Module 4: Group Discussion (Collaborative Governance)

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness

in Memphis/Shelby County

Approved March 2021

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 1

Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium

Governing Council – 2020 – 2021

OFFICERS

Chair: Kimberly Mitchell, City of Memphis

Vice-Chair: Phillis Lewis, Love Doesn't Hurt

Immediate Past Chair: Cornelius Sanders, Promise Development Corporation

MEMBERS

At-Large Members (Elected by the Consortium)

Mary Hamlett, VP of Family Programs, MIFA

Megan Williams, Manager of Complex Care, Regional One Health

Designated Liaisons (Appointed)

City of Memphis Government Liaison: Kimberly Mitchell, Administrator, HCD

Shelby County Government Liaison: Dorcas Young Griffin, Director, Div. of Community Services

Memphis Housing Authority Liaison: Vernua Hanrahan, Special Projects Coordinator

Memphis VAMC Liaison: Jacquelyn Taylor-Mays, Section Chief, Homeless Programs

Shelby County Schools Liaison: Dr. Karen Ball, District Official

Department of Children’s Services Liaison: Merlene Hyman, Regional Administrator

Committee Chairs (Appointed by Chair)

CoC Planning Chair: Porsha Goodman, Executive Director, Door of Hope

Youth Committee Chair: Kiya Black, Metamorphosis Project Case Manager, OUTMemphis

Representatives (Elected by Consortium)

Domestic Violence Representative: Sandy Bromley, Executive Director, Shelby County CVRCC

For-Profit Representative: Matt Grimes

Legal Representative: Shannon Mason, Memphis Area Legal Services

LGBTQ Representative: Phillis Lewis, CEO/Founder, Love Doesn’t Hurt

Philanthropy Representative: LaQuita Rhine

Designated by Bylaws

Lead Agency Executive Director: D. Cheré Bradshaw

Lead Agency Liaison: Grant Ebbesmeyer, CoC Planning Director

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 2

Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium

Association Members – 2020 – 2021 As of March 10, 2021

A Home for Heroes Residential Facility Agape Child & Famly Services, Inc. Alpha Omega Veterans Services, Inc. American Job Centers – Greater Memphis Region Baptist Operation Outreach Calvary Episcopal Church Catholic Charities of West TN Christ Community Health Services CMI Healthcare Services Community Alliance for the Homeless Door of Hope Dorothy Day House Grady Chapel CME Church The Hagar Center, Inc. Homes for Hearts H.O.P.E. Hope House Housing the Homeless - HELPS The Independent Parent Inc. Judicare

A Lee Dog Story Lisieux Community Memphis Dream Center Memphis Health Center Merge Memphis Meritan Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) OUTMemphis Peanut's House, Inc. Promise Development Corporation Refuge Memphis Restoration Time Family & Youth Services Room in the Inn-Memphis Seed House Inc SHIELD, Inc. St. John's Community Services (SJCS) St. Luke Lutheran Church St. Matthew's United Methodist Church Thistle and Bee Enterprises Inc. Trinity Community Coalition Outreach, Inc. We Are Family CDC

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 3

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Approval and Annual Review 6

Outline: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Benchmarks 7

Narratives

Goal 1: Ensure Homelessness is a Rare Experience 12

Goal 2: Ensure Homelessness is a Brief Experience 14

Goal 3: Ensure Homelessness is a One-Time Experience 18

Goal 4: Sustain an End to Homelessness 20

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 4

Introduction

The Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium is the voluntary association that

provides leadership, services, advocacy, and information related to Memphis and Shelby

County’s homeless population. The mission of the Consortium is to develop, sustain and

coordinate a comprehensive continuum of care for citizens of the City of Memphis and Shelby

County who experience homelessness in order to establish pathways to self-sufficiency and

ultimately to eliminate homelessness.

The Consortium has active members from many different sectors across Memphis and Shelby

County including housing and service providers, local government, churches and faith-based

organizations, mental health organizations, affordable housing developers, educational

systems, medical providers, and advocates. The Consortium meets quarterly, and has several

open committees and working groups that meet more regularly and focus on specific

populations or services provided by member agencies.

The Consortium serves as the TN-501: Memphis/Shelby County Continuum of Care (CoC),

designated by HUD as the group organized to carry out the responsibilities prescribed in the

HEARTH Act for a defined geographic area. Responsibilities of the group include planning for,

designating, and operating the CoC, designating and operating an HMIS (Homeless

Management Information System), and designing and implementing the process associated

with applying for CoC Program funds.

