Welcome back to the Mind Your Data Series, the training series focused on improving data quality one element at a time. | | DATA NEWSLETTER: LOCATION INFORMATION | | |
Why Location Information Is Critical: A participant's location information tells an important part of their story. It helps answer key questions such as:
- Where is the participant currently staying?
- Are they still experiencing homelessness?
- Have they moved into permanent housing?
- Are they receiving services in the appropriate location?
Accurate location information supports coordinated care, improves reporting, and provides the Continuum of Care (CoC) with a reliable picture of homelessness and housing outcomes across the region. It also informs policy and funding decisions by ensuring leaders have accurate data to identify community needs, measure program performance, allocate resources effectively, and demonstrate the impact of homelessness response efforts.
Where Is Location Information Captured? Location information is captured throughout a participant's HMIS record and provides important context about where a participant is living, receiving services, or being engaged. While many people think of location as simply an address, it can include several different types of information depending on the participant's circumstances and the project they are enrolled in.
Examples of location information include:
-
Move-In Address – The physical address where a participant moves into housing.
-
Current Living Situation (CLS) – The location where a participant is staying at the time of an outreach contact, including shelters, encampments, vehicles, or other locations.
-
Encampment Location – The specific encampment location where an outreach contact occurred, when applicable.
-
Project Enrollment Location – The site where a participant is receiving services or residing prior to permanent housing placement.
-
Housing Unit/Bed Assignment – The unit or bed associated with a participant's enrollment in a housing project.
Keeping these fields complete and up to date ensures participant records accurately reflect where services are being delivered and supports reliable reporting, coordinated care, and informed decision-making across the Continuum of Care (CoC).
| Spotlight: Current Living Situation Assessment | |
The Current Living Situation (CLS) assessment captures where a participant is staying between project enrollment and exit. Unlike project enrollments, CLS provides a snapshot of a participant's housing situation at a specific point in time and is especially valuable for participants receiving street outreach or ongoing services.
A Current Living Situation (CLS) assessment should be completed at every participant engagement to accurately document where the participant is staying at the time of contact. Consistently recording CLS assessments creates a complete timeline of participant engagement and housing status, providing valuable information for service coordination and performance reporting.
Regularly updating CLS allows agencies to:
- Document changes in a participant's housing situation.
- Demonstrate ongoing engagement with participants.
- Measure progress toward stable housing.
- Support accurate federal and local reporting.
Without updated CLS assessments, a participant's housing journey and service engagement may appear incomplete or inaccurate, resulting in gaps in reporting and a less comprehensive picture of the participant's path toward housing stability.
| | Common Location Information Issues | | |
The following are some of the most common data quality issues related to participant location:
- Missing or outdated Current Living Situation (CLS) records.
- Permanent housing projects missing participant address information.
- Incomplete or inaccurate geolocation data.
- Address information that does not match the participant's actual housing location.
- Participants who have moved but whose records have not been updated.
Even small inaccuracies can affect reporting and create an incomplete picture of participant outcomes.
| | Steps to Ensure Accurate Location Information | | |
Follow these steps to help ensure participant location information remains complete, accurate, and useful for care coordination, reporting, and funding decisions:
-
Update the participant's location whenever their living situation changes. Record changes as soon as they occur so the participant's record reflects their current situation.
-
Complete a Current Living Situation (CLS) assessment during every participant contact, when appropriate. Regularly documenting a participant's current location provides an accurate picture of their housing journey over time.
-
Verify addresses before saving housing records. Confirm the address with the participant and ensure it is entered correctly before recording a move-in.
-
Enter complete address information whenever it is available. Include the street address, city, ZIP code, and any other required location details to improve geocoding accuracy and reporting.
-
Review participant records regularly for missing or outdated location information. Correct incomplete or inaccurate records as part of your routine case management and data quality activities.
Remember: Every location update matters. Making these steps part of your regular workflow strengthens data quality, improves coordination across providers, supports accurate reporting, and helps ensure policy and funding decisions are based on reliable information.
| | How This Impacts Your Data Quality Score | | |
Location related data can directly affect several Data Quality Monitoring Plan (DQMP) indicators, including:
-
Current Living Situation (CLS) Completion – Ensures participant contacts accurately document where individuals are staying over time.
-
Missing or Invalid Move-In Addresses – Permanent housing enrollments require complete and accurate move-in addresses for geocoding, reporting, and housing outcome measurement.
-
Exit Destination Accuracy – Recording the correct destination at project exit measures housing outcomes and system performance.
-
Bed and Unit Assignment Utilization – Accurate assignment to units, beds, or inventory locations ensures occupancy and utilization reporting reflects actual participant placements.
-
Exit Destination Accuracy – Recording the correct destination at project exit measures housing outcomes and system performance.
-
Length of Stay (LOS) – Accurate enrollment, unit assignment, move-in, and exit location data support reliable length of stay calculations.
-
Encampment Location Documentation – For Street Outreach projects, documenting engagement locations helps measure outreach coverage and identify geographic trends.
These issues can:
- Lower your percentage of participants without high-priority data quality errors.
- Affect agency performance monitoring.
- Reduce confidence in system-wide reporting.
- Impact funding and planning decisions.
| | FINAL THOUGHT: Every location update tells part of a participant's journey. By keeping Current Living Situation assessments and location information accurate and up to date, you help ensure participant stories are complete, reports are reliable, and decision-makers have the information needed to improve services across the homeless response system. | |
Mind your data now, because good data starts with accurate location information.
| |
Join our weekly HMIS office hours:
Every Thursday from 2 PM - 3 PM
| |
| Data, Explained: LAHSA's Data Quality Monitoring Plan | | |
LAHSA’s Data Quality Monitoring Plan (DQMP) ensures HMIS data is accurate, reliable, and actionable so providers and policymakers can understand needs, track progress, and improve outcomes. Check out our website to take a deeper dive into LAHSA's data quality framework:
| | LAHSA is a joint powers authority of the City and County of Los Angeles, created in 1993 to address the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles County. LAHSA is the lead agency in the HUD-funded Los Angeles Continuum of Care, and coordinates and manages federal, state, county, and city funds for programs providing shelter, housing, and services to people experiencing homelessness. | | | | |
