The homeless Coordinated Entry System: the VI-SPDAT and other predictors of establishing eligibility for services for single homeless adults

Placement of chronically homeless into different types of permanent supportive housing before and after a coordinated entry system: The influence of severe mental illness, substance use disorder, and dual diagnosis on housing configuration and intensity of services

“…Our equivocal findings regarding placement after implementation of the CES may also have to do with problems that have been identified in the vulnerability screening instrument and its implementation (Balagot et al, 2019; Brown et al, 2018). SMI and SUD assessments at screening may be particularly unreliable.…”

“…Scattered site housing requires no capital, financing or zoning restrictions, nor problems of NIMBYism (Not in My Backyard) with neighbors. Some support for this hypothesis comes from a study conducted in San Diego county that found that veterans were found eligible for PSH more frequently and quickly regardless of their VI‐SPDAT score (Balagot et al, 2019). The authors hypothesized that this was due to increased funding for veteran PSH and high political will to end homelessness among veteran populations.…”

“…The VI‐DSAT is a 50‐item assessment primarily composed of frequency and yes/no questions grouped into four thematic domains including history of housing and homelessness, risks, socialization, and daily functioning. Participants are then scored according to their level of vulnerability (Balagot, Lemus, Hartrick, Kohler, & Lindsay, 2019; Brown, Cummings, Lyons, Carrion, & Watson, 2018). When a supportive housing unit becomes available, participants with the highest vulnerability scores are drawn from the CES, outreach is conducted to locate the individual, intake paperwork is completed, and they are placed in the available unit if the individual desires (AIDS Foundation of Chicago, 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, type of housing was a better predictor of returning to homelessness than scores on the vulnerability index with those who received short‐term housing subsidies more likely to return to homelessness than those who received PSH or were housed in the mainstream housing market (Brown et al, 2018). Other research has shown that those who scored higher on the VI‐SPDAT had their eligibility established for PSH more quickly than those who scored lower, but veterans established eligibility faster and more frequently than others regardless of vulnerability scores (Balagot et al, 2019). After screening, establishing eligibility requires collecting documents such as identity papers, proof of income level, and eligibility for support and is an essential first step to obtaining housing.…”

Improving Safe Housing Access for Domestic Violence Survivors Through Systems Change

“…Historically these services have been provided by a spectrum of programs with various criteria, population focus, and service philosophies. As a result, access to homelessness services was often unequal especially for the most vulnerable populations (Balagot, Lemus, Hartrick, Kohler, & Lindsay, 2019). Several policy projections in both the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH) have increased housing protections for DV survivors, including prohibitions on DV-related evictions, confidentiality protections, creation of new confidentiality policies, and bolster voucher and transitional programming (Keefe & Hahn, 2021).…”