August 2025

Newsletter

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HMIS Monthly Calendar

Newly Approved HMIS Policies & Procedures

At the most recent CoC Board Meeting, three new HMIS-specific policies and procedures were fully approved. We encourage all HMIS users and agency leadership to take a look at each new addition, all of which can also be found in full in the latest versions of the HMIS Policies & Procedures document.

RELEASE OF INFORMATION & PRIVACY NOTICE NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH

The HMIS Release of Information and Privacy Notice are now officially available in Spanish! All contributing organizations who provide services to individuals who primarily speak Spanish are encouraged to use the approved verbiage in our professionally-translated documents. You can find the whole translations to both documents at the link below, or at our team website.

HMIS ORGANIZATION REQUIREMENTS

The HMIS and Close to Home teams have created new, standardized requirements for agencies who may be granted access to HMIS. The goal of these requirements is to streamline the application process by making our criteria clear and easily accessible, and to ensure that all data being entered is beneficial to our community's collaborative database.

The full criteria can be found at the link below:

DATA OWNERSHIP POLICIES

The policies regarding the ownership of data within HMIS have received several additions to provide necessary clarification on who can access what information, and how that information can be accessed. Important additions include:

•••

• A Contributing HMIS Organization (CHO) can only report data that has been entered into HMIS by their organization or into a project owned by their organization.

-If a CHO wishes to request data that is not owned by their organization, they may submit a Close to Home Data Request form. Submission of a request does not guarantee approval.

 

•A CHO can only use the HMIS Reporting Function to pull data owned by their organization. Reports containing data owned by other organizations may be obtained by submitting a Close to Home Data Request form.

•••


For projects with joint ownership with an organization other than the CoC Lead, a primary and secondary owner must be established based on the following criteria:


•The primary owner maintains ownership of all data entered in the project.

-The primary owner is defined as the organization that runs and operates the project.

-The primary owner is ultimately responsible for the quality of their project’s data.


•The secondary owner may request data entered by their organization.

-The secondary owner is defined as any organization that is authorized to enter data into a project on behalf of the primary owner.

•••

Client Profile Review Requests:



Clients may request to view a copy of their personal HMIS records (or that of their dependents) at any time, and request changes if needed. However, each CHO is only able to provide records and data that they own.

New and Upcoming in HMIS

PMT Dashboard

The HMIS Team has been hard at work for several months on an exciting new feature that will be launching soon.


The Performance Monitoring Tool (PMT) Dashboard will be a helpful feature within HMIS that allows agencies to view their projects' scores in board-approved performance measures.


We will be hosting an office hour to discuss this new tool on Tuesday, August 26th, 1PM - 2PM. Keep an eye out for invites to this event.

System Change Request Form

As of Monday, August 4th, the HMIS Project Modification form is now the System Change Request form. All requests to add or remove services tied to a project, make adjustments to the assessments required, deactivate a project, or any other changes to an active HMIS project, should be made using this form.


If you wish to request a modification that is not listed on form, please send a ticket to HMIS for assistance.

FY 2026 Data Standards Updates

HUD has released the expected changes to the HMIS Data Standards, set to go into effect Wednesday, October 1st, 2025.


The HMIS Team and our vendor will be working to ensure a smooth transition for the affected data elements and all reports that currently include them. We will be providing more details as we get closer to the implementation date.


Trainings introducing these changes will be offered at the following dates:


Tuesday, September 16th,

2PM - 3PM


Wednesday, September 17th,

11AM - 12PM


Thursday, September 18th,

1PM - 2PM


Invites to these trainings will be sent at a later date. Please be sure to RSVP to your preferred date if you wish to attend.

Helpful Reminders!

Be sure to add noreply@havenforhope.org to your address books to ensure Password Reset emails do not get caught by your Spam filters!

Training Requests MUST be submitted by a direct supervisor or an authorized requester. Self-submissions WILL be denied!

Protected Health Information (PHI) should NOT be included in Case Notes, as Case Notes can be subpoenaed.

Using your Solarwinds account as an alternative to your email inbox is an easy and efficient way to access your ticket history, edit comments, and view updates!

HMIS Team

Vice President of Programs | David Huete

HMIS Director | Nina Gall

HMIS Business Systems Analyst | Jenni Hernandez

HMIS Security & Compliance Specialist | Ashley Boyer

HMIS Training Coordinator | Gloria Collins

HMIS Systems Administrator | Spencer Walker

HMIS Database Administrator| Villian Asong

HMIS Data Analyst | Jose Marines

HMIS Application Support Specialist | James Moses

HMIS Senior Data Analyst | Lori Stewart

HMIS Data Quality Analyst | Tracie Dixon

Why am I receiving this email?

If you are receiving this email, it is because you either have an active San Antonio/Bexar County HMIS account, or you are designated as an important point-of-contact for HMIS-related updates. As an HMIS User, it is important for you to stay up-to-date on all major updates regarding the database.


We ask that you do not Unsubscribe from these alerts as long as you use HMIS.


If you believe this description no longer applies to you, please submit a ticket to HMIS.Support@Havenforhope.org to request your account be deactivated.


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