Why HMIS is needed

On any given night nearly 9,000 Minnesotans are homeless, and almost 11,000 more are “precariously housed" -- mostly doubled up with friends or relatives. The problem seems to have steadily increased over the past two decades. According to Wilder Research, the number of homeless families in Minnesota more than tripled between 1991 and 2006.

Homelessness involves many factors, including the high cost of housing, the lack of good jobs, mental illness, chemical dependency, rental history, criminal background, neglect, and domestic violence. Minnesota’s HMIS is one attempt to address the issue by providing a clearer picture of who experiences homelessness, how that population changes over time, and what types of services are needed to help turn these trends around.

What is HMIS?

Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) are client-level databases that combine information from different homeless service providers. In Minnesota the software we are using for HMIS is called ServicePoint. ServicePoint is a powerful Web-based information management system that provides client tracking and case management, service and referral management, and reporting. This secure system allows a number of different agencies and users to continuously enter their clients' data while being assured that the information is protected.

Minnesota's HMIS is overseen by a Governing Group that includes representatives from each of the 13 Continuum of Care regions in the state, as well as persons who were formerly homeless and various advocacy organizations and providers serving specific populations such as youth and veterans. Wilder Research administers all aspects of the HMIS project.

Who benefits?

Benefits for men, women, and children who experience homelessness include:

• A decrease in duplicative intakes and assessments
• Streamlined referrals
• Coordinated case management

Benefits for agency directors and program managers include:

• Tracking client outcomes
• Coordinating services, internally among agency programs, and externally with other providers
• Preparing financial and programmatic reports for funders, boards, and other stakeholders
• Information for program design decisions

Benefits for public policy makers and advocates include:

• Understanding the extent and scope of homelessness
• Unduplicated count
• Identifying service gaps
• Informing systems design and policy decisions
• Development of a forum for addressing community-wide issues

Finally, HMIS meets a federal mandate, thus improving Minnesota's chances of continuing to receive at least its current level of HUD McKinney-Vento funding-over $20 million in 2004.

Potential risks of HMIS, like any system for managing data about individuals, include risks to personal privacy. Data privacy has been emphasized at every step in developing and implementing Minnesota's HMIS, from choosing software, to designing client notices, and crafting system-wide policies and procedures. ServicePoint's data security model is extremely effective, and only allows people to see client information that they have permission to see. Additionally, before being able to use the system, agencies and end-users within agencies must sign agreements indicating that they will uphold rigorous data privacy standards. No information that would enable the federal government to identify particular individuals is sent to HUD via Minnesota's HMIS.

Agencies required to participate in HMIS

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is requiring its grantees under the following programs to participate in HMIS:

• Supportive Housing Program (SHP)
• Shelter Plus Care (S+C)
• Section 8 Moderate Rehab for Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
• Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA; grantees that specifically target homelessness are required; others are encouraged to participate)

In Minnesota, service providers that receive funding under the following programs are required to participate in HMIS:

Department of Human Services / Office of Economic Opportunity

• Transitional Housing Program (THP)
• Emergency Services Program (ESP)
• Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESGP)
• Rural Housing Assistance and Stability Program (RHASP)
• Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
• Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance (FHPAP)
• Ending Long-Term Homelessness Initiative Fund (ELHIF) and other program funds designated for long-term homelessness

In order to gain as comprehensive a picture of homelessness as possible, many other agencies are strongly encouraged to use HMIS but are not required to do so. These include agencies that provide housing services (transitional housing, supportive housing, emergency shelters, for instance), as well as auxiliary services (such as food shelves and outreach programs). The system has the potential of being a powerful tool to track what is happening with individuals who are experiencing homelessness, as well as tracking people who are in danger of losing their housing. So all agencies who provide services related in one way or another to persons experiencing homelessness are encouraged to use HMIS.