OneDoor Lexington Will Better Serve Homeless
LFUCG created the Office of Homeless Prevention and Intervention (OHPI) in 2014 following a series of recommendations from the Mayor’s Commission on Homelessness. The agency is led by Director Charlie Lanter, a former senior manager at the Community Action Council. OPHI has made strategic and overdue progress in better serving the homeless, including funding mental health courts. Now the agency is taking the lead in a more client-centered approach to homelessness with the initiation of the OneDoor Lexington coordinated entry system.
Coordinated entry essentially refers to a way for service organizations to work more closely together to best serve the homeless. The key is that a client who may need multiple forms of services and support has access to them whichever agency or organization he or she first contacts, so that initial difficulties do not compound over time. For a more thorough summary of coordinated entry, please see this summary from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
At the organizational level, OneDoor Lexington will include regular meetings of the participating organizations that form the continuum of care (CoC). Lexington’s CoC is the planning body in our community that coordinates the policies, strategies and activities toward ending homelessness. It has a board of 13 members and a broader membership of organizations. Regularly convening the CoC will improve collaboration and communication so that each organization can better match clients to available services. For additional information on Lexington’s CoC including a membership application, please click here.
OneDoor will also include a standard form across participating organizations. This common assessment will be the Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT). When clients approach an organization for help, they will complete this form and receive an acuity score. That score will assist in connecting them to the best services given their specific circumstances.
The program will launch at the beginning of May 2016. OHPI held a training for organizations on VI-SPADT on March 8, 2016. For more information about the program and/or trainings, please contact Jennifer Oberlin at 859-258-3136.
