Improving Data Collection on Homelessness Services

Accurate and comprehensive data collection is pivotal in addressing the multifaceted issue of homelessness across the United States. While the current homeless management information system has proven effective, it requires strategic enhancements to provide a more holistic understanding of the homeless population nationwide. This, in turn, can catalyze targeted interventions and sustainable solutions to prevent and alleviate homelessness on a larger scale.

Recognizing the significance of data-driven approaches, several organizations have collaborated to identify areas for reform in homelessness data collection processes. Their insights underscore the need for coordinated efforts, effective outreach systems, and robust data infrastructure to illuminate gaps in resources and optimize service delivery.

Enhancing Accuracy: Recommendations from Auditors

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has conducted an extensive audit, highlighting the potential for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to enhance the accuracy of its nationwide homelessness estimates. The audit suggests that HUD can achieve this by fostering better engagement and coordination with local communities, known as “continuums of care” (CoCs).

Currently, HUD relies on these CoCs to provide point-in-time counts of homeless individuals within their respective regions. However, the audit revealed that CoCs employ various methods, such as census or sampling techniques, to estimate unsheltered populations. While HUD mandates in-person counting methods for unsheltered individuals, the agency does not provide sufficient guidance on leveraging administrative data from public or nonprofit organizations serving the homeless.

The GAO audit recommends that HUD furnish CoCs with exemplary practices on extracting and utilizing administrative data to complement in-person counts. This approach could significantly improve the quality and consistency of CoCs’ estimates, particularly in scenarios where in-person counts are disrupted, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Collaborative Efforts: Engaging Homeless Service Providers

Ending homelessness requires a collective and coordinated effort from various service providers, including nonprofit organizations, housing authorities, government agencies, community-based organizations, and shelters. Frequently, these entities operate in silos, focusing on specific program goals rather than a unified, population-level approach.

Communities have demonstrated that driving substantial reductions in homelessness necessitates a unified team of providers with shared objectives and responsibilities. This collective strength not only amplifies resources but also fosters a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of the homeless population.

To achieve this, at least 90% of local providers, irrespective of their funding sources, should contribute information to the HMIS. Additionally, these contributing providers should collectively serve at least 90% of the homeless population within the community. This level of participation ensures that the HMIS captures a accurate representation of all individuals experiencing homelessness, enabling data-driven system improvements and equitable service delivery.

Codifying Practices: Establishing Policies and Procedures

Defining and codifying policies and procedures is crucial for establishing shared understanding, guiding operations, and ensuring sustainability across the various stakeholders within a homeless response system. Documented guidelines not only outline the rationale behind specific courses of action but also provide step-by-step instructions for routine tasks.

By having well-defined policies and procedures in place for collecting and maintaining quality homeless management information system (HMIS) data, communities can establish a clear, consistent, and sustainable approach to tackling homelessness. These policies should address key aspects, such as:

• Ensuring that the HMIS actively homeless list includes only individuals known to be currently experiencing homelessness.
• Accounting for individuals who are no longer experiencing homelessness and updating their status accordingly.
• Counting individuals who have not consented to services in a manner that protects their confidentiality.

Establishing and adhering to these policies not only enhances data accuracy but also fosters a coordinated and effective homeless response system that can endure changes in leadership and staffing across participating organizations.

Robust Data Infrastructure: The Foundation for Success

At the core of quality HMIS data lies a robust and efficient data infrastructure. This infrastructure encompasses hardware, software, and networking components that enable seamless data entry, storage, management, analysis, and sharing among service providers.

A well-designed data infrastructure empowers communities to reliably calculate inflow and outflow metrics, monitor system trends and performance in real-time, and leverage insights to inform strategic actions toward system improvement. To achieve this, communities must accurately capture and track all individuals within the homeless response system, from entry to exit, while documenting key data elements such as:

• Unique identifiers to prevent duplicate client records.
• Household type, age, and population status.
• Dates of entry, status changes, and exits.
• Prior and current living situations.

By maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date HMIS, communities can generate monthly standard reports, enabling them to monitor the size, composition, and locations of the homeless population effectively.

