One of the main responsibilities of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is to administer the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a community-wide database, that drives improvement of homeless services programs, serving 16,972 persons, in Dallas and Collin Counties.
Why do we need a HMIS, in the first place? “A Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a local information technology system used to collect client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and persons at risk of homelessness.”[i] Such a system has been required in every community since 2001, with this requirement formally codified by Federal Statute in 2009.[ii]
HMIS does not just collect data; it is used to measure performance: “HUD[iii] has developed… seven system-level performance measures to help communities gauge their progress in preventing and ending homelessness.” These performance measures are tracked through the HMIS.
In his State of the Homeless Address, in March of this year, MDHA President and CEO, Carl Falconer, highlighted the fact that the system we were using had seen significant challenges over the preceding three years. Data quality and reporting capabilities had suffered. This had impaired the system’s ability to set and track clear system performance measures.
MDHA needed to transition to a new HMIS and choose a new vendor. It chose Eccovia Solutions/ClientTrack, through a careful HUD-guided and community-driven RFP (request for proposals) process. While MDHA and Eccovia Solutions/ClientTrack have been carefully and methodically implementing the transition and regularly updating service providers and the community, MDHA has been actively working on putting together the funding to pay for it.
We are absolutely thrilled to share that our good friends at the Meadows Foundation have granted MDHA $95,000 towards funding this transition. We are particularly thankful to Cindy Patrick, Senior Program Officer[iv], who carefully guided us through the grant request process, and held our hand every step of the way. We often say to those that help MDHA, “With your help, we will make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.” This has never been truer than in this instance.
[i] https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hmis/
[ii] https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hmis/hmis-requirements/
[iii] United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
[iv] Cindy also inspired this short essay on, “How HMIS Helps the Individual Person Experiencing Homelessness”: https://mdhadallas.org/blog/how-hmis-helps-the-individual-person-experiencing-homelessness/
