# Presentation: 153392

## CoC PlanningNew/Emerging Session

- CoC PlanningNew/Emerging Session

## Welcome and Introduction

- Facilitator
*Kristy Greenwalt, ICF International*
- HUD Presenter
*Lora Routt, SNAPs*
*	*
- CoC Presenter
*Christine Zoppi, Dos Rios Continuum of Care, Glenn-Trinity-Colusa Counties, CA*

**Notes:**
Facilitator:

Welcome session participants.

Introduce self, HUD presenter, and CoC representative.

Housekeeping details:

Session is structured to involve participants in a discussion and to allow time for questions and answers, following a relatively short presentation.  Please hold questions and comments until the discussion and question and answer portions of the session.

Session evaluations have been placed on each seat.  The evaluations can be completed at the end of the session and left on the chairs or deposited in a designated spot for collection by conference staff. 

After the session, participants should proceed to the Grand Ballroom Foyer for the morning break and return to this room for the CoC Management session.

## Learning Objectives

- Communicate HUD’s expectations for CoC planning
- Share strategies for effective CoC planning
- Help CoCs understand how to leverage the planning process to support local planning goals
- Provide opportunities for:
- Local information sharing
- Peer-to-peer learning
- Feedback to HUD

**Notes:**
Facilitator:

By the conclusion of this session, we hope that you will understand HUD’s expectations for CoC Planning, learn about effective strategies for CoC Planning, and have an opportunity to learn from each other and to provide feedback to HUD on these issues.

We will not have a chance to touch upon all of the issues related to Planning. The topics that are highlighted in this session have been identified by HUD as priorities because of their importance to overall program goals and their potential for maximizing the impact of CoCs in their communities.

The CoCs in the room represent one of the following groupings:
Rural 
Urban
Multi-County	
Balance of State 
New/Emerging	

This will allow the discussion this morning to focus on the challenges and issues within a shared context.  Note that these slides are the same for all these groups, but we recognize that the context, feasibility and methods for conducting planning will vary by type of CoC.  This presentation is only a guide for discussion.  Consider the recommendations, and we can discuss how these themes may vary for [insert group type] CoCs.

## Session Overview

- HUD expectations for CoC planning
- Characteristics of strong planning processes
- Fundamental components of strategic planning
- Recommended strategies
- CoC Case Study on responding to challenges in strategic planning
- Facilitated discussion to share ideas and feedback

**Notes:**
Facilitator:

The Presentation will be made by Lora Routt (HUD presenter).

The Response to Challenges segment will be led by the facilitator, consisting of:

A 10 minute review by the CoC representative of how his or her CoC has addressed strategic planning.

A 20 minute facilitated discussion among session participants on how other CoCs have addressed these issues and the challenges they are facing.

The Question and Answer period will flow from the facilitated discussion and last for the remainder of the session.

**Lora Routt**
**Director, State Assistance Division**
**Office of Special Needs ****Assistance Programs**

## Background

- Congressional and Administration focus:
- Resource Allocation Accountability and Performance Measurement
- Annual Progress Report (APR)
- Data to demonstrate CoC outcomes
- Homeless Management Information Systems
- Permanent Housing Solutions
- Chronic Homeless Initiatives
- 30% Permanent Housing set-aside
- Shelter Plus Care renewal set-aside

**Notes:**
McKinney Act appropriations are increasingly influenced by how well HUD can show OMB and Congress that HUD homeless assistance programs are making a difference.  Under the Government Performance Results Act (GPRA), funding is tied to performance in meeting program objectives.  We’ll revisit HUD’s specific objectives later in this presentation. 

Congress has mandated a national Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) in part to gather information on client-level outcomes.

Congress also wants more McKinney Act money to be used for permanent housing solutions, as shown by the 30% PH mandate.

This all adds up to the need for improved CoC strategic planning that is performance oriented.

## Characteristics of Strong CoC Planning Structure

- Strong leadership
- Broad collaboration and coordination
- Transparent decision-making
- Year-round process
- Strong communication

**Notes:**
Here are some characteristics of CoCs with strong planning structures:

Strong leadership – with local commitment to addressing homelessness
Broad collaboration – and coordination with other stakeholders
Transparent decision-making – based on a clear, well documented process that is widely-understood.
Year round process – one that is effectively managed with identified staffing.
Strong communication – linked with coordination.

