Not quite a year ago, a nonprofit organization based in St. Charles County was tasked with a new responsibility for helping the homeless.Community Council operates Coordinated Entry, a program that helps people in need of emergency shelter and related services. Coordinated Entry serves homeless individuals and families in St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties.People who are homeless, or at immediate risk of being homeless, should contact Coordinated Entry by dialing 211 from any phone. After entering a ZIP code, select housing at the prompt. Calls are connected to Coordinated Entry case managers for housing assistance.Todd Barnes is the executive director for Community Council.“This is truly case management,” Barnes said. “Case managers find the best connection for what our homeless neighbor needs. Where is that homeless neighbor going to be best served? We help them with those connections, ultimately, to get them into affordable housing. Then we monitor the circle of care.”Some of the agencies Coordinated Entry works with on behalf of homeless neighbors include Agape, Bridgeway, Crider, NECAC, and Turning Point.Barnes said the profile of the homeless has expanded. In decades past, mental health or drug addiction were root causes of homelessness. While those issues still exist, people who are working one, two and even three jobs are finding themselves homeless today.These are individuals and families whose basic living expenses cost more than what they earn.The number of people who need help and their situations are often staggering.“Every day I get to see a number of calls from the previous day and I ask: ‘When will this slow down?’ ” Barnes said.People who reached out to Coordinated Entry for help were looking for guidance on where to go for help or emergency shelter, or they are requesting supplies such as tents and sleeping bags, to help them live more comfortably where they are.“In the nine months since it began running, we have served 272 homeless neighbors, adults and children. We have found successful connections to resources for 165 of them and 73 went to our prioritization list,” Barnes said.The program provided some type of housing to 250 people from its three counties. Of those, 42 individuals were from Warren County.“We’re able to look at data and say this is the face of homelessness,” Barnes said.About 45 percent of the region’s homeless are single-parent females. While unemployment has always contributed to homelessness, about 50 percent of the region’s homeless have jobs.“Two out of three have some form of health insurance but the deductible is so high they don’t get to use it,” Barnes said.There are more homeless people than there are homeless shelters, and there are no shelters for single men.The data is similar throughout the three counties, Barnes said.Coordinated Entry works with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Barnes said a HUD mandate required Coordinated Entry to create an easy, accessible way for neighbors experiencing homelessness to access resources so they would no longer have to do it themselves.“The goal is to get them into safe and attainable housing. In some cases, we have found units they’ve been able to rent on their own or they can get help with supplements. We’ve helped arrange for some to have roommates, to help each other with expenses,” he said.Barnes added family breakups are sometimes the cause of homelessness. He said they work with faith groups to engage families in reconciliations.“Our partner in the city of St. Louis, St. Patrick Center does the assessment for the city on homelessness. In 2017 they assessed 3,500 homeless people in St. Louis. We’re going to approach 3,000 in these three counties before the year is out.”Community Council was established in 1954. While its specific tasks have evolved since then, based on the community’s needs, its mission is nearly the same: to be the catalyst that brings together people, resources and organizations to build a stronger, healthier and more compassionate community.Community Council