• How COVID-19 Has Impacted CoCs: The State of Homelessness and What We Expect as We Move Forward
• Clearing the Room: Using Data to Support Rapid Housing Exits During a COVID Response
• HMIS Project Set-up 201
• Adjusting Course Toward Equity: Lessons Learned in Boston’s COVID Housing Recovery Plan
• Office Hour HMIS Project Management and Annual Calendar of Expectations
• Impacts of COVID-19 on the King County Homeless Response System – Using data to inform current and future housing strategies
• Achieving a Quality and Stable HMIS Staffing Pattern
• Launching a Meaningful Equity Initiative: CoC Governance, Homelessness Prevention and Lived-experience
• Improving your Training Curriculum and Delivery
• Confidential, Targeted Community Exchanges – Alerts for COVID-19 and Beyond
• HMIS Governance 101
• Shared Housing – Beyond the Pandemic
• Getting to YES: Sharing HMIS and Health Data to Improve Outcomes in Your Community
• Suburbia responds to COVID Housing Needs
• Protecting Data in an HMIS Environment: Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality
• Communication Crisis Responses: Can You Hear Us?
• Implementing Effective Contract Negotiation and Relationship Management Strategies 101
• Cross-Systems Data for Housing Triage: Coordinated Entry Prioritization in the Time of COVID-19
• Implementing and Operating a Coordinated Entry System Project
• Can Automation Improve Homeless Service Delivery
• Office Hour – Data Quality 101: Bed Coverage and Strategies to Improve It
• Let’s Break it Down and How: Why Disaggregating Data by Race Matters and Tools to Help You Move the Needle on Inequity
• Data Quality 201: DQ Management Program (Part 1)
• Using Flexible Funds & Real-Time Data to House Young People During COVID-19
• Review HUD Data Standards
• HouseWake! A Time for Innovation
• Strategies for Evaluating and Monitoring Coordinated Entry
• Utilizing HMIS and non-HMIS Data to Support Racial Equity
• HUD Q&A
• CARES Funding: Detroit’s CoC COVID Homeless Response
• Using Data to Move Racial Equity Conversations Forward
• Building an Equitable and Trauma-Informed Coordinated Entry and Case Conferencing Process for Survivors: It Takes Time and Intentionality
• You and Stella Together Again (Workshop)
• Unleashing Potential – Harnessing Technology to Equitably Meet the Needs of Persons Experiencing Homelessness
• CoC/VSP and Comparable Database Responsibilities
• Impact of Hotels as Non-Congregate Emergency Shelters: An Analysis of Investments in Hotels as Emergency Shelter in King County During the COVID-19 Pandemic

CARES Act and HMIS

Tracking Dynamic Housing Problem Solving Resources in HMIS

HMIS Project Set-Up 101

HMIS Budgeting Strategies

Be A Data Guru – Examples, Insights, and Methods

Problem Solving Lab: Develop Your DQ Plan

From Implementation to Refinement: An Action-Oriented Project Management Approach to CES Refinement

Driving Policy Change Through The Application of Data

Implementing Effective Contract Negotiation and Relationship Management Strategies 101

Coordinated Entry 2.0: When Coordinated Entry Needs More Coordination and Less Data Entry

HMIS Project Set-up 201

Developing A Race Equity Framework

HUD Data Elements and Domestic Violence Using Data to Inform Safety

HMIS Project Management and Annual Calendar of Expectations

HMIS Governance 101

HMIS Personnel Certification

Data Quality 101: What is DQ?

How to Successfully Fulfill HUD’s ESG-CV Quarterly Reporting Requirements

How many beds do we need to reduce our unsheltered homelessness? How should we shift resources to maximize our housing inventory? How is our system performing versus other Continuums of Care (CoCs) in our state? How has our system’s performance changed?

Our communities ask these questions every day and naturally want to be able to “pulse check” their CoC against other CoCs to help answer them. While certain reports and dashboards do exist, they are often inaccessible.

