Training Non-Attendance and Non-Completion Policy
Our team has recently implemented a policy covering what happens if a new HMIS User does not attend the required live trainings for their access level. When the user has selected a date for the Principles of HMIS or the SARAH Homelink Training sessions and does not attend or does not complete the training, the following steps are taken:
• 1st missed training: An initial notice is sent to the user; the manager and Agency Security Officer are copied on the written communication. The manager must acknowledge receipt of email before user is rescheduled.
• 2nd missed training: Within 24-hours of confirming the 2nd training was missed, another notice will be sent to the manager with the Agency Security Officer and user copied. The users’ access will be revised to a limited to read only status.
• 3rd missed training: This notice states that access will be revoked within 48 hours of the notification. The user cannot regain access until a mandatory meeting is held with the HMIS trainer or HMIS manager, user, and user manager/director.
Please remember to always reach out to the corresponding trainer if you are unable to attend any scheduled trainings! This new policy will be found on the updated version of the HMIS Policy and Procedures. You can always find the latest versions of our local documents on our Team website
New Community-Approved Term Definitions
The HMIS Board has voted to approve an official definition for the terms "Housed," "Returns to Homelessness," "Unsheltered," and "First Time Homeless." The definitions are as follows:
Housed:
A housed individual or family is an individual or family who has a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence[1]
Methods for capturing this number:
- During the reporting period, count the number of clients:
o With an ‘Exited’ Street Outreach, SSO, ES, SH, TH, RRH, or PH enrollment
who had a Permanent Housing destination at Exit.
o OR with an open RRH or PH project enrollment, that have a move-in date.
Returns to Homelessness:
The Extent to which Persons Who Exit Homelessness to Permanent Housing Destinations within the 2 years prior to the report date range, clients who Returned to Homelessness within 6, 12 or 24 months.
Methods for capturing this number:
- Within two years prior to the reporting period, count the number of clients:
o Who had an ‘Exited’ Street Outreach, SSO, ES, SH, TH, RRH, or PH project
enrollment who had a Permanent Housing destination at Exit.
- Of those clients, how many of them returned to homelessness as indicated in the HMIS system for up to two years after their initial exit.
o To count as ‘Returns to Homelessness’:
§ For SSO, look at prior living situation that is a literal homelessness situation.
§ For SO, ES, SH, Th, client only needs to have a Project Start Date within the
return period (within 6, 12 or 24 months).
Number of Returns to Homelessness is calculated by:
- Start with the clients who exited to a Permanent Housing Destination within the prior 2 years from the beginning of the reporting period.
o For example, if the reporting period is 10/1/2021-9/30/2022, you would count
the clients who exited to a Permanent destination between 10/1/2019-
9/30/2021.
- Of those clients, how many returned to homelessness within 6, 12, or 24 months.
Unsheltered
Run a report of who is actively enrolled in a
-
Street Outreach project OR
-
Coordinated Entry (Homelink CE) project AND
o Has a Prior Residence of "Place not meant for habitation" within the past 30
days.
o Has a Current Living Situation of "Place not meant for habitation" within the
past 30 days.
*For the purpose of the strategic plan goal, CLS should be entered by the 25th of the month
[1] Edited the ‘Literally Homeless’ definition from “Literally Homeless: As per HUD definition, a literally homeless individual or family is an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. ” to “Housed: a housed individual or family is an individual or family who has a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”
First Time Homeless
Of the persons with HMIS entries during the reporting period, the number of persons who did not have any HMIS evidence of an episode of homelessness in the previous 10 years.
Methods for capturing this number:
• Count the number of clients with an HMIS project enrollment in a Street Outreach, ES, SH, TH, RRH or PH during the reporting period, who, in the last 10 years:
o Did not have an HMIS enrollment in a Street Outreach, ES, SH, TH, RRH or PH project.
o OR Did not have an HMIS enrollment in an SSO unless the HUD Universal Data Element of ‘Type of Residence’ was not a literal homelessness situation.
o AND the HUD Universal Data Element of ‘Total Number of Months Homeless in the Past Three Years’ response of ‘One Month (this time is the first month)’ for the current enrollment.
Number of First Time Homeless is calculated by:
Start with the client’s earliest start date in any of the relevant project types during the report date range which have a response of ‘One Month (this time is the first month)’. Working backwards in time, determine if the client was active in any of the relevant projects within 10 years prior to their earliest start date.
o If so, then the client is not newly homeless.
o If not, then the client is newly homeless.
*Data Limitations: We cannot account for episodes of homelessness that occurred more than 3 years ago that are not documented in HMIS, as there is no data element that captures that.
These new definitions will be found in the updated version of our Data Quality Plan. You can find the latest version on the Resources page of our Team website.
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