February 2023

Welcome to our second newsletter! This month we are unveiling our “Ask HMIS” column along with another HMIS Tips and Tricks, and some information about the newest Shelter Survey.  As always, please let us know if there is anything you'd like to see in our newsletters.

In partnership, 

Wendy, Tina, Kai, Rae, Glenn, and Ashley

Q: Why are my clients being auto-exited?

A: This is a very common question. For security reasons, clients are auto-exited from most HMIS programs if they have not had any services or assessments entered into the program within the last 90 days. You can avoid this completely by entering services regularly (we recommend at least one service a month). See our Tips and Tricks section below for more information on entering services.

Q: How do I "undo" an auto-exit?

A: To "undo" an auto-exit, simply go to the exit screen, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "Reopen Client Program" link. Turn on the "clear all exit data" toggle and hit save. Now your client is still enrolled in your program as if nothing happened. For more information on reopening an enrollment, check out our job aid below.

Do you have a question for HMIS? Email us your question with "Ask HMIS" in the subject line and look for the answer in an upcoming newsletter!

Adding a Service

Adding services in HMIS is an easy way to keep your client active in your programs. Not only do services keep your clients active, they also help document the length of their homelessness (chronicity) and ensure that other agencies know you are actively working with the client. This is especially helpful if other programs are trying to find your clients to provide services or housing opportunities. For detailed directions on how to add or edit client records, please review pages 15-17 of our HMIS Training Manual.

The annual Shelter PIT and HIC are now underway! The Sheltered PIT counts all clients who were sheltered (either permanently or temporarily) in our programs on the night of January 25, 2023. We compare these numbers to our housing inventory to see how many of our shelter beds are being used to support our homeless clients. Gathering and verifying the accuracy of this data for over 200 programs is a big undertaking; we are grateful for your collaboration and tremendous support!

The long awaited fourth version of our shelter survey is up and running! If you are an agency administering the Shelter Survey to clients, please make sure you are using this new version to link your clients to shelter beds. Not to worry - any clients who were previously assessed using version three are still on the waitlist and are eligible for shelter referrals.

Shelter Survey V4 captures new information like health insurance, vaccination proof, and domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking status.

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