Homelessness Services / Coordinated Entry

An easier first step into your community's housing response.

Fortell helps people reach the right starting point, complete initial screening, and understand what happens next. Your Continuum of Care keeps control of its assessment, prioritization, and referral policies.

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A completed intake is not a housing placement.

People seeking help may not know the difference between prevention, emergency shelter, Coordinated Entry, and a housing referral. Access teams have to explain those pathways, gather information, and keep people connected while resources remain limited.

The administrative work is real: repeated screening, unclear next steps, incomplete contact details, and information that needs to reach HMIS. Automating the first conversation only helps if it fits what happens afterwards.

Program workflow

Support access without flattening the process.

1

Establish the right entry point.

Use location and current housing circumstances to guide initial routing. Distinguish prevention inquiries from pathways for people already experiencing homelessness under locally approved definitions.
See the related Product capability
2

Explain and collect with care.

Use plain language, explain consent and the purpose of questions, and collect only what the pathway requires. Provide the approved route to a person when someone needs help completing the process.
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3

Respect safety-specific pathways.

Configure domestic violence and other sensitive situations with the CoC's designated specialists, including safe contact preferences and appropriate data handling. Do not send sensitive details through a generic referral message.
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4

Prepare information for HMIS.

Map responses to agreed fields, search or match records through the authorized integration, and route uncertain matches for review. Avoid turning every repeat contact into a new client record.
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5

Keep the next step explicit.

Say whether someone completed an initial screen, requested an appointment, or reached another stage. Do not imply that screening provides a housing allocation, priority score, or guaranteed shelter bed.
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Experience

Experience from the field.

Customer story

Associated Ministries — Access beyond office hours

Associated Ministries' published story describes Fortell answering calls, supporting screening, and booking appointments around the clock in its Coordinated Entry and Systems Navigation setting. [2]

Watch the story and read the case study

“People just aren't available 9 to 5… this creates access.”

Valorie Crout, Associated Ministries

Implementation in development / phased pilot

CFTH — Developing a connected access pathway for The Way Home

CFTH and Fortell have been developing initial screening and access workflows linked to ClientTrack/HMIS. Design work includes plain-language questions, county and ZIP routing, consent, duplicate-record handling, and mapping responses into HMIS fields. The documented approach is phased, with prevention screening first and broader virtual Coordinated Entry access planned for later stages.

Read the CFTH case study

Questions to discuss

Short answers for program leaders

Can this replace our assessment or prioritization model?+

The implementation should follow your CoC's approved approach. Initial screening and enrollment support must be distinguished from assessment, prioritization, and referral decisions.

Can people still speak to someone?+

Configure staff handoffs and alternative access routes. Digital access should add a way in, with clear escalation and follow-up when staff are unavailable.

Is HMIS integration the same everywhere?+

No. The fields, permissions, matching rules, and transfer method depend on the implementation. Scope and test them with your HMIS team.

Implementation

Measures to agree together

These are proposed measures for implementation—not existing Fortell results.

  • Completed initial screens
  • Successful handoffs
  • Record completeness
  • Duplicate-review volume
  • Drop-off between agreed stages

Sources

  1. 1.HUD, 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, Part 1
  2. 2.Fortell, Associated Ministries case study
  3. 3.Fortell, CFTH case study

Sources reviewed September 20, 2026. Historical statistics are identified by their original data or publication dates.

Map Fortell to your Coordinated Entry process.

Show us your access points, approved screening stages, HMIS workflow, and staff handoffs.

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