September HMIS Newsletter 💼

Welcome to the San Luis Obispo Continuum of Care's HMIS Newsletter

This newsletter is designed to inform HMIS users, Agency Administrators and interested parties on the latest news, best practices, and updates regarding the local HMIS implementation.

Pictured Above: The fabulous ICA team during there site visit the first week of September

September 2026

IN THIS EDITION

Important Dates - Come to Office Hours Tomorrow!
Tips and Training- Chance to win HMIS Training Trophy
Reports Worth a Look - CoC Housing Assessment Report [HSNG-102]
You Asked, We Answered - Attendance module
Coordinated Entry- WHV Update
Feedback requested- 2027 CDNA Still Open

Winners from the Live UI Update Training 🎉

Thank you to everyone who participated in one of our Live User Interface update trainings earlier this month! Those who participated were entered into a raffle to win a new storage clipboard, a cats cradle game, or a dot-art pad and pens. Congrats to the following winners!

Juan Harris- Restorative Partners
Nathaniel Bearson- Coordinated Entry
Josephine Price- Behavioral Health
Melissa Flores- CAPSLO
Olga Acevedo- CAPSLO

Winners should reach out to Kate Bourne (kbourne@co.slo.ca.us) directly to coordinate the delivery of their prize.

IMPORTANT DATES -SAVE THE DATE- DON'T MISS OUT

September 23, 2026 3 pm: Monthly Office Hours - via Teams. Come tell us your impressions of the new Clarity User Interface!

September 17-30, 2026: Users who complete their TalentLMS trainings early may request early access to the new UI

October 1, 2026: Clarity HMIS New Interface - GO LIVE!

October 2, 2026 10 am: Coordinated Entry Drop-In Office Hours via CAPSLO Zoom

October 7, 2026 3 pm: October Monthly Office Hours via Teams

October 22, 2026 9 am: Agency Admin Required Meeting for DQ review. Invite and more info to come.

New User Interface Rollout Knowledge Base Article

HMIS User Interface Updates

Eager to test the new User Interface? Sad you didn't win a raffle prize from the training? There is still one more opportunity to win!! The agency that has identified the most bugs/glitches in the new User Interface will get their very own HMIS training trophy. Start testing the new UI in the HMIS sandbox and/or request to have it added to your Live profile and start looking for issues! Send any potential problems you encounter to the help desk at ss_hmissupport@co.slo.ca.us.

Some new features to look forward to in the new interface include:

Dark mode
New tooltips when hovering over website icons
Simplified navigation

CoC Housing Assessment Report [HSNG-102]

Review program or agency utilization based on inventory currently entered for your shelter, transitional housing, or permanent housing project types. Select the report under the "Housing" dropdown menu and enter the months you'd like to view. Once the report is complete you can see total beds per project as well as the calculated utilization percent based on active project enrollments in HMIS. Good for project clean-up outside of Federal Reporting Season!

Question: What is the attendance module, and when should my agency be utilizing it in Clarity?

Answer: Attendance is only required for Night By Night emergency shelter project types to track bed nights for reporting requirements.

A new training module has been added to our HMIS Training site to demonstrate the use of the module.

Emergency shelters using the entry exit workflow may optionally track bed nights in the attendance module as well.

Additionally, any project may use the attendance module to track services for their agency. We have configurations to track meals, essential services and more!

Please reach out the HMIS team for more information on the module!

CES for Welcome Home Village

HMIS Inventory Module will be used by the CES team for matching clients to the Emergency Shelter (Interim) units. Units will be filled in groups of 7. Updates on this project and others are provided at the Monthly CES Announcements Meeting. More info can be found on the CES website linked below.

Coordinated Entry SLO Link

Join the CES Team for CES drop-in Office Hours for 2026!

CES Office Hours take place every other Friday at 10AM. Stop by to ask questions or share ideas for system improvement!

The CES Team, in partnership with the HMIS Support Team, is using a shared helpdesk email address to field technical questions.

Reach us at: hsd_CESsupport@co.slo.ca.us.

Thank you from the CES Team

Nathan, Hayley, and Nathaniel

Still Open!- DSS Homeless Services Needs Your Input

The 2027 Community Development Needs Assessment survey is now open for community input. The survey is conducted every year to gather input about housing and community development needs in the county. Community input will help guide how an estimated $3 million is allocated to address local housing and community development priorities.

Results of the survey and proposed funding priorities will be presented to the BOS at a public hearing on December 8, 2026. Survey results will help guide funding decisions for programs such as:

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG)

The 2027 Notice of Funding Availability for these funding programs is anticipated to be released on September 28, 2026.

HMIS Website

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