The City of New Bedford's Continuum of Care (CoC) uses system performance measures developed by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to assess how well it is moving toward ending homelessness within the CoC, itself. By looking at a series of data produced by the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), an aggregate look into the performance of certain metrics from 2015 - 2017 provides insight as to some strengths of the CoC as well as areas that may be targeted for improvement. Take a look at the System Performance [ Continue reading. ]
Publications
2018 STREETSHEETS NOW AVAILABLE!
The City of New Bedford’s Department of Planning, Housing & Community Development has released the new STREETSHEET.2018 and has made it available through this website. Check it out through the RESOURCES page at STREETSHEETS. [ Continue reading. ]
Special StreetSheet release for those coming to New Bedford and who are displaced as the result of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
In cooperation with the United Way of Greater New Bedford and its Family Resource Center, the City of New Bedford's Homeless Service Provider Network has now published a special StreetSheet intended to assist those individuals and families displaced as a result of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico. This version of the StreetSheet is available here in both English and Spanish and will be available through the United Way and service providers throughout the city. The information provided within the brochure was accurate and available as of [ Continue reading. ]
2017 NEW BEDFORD HOMELESS COUNT…
The City of New Bedford has conducted its annual “Point In Time” [PIT] count that creates a census of those individuals and families experiencing homelessness within the city, both sheltered and unsheltered. This is a big operation and requires a lot of effort and many hands. The results from the 2017 PIT, initially presented at the HSPN April 20, 2017 meeting, are now available here: 2017 PIT PRESENTATION. [ Continue reading. ]
HUD CoC NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY UPDATE…
On April 11, 2017, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Registration Notice was released through the HUD Exchange Mailing List. Similar to previous years, in FY2017 HUD will require each CoC Collaborative Applicant to register in advance of applying for funding available through the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition. The City of New Bedford’s Department of Planning, Housing & Community Development is the designated Collaborative Applicant and is responsible for completing this step that leads up to the CoC Program Competition NOFA. [ Continue reading. ]
2017 :: The New Streetsheets are Available
The City of New Bedford’s Department of Planning, Housing & Community Development has released the new StreetSheet.2017 and has made it available through this website. Check it out through the RESOURCES page at STREETSHEETS. [ Continue reading. ]
End of the 2016 / Beginning 2017 News…
The City of New Bedford’s HSPN held its final meeting of 2016 and capped it off with a retrospective of the work of the membership over the past year. A copy of the powerpoint presentation is available here, so take a look and consider joining the HSPN in 2017. Membership forms for the new year are also now available at this link and on the Membership page. [ Continue reading. ]
Information from HUD
The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has released the CHRONIC HOMELESS FINAL RULE describing changes to the federal HUD definition of what it means to be chronically homeless. Although the previous definition considered individuals and families as being “chronically homeless” if they were homeless up to four times in a three year period, the definition has been modified to mean that chronic homelessness can only be declared after four years in a three year period equal 12 months in the aggregate. This change, along with others [ Continue reading. ]
The Call is Here
THE CALL [Coordinated Access to Local Links] is the new coordinated entry system serving the three Continuums of Care within Bristol County. Beginning December 1st, everyone experiencing homelessness will go through one door–the same door–to access services and housing in New Bedford. The Operational Standards for THE CALL were approved at the November 19th HSPN meeting and are available here. These standards are the protocols being used by both THE CALL and local agencies in assisting those who are homeless get connected with the shelter/housing [ Continue reading. ]
HSPN Outreach Task Force Holds First Meeting
Dedicated folks got together for a training/meeting at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church on Wednesday, September 2nd to discuss and learn more about outreach and engagement strategies and resources in New Bedford. There were multiple speakers and the 25+ present in attendance were enthusiastic about collaborating and taking away some great information. Look for announcements of future meetings and check out some of the resource materials that were shared along with a copy of the minutes at these links: Outreach Meeting Minutes.September 2015 How to [ Continue reading. ]
