What is Rapid Re-housing?

 

Rapid Re-housing (RRH) is permanent housing that provides time limited rental assistance and supportive services for households experiencing homelessness. Households are not required to have a disability to qualify for RRH however, the household must meet the eligibility requirements set by the program they were matched to. The goal of RRH is to help households increase or maintain income to be able to keep paying rent after the rental assistance ends.

 

What type of RRH opportunities are available through the Family Coordinated Entry System?

 

Due to limited funding available for family Housing Providers, the Family Coordinated Entry System (FCES) only offers short-term and medium-term RRH. The short-term RRH opportunities can range from 3 to 6 months of rental assistance. The medium-term RRH opportunities can assist with up to 9 months of rental assistance. There are no long-term (12 months+) RRH opportunities available through FCES at this time. 

 

How can a household be matched to a RRH opportunity?

 

A household must have an active enrollment into the FCES project, the Head of Household must have a completed Family CES Assessment and active referral to the Community Queue, and Access Point staff should be in attendance at the weekly match meeting to accept a match on behalf of their client should they come up for an opportunity.

 

What are the basic eligibility requirements for RRH opportunities?

 

A household must be residing in Orange County and meet the definition of a family (i.e., have at least one minor child, pregnant, or in the reunification process). The Housing Provider may have additional eligibility criteria.

 

What required documents are needed for a household to be matched to a RRH opportunity?

 

A household must have the following documents uploaded in HMIS: Third-party verification of homelessness and a signed CES Authorization form.

While vital documents such as Social Security cards, government-issued IDs, birth certificates, proof of income, and disability documentation are not required at the initial stage, access point staff are strongly encouraged to begin collecting them as early as possible. Doing so helps prevent delays once a match is made, as many housing programs require these documents at intake.

 

What happens after a household is matched to a RRH opportunity?

 

After the Match Meeting, the FCES team will email the Match grid with the client’s identifier, access point contact and housing provider information to all FCES users. The access point staff is expected to complete a warm hand-off to the housing provider with any information needed for the match. The housing provider is expected to attempt to contact the referred household within 3 business days of the referral and make a minimum of 3 attempts using any means necessary including contacting the access point staff for assistance. If there has not been initial contact between the household and housing provider within 1 week of the housing match, the access point staff should follow-up with the housing provider and the FCES matchmaker. The access point staff may need to assist in documentation collection during intake.