03. Resolving a Housing Referral from Coordinated Entry

Overview

This article is for Housing Provider agencies who are participating the Coordinated Entry system in their CoCs. Priority List Managers create a Coordinated Entry Event (CE Event) when referring a client to a housing opportunity. This article will detail the steps that Housing Providers will follow for acknowledging a referral, and for resolving a referral by documenting that the outcome was either successful and led to program enrollment, or that it was unsuccessful and the client was not housed.

• More About This — Further important information is found in this section.
• Details — Specific details and/or step-by-step workflows will be described in this section.
• Video — Any relevant videos will be posted in this section.

More About This

• In ClientTrack, housing referral events are acknowledged and resolved in the Clients workspace, via the dedicated CE Event form.
• When resolving a successful referral, a housing program enrollment needs to be created before the CE Event is updated.

Details

Acknowledge Receipt of a Referral

The first step for a housing provider when you have received a referral from Coordinated Entry is to go into HMIS and officially acknowledge that referral. This lets your CoC's Coordinated Entry Team know that you will now be taking the next steps to reach out to the client in order to verify their eligibility to fill your housing vacancy.

1. Click on your user icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to open the Settings sidebar, then make the following selections:
   1. Workgroup: Whichever applies to your role as a housing provider, usually HMIS User.
   2. Organization: Your housing program’s organization. (Click here to see a list of programs and their owning organizations)
   3. When finished, click on Apply.
2. Navigate to the Clients workspace and open the record of the client that was referred to your housing program.
3. In the menu group, expand the Enrollment and Services folder and select CE Event:

4. On the Coordinated Entry Event page, find the event in the list for the referral to your housing program and click on its edit icon.

5. On the form screen, locate the Date Referral Acknowledged field and click the calendar icon to record the date you first learned of the housing referral:

6. Use this opportunity to update the Housing Provider Contact Name, Phone, and Email fields as well if any information is out-of-date.
7. You can now click Save, and exit out of the client record. Now that you’ve acknowledged the referral, the next step is to reach out to the client.

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Resolve a Referral

Depending on what happens once you have done the work to reach out to and meet with the client referred to your housing program, there are two possible outcomes that you will need to record in HMIS. Data entry instructions for what to do in each scenario can be found below.

• Successful Referral: The client has been enrolled in your housing program. (Please note: This is not the same thing as a client moving into housing, which may happen later or not at all.)
• Unsuccessful Referral: The client has not been enrolled in your housing program and will not be.

Before recording a referral outcome, you will, as always, want to click on your user icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to open the Settings sidebar, then make the following selections:

1. Workgroup: Whichever applies to your role as a housing provider, usually HMIS User.
2. Organization: Your housing program’s organization. (Click here to see a list of programs and their owning organizations)
3. When finished, click on Apply.

1. Open the record of the client that was referred to your housing program.
2. In the Clients workspace, click to start an Intake and follow the steps you've previously learned to complete a Program Enrollment into your housing project for the client.

3. Once you have completed an intake and program enrollment for the client into your project, in the menu group, expand the Enrollment and Services folder and select CE Event:

4. On the Coordinated Entry Event page, find the event in the list for the referral to your housing program and click on its edit icon:

5. Complete the following fields:
   1. Referral Result: Choose Successful referral: client accepted
   2. Result Date: The date the client was enrolled in your housing program
   3. Resulting Enrollment: Choose the project enrollment you just created for the client prior to updating the CE Event.

6. Click Save when you are finished.

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1. Open the record of the client that was referred to your housing program.
2. In the menu group, expand the Enrollment and Services folder and select CE Event:

3. On the Coordinated Entry Event page, find the event in the list for the referral to your housing program and click on its edit icon.

4. Complete the following fields:
   1. Referral Result: Choose the option that best reflects the outcome of the referral:
      • Unsuccessful referral: client rejected
      • Unsuccessful referral: provider rejected
   2. Result Date: Record the date it was determined that the referral was unsuccessful.
   3. If Not Housed, Reason: Select the most appropriate reason from the picklist menu.

5. Click Save when you are finished.

1. If a client is not successfully housed after their enrollment into your program, you will need to record this outcome in HMIS in the client's profile.
2. Once in the client's record, expand the Enrollment and Services folder and select CE Event, as was shown above.
3. On the Coordinated Entry Event page, find the event in the list for the referral to your housing program and click on its edit icon, as shown above.
4. Complete the If Not Housed, Reason field:

5. Click Save when you are finished.

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Video

Under construction, coming soon!

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Related Articles & References

Depending on your CoC's policies, if a Coordinated Entry referral to your housing project is successful and the client is housed, you may also need to follow the instructions in the next article in this series: Exiting a Client from Coordinated Entry. Again, please consult your local CoC policies!

Core HMIS Workflow How-to Guides:

HMIS Fundamentals

ClientTrack Basics

Client Intake

Program Enrollment

Questions? Email the Helpdesk: MNHMIS@icalliances.org