This presentation will overview 9 open source, interactive Tableau dashboards (note that the dashboards are still in the beta phase) that allow users to compare their CoC’s data against 4 years of HUD Point in Time (PIT) count, Housing Inventory Count (HIC), and System Performance Measures (SPM) data. It will explain:

How these dashboards were created
How communities can use them to begin answering the questions above
How to present them to stakeholders
The session will close with a discussion of noticeable trends, data-driven reallocation of resources, and making insights actionable.

Speaker:

Colin Sorensen, Homebase

This community session is part of the Spring 2020 NHSDC HUD Virtual Conference. The materials are not official HUD resources and may not be in alignment with HUD guidance.

This session covers core principles of data analytics (descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive), differences between raw data and aggregate data, and how data can be transformed into useful information for stakeholders and the community at large.

By creating unique, yet simple, data dashboards, insights can be quickly gleaned, positively affecting a wide possibility of areas such as data quality, racial disparity, and system performance. This is the power of community dashboards.

Speaker:

Gaither Stephens, Gulf Coast Partnership

What does it take to successfully manage a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will detail the key tasks and skills of an HMIS team and provide a template calendar to highlight the responsibilities of this role.

Speakers:

Ryan Burger, ICF
Eric Gammons, Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC)

A Data Quality Management Program (DQMP) is the effort to provide additional guidance, support, and evaluation of local efforts to improve data quality. Part 1 of this session will focus on the elements of a DQMP and will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the challenges that they have encountered or anticipate encountering in implementing such a program locally. Part 2 will be a skill building workshop where participants will develop a local plan for creating their own DQMP.

Speakers:

Natalie Matthews, Abt Associates
Mike Lindsay, ICF

This session will help participants understand how to set up the Coordinated Entry System project in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) or other local data collection system, become familiar with the HUD-defined Coordinated Entry System data elements, and create a valid data collection process.

Speakers:

Meradith Alspaugh, Partnership Center
Abby Miller, HUD

This session will provide Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Leadership with the tools needed to develop an HMIS budget that meets the data management needs of the community and details strategies to diversify funding of HMIS through federal partner, local, and private funding. The session will also provide community examples of how to engage with various funders to implement the concept of funding diversity.

Speakers:

Mary Schwartz, Abt Associates
Eric Gammons, TAC

This session will provide Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Leadership with the tools needed to develop an HMIS budget that meets the data management needs of the community and details strategies to diversify funding of HMIS through federal partner, local, and private funding. The session will also provide community examples of how to engage with various funders to implement the concept of funding diversity.

Speakers:

Mary Schwartz, Abt Associates
Eric Gammons, TAC

How can a Continuum of Care (CoC) objectively and comprehensively monitor its Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead Agency? This session will provide CoC leadership with the skills to provide regular and thorough monitoring of its HMIS Lead, including sample monitoring tools and practices.

Speakers:

Mary Schwartz, Abt Associates
Ryan Burger, ICF

What is project set-up in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will detail the project set-up requirements and best practices across all federal partners that utilize HMIS.

Speakers:

Brian Roccapriore, Cloudburst
Joan Domenech, CSH

How does a Continuum of Care (CoC) effectively govern its local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will detail the elements of HMIS governance including: HMIS-CoC governance agreement(s), CoC-level data management committee(s), regional and statewide governance models, and the role of the CoC membership and Board in HMIS management and oversight.

Speakers:

Chris Pitcher, ICF
Ryan Burger, ICF

How do Continuums of Care (CoCs) ensure that they have an effective contract with their Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) software provider? This session will review the key components of a contract, the skills necessary to effectively negotiate an agreement, and strategies to hold the HMIS software provider accountable under such contracts.