The Governing Council (the decision-making body of the Consortium) currently designates

Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH) to serve as the lead agency for the CoC.

CAFTH provides staff support for the Consortium and its committees and is assigned other CoC

duties, including serving as the HMIS Lead Agency and the Collaborative Applicant for agencies

to receive CoC Program funds from HUD.

In January 2011, a 10-year Action Plan to End Homelessness was presented by the Mayors’

Committee to End Homelessness, co-chaired by former City of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton

and former Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell. Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH)

was identified as the agency to carry out the Action Plan.

In Memphis/Shelby County, since the introduction of the 2011 Action Plan, the

total number of:

● Individuals experiencing homelessness has fallen by 47%, from 1,942 to 1,0221

● Permanent supportive housing beds has risen by 141%, from 546 to 1,3162

● Rapid rehousing beds has risen by 185%, from 163 to 465

● Temporary transitional housing beds has fallen by 61%, from 1,399 to 543

1 https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_CoC_TN-501-2011_TN_2011.pdf 2 https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_HIC_CoC_TN-501-2011_TN_2011.pdf

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 5

In the same time, the total annual Continuum of Care (CoC) program funding awarded to

agencies in Memphis/Shelby County has risen by 23%, from $5.6 million to $6.9 million.

Due to the expiration of the 2011 Action Plan in 2020, Community Alliance for the Homeless

(CAFTH) was tasked with drafting a new strategic plan to continue the success seen since 2011

and ultimately end homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County. Although the COVID-19

pandemic beginning in March 2020 dramatically altered and delayed original plans for

developing the strategic plan, community feedback and strategizing continued after the

immediate response passed.

The following strategic plan follows the structure of the Home, Together: Federal Strategic Plan

to Prevent and End Homelessness released by the United States Interagency Council on

Homelessness (USICH) in 2018. The Home, Together Federal plan emphasizes evidence-

based and proven strategies to end homelessness; the federal plan has been tailored to fit the

local context and needs in Memphis/Shelby County.

A draft of the plan outline was presented at the September 2020 Memphis/Shelby County

Homeless Consortium quarterly virtual meeting and feedback was requested from attendees.

After the meeting, a recording of the presentation of the draft outline was also sent to all

individuals on the CAFTH/Consortium mailing list. Feedback was received from 13 individuals

and was integrated into the next draft. This draft was again sent to all individuals on the

CAFTH/Consortium mailing list with a request for additional feedback. Substantive feedback

was received from one agency.

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 6

Approval and Annual Review

After the second round of community and provider feedback, the draft plan was presented to

representatives of the City of Memphis and Shelby County for review and to the

Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium Governing Council for final approval. The plan

was approved unanimously by the Governing Council on March 10, 2021.

The Strategic Plan will be reviewed at least annually by the Homeless Consortium’s Governing

Council. Community Alliance for the Homeless as the designated CoC Lead Agency will provide

reports on the plan’s progress along with this review process. The Strategic Plan may be

amended with a majority vote by the Governing Council.

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 7

Outline: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and

Benchmarks

Goal 1: Ensure Homelessness is a Rare Experience

Objective 1.1: Collaboratively Build Lasting Systems that End Homelessness

Strategies Benchmarks

1.1a: Work proactively with publicly funded institutions and systems of care to develop and implement discharge policies that help prevent homelessness.

Formalize discharge planning with at least 2 systems of care (e.g. criminal justice, foster care, hospital, and mental health) to ensure as many individuals as possible are not exited from these systems directly into homelessness, or if unavoidable are connected with supports and resources

1.1b: Improve data sharing agreements Develop data sharing agreements and conduct regular data imports or direct data entry with at least 2 external partners not currently entering data into HMIS

Objective 1.2: Increase Capacity and Strengthen Practices to Prevent Housing Crises

and Homelessness

Strategies Benchmarks

1.2a: Increase funding and resources for prevention and diversion activities

Develop and formalize an official diversion plan within the CoC including plans for ongoing prevention and diversion funding sources

1.2b: Increase resources and policies to support vulnerable populations including youth, families, domestic violence survivors, and veterans

Formalize lead partners for assisting each population and track progress towards meeting USICH benchmarks for ending homelessness for these populations

