Coming Home of Middlesex County

Programs

1. Coordinated Entry & Assessment - In collaboration with homeless service providers, Coming Home created a system of standardized assessment and coordinated referral of people experiencing a housing crisis. The goals of the system are to minimize the time anyone in the county experiences a crisis and to prioritize available assistance, based on vulnerability and severity of service needs. A coordinated entry & assessment (CEA) system also provides information about social and health service needs and gaps to help our broader community better plan its assistance and identify the resources needed. The chronological waiting lists of the past have become instead prioritization lists, making sure that we rehouse, as quickly as possible, the persons most in need.Pursuant to the CEA process, all persons enter the system through calling NJ 211, the homeless hotline, or visiting a few physical access sites in the community where a triage is conducted using a concise, standard assessment tool and standard protocols. A person can be immediately placed into service programs, e.g., a shelter bed, the board of social services. The service programs will conduct a full assessment, using a more…

   $425,741 spentof which $114,455 as grants$391,085 earned by the program
   40% of program spending

2. Social And Healthcare Integration (SHI)- Coming Home convened a collaborative of social service providers, health care providers and professional school representatives in 2016 to respond to an RFP from the center for Medicare and Medicaid services asking communities to build a bridge between the healthcare and social systems in the community in order to effectively address the "social determinants of health" of the high utilizers of the hospitals' emergency rooms, we were not awarded the CMS grant, but used our work to institute the SHI program whereby RWJUH (part of Barnabas Health) and Saint Peter's University Hospital fund the cost of two social service navigators on a 2-year term basis to address the social determinants of health of their high utilizers of their ed. Coming Home obtained, permanent supportive housing vouchers from the state department of community affairs to house persons from this population who are homelessness. The goal of SHI is to improve the health outcomes of the clients and to reduce unnecessary, and often unreimbursed, costs to the health care system due to inappropriate use of the hospitals ERs. SHI fully launched in January 2019 and has been renewed…

   $194,617 spentof which $3,585 as grants$47,656 earned by the program
   18% of program spending

3. Community Based Case Management - Coming Home provides direct case management to people in the community experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness and entering the system through the 211 homeless hotline or physical access sites in the community. With limited funding, we can provide short term temporary (1-2 nights) emergency hotel/motel placement when the shelters are unavailable. The same fund can also be used, if possible, to assist clients in establishing themselves in permanent housing, through the provision of 1 1/2 months' rent. The latter approach clearly leads to a much better outcome for the client and it is how we strive to use the funds.

   $128,378 spentof which $58,373 as grants
   12% of program spending

4. Data Driven Decision Making (3DM)- Coming Home applied for, and was awarded, a data grant from the office of homelessness prevention in the NJ dept of community affairs (DCA), on behalf of the Middlesex County Housing Continuum of Care (COC), that afforded it funds to hire a data analyst. The grant term started in august 2023. We hired a data analyst and trained him in HMIS and the homeless system. In February 2024, DCA launched a 6 week program (every Friday for 2 hours) training us in data analysis and its tools. We convened leadership of agencies in the county; prepared program culmination presentation (including logic model) and presented at convening in April at Harvard. We brought it to full COC in June 2024 and have been working on leading the launch of noted activities since. We have also spent 6 months cleaning up the data in HMIS and holding trainings in HMIS and coordinated assessment process and set up a system of accountability for COC member agencies so that we do are not the sole source of quality data. Each agency needs to own its data. We further integrated the 3DM state initiative with our plans from the national Built For Zero (BFZ) initiative which has…

   $123,975 spent
   12% of program spending

5. Data - Coming Home is the clearinghouse for homelessness data. We administer the homeless management information system (HMIS), which facilitates the coordinated provision of services to all seeking them and we are the point-in-time (PIT) data coordinator for the county. We train volunteers and agency personnel in the administration of the PIT survey. We lead the Built For Zero initiative of community solutions, a national organization, helping communities end homelessness. This collaboration is helping us refine our data measurements and define discrete goals to achieve in workable timeframes. Most importantly in this regard, we won a competitive state grant to hire a system dedicated data analyst on behalf of the county housing continuum of care and lead the county in the data driven decision making program run by the state.

   $119,100 spent
   11% of program spending

6. Middlesex County Housing First Capital Fund - Coming Home receives and reviews applications from affordable housing developers for funds from the countys housing first capital fund (HFCF), a million dollars allocated annually by the county commissioners, specifically for the creation of affordable housing for those who are homeless. We make recommendations to the county on the merits of the application, similar to an underwriter reviewing an application for traditional financing. Coming home comprehensively reviews the application as to cost-effectiveness and fulfillment of the needs of homeless people in the county. The project must provide support for social services and be conveniently located to transportation and amenities. For this work, we receive 5% of the amount awarded as an administrative fee.

   $69,603 spent$56,187 earned by the program
   7% of program spending

The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,061,414.