Speakers:

Mary Schwartz, Abt Associates
Fran Ledger, HUD

This session provides an overview of qualitative data collection and analysis strategies that can be incorporated into Coordinated Entry (CE) evaluation, including:

A review of qualitative data collection techniques, e.g., oral histories, Most Significant Change stories, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and surveys with open-ended questions
A review of qualitative data analysis (QDA) techniques, including content analysis, sentiment analysis, keyword extraction, and the application of grounded theory
A live demonstration of open source QDA tools
A discussion about the “Lean Data” approach to collecting and utilizing participant feedback
A review of internet and mobile technologies that can facilitate qualitative data collection and analysis, from free voice recording and transcription apps to low-cost text messaging services
A description of issues regarding informed consent
Participants will leave with a solid framework for how and why to include qualitative data in CE evaluations.

Speakers:

Andrea Miller, Waypoints Consulting
Guest Speaker: Kat Freeman, HomeFire Training and Consulting

Data matching between the homeless system and health systems has been a part of community practices for years to varying degrees of success. CSH is continuing to build an understanding of how health center (HC) grantees are accessing and using homeless, housing, and other non-health data sources to improve care coordination for patients nationally. An example of this work happening at the community level is a statewide “Housing is Healthcare” initiative in Montana lead by the MT Healthcare Foundation. Seven communities are in the process of designing and implementing Frequent Users Systems Engagement (FUSE) supportive housing projects, and several of these MT communities have successfully matched health system data with Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data.

Speakers:

Ian Costello, CSH
Joseph Kenkel, National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC)

How can a Continuum of Care (CoC) ensure that its Coordinated Entry (CE) system securely leverages its Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will provide an in-depth review and discussion of HUD privacy and security guidance on the use of HMIS in a CE system.

Speakers:

Mike Lindsay, ICF
Fran Ledger, HUD

A Data Quality Management Program (DQMP) is the effort to provide additional guidance, support and evaluation of local efforts to improve data quality. Part 1 of this session will focus on the elements of a DQMP and will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the challenges that they have encountered or anticipate encountering in implementing such a program locally. Part 2 will be a skill building workshop where participants will develop a local plan for creating their own DQMP.

Speakers:

Mike Lindsay, ICF
Alissa Parrish, ICF

This session covers best practice approaches for victim service providers when working with software vendors in selecting, implementing, and maintaining a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)-compliant comparable database. Topics will focus on:

Comparable database definition and requirements
Questions to ask potential vendors during your software search
Important vendor/customer contractual considerations
Initial implementation strategies and pitfalls
Sustaining on-going vendor relationships for software maintenance, support, upgrades, and customization
Speakers:

Ken Davidson, Collaborative Solutions
Debbie Fox, National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)
Aaron Dunn, West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Bed coverage rates reflect the percentage of homeless assistance beds in a community that are actively participating in the local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The ability to have high or complete bed coverage rates is critical, as it empowers a community to more confidently state that their HMIS data truly reflects their local system of care for persons experiencing homelessness. One of the more challenging aspects of data quality can be improving local bed coverage rates, particularly for projects that are not funded to participate in HMIS. During this session, participants will hear first-hand from communities that have successfully improved local bed coverage rates and will walk away with strategies for how they too can tackle this challenge.

Speakers:

Joan Domenech, CSH
Fran Ledger, HUD

What are keys to identifying and maintaining a strong Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) staff? This session will focus on how to hire and develop an effective HMIS team, including strategies for supervision, staff training, and performance evaluations.

Speakers:

Chris Pitcher, ICF
Ryan Burger, ICF

What are common challenges when completing project-set up in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will review advanced project set-up topics and provide solutions to address common issues.

Speakers:

Meradith Alspaugh, Partnership Center
Joan Domenech, CSH

How can a Continuum of Care (CoC) ensure the effective monitoring of the agencies that are participating in its Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will ensure that CoC and HMIS leadership have the skills necessary to monitor providers and users participating in HMIS, in accordance with Federal Partner HMIS standards.

