What is HMIS?Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
HMIS is a computerized data collection application designed to capture client-level information on the characteristics and service needs of adults and children experiencing homelessness over time. HMIS is designed to aggregate client-level data to generate and unduplicated count of clients served within a community's system of homeless services, often referred to as the Continuum of Care (CoC). HMIS can also cover a statewide or regional area, and include several Continua. For those included in an unduplicated count, HMIS can provide data on client characteristics and service utilization. For more details about HMIS please visit the (HUD web site).
Opportunities
For many years, communities around the country have been working to collect information on the men, women, and children who are homeless in an effort to meet their needs as best as possible. In a climate of huge challenges and scarce resources, homeless service providers have used a variety of methods to obtain information about their clients with the goal of improving local service delivery systems and reducing homelessness.
HMIS implementation presents communities with an opportunity to re-examine how homeless services are provided in their community, to make informed decisions, and to develop appropriate action steps. The implementation of an HMIS will allow community stakeholders to build new alliances, strengthen services, meet consumer needs in a more streamlined manner, and obtain information to guide future planning.
Why HMIS?
In 2001, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide data and analysis on the extent and nature of homelessness and on the effectiveness of McKinney-Vento Act programs. In response, HUD began providing technical assistance and funding for communities to collect data systematically through local HMIS electronic databases that capture information on the characteristics and service needs of homeless persons.
Congress has indicated that jurisdictions should be collecting an array of data on homelessness, including unduplicated counts, use of services and the effectiveness of the local homeless assistance system. HUD has been directed by Congress to work with jurisdictions homeless data by 2004.
HUD has four main goals for the development of HMIS at the local level:
- To bring the power of technology to the day-to-day operations of individual service providers;
- To create a more coordinated and effective service delivery system for the benefit of homeless clients;
- To obtain and report critical information about the characteristics and service needs of homeless persons; and
- To streamline data collection and reporting across McKinney-Vento programs.
2007 HMIS Lee County all rights reserved. All of the information on this web site is believed to be true and accurate, but is not guaranteed or warranted in any way.