Cambridge HMIS Newsletter, November 2021

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November 2021 Cambridge HMIS Newsletter

Hello Cambridge HMIS users and Happy Thanksgiving!

Data Quality Reminders

As the CoC prepares to submit the Longitudinal Systems Analysis and System Performance Measures reports to HUD, please keep in mind the steps necessary to avoid creating critical data quality errors.

Date of Birth: When creating a new client profile, always enter an approximate date of birth if you have not been able to obtain a client's full date of birth yet. A completely missing date of birth causes multiple errors because the system cannot identify them as an adult. In these situations, please enter the DOB as January 1st of the estimated year of birth and select "Approximate or partial DOB" for the DOB Quality field.

Housing Move-In Date: If you are working with a Permanent Housing or Rapid Rehousing program, always be sure to enter the Housing Move-In Date when a client physically moves into housing. This prevents several data quality issues. Without this date, other staff working with the client will not know that they moved into housing and the client will continue to appear as homeless in the system and in reports, even if they are enrolled in a housing program.

Avoid "Other" Destination: The "Other" response option for the Destination field in a client's exit screen should be avoided at all costs. The living situation options provided should encompass all possible destinations except in the rarest circumstances. An "Other" destination appears as an unsuccessful outcome, so this response will impact scoring and not reflect reality if a client does exit to housing. If you are unsure of which destination to select, please reach out.

**Update on New Well-Being Fields for PSH Programs**

Both HUD and CoC staff have noted that there has been confusion surrounding the new Well-Being questions required for Permanent Supportive Housing projects. We are still awaiting further guidance from HUD on how to handle this sensitive and subjective set of questions. HUD has, however, provided some context in their FY22 CoC Program HMIS Manual:

"For individuals and households supported by Permanent Supportive Housing projects, HUD is seeking to understand how measures of well-being change over time using Well Being (data element C1). The questions asked within this data element could generate responses from individuals that require additional follow-up and support. For example, if an individual responds with 'Strongly disagree' to the question, 'Client perceives their life has value and worth', intake workers need to address that response intentionally with additional resources, support in accessing resources, and/or referrals to other professionals who can provide the necessary support. HUD is working to provide additional training and guidance around how to ask the Well Being questions in a trauma-informed way to minimize harm and provide suggestions for how to work directly with individuals when asking the questions."

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