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 8

Goal 2: Ensure Homelessness is a Brief Experience

Objective 2.1: Identify and Engage All People Experiencing Homelessness as Quickly

as Possible

Strategies Benchmarks

2.1a: Increase street outreach and service

coordination programs that allow persons to

access needed services quickly and

efficiently

Formalize processes surrounding

assessment, intake, and diversion for both

internal and external CoC agencies, including

policies for those who are fleeing domestic

violence

Formalize and expand additional entry points

into system, especially outside of traditional

operating hours

Assess outreach needs and formalize plan for

expanding outreach funding and capacity,

including activating an outreach committee to

develop plan and further goals

Objective 2.2: Provide Immediate Access to Low-Barrier Emergency Shelter or other

Temporary Accommodations to All Who Need it

Strategies Benchmarks

2.2a: Increase Emergency Shelter with an

emphasis on free, low-barrier, equal access

shelters

Better track unsheltered populations to

determine needs and formalize plan for

expanding shelter funding and capacity,

including by reducing overall length of time

homeless and increasing exits to permanent

housing

Educate and partner with existing shelters to

lower barriers as much as possible and

expand capacity

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 9

Objective 2.3: Maintain Coordinated Entry System (CES) to Standardize Assessment

and Prioritization Processes and Streamline Connections to Housing and Services

Strategies Benchmarks

2.3a: Expand CES partnerships to increase

and improve entry and exit points and better

connect community partners

Formalize partnerships with at least 2

emergency shelters for single adults outside

of the current CES to expand intake capacity

Formalize process for referring individuals to

services while they await housing, including

outreach, housing navigation, and mental

health or substance abuse resources for

those who want them

Objective 2.4: Assist People to Move Swiftly into Permanent Housing with Appropriate

and Person-Centered Services

Strategies Benchmarks

2.4a: Increase and Maximize Permanent

Housing Resources

Develop and formalize a plan to both increase

utilization rates of current permanent housing

beds and expand permanent housing

capacity, including ways to visualize data on

permanent housing capacity and availability

Develop landlord engagement strategy to

better partner with flexible and low-barrier

private market landlords

Formalize partnerships with at least 2

affordable housing providers outside of the

current CES to expand outflow capacity

2.4b: Provide Training on Permanent

Supportive Housing (PSH) and Rapid

Rehousing (RRH) principles to ensure case

managers and housing staff are fully trained

on supportive housing services

Develop and formalize new plan and

requirements for training new CoC PSH and

RRH case managers as well as recurring

training and testing to ensure cohesive

training across the CoC

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 10

Goal 3: Ensure Homelessness is a One-Time Experience

Objective 3.1: Prevent Returns to Homelessness through Connections to Adequate

Services and Opportunities

Strategies Benchmarks

3.1a: Seek and design partnerships with key

mainstream service providers to leverage

resources and support integrated care

Improve and formalize referral processes

between housing providers and mainstream

benefit resources, including mental health

resources for those who need them

Objective 3.2: Increase Opportunities for Meaningful Engagement with Persons with

Lived Experiences

Strategies Benchmarks

3.2a: Formalize feedback from persons with

lived experience, through either focus groups

or feedback more routinely collected from

clients in existing programs

Develop and formalize a policy to create a

Lived Experience Advisory Group within the

Homeless Consortium

Expand Consortium’s Governing Council to

include additional spots for individuals with

lived experience of homelessness

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 11

Goal 4: Sustain an End to Homelessness

Objective 4.1: Sustain Practices and Systems at a Scale Necessary to Respond to

Future Needs

Strategies Benchmarks

4.1a: Broaden understanding around states

of housing insecurity that may factor into

future homelessness

Outline goals for meeting a functional zero

end to homelessness and how to measure

data to ensure that goal can be met in a

sustained manner

Objective 4.2: Planning for the Needs of Persons Experiencing Homelessness in

Disaster Response and Recovery Efforts

Strategies Benchmarks

4.2a: Addressing Response and Recovery

From COVID-19 Pandemic

During and after COVID-19 response,

develop report on lessons learned and

strategies to improve future emergency

response efforts

4.2b: Adaptable Emergency Response Planning for Persons Experiencing Homelessness

Develop and formalize Emergency Response

Plan

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 12

Narratives

Goal 1: Ensure Homelessness is a Rare Experience

Memphis and Shelby County will work to ensure homelessness is a rare experience by

implementing strategies to build lasting systems to support those experiencing homelessness

and increase resources aimed at preventing persons from becoming homeless. This includes

strategies for building strong local systems, expanding partnerships with mainstream programs

that are not specifically targeted to people experiencing homelessness, putting a greater

emphasis on diversion strategies, and strengthening our ability to prevent housing crises and

homelessness. Implementation of these strategies will be grounded in data and analysis and will

support our community to address the needs of populations that are disproportionately impacted

by homelessness.

