. Specifically, this includes those that meet the criteria under the “at risk of homelessness” definition at 576.2, as well as those who meet the criteria in Category 2, 3, and 4 of the “homeless definition and have an annual income below 30% of family median income for the area. 

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) – Local information technology system used by a CoC to collect participant-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and to persons at risk of homelessness. Each CoC is responsible for selecting an HMIS software solution that complies with HUD’s data collection, management, and reporting standards. 

Host – Community Rebuilders is the host of the platform, and owns, produces, and supports the secure, cloud-based CHC 2.0 platform. 

Housing First – An approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. Supportive services are offered to maximize housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness as opposed to addressing predetermined treatment goals prior to permanent housing entry. 

Housing Interventions – Housing projects and subsidies, including transitional housing, rapid re- housing, and permanent supportive housing projects, as well as permanent housing subsidy projects (e.g. Housing Choice Vouchers). 

Housing Needs Assessment (questionnaire) – A standardized tool to document current living situation, homeless history, and risk factors. An Assessment conducted for housing needs; more in-depth, housing focused assessment to help case workers direct clients to resources for stabilization of their housing situation. 

Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) – MSHDA serves as the state housing development authority and operates a variety of programs related to housing and homelessness in Michigan.

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) – a type of permanent housing designed for chronically homeless and other highly vulnerable individuals and families who need long-term support to stay housed. Permanent supportive housing provides housing linked with case management and other supportive services. Permanent supportive housing has no time limitation, providing support for as long as needed and desired by the resident. 

Platform Director – Community Rebuilders is the liaison between the Platform Members and the Administrator. They help drive system success by offering ongoing support, answering questions, providing training, ensuring user adoption and data integrity, and keeping Members updated on System activities and initiatives. 

Prioritization Pools – Population(s) or groups(s) targeted for prioritization for a referral to a pool of coordinated resources based on community need, data, funding availability, or business case. 

Progressive Engagement – Progressive engagement is an approach that provides the minimum amount 
of assistance necessary to resolve a household’s homeless situation. Progressive engagement allows for interventions to increase or decline based on the household’s unique needs and ensures the Coordinated Entry System is providing a “right-sized” approach to supportive housing services. 

Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) – a type of permanent housing project that provides short-term financial assistance and support to quickly re-house homeless households in their own independent housing. The goal is to quickly move households out of homelessness and back into permanent housing, providing the lightest level of service necessary to assist the household. 

Referral – Connecting a client to a community resource through an electronic process. 

Release of Information (ROI) – The consent form that individuals/households complete and sign to grant consent for their personal information to be entered into HMIS and used for CHC.  informed consent (opt-out) 

Service Line – a specific grouping of “like” projects and is based on project type (PSH/RRH/TH/ES/etc) 

Supported Solutions – Focuses on providing support to help families and individuals identify a safe, alternative housing option, even if temporary, at or immediately after entry into the coordinated entry system. This strategy can prevent homelessness for people seeking shelter by helping them identify immediate alternate housing arrangements and, if necessary, connecting them with services and financial assistance to help them return to permanent housing.

Transitional Housing (TH) – Temporary housing with services to facilitate movement of homeless individuals and families to permanent housing within 24 months. 

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) Defines youth experiencing homelessness as individuals who are “not more than 21 years of age…for whom it is not possible to live in a safe environment with a relative and who have no other safe alternative living arrangement.” This definition includes only those youth who are unaccompanied by families or caregivers. 

The US Department of Education Homeless Children and Youth – Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (per Title IX, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act) defines homelessness as follows: 

1. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and, 

2. Includes  

• children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;  

• children and youths who have 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 (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));  
• children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and  
• migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).  

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Federal agency responsible for administering housing homelessness programs including the CoC and ESG Programs. 

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) – Federal agency responsible for providing health care and other services, including assistance to end homelessness, to veterans and their families 

Victim Service Provider – A private nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to provide services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. This term includes rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters, domestic violence transitional housing projects, and other projects. 

Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT) – A pre-screening tool designed by OrgCode Consulting, Inc. and Community Solutions that can be conducted to quickly determine whether a client has high, moderate, or low acuity.