Speakers:

Brian Roccapriore, Cloudburst
Nastacia Moore, C4 Innovates

Over the past three years, CARES of NY has worked with five Collaborative Applicants and 13 communities to break down silos in both the reporting and use of data. While rising to the challenge of switching how they view and use data, the CARES staff has also worked on transcending divisions between the Continuum of Care (CoC) and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), facilitating a true collaborative model. This shift from agency and project level reporting to systems level work, spurred on by the System Performance Measures (SPM) reporting, has been a painful and exacting process, but it has changed the reporting and use of data on the community level for the better by helping (or forcing) the CoCs to work with data in dynamic ways. We have seen a positive impact on data quality, Coordinated Entry (CE) implementation, service delivery models, and community partnerships. This session will walk other CoC and HMIS leaders through the collaborative, relationship building, and technological processes (and pains) of the past three years, how far we’ve gone, and where we’re hoping to land at the end.

Speakers:

Allyson Thiessen, CARES of NY
Kelli Clark, CARES of NY

What is the importance of training and what are the Continuum of Care (CoC)-wide implications regarding data quality, data usage, and overall data management capacity? This session provides best practices on developing training materials to supplement what is made available by the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Solution Provider, establish a resource and training library, and ensure a responsive training strategy to meet the needs of basic, intermediate, and advanced HMIS users. Communities develop training materials based on what they think end users need and are often targeted to fill gaps in HMIS Solution Provider workflow training which has a big impact on data literacy at the community level. This session will help community leadership unpack the different challenges between the training material itself and how the training is delivered to inform ongoing improvement.

Speakers:

Chris Pitcher, ICF
Meradith Alspaugh, Partnership Center

This session is focused on building and improving local competencies in data quality and is intended to be for beginners. The focus of this training will be to provide participants with a solid foundational understanding of what data quality is in the context of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), how HUD and federal partners measure data quality, and what the roles are of HMIS Leads, Continuum of Care (CoC) staff, HMIS vendors, and HMIS Leads in ensuring that their local system’s data is accurate.

Speakers:

Meradith Alspaugh, Partnership Center
Alissa Parrish, ICF

Check out the Preliminary Agenda Here!

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s SNAPS Office will discuss the path forward for CoCs, from now to five years from now. An achievable vision where the majority of communities know if they are putting resources behind the most effective strategies. To know if homelessness is becoming more rare, brief, and non-reoccurring. We will talk about Stella, the Coordinated Entry APR, Comparable Databases and more.

Abby Miller, Senior Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Fran Ledger, Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Do you have questions about Stella, the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA) report, or the HUDs FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards? Come to the Data Learning Lab where there will be Subject Matter Experts available to answer any questions you have, as well as to troubleshoot and discuss relevant issues.

Joyce MacAlpine, Abt

Meradith Alspaugh, The Partnership Center, Ltd

Mary Schwartz, Abt

Brian Roccapriore, Cloudburst

If you’re purely after facts, please buy yourself the phone directory of Manhattan. It has four million times correct facts. But it doesn’t illuminate.” ― Werner Herzog

It was not so long ago that the utility of the Homeless Management Information System could be summarized by the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR). For many, the aggregate results of the System Performance Measures (SPMs) represent a level of analysis our communities had not previously seen. SPMs have aided communities in developing an appreciation for the information that summary analytics can provide. They are so much more than we have ever had before and so it is easy to believe that those results are enough to develop informed policy and to declare decisions as being “data-driven.”

However, if you have tried to set policy in response to these metrics, you are likely very much aware that the SPMs are designed to tell HUD what they need to know as they work to understand homelessness across over 400 continuums. The SPMs are not designed to help your community understand its system and quickly make changes. By using a different HUD-standard dataset, though, you can learn to leverage data dashboards to provide your community with the information needed to understand, consume, and act in response to the data in your community.