Objective 1.1: Collaboratively Build Lasting Systems that End Homelessness

To achieve the goal of ending homelessness and to ensure that homelessness is a rare

experience, it is important to ensure that a variety of homeless providers, governmental entities,

and community agencies are represented in system planning. Bringing together key

stakeholders to help build a collaborative response to ending homelessness allows for multiple

systems that engage with persons experiencing homelessness to be at the decision making

table.

Strategy 1.1a: Work proactively with publicly funded institutions and systems of care to

develop and implement discharge policies that help prevent homelessness.

Memphis and Shelby County will create formal discharge policies with institutions of care,

correctional facilities, and other systems that may discharge individuals into homelessness or

housing instability. These discharge policies will highlight procedures for connecting persons

exiting an institution with no housing resources with the Coordinated Entry System, emergency

shelter resources, and permanent housing resources to ensure that persons are not exiting to

the street or unstable housing situations.

● Benchmark: Formalize discharge planning with at least 2 systems of care (e.g. criminal

justice, foster care, hospital, and mental health) to ensure as many individuals as

possible are not exited from these systems directly into homelessness, or if unavoidable

are connected with supports and resources

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning, ESG

Strategy 1.1b: Improve data sharing agreements.

Utilizing data systems such as HMIS is also needed to ensure that accurate data is collected on

persons experiencing homelessness and to help identify and track a person's progression

through the homeless services system.

● Benchmark: Develop data sharing agreements and conduct regular data imports or

direct data entry with at least 2 external partners not currently entering data into HMIS

○ Potential funding: CoC HMIS, ESG HMIS

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 13

Objective 1.2: Increase Capacity and Strengthen Practices to Prevent Housing

Crises and Homelessness

In Memphis/Shelby County and across the country, few resources currently exist to prevent

housing crises and homelessness, and the resources that do exist are not adequate to meet the

demand. Expanding and supporting individuals, families, and specific populations at risk of

becoming homeless will help ensure that the homeless services system is not further strained.

Strategy 1.2a: Increase funding and resources for prevention and diversion activities

To ensure that homelessness is a rare occurrence, funding for prevention activities is needed to

allow for resources that can help prevent persons from being evicted into homelessness. These

funds should include flexibility for one-time rental payments to prevent evictions, landlord

mitigation, repairs for cars to prevent the loss of a job, and other services that can help keep

someone from losing their homes or ending up experiencing homelessness. Homelessness

prevention should not be the responsibility of the homelessness crisis response system alone.

Rather, it requires a multi-sector approach and an active focus on housing needs, housing

stability, and risks of homelessness across many different public systems. Effective prevention

approaches must include enhanced cross-system collaboration, such as increased awareness

and attentiveness to housing stability, and effective transition and/or discharge planning that link

people to other resources, including employment and other economic mobility supports, to

reduce the risk of homelessness upon discharge or following the end of service provision.

● Benchmark: Develop and formalize an official diversion plan within the CoC including

plans for ongoing prevention and diversion funding sources

○ Potential funding: ESG, CDBG, private funding

Strategy 1.2b: Increase resources and policies to support vulnerable populations

including youth, families, domestic violence survivors, and veterans

While experiencing homelessness places all people at an increased state of vulnerability, there

are additional subpopulations that are at a higher risk of becoming homeless and continued

homelessness, violence, exploitation, and more. Increasing the capacity of systems to meet the

unique needs of youth ages 18-24, especially those in the LGBTQ community, persons fleeing

domestic violence, families, and veterans includes collaborating with systems that serve these

populations that may not be directly involved in the homelessness sector.

