Category: Uncategorized

Coordinated Entry: Best Practices in Centering Equity and Ensuring Effectiveness

Thursday, April 18 @ 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. ET

Effective Coordinated Entry systems increase consistency, efficiency, and equity in communities’ work to end homelessness – but in practice, these systems can be hard to implement. In this webinar, learn from communities who are taking these challenges head on, harnessing the new visibility and clarity that Coordinated Entry has provided, and taking bold steps towards realizing the promise of a more equitable and functional Coordinated Entry System.

Register Here

Emergency Shelter: Reimagining a Housing Focused Place People Want to Use

Thursday, May 16 @ 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. ET

A safe, welcoming, low-barrier, and housing-focused shelter is a critical component of an effective homeless response system. Effective shelter practice requires listening to people with lived expertise and making cultural, philosophical, and operational shifts according to their feedback. This webinar will discuss modifying entry protocols, lowering barriers, and rethinking service provision to adopt housing-focused approaches.

Register Here

Registration is now open for the 12th cohort of the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course. The goal of this immersive course is to provide a conceptual and practical framework for ad hoc reporting utilizing Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data. This self-paced course is open to anyone in your community who is interested in analyzing, interpreting, and communicating HMIS data.

This is an introductory level course and might be a good fit for newer members of your HMIS team or someone looking to brush up on their data skills. Participants are not expected to have high-level technical or statistical skills; only basic knowledge of the following is needed:

• HMIS data standards
• How to pull an HMIS comma-separated value (CSV) file set, unless the participant has access to someone who can pull HMIS reports for them
• How to enter data into Excel and navigate within it

The data analytics course will equip participants with the skills to create a data brief highlighting trends to engage communities to drive insights into action. A combination of content, hands-on skill-building, and recommended resources are provided to help a basic data user build skills and knowledge necessary to be an advanced data professional while providing opportunities for ongoing professional development and learning. Participants will have eight weeks to complete six course modules at their own pace. Course participants will also receive a certificate upon completion of all six modules.

HUD and the National Homeless Services Data Consortium (NHSDC) are sponsoring a three-day conference titled “Moving Upstream: Data Alliances for Housing Stability” in Kansas City, MO, from April 10-12, 2024. Registration is closed for in-person participation, however registration to join select live webcast sessions is still available.

Register for the Conference

To view live webcast session descriptions, slides, and handouts, visit the NHSDC Spring 2024 conference page on the HUD Exchange. Transcripts and recordings will be made available after the conference. To view the full conference agenda, visit the NHSDC site.

Additional Information

Attendees who attend the following five sessions can earn a certificate of attendance from HUD.

• Getting it Right from the Start: HMIS Project Setup
• Bettering Data Quality to Improve Project and System Level Performance
• