Family Services (FS) Program Housing Retention

CalWORKs housing and employment retention promote family stability. To facilitate these efforts, housing and employment retention follow-up is performed at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months following the date the family is housed. While housing retention is performed via an activity in CalSAWS, employment retention is tracked with a CalSAWS data report. Associate Employment Counselors (AECs)/Employment Counselors (ECs)will only need to enter Housing Retention entries in CalSAWS. 

Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Activity for Housing Retention

 The WTW activity used will be, 'Activity Number: 43 CHSP Housing-Retention.' The following applies to the activity in CalSAWS:

• Add Activity Number: 43 CHSP Housing -Retention. The Begin Date is the date the family was housed (Example: January 16, 2024). The expected End Date is 12 months from the begin date (Example: January 15, 2025). Select 'Active' in the Status field and 'Attending' in the Status Reason field.
• The activity will be scheduled for one hour per week.
•  At the 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up intervals, add a Journal Entry with housing follow-up details.
• On the Customer Activity Detail page, in the Additional Comments field, enter 'Housed' and the date they were housed (Example: Housed 01/16/24).

Example

At the 3-month follow-up, the assigned AEC/EC receives the Business Objects listing on April 7, 2023, which identifies April 11, 2023, as the first housing follow-up due date. The follow-up on April 11, 2023, reveals that the family is still housed, and the dad was laid off. The assigned AEC/EC updates the Status to 'Active' in the Status field and 'Attending' in the Status Reason field for the 'Activity 43 CHSP Housing Retention' activity since the client remains housed. The assigned AEC/EC will then add a new status of 'Active' in the Status field, 'Processing' in the Status Reason field, and enter the date of the 6-month follow-up in the Begin Date field. Lastly, the assigned AEC/EC will document the housing follow-up details and employment details in the Journal Detail page with a Journal Entry. 
The next housing follow-ups will be (6-month interval) on July 11, 2023, and (12-month interval) January 10, 2024. 

Note: While conducting Housing Retention follow-ups, AECs/ECs should always inquire about the client's current employment and update the case as needed.