At its July 2021 HSPN meeting, attendees heard and reviewed an initial presentation addressing the New Bedford continuum’s “System Performance Measures” which reflected how well all ESG and CoC-funded programming within the New Bedford CoC had performed in the aggregate or, as a "system" in 2020. The review looked at how New Bedford’s performance compared with adjoining CoCs (Fall River and GBCATCH), other statewide CoCs and continuums of similar size across the whole country. A copy of the unabridged version of that powerpoint presentation is [ Continue reading. ]
Publications
2021 STREETSHEETS ARE AVAILABLE
The City of New Bedford's Office of Housing & Community Development has released the 2021 StreetSheet. Go to the HSPN Resource Page to access a copy of the sheet in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Hard copies of the StreetSheets are also available upon request by contacting Jennifer.Clarke@newbedford-ma.gov. (Copies will be available for distribution once City of New Bedford's municipal office hours resume full time.) [ Continue reading. ]
RESOURCE SNAPSHOT for COVID VACCINATIONS
There's a tremendous amount of information that has recently been made available relative to the availability of COVID-19 vaccinations. But what about those experiencing homelessness? Whether you are unsheltered or sheltered, or if you operate a program for those experiencing homelessness, be sure to take a look at this "Resource Snapshot" that presents some introductory information as to resources available to you online. Take a look at the RESOURCE SNAPSHOT.Homelessness and the Covid Vaccine here! [ Continue reading. ]
STREETSHEET COVID-19 EDITION RELEASED!
The City of New Bedford's Office of Housing & Community Development has released a COVID-19 Edition of its StreetSheet. This special edition sheet includes important community resources that are especially relevant during the public health crisis. Information includes resources for shelter access, prevention of homelessness, legal services, housing assistance, food access and where to file for MA Unemployment Insurance. In addition, current COVID testing sites are described by location and test days/hours. Go to the HSPN [ Continue reading. ]
Valuing the voice of those experiencing homelessness…through the VOTE!
With all that is going on in the word it might be easy to dismiss the importance of registering to vote, especially if you live in a shelter, your car, the woods or at a friend's house. Just because someone might be experiencing homelessness doesn't mean they can't register to vote and then vote! Your voice matters, and there's no greater way to be heard than ensuring you vote! Check out the three different ways you can register to vote and what you need to know today by checking out the New Bedford HSPN's Voting and Homelessness Fact Sheet [ Continue reading. ]
2020 STREETSHEETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!
The City of New Bedford's Office of Housing & Community Development has released the 2020 StreetSheet! Go to the HSPN Resource Page to access a copy of the sheet in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Hard copies of the StreetSheets are also available upon request by contacting Jennifer.Clarke@newbedford-ma.gov. (Copies will be available for distribution once City of New Bedford's municipal office hours resume.) [ Continue reading. ]
2019 POINT IN TIME INFORMATION RELEASED!
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 (living in emergency or transitional housing) and unsheltered (on the streets/in places not meant for human habitation). This is a big operation and requires a lot of effort and many hands. The results from the 2019 PIT, initially presented at the HSPN April 18, 2019 meeting and updated on April 29, 2019, are now available here: PIT 2019 PRESENTATION . For a [ Continue reading. ]
CoC WRITTEN STANDARDS
The HSPN follows a set of written standards in ensuring consistency, best practices and excellence with respect to program and system performance. These standards, memorialized in 2016 were updated by the City's Office of Housing & Community Development on behalf of the New Bedford CoC. The product of that effort is divided into two separate documents: CoC Operational Standards and CoC Performance Standards. As its name implies, Operational Standards (available here: OPERATIONAL STANDARDS) provides guidance and standards for all project types, [ Continue reading. ]
New Federal Strategic Plan Released…
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has released the new federal strategic plan, Home, Together. This plan, based on a year of listening and study across the country, updates the previous plan entitled, Opening Doors. According to the plan, itself, Home, Together "focuses on identifying and describing essential federal strategies that will help states, communities and public and private partners build effective, lasting systems that will drive toward the goals now, and be able to respond quickly and efficiently when housing [ Continue reading. ]
HOW IS THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE MEASURING UP?
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. ]
