Actions to Help Ensure Success of Your Community Strategic Plan
- Review the 52 strategies in Opening Doors to determine those that make most sense to prioritize in your Community Plan.
- Transform homeless services to rapid response systems to focus on housing stabilization. Centralized and coordinated intake is key to making this work. Offer alternatives to shelter admission whenever possible, make shelter available, and ensure quick housing placement and housing retention.
- Implement Housing First and Rapid Re‐Housing practices broadly across all homeless programs.
- Seize the opportunity created by health reform, both through expansion of Medicaid and expansion of community health centers by making sure eligible individuals and families are enrolled in Medicaid.
- Coordinate with the VA Medical Centers, as they implement the VA’s 5 Year Plan to End Veterans Homelessness. The Continuum of Care, Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness Leadership Council, and State Interagency Councils on Homelessness should be working hand‐in‐hand with the VA and their partners.
- Collaborate with Public Housing Agencies to identify how families and individuals who are homeless can be prioritized for housing.
- Work in partnership with State Homeless Education Coordinators and school district liaisons to ensure that children and youth experiencing homelessness have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as other children and to provide activities for services to ensure that these children enroll in, attend, and achieve success in school.
- Commit to using data as a management tool. Review your state/community’s data to identify system and program strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
- Work collaboratively and build relationships to streamline resources and efforts: involve health and human services, housing agencies, VA, education, corrections, law enforcement and the private sector, including business, philanthropy, faith‐based and community organizations. Invest state, local, and philanthropic dollars toward strategies aligned with the strategic plan.
