The Reaching Home Division administers two funding streams, Indigenous Homelessness and Designated Communities, as the Community Entity for the Prince George area. To shift towards a more coordinated and systems-based approach to addressing homelessness, Coordinated Access has been introduced which permits the homeless sector service providers in Prince George to gather more comprehensive data on the local homeless population and move from managing homelessness to achieving measurable, systemic reductions in homelessness.
A Coordinated Access system has a governance structure of four integrated layers including system leadership and administration, advisory bodies, data and technology management, and direct operations and service delivery. As the Community Entity we are responsible for managing funding and driving implementation and have dedicated staff managing daily operations and system-wide policies.
Coordinated Access in Prince George has established an advisory body, the Local Homelessness Response Leadership Table, made up of community stakeholders including service providers, municipal and provincial government, indigenous organizations, the Community Advisory Board (CAB) and the Urban Aboriginal Working Group (UAWG). This table is a localized committee that approves community plans, assesses projects, and sets local priorities ensuring the system remains person-centred and respectful.
Within Coordinated Access data and technology are input into a shared database managed by a database administrator to ensure real-time, privacy-compliant, person-specific data is accessible across direct operations and service delivery agencies. The agencies provide quality coordinated access system points for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness to access trained multidisciplinary workers who evaluate their depth of need. Workers are then able to use the centralized database to access real-time data on available housing and supports to prioritize them for appropriate housing and housing support services.
The PGNAETA Reaching Home Division are honoured to work, live and play on the unceded traditional and ancestral territory of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.
