“Decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for everybody in this country. The reason is simple: without shelter, everything else falls apart.”
Matthew Desmond, Evicted
What is the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care?
The Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care (MO BoS CoC) is a group of agencies within the HUD designated geographical region working together to end homelessness. The MO BoS CoC is a member based organization comprised of ten regions, a board of representative directors, and standing committees. Membership to the organization is free and open to any individuals and agencies with an interest in fair and equitable housing.
What is the Lead Agency of the CoC/Collaborative Applicant?
The Lead Agency’s role for the Continuum of Care is to provide technical support to agencies in and around the Mo Balance of State CoC. It is available to provide support to the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care Board and all its committees. It will coordinate and execute the yearly NOFO process in a complete and comprehensive manner, aligned with HUD directives and timelines, promote community-wide planning & strategic use of resources to address homelessness, coordinate and produce the Point-in-Time Count Report and finally work closely with the HMIS Lead to capture HUD required data.
Together the MO BoS CoC board and the Lead Agency of the CoC will work together to ensure that MoBoS CoC achieves and maintains a HUD high-performance status, thus affording the opportunity to acquire enhanced funding to further support the accomplishments of the overall established goals of the Mo BoS CoC.
The CoC is currently transitioning to a new Lead Agency.
Contact Information for the CoC: moboscoc@gmail.com
Homeless Management Information System
In July 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a draft notice of a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The notice prompted communities around the nation to set up HMIS databases to capture required data elements and established minimum policies and procedures. The MO BoS CoC instance of HMIS is administered by the Institute for Community Alliances (ICA).
An HMIS is an electronic data collection system that stores information about the individuals who seek homeless services. Aggregate HMIS data is used to understand the size, characteristics, and needs of the homeless population at the local, state, and national levels. It also enables organizations that operate homeless assistance and homelessness prevention programs to improve the services they provide by collecting information about client needs and to produce any reports required by their funders. For the Balance of State Continuum of Care, they are joined in a single HMIS implementation with the Joplin, Springfield, St. Louis City, and St. Louis County area CoCs. The HMIS software used is ServicePoint, a product of Mediware Information Systems.
Project Participation
Through the HMIS Project, any agency that provides shelter, housing, and services to individuals experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness qualifies to participate in HMIS. Agencies may request permission to participate in HMIS and become a Partner Agency by contacting the Institute for Community Alliances.
Technical Assistance And Partnership Requests
ICA Missouri Helpdesk: mohmis@icalliances.org
https://icalliances.org/contact-missouri
ICA Missouri Knowledge Base
https://icamissouri.helpscoutdocs.com/