[Presenter Note: Since HUD funds cannot be used to support planning, it may be important to recognize that the staffing can provided in various ways, such as by a volunteer, a staff member of a participating agency or local government, or a CoC staff person if the CoC is privately funded.]

## Collaboration and Coordination

- Engage broad range of partners with influence over resources and policies that affect homelessness
- PHAs, local governments, State Policy Academy agencies, homeless agencies, mainstream agencies, private and public funders, etc.
- Improve coordination to maximize impact and resources and minimize duplication across various planning efforts related to homelessness
- Consolidated Plan, Ten-year Plans, Discharge Planning efforts, etc.

**Notes:**
Of the characteristics that embody a strong planning process, we’d like to highlight the importance of broad collaboration and coordination of efforts.  With various planning processes that relate to homelessness, including the CoC, the Consolidated Plan, 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness, and discharge planning, coordination is needed to share information, maximize impact of activities, and avoid duplication of effort.

CoC coordination with related planning efforts is useful in achieving CoC strategic plan objectives because:

--  Useful data might be obtained from the other planning efforts especially with respect to identifying unmet needs;

--  Other planning efforts may have identified funding sources previously unknown to the CoC; and 

--  The time and expense of planning might be shared among the agencies, with each having distinct, non-overlapping responsibilities for data gathering and analysis that can then be shared. 

## Strategies for Improved Coordination

- Share information about each system, available data sources, needs, vision, opportunities for mutually-beneficial activities
- Identify people to facilitate coordination and service integration
- Jointly sponsor a periodic needs assessment or shared project

**Notes:**
State Policy Academy teams are working to improve access to mainstream services for homeless families and individuals.  “Mainstream services” are services that are not specifically targeted to homeless persons but can help them, such as Food Stamps and Medicaid.

PHAs are the gateways to Section 8 vouchers and public housing, among other mainstream housing programs.

State education agencies can often help identify families with children who are in need of shelter.  Working with homeless providers, they can foster policies that will help avoid moving homeless children from school to school.

An integrated MIS can streamline annual reporting to multiple funders and can help identify the number and characteristics of people who are using multiple systems

## Fundamental Components of CoC Planning

**Needs****Assessment****(what is the problem)**

**Vision, Goals, Outcomes****(approach to solve problem)**

**Multi-year Action Plan ****(what, who, when)**

**Evaluation Process****(is it working?)**

**Notes:**
There are four fundamental components of a strategic plan, and strategic planning activities that correlate with each of these components that should occur throughout the year.
1 ) Needs Assessment
2) Goals/objectives with measurable outcomes
3) Multi-year strategies with annual action steps and responsible parties to accomplish goals and outcomes
4) Evaluation process
-- Were the actions executed as planned?
-- Did the CoC reach the expected outcomes?

If these components are conducted sequentially, they form a natural process that ensures the CoC is constantly assessing progress within the context of need.  In addition, the CoC can gauge whether the actions they are undertaking are working and can adjust course, as needed.  
Some years, different components may be more prominent than in others.  For instance, the needs assessment will be critical in the first year, but may be less important for the next.  Most CoCs with strong planning processes find it necessary to annually monitor need through the HMIS and other available data sources, and supplement those sources with more intensive needs assessments every few years.    That way, the CoC can see annual progress towards short-term goals or action steps.

## Needs Assessment Strategies

- Conduct annual or biennial point-in-time counts (street and shelter)
- Interview providers, clients, and other stakeholders about needs and causes of homelessness
- Evaluate HMIS data for year-round demand and program utilization
- Analyze point-in-time and HMIS data sources to understand trends in client characteristics and needs
- Review research to determine which service strategies are most effective for the people experiencing homelessness in your CoC
- Understand local program effectiveness

**Notes:**
It is very important to understand that point-in-time information provides a very different picture of homelessness than analysis of longitudinal data.  Point-in-time information is needed to understand how many beds and service slots you need to maintain at a given time and how those beds/services should be distributed across populations (e.g., single men, single women, small families, large families, two-parent families, unaccompanied youth).  

Longitudinal data allows you to understand how long people remain homeless, the extent to which people experience short-term housing crises and just need a shelter response versus the number of people over the course of the year who present with chronic disabilities and may need permanent supportive housing.  You’ll need strong longitudinal data to effectively plan the mix of housing and services that your CoC needs to truly address homelessness.

