SERVICEPOINT 4.0 The importance of Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) and Entering Children into a household By NH-HMIS

Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) is a report to the U.S. Congress on the extent and nature of homelessness in America. The report is prepared by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons. The report is based primarily on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data about persons who experience homelessness during a 12-month period As you know HUD monitors the quality of our data through programs such the AHAR (Annual Homelessness Assessment Report). If the quality of the data is poor, HUD may refuse to grant or trim future funds. Needless to say, if this happens these funding cuts could negatively affect our program(s). It is imperative the data is correct. The correct data will have a positive impact on our reporting for the AHAR Report. 2

About AHAR Primary source of data on the extent and nature of homelessness nationwide AHAR data are being used to inform the nation’s plan to end homelessness and to measure progress HMIS Data is collected from October 1-September 30 of each reporting year Universal data elements (some program specific—PSH only) Examples: Age, Race, Veteran Status, etc. Limited to emergency shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing programs (also run for a Veterans report on same programs) Each reporting category is assessed independently for data quality, using three thresholds: 1. 50% HMIS bed coverage 2. Reasonable bed utilization rates Typically between 65—105% 3. Reasonable missing data rates 3

The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) is released annually in June/July Available for download at To find out more about the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) check out the Homelessness Data Exchange website Housing Inventory Count The HIC is a snapshot of a CoC’s housing inventory on a single night during the last ten days in January. It should reflect the number of beds and units available on the night designated for the count that are dedicated to serve persons who are homeless. Beds and units included on the HIC are considered part of the CoC homeless system. This data is used for the AHAR. It is very important that the COC & NH-HMIS are aware of any changes to the Housing Inventory examples include; beds coming off of HMIS (bed bugs, fire in shelter), and shelters closing. 4

Draft data is usually due the end of November Final data is usually due mid January 5

AHAR Data Quality Issue to be addressed: Children should only be reported in the individual reporting categories if they are an unaccompanied youth or in a children-only household (such as a juvenile parent and child). Unexplained children in an individual reporting category can compromise data quality for that reporting category. This issue can also cause the data to be deemed unusable for AHAR. 6

From the AHAR in Servicepoint Notice the report was run on Individuals Using Emergency Shelters, also notice there children listed in this report. 7

How to address this AHAR Data Quality Issue The unexplained children in an individual reporting category can as simple as an incorrect Date of Birth, compare the HMIS client record to the intake paper work. The issue(s) could be the clients service transactions and/or entry/exit records were not entered in under the Head of Household. You will also need to check Shelterpoint to make sure the child was checked in under the Head of Household. You will need to delete the clients service transactions and/or entry/exit records and add them back in under the head of household. When a service transaction (shelter stay) was entered, it was entered as if the client was an individual, so that client is being counted both in the Family shelter count (which is correct) and in as an individual (which is incorrect). Please be sure to use backdate mode to be sure the changes will be picked up for the AHAR report 8

Note: Households must be established in ClientPoint before making reservations for or checking in Families. Adding children or when a child is born while in a program is a complicated situation. Even when adding a new child per HMIS guidelines, it appears that while the family may represent correctly, service transactions still need to be altered. To fix past errors, edit each head of household and remove the previous stay need that didn’t have the new child and add it back using the correct dates and with all current household members. Next, open up the child’s info and make the service transaction date reflect the child’s date of birth making sure that this change did not included all other household members. Refer to the examples on the following pages How to address this AHAR Data Quality Issue -Continued 9

Review families to be sure the information is all correct 10

When adding the entry record be sure to include the other household members 11

We see the entry record only has the Head of Households name, this is incorrect See the pull down menu, and message on screen indicating no other members included. 12

Excellent indicator that a family has been checked in correctly, look for the “Group ID” 13

14 When checking in the Head of Household, also check in other Household members in Shelter point

When adding a member after the fact you must, in Shelter point, click on Head of household then go to the bottom of the screen and “check in additional family member” to be given the option of adding the new family member. 15

Here we see “Kim” the daughters service transaction, if you edit, via the pencil, see next slide 16

We see the service only has the daughters name, this is incorrect 17

Here we are looking at Baby Smith’s Service Transactions, note the Head of Household Is listed, this is correct. 18

Donna Curley, HMIS Project Manager Thank you! 19