● Benchmark: Formalize lead partners for assisting each population and track progress

towards meeting USICH benchmarks for ending homelessness for these populations

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 14

Goal 2: Ensure Homelessness is a Brief Experience

This goal focuses on the understanding that even with effective systems in place, there is still

the possibility that persons may find themselves in a situation where they are experiencing

homelessness. Memphis and Shelby County will work to establish effective practices that are

able to quickly identify those experiencing literal homelessness and connect them with the

resources needed to get them into shelter, referred to permanent housing options, and linked to

supportive services that will allow them to succeed in housing. Strategies focus especially on

coordinated and comprehensive outreach, low-barrier emergency shelter, strong coordinated

entry processes, and swift connections to different forms of permanent housing. Housing First

practices will be central focuses of each objective within this goal and within all practices of the

homelessness response system.

Objective 2.1: Identify and Engage All People Experiencing Homelessness as

Quickly as Possible

It is important to quickly identify and engage individuals and families when they do fall into

homelessness—including sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in locations such as cars,

parks, abandoned buildings, encampments, or on the street—to ensure that experience is brief.

Memphis and Shelby County will utilize the Continuum of Care’s Coordinated Entry System to

provide coordinated, housing-focused outreach to identify and engage individuals and families

experiencing homelessness.

Strategy 2.1a: Increase street outreach and service coordination programs that allow

persons to access needed services quickly and efficiently

Expanding outreach staff and services is needed to better identify and engage with persons who

are currently experiencing homelessness in the community. Effective and coordinated outreach

allows for clients to be educated on resources available to them, have someone who can help

them work through what their needs and preferences are for services, and establish a

communication link between clients and housing providers/supportive services. Building trust

and a communication path for persons experiencing homelessness are essential for ensuring

that persons can be identified quickly and have a clear understanding of how to connect to the

resources they need.

● Benchmark: Formalize processes surrounding assessment, intake, and diversion for

both internal and external CoC agencies, including policies for those who are fleeing

domestic violence

○ Potential funding: ESG

● Benchmark: Formalize and expand additional entry points into system, especially

outside of traditional operating hours

○ Potential funding: ESG, CDBG

● Benchmark: Assess outreach needs and formalize plan for expanding outreach funding

and capacity, including activating an outreach committee to develop plans and further

goals

○ Potential funding: ESG

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 15

Objective 2.2: Provide Immediate Access to Low-Barrier Emergency Shelter or

other Temporary Accommodations to All Who Need it

An effective crisis response system helps individuals and families experiencing homelessness

avoid the need to enter emergency shelter whenever possible. It is also able to immediately

provide high-quality, housing-focused shelter or other temporary accommodations for those

living in unsafe situations, including those fleeing domestic violence and human trafficking and

those living in unsheltered locations. Memphis and Shelby County will establish effective models

of emergency shelter and other temporary accommodations available that:

● Meet the needs of all members of a household and self-defined family and kinship

groups, including infants and young children;

● Do not turn people away or make access contingent on sobriety, minimum income

requirements, or lack of a criminal history;

● Do not require family members and partners to separate from one another in order to

access shelter;

● Ensure that policies and procedures promote dignity and respect for every person

seeking or needing shelter and follow equal access laws; and

● Provide a free, safe, decent, welcoming, and appropriate temporary living environment,

where daily needs can be met while pathways back to safe living arrangements or

directly into housing programs are being pursued.

Strategy 2.2a: Increase Emergency Shelter with an emphasis on free, low-barrier, equal

access shelters

Currently, low-barrier access to shelters is limited in Memphis and Shelby County. To ensure

that persons in need of emergency shelter are able to access shelter that can also coordinate

effectively with the Coordinated Entry System to provide supportive services needed to exit to

permanent housing, Memphis and Shelby County will work to expand the number of emergency

shelter beds that are free, low-barrier, and follow equal access requirements.

● Benchmark: Better track unsheltered populations to determine needs and formalize

plan for expanding shelter funding and capacity, including by reducing overall length of

time homeless and increasing exits to permanent housing

○ Potential funding: ESG

● Benchmark: Educate and partner with existing shelters to lower barriers as much as

possible and expand capacity

○ Potential funding: ESG

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 16

Objective 2.3: Maintain Coordinated Entry System (CES) to Standardize

Assessment and Prioritization Processes and Streamline Connections to Housing

and Services

Coordinated entry processes make it possible for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing

homelessness to have their strengths and needs quickly assessed, and to be swiftly connected

to appropriate, tailored housing and services within the community or designated region.

Memphis and Shelby County will continue to utilize standardized assessment tools, prioritization

policies, and practices that take into account the unique needs of different populations, including

parents, infants and young children, youth, people with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS,

survivors of domestic violence, and populations that are disproportionately represented among

people experiencing homelessness. The Coordinated Entry System (CES) ensures the most

intensive interventions are prioritized for those with the highest needs, as identified by the

community.