## Goal-setting Strategies

- Set a broad, shared vision with specific goals related to the major groups who experience homelessness in your CoC
- Identify outcomes to document your progress
- Reduce the # of people living on the streets
- Reduce the length of time people stay in shelter
- Minimize (eliminate) recidivism
- Other measures that relate to the functionality of the system (modeled after HUD’s National goals)
- Establish targets (%s) for your outcomes

**Notes:**
Your goals should be data-driven.  That is, the goals should correlate with the needs that you identified from your data sources and needs assessment.  As you develop outcomes, you should think about how you can measure changes in the goals and design outcomes to measure them.  

When you define targets, try to use your data to understand how the system is functioning today.  Then, consider the actions/programs/strategies that you might be able to put in place over the next few years, and define reasonable targets for how the system should improve over that timeframe.  While you want reasonable benchmarks, you also need to make sure that achieving the outcome will result in a meaningful change in the goal.  You can adjust your goals and targets or create new ones as your understanding of system functioning expands.

As you define your goals and outcomes, consider how individual programs may fit into these overall system expectations.  Will these outcomes be passed down to individual programs?  Will the programmatic outcomes and expectations vary by subpopulation?  Also consider how you might use these outcomes as you consider how to make decisions about programmatic funding and monitoring (management functions).  All of these processes are inter-dependent and have to inform each other.  Remember, that planning should be year-round and iterative, so you don’t have to get it perfect the first time.  Rather, you should use the experience as you progress and your refine your assumptions to make the CoC plan and strategies stronger each year.

## Integrating HUD’s National Indicators into CoC Planning

- HUD’s FY07 Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) Homeless Assistance Program indicators:
- Create 4,000 new permanent housing beds for chronically homeless persons
- At least 71% of persons who move into HUD’s permanent housing projects remain housed for at least 6 months
- At least 61.5% of persons who leave TH projects will move into permanent housing
- The rate of employment among homeless clients  exiting will be 18% higher than at program entry
- At least 395 CoCs will have a functional HMIS

**Notes:**
Keep in mind that while it is very important for CoC plans to address local priorities and concerns, the CoC plan also needs to be responsive to HUD’s National goals.  But that does not mean that the CoC plan needs to be limited to HUD’s goals.

HUD’s overall goal for homelessness is to “End chronic homelessness and move families and individuals into permanent housing.”

Annually, HUD has to report to OMB and the Congress on its progress, measured in terms of these objectives.  To meet its national goals, HUD expects each CoC to meet or exceed these objectives.  These types of measurable objectives should be included in your strategic plan.

## CoC Action Plan Strategies

- Keep your CoC action plans focused and doable.
- Create a multi-year plan of specific tasks to reach your goals.
- Define 1, 5, and 10 year measurable achievements (generally outputs)
- Identify lead person responsible for each task

**Notes:**
Remember, everything does not need to be completed in the first year.  Create interim goals and refine targets or benchmarks as you make progress.

## CoC Action PlanDiscussion Questions

- Do programs need to be created, expanded, or refined to achieve CoC-defined outcomes?
- How will you make funding decisions?
- How will you monitor program outcomes?
- Do others share goals?  Can you leverage their help?
- Based on the causes of homelessness identified, which systems do you need to work with to prevent homelessness?
- Are there regulatory or administrative barriers that affect access to mainstream services and benefits? Can you negotiate formal access to other service systems to meet homeless clients’ needs?
- Where can you secure resources to implement plans?

**Notes:**
The basis of your action plan will probably be a series of steps that can be determined by answering these questions as part of your local process.  You will probably have a mix of activities -- some that are internal to the homeless system and others that involve working with other systems.  Some that are programmatic, some that relate to advocacy and coordination.

Ultimately, action plans should reflect the day-to-day work of the CoC.  Everything the CoC does should somehow relate to its goals.  Some of the specific strategies will be discussed as part of the CoC Management session.

