County staff outline coordinated entry overhaul and flag high 'Phase 1' inactive rate

Keesa, who was introduced as the county’s housing services senior program coordinator and who identified herself as the system organization supervisor for coordinated entry, briefed the advisory council on a year‑long effort to revise coordinated entry assessment questions and prioritization rules.

"This work really started back in September," Keesa said, describing provider workshops, community surveys, lived‑experience feedback groups and subsequent drafts that aim to make the assessment more trauma‑informed and reflective of local priorities. Staff plan additional equity reviews in June, internal leadership review in July and training and phased implementation beginning in August.

Heather presented accompanying data and flagged a system challenge: a high rate of Phase 1 inactives. She said the county moves Phase 1 assessments to "inactive" after 90 days without system contact and that roughly 400–500 phase‑1 entries go inactive monthly; only about 70 of those return within two years. "We have about 500 or so every month that go inactive," a staff member said during discussion. Heather said the team will do deeper analysis to understand which households go inactive, whether they self‑resolve or access services elsewhere, and how to reduce unnecessary assessment effort or improve follow‑up.

Council members asked for reporting on throughput (time from Phase 1 to referral and from referral to housing), outcomes for people who touch the system but do not enroll in housing programs, and success rates for housing liaison and outreach efforts. Staff said they will incorporate those metrics into a planned local system analysis and share more detailed performance and follow‑up proposals at future meetings.

The council did not adopt formal policy changes at the meeting but asked staff to return with more detailed analysis and operational recommendations.