Strategy 2.3a: Expand CES partnerships to increase and improve entry and exit points

and better connect community partners

Emergency shelters should be better integrated into the Coordinated Entry System to ensure

that persons accessing shelter and are seeking housing resources are quickly assessed for

vulnerability and added to the queue for permanent housing opportunities. This will help to

ensure that persons are quickly linked with resources and supportive services needed to help

them exit homelessness.

● Benchmark: Formalize partnerships with at least 2 emergency shelters for single adults

outside of the current CES to expand intake capacity

○ Potential funding: ESG

● Benchmark: Formalize process for referring individuals to services while they await

housing, including outreach, housing navigation, and mental health or substance abuse

resources for those who want them

○ Potential funding: ESG

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 17

Objective 2.4: Assist People to Move Swiftly into Permanent Housing with

Appropriate and Person-Centered Services

To end homelessness as quickly and efficiently as possible, our community must focus on

streamlining connections to permanent housing and providing people with the appropriate level

of services to support their long-term housing stability. Memphis and Shelby County will work to

remove as many obstacles and unnecessary requirements as possible in order to expedite

people’s access to stable housing. Effective Housing First approaches at the center of moving

people to permanent housing quickly, developed in response to strong evidence, include:

● expanding access to new and existing affordable housing for people experiencing

homelessness;

● providing rapid re-housing to families and individuals;

● and providing supportive housing to people with the highest needs.

Strategy 2.4a: Increase and Maximize Permanent Housing Resources

While progress has been made to increase permanent housing options in the community, there

is still a need for more Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units for chronically homeless

individuals and additional funding for Rapid Rehousing (RRH) programs to help quickly get

people back into housing they can sustain on their own. Increasing the capacity to assist

individuals in need of these housing resources will allow the community to decrease the number

of people currently experiencing homelessness and help to provide the supportive services

needed to keep people in housing.

● Benchmark: Develop and formalize a plan to both increase utilization rates of current

permanent housing beds and expand permanent housing capacity, including ways to

visualize data on permanent housing capacity and availability

○ Potential funding: CoC

● Benchmark: Develop landlord engagement strategy to better partner with flexible and

low-barrier private market landlords

○ Potential funding: CoC, private funding

● Benchmark: Formalize partnerships with at least 2 affordable housing providers outside

of the current CES to expand outflow capacity

○ Potential funding: HOME, CDBG, LIHTC

Strategy 2.4b: Provide Training on Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and Rapid

Rehousing (RRH) principles to ensure case managers and housing staff are fully trained

on supportive housing services

All staff that work within the Coordinated Entry System, along with community partners who

serve persons experiencing homelessness, will receive training on supportive housing and

Housing First principles. Proper training helps make sure that case management and supportive

services are centered around how to best help a client find and maintain housing, while also

educating those that interact with the homeless system about best practices for housing.

● Benchmark: Develop and formalize new plan and requirements for training new CoC

PSH and RRH case managers as well as recurring training and testing to ensure

cohesive training across the CoC

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 18

Goal 3: Ensure Homelessness is a One-Time Experience

This goal focuses on ensuring that people exit to permanent housing stably and successfully,

using housing as a platform for accessing essential services and connecting people to the

opportunities they need. Strategies employed by Memphis and Shelby County will emphasize

strengthening the quality of housing and services interventions and provide connections to other

resources and opportunities, such as education, benefits, and employment, that can help people

find lasting success.

Objective 3.1: Prevent Returns to Homelessness through Connections to

Adequate Services and Opportunities

To ensure that individuals and families don’t fall back into homelessness, it is necessary to

strengthen partnerships with, and connections to, a larger array of federal, state, local, and

private programs that serve low-income households, including programs that: advance

education and employment opportunities and support upward economic mobility; provide

connections to health and behavioral health care services; and link people to a range of other

programs and systems that support strong and thriving communities, such as quality child care,

schools, family support networks, and other resources. Memphis and Shelby County will

continue to solicit new members to the Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium from

diverse agencies that serve persons that are experiencing homelessness or low income

persons that are at a higher risk of facing housing instability.

