The National Alliance to End Homelessness presents

The HEARTH Academy

Training and tools to help your community achieve the

goals of the HEARTH Act

Federal Goal• Nobody is homeless

longer than 30 daysPerformance Measures • Reducing lengths of

homeless episodes• Reducing new and return

entries into homelessness

The HEARTH Act

• Assess how your community performs

• Receive tools to help you implement proven strategies

• Create an action plan for reshaping homelessness assistance

The HEARTH Academy

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessnessHEARTH Academy

Implementation Clinic

Participants in this 1.5 day clinic will assess the performance of their homelessness assistance and implement community-wide strategies to better achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act.

Individualized Consulting

The Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building and other expert consultants will be available to provide customized assistance.

Webinars and Tools

Webinars, tools, and training materials will help communities prepare for the Implementation Clinic and learn about and implement the strategies that help prevent and end homelessness.

Aisha WilliamsCenter for Capacity Building National Alliance to End Homelessnessthecenter@naeh.org202-942-8298

If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact:

Note: The HEARTH Academy is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or any other federal agency. The HEARTH Academy is a project of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The HEARTH Academy Performance Improvement

StrategiesHEARTH AcademySep 2010 - Apr 2011

Performance Improvement Agenda

Introduce the HEARTH performance measures

Understand key measures, programs, and overall impact

How to measure at a system level

Successful performance improvement strategies

Define performance measurement and improvement

Available at www.endhomelessness.

org

Performance improvement

requires systematic

evaluation of your programs and

system to determine their

impact and guide efforts to

improve results.

HEARTH Act Performance Measures

Reduce the number of people who become homelessReduce length of homelessnessReduce returns to homelessness Reduce overall homelessnessIncrease jobs and income Thoroughness in reaching homeless population Other accomplishments related to reducing homelessness

Core HEARTH measures

Reduce new episodes of homelessness

Reduce lengths of homeless episodes

Reduce returns to homelessness

Measures of Homelessness

Average number

of homeless people at any time

=

Number of people who

newly become

homeless each day

x

Average length

(days) of homeles

s episodes

+Number of people who

return to homelessness each day

25 1 40 1,040

Measures of Homelessness

Average number

of homeless people at any time

=

Number of people who

newly become

homeless each day

x

Average length

(days) of homeles

s episodes

+Number of people who

return to homelessness each day

25 1 36 936

Homelessness Assistance Programs

Program

Program

Program

Program

Program

Program

Evaluation

Homelessness Assistance System

Program

ProgramProgra

m

Program

Program

Program

Evaluation

System Measurement Challenges

Program

ProgramProgra

m

Program

Program

Program

Program

Program

Columbus, Ohio

2009 Performance Families Singles

Reductions in homelessness 6% 4%

Diversion 32% 13%

Length of Stay 59 49

Reentries 0% 1%

Columbus: Performance on Key Outcomes

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System

Performance-Based Contracts

•Pay for performance

•Reward strong outcomes

•Support and expand effective programs

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System

Contracts and Data Quality

• Participation

• Completeness

• Accuracy

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System

Individual Outcome Performance Scores

YES90% or more or

within 5% of numerical goal

NO Less than 90% or not within 5%

N/A New and Unassigned Goals

System/Program Evaluation Ratings

HIGH 75% overall outcomes or

better

MED 50% to 74% overall outcomes

LOW Less than 50% overall outcomes

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System

Quality Improvement Intervention

•Problem Assessment

•Collaborative Goal Setting and Planning

•Regular Follow Up

Additional Resources

What now?

Examples of What to Measure

Length of Stay • % exiting shelter (for permanent housing) within 30,60, 90 days

Return to homelessness

• % clients re-presenting at or entering shelter within 3, 6, 9, or 12 months of program completion

Prevention / Diversion

• % clients diverted from shelter• % clients prevented from homelessness• % clients entering shelter within 1, 3, 6, 9,

or 12 months of diversion/ prevention

Challenges and Tips

Length of Stay •Examine length of stay for each program •Track persons with multiple program

entries•Use AHAR data for LOS in shelter and

transitional housing

Return to homelessness

Prevention / Diversion

•Determine if prevention recipients entered shelter

•Compare shelter entries for those who received assistance with those who did not

•Compare permanent housing exits from one period with new entries in another period

•Compare HMIS ID’s for old and new entries

Measurement Tools & Strategies

System Performance Measurement Tool

Coming Soon…

Measurement Tools & StrategiesTool Data you can get Ways to Use

HMIS – “canned reports”

•Entries, exits during the year• Demographic characteristics• Destinations•Missing answers and rates of don’t know answers (important)

•Run the CoC APR for the entire system or a component of the system, such as all shelters• Compare performance programs to component average, or year to year on exits to permanent housing•Evaluate missing data and improve data quality

HMIS custom reports

• Everything in your HMIS (entries, exits, demographics, outcomes, time frames)

Select metrics you are interested in ( for example: exits to permanent housing within 45 days)

Point –in –time Count

Information about total population including chronic homelessness, demographics, etc. at a particular date/week over time

• Look at changes in size of total population and subpopulations over time• Compare to system APR or AHAR for effectiveness of reach of system and with specific populations

AHAR • Population estimates, demographics, points of entry, lengths of stay, system capacity and turnover

• Look at turnover rates for singles and families, transitional housing and shelter•Compare to need from PIT count, to turnover rates of rapid rehousing programs

HPRP reports

• Information on prevention/rehousing population•Costs of financial assistance•Time of assistance•Destinations

•Use to look at persons served, demand for prevention, costs of prevention•Run Coc APR using HPRP data to compare with regular APR – look at differences in population• Look in HMIS for people served in HPRP in other parts of the system

Available at endhomelessness.or

g

Measurement Tools & Strategies

Tool Data you can get Ways to Use

HMIS – “canned reports”

• Entries, exits during the year

• Demographic characteristics

• Destinations• Missing answers and rates

of don’t know answers (important)

• Run the CoC APR for the entire system or a component of the system, such as all shelters

• Compare performance programs to component average, or year to year on exits to permanent housing

• Evaluate missing data and improve data quality

Looking AheadMeasure • Gather data & establish baseline

Analyze• Consider which programs and activities lead to strong

performance • Examine data collection policies and practices

Plan• Consider where to adjust your program “portfolio” funding

or investments to achieve better performance • Consider policies and practices that encourage high quality

data

Contacts:

Norm Sucharnsuchar@naeh.org

Aisha Williamsawilliams@naeh.orgHEARTH Academy:

System AssessmentOctober 27 at 2pm Eastern

Resources:

www.endhomelessness.org

www.hudhre.info