## Strategies for Identifying Resources

- McKinney-Vento funding alone cannot address all unmet needs
- CoC planning should focus on:
- Outlining CoC-level estimates of resources needed to implement the plan and a coordinated approach to secure funds
- Securing multiple funding sources (local, state, private, other federal) to meet needs
- Targeting and/or reallocating CoC grant funds to housing

## Potential CoC Grant Resources

**Samaritan Initiative**
**Pro Rata Need (PRN) Utilization**
**Available preliminary PRN**
- CoC utilizes available PRN for new projects
**Reassign PRN**
- CoC adjusts renewal projects; creates available PRN by reducing or eliminating renewal projects to fund new projects
**Hold Harmless PRN Reallocation**
- All renewal projects are for 1 year and
- 1 year renewal burden exceeds preliminary pro rata need
- CoC reduces or eliminates renewal projects to fund new permanent housing projects

**Notes:**
HUD has designed a series of initiatives and tools to help CoCs achieve the national objectives and have more flexibility in determining local funding priorities.  CoCs should inventory all of their current grants and thoughtfully plan how to use them in order the maximize their effectiveness and their ability to leverage other funding sources.

Remember, you should think about opportunities available using these initiatives in next year’s competition as well as a few years out to maximize strategic planning possibilities.

## Considerations when Using CoC Grant Funding

- Projects need to be ready – ducks lined up:
- Realistic sites considering availability, zoning, NIMBY, environment
- Realistic financing
- CoC funding should not be used as “first money in” to secure other commitments
- HUD Appropriations Act requires funds to be obligated within 2 years and spent within additional 5 years

**Notes:**
Selecting priority projects that are consistent with unmet needs will amount to nothing if the projects can’t get off the ground.

The risk of project failure is high when projects are selected for priority funding before at least preliminary feasibility and capacity determinations have been made.  

Projects needing site control that cannot obtain it within 12 months of the funding award letter are required by law to be de-funded.

The 2006 HUD Appropriations Act requires the de-funding of projects for which HUD has not obligated funds by September 30, 2008.

Unexecuted grants adversely impact CoC performance scoring.

## Exhibit One as a Tool for Strategic Planning

- The application reflects the components of strategic planning
- Count homeless populations and subpopulations and gather client-level data, determine unmet needs
- Define 10-year plan, objectives and action steps
- Establish project funding priorities
- Identify unexecuted grants to ensure that resources are being used effectively
- Measure performance against objectives

**Notes:**
Each year HUD modifies the application to improve the type and quality of information the Department receives from each CoC.  While there were more forms to complete in this year’s CoC application, including ones related to strategic planning, the forms were designed as tools to help CoCs improve their scores and focus on client outcomes in planning and managing homeless assistance resources.  

Each of the components of strategic planning that were discussed in this presentation are reflected in the different charts in Exhibit One.  The forms themselves can help provide guidance to a CoC on what is needed to plan effectively.  Conversely, if a CoC has strong planning processes in place, then it will also improve its ability to complete the required forms and will improve its competitiveness.

## Resources

- HUD’s Homelessness Resource Exchange **Coming Soon **
- Site to Feature CoC Forum Materials_http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/hre/index.cfm__ _

**Notes:**
HUD Presenter

## 

Christine Zoppi
Dos Rios Continuum of Care
Glenn-Trinity-Colusa Counties, CA

**Christine Zoppi**
**Dos Rios Continuum of Care**
**Glenn-Trinity-Colusa Counties, CA**

## Dos RiosContinuum Planning

- Focus Group on Homelessness in Northern CA CountiesAugust 2002
- Purpose:
- Share understanding of Homelessness
- Share Information
- Identify Gaps in Services, and
- Resource Identification

## Issues Explored

- Who are the homeless?
- What are the causes of homelessness?
- What are the needs of the homeless?
- Who is responding to those needs?
- What services are available?
- What are the gaps in services?

## Goals for a Successful Continuum

- Meet Year Round
- Coordinate Activities and Services
- Common Goals and Objectives
- Improved Services to Homeless
- Obtain Funding
- Shared Hard Work

## Dos Rios Structure

- Steering Committee – Representative from each County
- Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Committee
- Survey Coordinating Committee
- Discharge Planning Committee
- Mainstream Resources Committee

## Questions for Facilitated Discussion

- What are the unique challenges you face as a New/Emerging CoC in planning?
- How have you worked to overcome these challenges?
- What resources has your community devoted to CoC Planning?
- What are you doing to ensure that the projects selected for funding will help achieve your CoC goals?
- How is your CoC planning being coordinated with other related planning efforts?

**Notes:**
Facilitator:
When ready, hit “Enter” or the Spacebar to make the next question appear on the screen: there are 5 questions total.