New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services › Subchapter A - General Welfare › Article 1 - Program and Organization › Part 304 - Protection of Vulnerable Homeless Persons › Section 304.2 - Outreach, Homeless Services Plans and Outcome Reporting

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) As used in this section:
(1) Assessment means the evaluation of an
			 individual's or family's housing and housing-related needs;
(2) Coordinated entry refers to a process by
			 which communities prioritize assistance to homeless individuals and families
			 based on an assessment of their vulnerability and severity of their
			 needs;
(3) Emergency shelter means
			 short-term housing accompanied by support services in which the
			 individual/family being housed does not have a lease. Such shelter includes
			 short-term housing provided in a shelter built specifically for this purpose,
			 or in other short-term housing such as that provided by a hotel or motel paid
			 for by the social services district or not-for-profit agency;
(4) Homeless means undomiciled and unable to
			 secure or maintain permanent and stable housing without assistance, as
			 determined by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). This
			 definition excludes persons who are living "doubled up" with friends or with
			 family;
(5) Homelessness prevention
			 means services and assistance aimed at retention of existing housing or
			 providing alternatives to emergency shelter, including but not limited to
			 eviction prevention, case management, and shelter diversion programs;
(6) Housing retention services are the
			 supports necessary for formerly homeless persons to remain stably housed. These
			 include income supports, such as employment, job training, and disability
			 benefits and other assistance; substance use and mental health treatment;
			 medical care; legal assistance; life skills, including budgeting; child care;
			 parenting skills; conflict negotiation; and other services as needed;
(7) Outreach refers to the engagement of
			 persons experiencing homelessness in order to link them to services, assistance
			 and housing. It can include direct outreach to undomiciled persons through
			 outreach workers or law enforcement officers as well as community-based
			 outreach provided through agencies that serve persons who are homeless or at
			 risk of becoming homeless, such as, but not limited to, food pantries, soup
			 kitchens, and drop-in centers;
(8)
			 Permanent housing means community-based housing without a designated length of
			 stay, and includes both permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing. To be
			 permanent housing, the program participant must be the tenant on a lease for a
			 term of at least one year, which is renewable for terms that are a minimum of
			 one month long, and is terminable only for cause;
(9) Permanent supportive housing means
			 permanent housing in which supportive services are provided to assist homeless
			 persons in remaining stably housed;
(10) Point-in-time count means a count of
			 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last
			 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by either the
			 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development or OTDA;
(11) Rapid rehousing is a form of permanent
			 housing accompanied by case management for which rental subsidies can be
			 provided for up to 24 months with the goal of helping the household attain
			 self-sufficiency after the rent subsidies end; and
(12) Transitional housing means housing,
			 where all program participants have signed a lease or occupancy agreement, the
			 purpose of which is to facilitate the movement of homeless individuals and
			 families into permanent housing.