HMIS/DATA QUALITY

COMMITTEE

Notes from the 11/9/11 HMIS/Data Quality Committee Meeting

In attendance

Mark Van Neman (BRM); Patricia Edgerle (Flood); Amaris Castillo and Juan Garcia (Clinica); Barbara Vadnais (Alliance); Bertha Jimenez (Hearthstone); Tunisha Crite (CVAF); Ana Vigil (GBLA); Priscilla Martinez and Kat Gomez (BHC); Cristina Provencio (Housing Authority); Louis Medina (UWKC, Committee Co-Chair); Ken Willoughby (KCMH, Committee Chair). Total in attendance: 13.

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

CoC Performance

  • Louis M. announced the objectives that HUD sets for CoC’s nationwide, and how our CoC projected we would perform vs. those objectives in the next 12-month period, per our latest funding application. They are as follows:

Objective 1: Create new permanent housing beds for chronically homelesspersons.

Our CoC said we would create 16 new beds over the next 12 months. The CoC’s Housing Committee will oversee our fulfillment of this objective.

Objective 2: Increase the percentage of participants remaining in CoC-funded permanent housing projects for at least six months to 77 percentor more.

Our CoC said that in 12 months, 86% of participants will have remained in CoCfunded permanent housing projects for at least six months (same as percentage accomplished from 2010-2011).

Objective 3: Increase the percentage of participants in CoC-fundedtransitional housing that move into permanent housing to 65% ormore.

Our CoC said that in 12 months, 65% of participants in CoC-funded transitionalhousing projects will have moved to permanent housing. (We currently need to increase this percentage from 0 to 65%. The reason we were at 0 in 2011 is because Transitional Housing Providers Womens Center High Desert and Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault have not yet had a chance to turn in an APR for their CoC-funded programs.)

Objective 4: Increase percentage of participants in all CoC-funded projectsthat are employed at program exit to 20 percent or more.

Our CoC said that in 12 months 20% of participants in all CoC-funded projectswill be employed at program exit (compare that to 19% reported in the 2011 CoC application—although we need to ensure quality of data being captured).

A lively discussion of this objective followed. It is a difficult objective to meet because of the many variables it does not seem to take into account, including: that income may increase for clients exiting a program (via accessing benefits) even if employment does not happen; that some clients are not employable to begin with because of mental/physical health and other life issues; that shorter stays at shelters thanks to HPRP means a smaller window of opportunity for case managers to work with clients on job searches/job placement; and that there has been no way to capture employment that happens for a client AFTER they have exited a shelter but while they are still receiving aftercare services. Louis will contact the HUD regional office to get technical assistance about addressing these issues over the next 12 months in order to try to improve our performance and reporting.

Objective 5: Decrease the number of homeless households with children.

Our CoC reported in the 2011 HUD application that the current total number ofhomeless households with children as reported on the most recent point-in-time count (January 2011) was 69. We said we would reduce that number to 65 in 12 months(Note: These notes incorporate a correction of how this objective appeared in the handout given out at the meeting).

Additional HUD Expectation:Does the CoC use HMIS as a way to screen for mainstream benefit eligibility?

Louis reported that we answered “Yes” to this question for the first time in the 2011 funding application. After some discussion, HMIS committee members agreed that we are indeed using the system to help us screen clients for benefit eligibility and it is possible that the question was not properly understood in the past, hence our “No” answer that has now been corrected. The goal is to turn “No” answers to “Yeses” in the subsequent HUD applications in an effort to get more points from HUD.

APRs in 2012

  • Louis began to collect all CoC-funded agencies’ APR years and APR submission deadlines to plot on a yearly spreadsheet in order to plan ahead so that HMIS system updates and fixes can be done in the least disruptive way possible (i.e., avoiding reporting crunch times). This information will be shared with the group at a later date.

HMIS ISSUES

  • Ken W. reported that HPRP APR fixes had not been implemented yet by DSI, but he is working with them to ensure this gets done as soon as possible, as Year 2 HPRP APR is due Nov. 30.
  • Kat G. reported that, in Bethany’s Transitional Services workflow, children are not attaching to a new family entered in the system. Ken will look into it.
  • Ken and Louis announced that an Ad Hoc HMIS Vendor Search committee was appointed at the last Steering Committee Meeting. Ken will narrow down the choice of vendors to four for the committee to review. The committee consists of Ken, Louis, Ana V. and Bonita S. Louis invited others from the HMIS Committee to also offer their support and any useful information and feedback regarding the upcoming vendor search.

TRAINING

  • Ken announced a training for Thursday, November 17, as follows: A.M. that day - HMIS 101; P.M. that day - Reports. Training will be held at the KCMH Stockdale Training Facility as usual.

NEW/OTHER ISSUES

  • HUD WEBINARS/VETERANS DATA: Louis encouraged all to sign up on the HUDHRE.INFO website to receive announcements of instructional Webinars, as HUD is using them as a venue to make important announcements regarding data collection, programs, etc. HUD Ready, Set Go, Webinar Series happens every Tuesday from 12:30 – 1:30 Pacific Time. Louis also mentioned that all agencies should be sure to capture homeless veterans data accurately, as HUD is emphasizing the proper gathering of homeless vet data stringently.
  • AHAR: Ken is working on the AHAR First Draft data. The first draft is due to HUD on Tuesday, Nov. 15. He is waiting for DSI to do some ClientTrack updates that help with AHAR data collection.
  • SHELTERED CENSUS: Louis announced that the Census Committee will begin meeting again on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 11 a.m. at the United Way, to plan for the sheltered homeless count that has been scheduled for 6-9 p.m. at shelter and other applicable facilities on January 25. All who are interested in learning about the process for counting the homeless were encouraged to participate.
  • SERVICE OUTREACH DAY: Ana V. announced that Thursday, Nov. 10, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. would be a direct service outreach day at Bakersfield Rescue Mission. All agencies providing direct services to the homeless were encouraged to participate.
  • KEN’S MEDICAL LEAVE: Ken announced that he would be away for about 6-8 weeks beginning on Dec. 12.

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the HMIS Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 11 a.m. at KCMH, 3300 Truxtun Ave. (Commonwealth Building)

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