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Why
HMIS is needed
Southern Nevada is currently spending over $25 million annually on
shelter, healthcare and other stopgap services for the homeless. Yet we
still have over 14,500 homeless men, women and children in our valley.
Studies in New York and Philadelphia showed that the average person who was
chronically homeless accessed over $40,000 per year in public
services. In San Diego, the costs were as high as $200,000 over 18 months.
The details of these costs can be found at the US Interagency
Council on Homelessness website (www.ich.gov).
These same startling costs are true for Southern Nevada's chronically homeless.
- A monthly stay in emergency shelter costs $300; the typical stay is six months or $1,800.
- One night in jail costs $106 per arrest. It would not be unusual for four arrests and bookings to occur
per year at a cost of $424.
- Emergency room visits cost an average of $3,722. Homeless individuals average two visits per year at $7,444
per homeless person. An average transport by ambulance costs $214.15.
- The average hospital stay is three days at an average cost of $4,440. Those who only access healthcare through
the emergency room do not receive follow-up care or
services beyond immediate intervention, making them more likely to return to the hospital in the future.
What is HMIS?
Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) are client-level
databases that combine information from different homeless service
providers. In Southern Nevada the software we are using for HMIS is
called MetSYS. MetSYS
is a powerful 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.
Southern Nevada's HMIS is overseen by a Working Group that includes
representatives from various organizations,
advocacy organizations, and providers serving specific
populations such as youth and veterans. Bitfocus, Inc. administers
all aspects of the HMIS project.
Who benefits?
Benefits for men, women, and children who experience
homelessness include:
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A
decrease in duplicative intakes and assessments |
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Streamlined
referrals |
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Coordinated
case management |
Benefits for agency directors and program managers include:
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Tracking
client outcomes |
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Coordinating
services, internally among agency programs, and externally
with other providers |
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Preparing
financial and programmatic reports for funders, boards,
and other stakeholders |
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Information
for program design decisions |
Benefits for public policy makers and advocates include:
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Understanding
the extent and scope of homelessness |
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Unduplicated
count |
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Identifying
service gaps |
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Informing
systems design and policy decisions |
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Development
of a forum for addressing community-wide issues |
Finally, HMIS meets a federal mandate, thus improving Southern Nevada's
chances of continuing to receive at least its current level
of HUD McKinney-Vento funding.
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
Southern Nevada's HMIS, from choosing software, to designing client
notices, and crafting system-wide policies and procedures. MetSYS'
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 Southern Nevada'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:
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Supportive
Housing Program (SHP) |
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Shelter
Plus Care (S+C) |
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Section
8 Moderate Rehab for Single Room Occupancy (SRO) |
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Emergency
Shelter Grant (ESG) |
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Housing
Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA; grantees that
specifically target home
lessness are required; others are encouraged to participate) |
In Southern Nevada, service providers that receive funding under the
following programs are required to participate in HMIS:
Department of Human Services / Office of Economic Opportunity
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Transitional
Housing Program (THP) |
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Emergency
Services Program (ESP) |
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Emergency
Shelter Grant Program (ESGP) |
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Rural
Housing Assistance and Stability Program (RHASP) |
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Family
Homeless Prevention and Assistance (FHPAP) |
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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.
HMIS Working Group
Shannon West, Regional Homeless Cooridinator
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