Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) are software applications designed to record and store client-level information on the characteristics and service needs of homeless people. Implementation of an HMIS is required for programs receiving federal funding through the Continuum of Care (CoC), Emergency Shelter Grant, and Runaway and Homeless Youth programs, but CoCs seek to involve all service providers in its use regardless of funding source. Each CoC maintains its own HMIS, which can be tailored to meet local needs, but must also conform to Federal HMIS Data and Technical Standards. They have been implemented throughout the country and currently include virtually every community in the nation.

What is a homeless management information system?

The primary function of an HMIS is to collect and aggregate client-specific, confidential information on local homeless populations. The information that is recorded in these systems can include general demographic information such as age, gender, ethnicity, race, veteran status, and family or home composition about individuals who take part in programs within homeless services systems. These systems may include:

• Transitional home services
• Emergency shelters
• Rapid rehousing programs
• Permanent supportive housing

Once this information is collected and organized, it can be shared with federal and state agencies to assess needs and secure funding. Collaboration between agencies is a hallmark of what makes homeless management information systems valuable and unique. Information gathered locally can be combined with data from other locales to inform regional and even national trends and analyses.

Requirements for HMIS

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has laid out a set of specifications and requirements for homelessness management information systems software. Information from HMIS must be shared with HUD, The United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Some of the data items in the software include:

• Project Descriptor Elements: These elements are intended to identify the organization and project associated with a specific client file in the HMIS.

• Universal Data Elements: Any project utilizing federal funds or contributing data to one or more federal partners is required to collect the universal data elements.

• Program-Specific Data Elements: These elements include information about the characteristics of clients, the various types of services provided, and the project's outcome.

• Meta Data Elements: The household and personal ID, project dates, and enrollment information should be collected and shared with HUD.

The intent of these HUD guidelines is not to dictate how individual homeless service organizations use the data they collect; instead, it is to ensure efficient data-sharing between agencies. When each partner organization keeps a like set of data, it enables an adequate comparison of trends.

HUD Requirements for HMIS

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal partners, and other planners and policymakers use aggregate Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data to better inform homeless policy and decision-making at the federal, state, and local levels.

The HEARTH Act, enacted into law on May 20, 2009, requires that all communities have HMIS software with the capacity to collect unduplicated counts of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Through their HMIS, a community should be able to collect information from projects serving homeless families and individuals to use as part of their needs analyses and to establish funding priorities. The Act also codifies into law specific data collection requirements integral to HMIS. With the enactment of the HEARTH Act, HMIS participation became a statutory requirement for recipients and sub-recipients of the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds.

The overall impact of such stringent data and quality standards is seamless data sharing amongst agencies, eliminating data duplication, and error-free data protection to guarantee confidentiality to help the greatest numbers of homeless across communities. Using data collected in an HMIS, communities can better understand the local needs and dynamics among specific subpopulations of people experiencing homelessness, as well as measure the performance of their approaches to preventing and ending homelessness.