Jesse Jorstead, Lead Data & Program Analyst, Snohomish County Human Services Department

Achieving goals for preventing and ending homelessness requires a commitment by CoC and HMIS leadership to use their data to optimize systems of care. This pre-institute will introduce the Stella Performance (P) module (key concepts, available data, and functionality), along with strategies for building a stronger performance culture within your community. It will draw on a ‘performance analysis and improvement framework’ to guide communities through 4 core steps for moving data into action using Stella P.

Sarah Kahn, Cloudburst

Joyce MacAlpine, Abt

A Data Quality Management Program (DQMP) is the effort to provide additional guidance, support and evaluation of local efforts to improve data quality. Part 2 of this session will be a skill-building workshop where participants will develop a local plan for creating their own DQMP.

Mike Lindsay, ICF

Chris Pitcher, ICF

A Data Quality Management Program (DQMP) is the effort to provide additional guidance, support and evaluation of local efforts to improve data quality. Part 1 of this session will focus on the elements of a Data Quality Management Program and will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the challenges that they have encountered or anticipate encountering in implementing such a program locally.

Natalie Matthews, Abt

Mike Lindsay, ICF

What are effective practices to evaluate and monitor a Coordinated Entry (CE) system? This session will explore both requirements and promising practices for local CE monitoring and evaluation efforts, including sample monitoring tools and evaluation reports.

Joyce MacAlpine, Abt

Brian Roccapriore, Cloudburst

How can a Continuum of Care (CoC) make sure that they have the agreements and practices in place to increase data quality across its Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This expert-led working session will help participants develop strong data quality governance agreements, benchmarks, and monitoring practices.

Chris Pitcher, ICF

Natalie Matthews, Abt

How do Continuums of Care (CoCs) ensure that they have an effective contract with their Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) software provider? This session will review the key components of a contract, the skills necessary to effectively negotiate an agreement, and strategies to hold the HMIS software provider accountable under such contracts.

Heather Dillashaw, Lead Homeless Services Specialist, ICF Internation

Mary Schwartz, Abt

What does it take to successfully manage a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will detail the key tasks and skills of an HMIS team and provide a template calendar to highlight the responsibilities of this role.

Mary Schwartz, Abt

Heather Dillashaw, Lead Homeless Services Specialist, ICF Internation

What are common challenges when completing project-set up in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will review advanced project set-up topics, and provide solutions to address common issues.

Joan Domenech, CSH

Meradith Alspaugh, The Partnership Center, Ltd.

What is project-set up in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)? This session will detail the project set-up requirements and best practices across all Federal Partners that utilize HMIS.

Brian Roccapriore, Cloudburst

Joan Domenech, CSH

The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) within HHS oversees the Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) Program and RHY-HMIS. Many RHY grantees use data every day to inform their decision-making to best serve homeless youth and young adults, as well as to collaborate, evaluate and fundraise. Data are essential to supporting these efforts at the federal level as well. In 2019, FYSB released the RHY-HMIS Data Dashboard, a tool for data visualizations and report filtering on grantee-, regional-, state- and national-level RHY data generated from HMIS. How does FYSB utilize data on behalf of homeless youth overall? How does a homeless youth service provider utilize data in its efforts in serving their youth and young adults? What takeaways are there for other service agencies? is targeted towards homeless service grantees, CoC members, HMIS Leads and administrators, youth partner organizations and HMIS vendors.

John McGah, Senior TA Specialist, American Instititutes for Research (AIR)

Resa Matthew, Ph.D., Director, Division of Adolescent Development & Support, FYSB/ACF/HHS

Liz Schoenfeld, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation, LifeWorks Austin

Social service organizations are no strangers to data. However, much of the data that agencies collect is designed to satisfy external stakeholders and is largely shaped by funder requirements and contract compliance. Because of the disproportionate amount of time and attention that is devoted to meeting their reporting requirements, organizations spend considerably less time analyzing their data in ways that would allow them to better understand their clients, refine their programs, or measure their social impact. During this workshop, participants will learn about the complexities (and benefits) of building a learning culture, and how organizations’ internal capacity, infrastructure, executive leadership, and funders collectively impact their ability to leverage data in meaningful ways. In addition to providing attendees with concrete recommendations and opportunities for discussion, the presenters will show selected segments of Failing Forward: On the Road to Social Impact, a short documentary on this topic.

