Guam’s Vision for Combating Homelessness

Our local system for meeting the needs of homeless individuals and families is a strong community-based system that provides outreach and assessment, education/prevention services, unique emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent housing, and supportive services. Over the last three years, consortium members have focused on strengthening individual non-profit programs and services with the use of U.S. HUD Community Planning and Development Division funding. Sources include the Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnership Grant, and Emergency Shelter Grant, all of which are administered by the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority (GHURA).

Goal	Action Steps	Responsible Person/Organization
Goal 1: Coordinate a system of homeless programs to transition homeless families throughout the Continuum of Care system into permanent housing.	Implement the One-Stop Homeless Database Program	The Salvation Army
	Identify the system that will be used to share the database information - via Internet or via a shared network/server.	Continuum of Care Members
	Identify the minimum computer requirements needed to run the program	The Salvation Army
	Agencies come up with a collective list describing their agencies and services	Continuum of Care Members
	Agencies identify a systems administrator	Continuum of Care Members
	Train systems administrators	The Salvation Army
	Launch database via the internet	The Salvation Army & Continuum of Care Members
Goal 2: Develop a Formal Continuum of Care Group	Deciding on a Name Defining Roles and Responsibilities Formalizing relationships through Memorandums of Understanding Linking with Existing Committees/Groups Addressing Subpopulations of Homeless	Continuum of Care Members
Goal 3: Expand the number of Organizations Involved in Continuum of Care Group	Contact/meet with potential members to encourage their participation and educate them about the Continuum of Care Invite mainstream service provider organizations Active participation of homeless individuals in the Continuum of Care group and committees Shelter providers will identify homeless individuals in their respective programs to participate in the Continuum of Care group and the committees representing their interest.	Continuum of Care Members
Goal 4: Develop a long-term strategy of addressing homeless needs	Conduct point-in-time survey of homeless on the streets and in the shelters Establish a Community Process for Determining Relative Priorities Quantitative criteria - Homeless Data Qualitative criteria Voting on priorities Discussion on and Short and Long Term Strategies	Continuum of Care Members
Goal 5: Continue Training and Technical Assistance	Arrange with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for training and technical assistance on developing and maintaining a Continuum of Care process for the homeless.	Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority