The Roles of CoC and ESG Grantees inEnsuring Successful AHAR Participation

Josh Leopold, Abt AssociatesJulie Eberbach, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances

Evan Mills, Clarke County, GA

Learning Objectives

• Understanding the AHAR and why it is important• Defining the role of ESG Grantees and CoCs in

managing the AHAR process• Demonstrating how AHAR data can be used at the

local level

The Importance of the AHAR

What is the AHAR?

• An annual report that HUD is required to provide toCongress on:– The extent and nature of homelessness; and– The use of homeless assistance programs.

AHAR Data Sources

• The biennial point-in-time counts during the last tendays of January for all CoCs

• Housing inventories of emergency, transitional,permanent supportive, and safe haven programs forall CoCs

• 12 months of HMIS Data from Qualifying CoCs– Data from emergency shelters, transitional housing, and

permanent supportive housing programs– Counts of all persons spending at least one night in homeless

programs between October 1 and September 30th

– Their demographic characteristics, disability and veteransstatus, prior living arrangement, and length of stay

How is it Used?

• The AHAR establishes the narrative (story) ofhomelessness in America.

• This information is used by:– Congress– The Administration: HUD, HHS, Veterans Affairs– The Media– The Public– Continuums of Care

• So it is important that we are telling the right story.

Results from previous AHARs

• Approximately 1.6 million sheltered homeless at somepoint in 2009.– 643,000 sheltered and unsheltered on a single night in

January

• Homelessness is increasing for families – up 30percent in the past 2 years.

• Homelessness is decreasing for individuals.– 11% decrease in chronic homelessness from 2008-2009

• Homelessness may be increasing in suburban andrural areas.

Why your participation is important

• The more communities we get, the more confident wecan be about our national estimates of the number ofpeople in homeless programs over the year, theircharacteristics, and their length of stay.

AHAR HMIS Reporting Categories

• Emergency Shelter for Families• Emergency Shelter for Individuals• Transitional Housing for Families• Transitional Housing for Individuals• Permanent Supportive Housing for Families• Permanent Supportive Housing for Individuals• Supplemental Report on Homeless Veterans using the

same six reporting categories

Threshold Criteria to Submit HMIS Data forAHAR• Adequate HMIS bed coverage (50% of beds) in at

least 1 reporting category• Minimal missing data for universal data elements• Ability to generate, submit, and confirm data by

deadlines.

AHAR Reporting Schedule

• October 1: AHAR Data Collection begins• November 30: Deadline to submit initial

AHAR draft• January 14: Deadline to submit final

AHAR data

Roles and Responsibilities related toHMIS Participation

ESG Grantees

• ESG Grantees are responsible for ensuring HMISparticipation of the programs it funds.– Has always been HUD policy

• McKinney Act as amended by HEARTH makes this astatutory requirement

• Sec. 416 (f): PARTICIPATION IN HMIS. – The Secretary shallensure that recipients of funds under this subtitle ensure theconsistent participation by emergency shelters andhomelessness prevention and rehousing programs in anyapplicable community-wide homeless management informationsystem.

How Can ESG Grantees Ensure this?

• Make sure that HMIS participation is included in yourcontracts.

• Coordinate with CoCs on HMIS participation and dataquality.

• Emphasize HMIS participation and data quality as partof your regular monitoring processes.

• Consider adding at least a quarterly data qualityreview, if your regular monitoring doesn’t happen thatfrequently.

Iowa ESGP Contract Language

• “The provider agrees to submit client demographic information asrequired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development,utilizing ServicePoint and the Iowa Homeless InformationManagement Network or other means subject to agreement withthe Grantee and the Iowa Finance Authority. The Provider shallsubmit data completion reports generated from the IowaHomeless Information Management Network or other approvedsystem with each fund request. Missing data rates above 5% forany data element on any data completion report will cause therequest for funds to be held. Upon receipt of corrected datacompletion reports, held fund requests will be processed with thenext available draw.”

HMIS-related Areas to Monitor

• The agency has completed all required paperwork withCoC Lead Agency and programs are configured inHMIS.

• Agencies are equipped with proper software,hardware, and security protections to use HMIS.

• Each HMIS user is trained with an individual userlicense and a unique user name and password.

• The agency has a Data Quality Assurance plan inplace and monthly verification that all required datawere entered accurately.

MinimumRequired DataSet Agreement

User Ethics andResponsibilityAgreement

ProviderMonitoring FormHMIS Questions

ProviderMonitoring FormHMIS Questions

CoCs

• CoCs are responsible for the overall implementationand management of the HMIS and AHARparticipation.

• HEARTH Act requires the CoC Board to:– Sec. 402(f) ensure operation of, and consistent participation

by project sponsors in a community-wide homelessmanagement information system.

COC STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES

• CoC Performance

• HMIS Compliance/Usage Enhancement

• CoC Application

• Complete Coverage

• HMIS User Group Meetings

10/27/201022

COC STAFF RESPONSIBILITIESCont.

• Non-HUD Funded Agency Participation

• Motivation by example

• Housing Inventory Chart

• HMIS Beds vs. Non-HMIS Beds

• User Training

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Grantee / Sub-grantee Relationship

• Contracting

• Monthly Performance Reporting

• Reimbursement Process

• Program Monitoring

• Maintaining HMIS Compliance

10/27/201024

AHAR Review Process

• Defining Emergency Beds

• Defining Transitional Beds

• Housing Inventory Chart

• Non-Specific Homeless Shelter Providers

• Utilization Rates for Family Shelters

• Units vs. Beds

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AHAR DATA BENEFITS• Identifying gaps in services

• Utilization rates – Key Measuring Sticks

• Compare program efficiency

• Excellent Monitoring Tool

• Data used in local funding decisions

• Incentive for more accurate usage

10/27/201026

Any questions?

• Evan Mills, MSW– Continuum of Care Coordinator– Athens-Clarke County– Human and Economic Development– 706-613-3155 Office– Evanmills@co.clarke.ga.us

10/27/201027

Opportunities for Collaboration

• Reviewing coverage rates to prioritize recruitment andto identify where to focus resources– e.g., how do we get to 75% bed coverage for ESIND?

• Talking about strategies to recruit providers• Sharing HMIS data quality reports

Discussion

• Do you know the level of your community’s currentHMIS participation?– Emergency shelter beds– Transitional housing beds– Permanent supportive housing beds

• How does participation vary for funded vs unfundedprograms?

• How can CoCs, ESG grantees, and HMIS leadagencies work together to ensure sufficient HMIScoverage?

The CoC’s Role in Managing the AHARProcess

Preparing for the AHAR

• Have an accurate and comprehensive inventory of ES,TH, and PSH beds.

• Ensure that the HMIS lead agency has the resourcesand staff to produce the AHAR.

• Assign AHAR read/write/edit privileges in theHomelessness Data Exchange (HDX).

Managing the Data Submission

• Make sure the HMIS lead agency is documenting thereporting processes.

• Identify and address problems with providers’ data.(vastly easier if data quality is checked regularlythroughout the year)

• Allow adequate time for CoC review before reportingdeadlines.

Reviewing and Validating AHAR Data

• Does the data conform with what you know about:– Program Occupancy Rates– Characteristics of Emergency Shelter and Transitional

Housing users– Length of Stay

• Share widely with program staff, consumer advocates,anyone with on-the-ground knowledge of program use

Other components of the AHAR

• Housing Inventory– CoCs should work with ESG grantees to make sure all

programs are included.– Need to represent non-HUD funded programs.– Required to be produced out of the HMIS based on program

descriptors, even for non-participating programs.– For more information see:

http://www.hmis.info/ClassicAsp/documents/2010%20HIC%20Instructions.pdf

Other Components of the AHAR

• Point-in-Time Counts– Biennial Count– Only source of national data on the extent and characteristics

of total homeless population (sheltered and unsheltered)– For more information see materials from Tuesday’s session

‘Using HMIS for Point-in-Time Counts’

Local uses of AHAR Data

Local AHAR Reports

• Local AHAR Reports can be generated online via the HDX• The AHAR Local Reports provide detailed explanations of how

HMIS data is extrapolated to produce a CoC-wide unduplicatedhomeless count

• Reports include visual representations of community data to beused locally

• Includes data on:– Point-in-time counts– Utilization rates– Year-to-year trends– Shelter use patterns

Other Uses of AHAR Data

• Observe trends in your data, overall and for subgroups• Compare your data to the rest of the country

– Demographics, occupancy rates, length of stay

• Inform stakeholder discussions on consumer needsand system performance– Who are we serving?– What are trends in population served and lengths of stay?– Where should resources be best allocated to reduce

homelessness?

The Homelessness Pulse Project

The Homelessness Pulse Project

• Effort to get more timely information on homelessness– Impact of economic conditions

• Participating communities provide data quarterly on:– The number of homeless people in their community– The number of new homeless people served during the

quarter

• Information used by:– HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan– US Interagency Council on Homelessness– White House Domestic Policy Council

Expansion of the Pulse

• Started with 9 communities• Expanded to 41 this year• HUD wants to recruit more sites• Eligibility criteria

– Useable data in all 4 reporting categories for 2009 AHAR

• If interested email AHAR@abtassoc.com– Check out Pulse Tech Lab for more information

Additional Resources

• 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report:http://www.hudhre.info/documents/5thHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf

• A Guide to Counting Sheltered Homeless People:http://www.hudhre.info/documents/counting_sheltered.pdf

• A Guide to Counting Unsheltered Homeless People:http://www.hudhre.info/documents/counting_unsheltered.pdf

• Enhancing HMIS Data Quality:http://www.hmis.info/Resources/344/Enhancing-HMIS-Data-Quality.aspx

• Increasing Participation in HMIS:http://www.hmis.info/Resources/290/Increasing-Participation-in-HMIS.aspx