Susan McDowell, CEO, LifeWorks

Kate Robinson, Executive Producer, Failing Foward

Communicating data for impact is about sharing your data so that it engages your stakeholders while driving long-lasting change. It is the last step in the HMIS reporting chain but it may be the most important, as it serves to motivate and inspire your stakeholders. During this session we will cover 1) understanding how to frame your message to inspire action, using proven data communication strategies; and 2) knowing how to convey your data using data visualization and complementary data engagement approaches. We will review how to define your target audience, how to craft your message, and how to tailor your data communication approach to meet your objectives. We will examine data visualization best practices so that you can design data-driven communications that are effective and engaging. We will discuss how to minimize audience biases and protect your published data from misuse. A resource guide will be provided!

Andrea Miller Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) Homeless Texas Network SAFE Alliance

Victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking have specific security and safety concerns. Data collection processes developed to comply with HUD CoC or Emergency Solutions Grants program requirements must be carefully planned, implemented, and evaluated regularly – the safety and privacy of survivors depend upon it. This training will highlight best practices for Comparable Database record retention, data entry practices and an overview of HUD Universal Data Elements. Required reporting will also be discussed.
During this session an attorney from Confidentiality Institute and a TA provider from National Network to End Domestic Violence will discuss the requirements of the comparable databases. The goal is to help participants understand what to consider when selecting a Comparable Database for HUD-funded victim service providers in order to be in compliance with HUD and the Violence Against Women Act and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act.
No vendors will be endorsed but HUD and VAWA requirements will be highlighted.

Alicia Aiken, Director, Confidentiality Institute

Debbie Fox, Senior Housing Policy & Practice Specialist, NNEDV

As HUD CoC funding increases with the domestic and sexual violence set aside for programs serving survivors, confidentiality, safety, and data challenges have surfaced for victim service providers and HMIS leads. This session provides an opportunity to hear about best practices locally, statewide, and nationally from a Comparable Database and HMIS leaders in Texas (Austin and Texas statewide) and national technical assistance providers. Conference attendees will participate in a facilitated conversation to discuss key roles for collecting and integrating data into the conversation. Key areas of conversation include: protecting data privacy, building relationships across victim service providers, homeless service providers, state domestic violence coalitions and Continuum of Cares, asking sensitive questions, data sharing and receiving consent, reporting aggregate level data to HMIS leads, Comparable Database technical assistance and training for victim service providers, cross-system coordination, and survivor-centered coordinated entry.

Debbie Fox, Senior Housing Policy & Practice Specialist

Laura Evanoff, LCSW-S, CoC Performance & Monitoring & T.A. Manager, ECHO

Molly Voyles, Public Policy Manager, Texas Council on Family Violence

Preston Petty, Coordinated Entry Program Director

Sophia Checa, Director of Continuum of Care Programs

Erin Goodison, Senior Director of Housing

Get an overview of the HUD CoC Analysis Tool: Race and Ethnicity and the race and ethnicity analysis shown in Stella P. Hear how Washington State has adapted the HUD CoC Analysis Tool for use at a county level. Finally, hear a case study of a community that has used these tools to identify a disparity in who experiences homelessness in their community compared to who accesses homeless housing programs, and how they plan to address that disparity.

Stephanie Reinauer, Associate, Abt Associates Inc.

Jayme Khoo, Analytics and Visualization Manager, Washington State Department of Commerce

Katie Sly, Data Analytics Manager, Opportunity Council