Coordinated Outreach: Engaging the Unsheltered

Effective and coordinated outreach systems play a pivotal role in ensuring that all unsheltered individuals within a community are engaged and known to the homeless response system. These systems facilitate collaboration between local and regional agencies, enabling outreach teams to work together seamlessly to connect unsheltered individuals with available housing and support services.

Robust outreach systems not only expedite the process of exiting homelessness but also equip communities with comprehensive data on the size, composition, and locations of the unsheltered population. This requires strong data collection practices among outreach teams and clear procedures for integrating engaged individuals into the HMIS.

To assess the strength of their outreach systems, communities should consider the following elements:

• Defining the geographic coverage and boundaries of outreach efforts.
• Coordinating outreach efforts across providers to ensure complete coverage.
• Documenting outreach policies and procedures to ensure sustainability.
• Establishing protocols for integrating engaged individuals into the HMIS.

By strengthening their outreach systems, communities can effectively reduce the prevalence and duration of unsheltered homelessness, ultimately achieving functional zero.

Progress and Reflections: Built for Zero Communities

The Built for Zero initiative, led by Community Solutions, has been working with communities across the United States to achieve quality HMIS data and drive measurable reductions in homelessness. An analysis of scorecard data from 65 participating communities reveals notable progress across various components of a robust data system.

Outreach Systems

The percentage of Built for Zero communities with defined geographic coverage and boundaries for outreach efforts has increased significantly, from 31% at baseline to 72% at the time of their most recent scorecard submission. Additionally, the proportion of communities with coordinated, effective outreach systems has nearly tripled, and the percentage of communities with documented outreach policies has grown by over 50 percentage points.

These substantial increases indicate that communities are strengthening their understanding of local outreach efforts, coordinating efforts across providers, and documenting practices to ensure sustainability.

Provider Participation

As of Fall 2022, 74% of Built for Zero communities included in the analysis have at least 90% of local providers contributing information to their HMIS, representing a 46 percentage-point increase from initial scorecard submissions. Furthermore, the proportion of communities indicating that reporting providers serve at least 90% of single adults experiencing homelessness has more than doubled.

These findings demonstrate that communities are taking steps to ensure their HMIS accurately reflects the majority of individuals currently experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered.

Policies and Procedures

Nearly 70% of Built for Zero communities have established policies specifying how long an individual can remain inactive before being categorized as such, standards for due diligence in engagement prior to status changes, and protocols for retaining active homeless status for individuals entering institutions for 90 days or fewer. This represents a 49 percentage-point increase from baseline assessments.

Additionally, communities are increasingly tracking individuals who have not consented to services in a manner that respects their privacy and establishing policies to ensure their HMIS data remains up-to-date and accurate.

Data Infrastructure

The vast majority of Built for Zero communities (94% vs. 63% at baseline) are now tracking individuals’ homeless or housing status, date of last status change, and using unique identifiers to prevent duplicate client records. The proportion of communities tracking key sources of inflow, such as newly identified individuals experiencing homelessness and individuals returning to active homelessness from housing or inactive status, has more than doubled.

Communities are also increasingly documenting and tracking individuals’ household type, age, and population statuses, enabling them to generate comprehensive reports and monitor system trends effectively.

Future Priorities: Sustaining Progress and Closing Gaps

While Built for Zero communities have made significant strides in enhancing their HMIS data quality, several areas require continued support and intervention:

1. Outreach Policy Documentation: Although communities have strengthened their outreach practices, nearly a third have yet to codify these processes and protocols into tangible policies. Assisting communities in leveraging their progress to document new practices and procedures is a priority.
2. Provider Engagement: Close to half of the analyzed communities have not confirmed that the majority of individuals experiencing homelessness are served by providers contributing to the HMIS. Supporting communities in engaging providers, developing shared aims, and utilizing tools like provider participation inventories can enhance data comprehensiveness.
3. Consistent Data Reporting: While communities have made strides in tracking key data elements, ensuring consistent and reliable reporting of metrics related to inflow and outflow over consecutive months remains crucial for accurate system monitoring and improvement.

By addressing these areas through targeted interventions and support, communities can further refine their HMIS data quality, enabling more effective and equitable service delivery in the fight against homelessness.