Strategy 3.1a: Seek and design partnerships with key mainstream service providers to

leverage resources and support integrated care

Memphis and Shelby County will work to ensure formal partnerships with key mainstream

providers are established that can help provide access to benefits, mental health/substance

abuse resources, and employment agencies. These partnerships are key to help persons

experiencing homelessness access resources and supportive services needed to increase

income, access resources to help with mental health and substance abuse issues, and maintain

housing.

● Benchmark: Improve and formalize referral processes between housing providers and

mainstream benefit resources, including mental health resources for those who need

them

○ Potential funding: ESG

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 19

Objective 3.2: Increase Opportunities for Meaningful Engagement with Persons

with Lived Experiences

Memphis and Shelby County will work to ensure that individuals and families who have

experienced homelessness are active and engaged partners in the system planning process.

Those with lived experience of homelessness have a strong understanding and expertise in the

current gaps of the system and best solutions.

Strategy 3.2a: Formalize feedback from persons with lived experience, through either

focus groups or feedback more routinely collected from clients in existing programs

Formalizing the Consortium’s structure to include more opportunities for individuals with lived

experience of homelessness to participate in decision-making processes will expand

perspectives and strengthen the work of the Consortium.

● Benchmark: Develop and formalize a policy to create a Lived Experience Advisory

Group within the Homeless Consortium

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning

● Benchmark: Expand Consortium’s Governing Council to include additional spots for

individuals with lived experience of homelessness

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 20

Goal 4: Sustain an End to Homelessness

Memphis and Shelby County understands the importance of tracking and measuring key data

points routinely, projecting and responding to future needs, and implementing continuous quality

improvement efforts in the role of sustaining an end to homelessness. HMIS will continue to be

a key data tool utilized by providers within the CoC and to track and report on data collected on

the population of persons experiencing homelessness. Accurate data tracking will help to

understand the current and potential future needs for sustainable permanent supportive housing

resources in the community, and will help in evaluation efforts to see the success the

community has had at ending and maintaining an end to homelessness. Quality data will also

help to leverage additional funding, understand what program types and interventions are most

successful, and allow continuous improvement efforts to be implemented from evaluation

results.

Objective 4.1: Sustain Practices and Systems at a Scale Necessary to Respond to

Future Needs

In order to sustain the successes implemented in previous goals, Memphis and Shelby County

will monitor outcomes and returns to homelessness to ensure that adequate investments into

the crisis response system and into permanent housing interventions are sustained to address

future needs. Efforts will also be made to continually learn from other communities that have

successfully met goals for ending homelessness to ensure that the most up to date information

and strategies for success are considered and implemented within the community.

Strategy 4.1a: Broaden understanding around states of housing insecurity that may

factor into future homelessness

Monitoring and understanding different states of ongoing housing insecurity in Memphis/Shelby

County, especially for specific populations identified as being at higher risk of becoming

homeless or returning to homelessness, will be an important tool in planning for potential future

system needs.

● Benchmark: Outline goals for meeting a functional zero end to homelessness and how

to measure data to ensure that goal can be met in a sustained manner

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning

901 Home, Together: Strategic Plan to End Homelessness in Memphis/Shelby County 21

Objective 4.2: Planning for the Needs of Persons Experiencing Homelessness in

Disaster Response and Recovery Efforts

To ensure that emergency events that may happen to do not disproportionately impact persons

experiencing homelessness, planning for response and recovery must include this population.

Collaboration and coordination with emergency response partners, local governmental

agencies, and community partners is essential to ensure that persons experiencing

homelessness can access emergency services and be connected efficiently with the CoC from

emergency partners.

Strategy 4.2a: Addressing Response and Recovery From COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic, which began in March of 2020, caused persons experiencing

homelessness to have limited access to basic hygiene care and low-density shelter. These

factors, along with a higher prevalence that persons experiencing homelessness, especially

unsheltered homelessness, often have pre-existing conditions, placed them more at risk for

contracting COVID and having severe symptoms from the virus.

● Benchmark: During and after COVID-19 response, develop report on lessons learned

and strategies to improve future emergency response efforts

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning

Strategy 4.2b: Adaptable Emergency Response Planning for Persons Experiencing

Homelessness

To create a sustainable plan for future potential emergencies or disasters, the CoC will work to

expand partnerships in the emergency management field and ensure the needs of people

experiencing homelessness are included in emergency response plans.

● Benchmark: Develop and formalize Emergency Response Plan

○ Potential funding: CoC Planning