Council for the Homeless outlines coordinated entry, HMIS and gaps in housing supply

Sunny Wunder, chief operating officer of Council for the Homeless, told the Clark County Community Action Advisory Board that Clark County’s homeless response depends on coordinated entry and data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), but that the system faces a persistent resource gap.

“Housing plus services,” Wunder said when asked what would resolve homelessness locally, adding that supportive services are necessary when clients have high behavioral-health needs and cannot independently maintain a rental unit.

Wunder explained the roles required by HUD, including a local Continuum of Care and an annual point-in-time count in January. She described coordinated entry as the system’s access point for screening, diversion and referrals and said Council for the Homeless is designated as the lead agency for coordinated entry and HMIS in Clark County.

Wunder shared recent system numbers from Council for the Homeless: 568 people entered one of 52 housing programs in 2024, while 3,648 people were assessed for housing programs the same year — a gap staff said underscores limited housing supply and program capacity. She said point-in-time counts and the annual system numbers report are different tools and that HMIS provides deeper system-level information.

Board members asked whether point-in-time data could include the length of time since a person last had housing in a given ZIP code to help city planning. Wunder said she would ask the HMIS team to explore the additional question but warned that every added question can reduce response rates for people in crisis.

Wunder also described several system improvements: adoption of a local CARE assessment tool, coordinated outreach (including a co-located position in the Clark County jail and at the YWCA), work groups on severe-weather responses, and by-name lists for targeted populations such as veterans, youth and people with chronic homelessness.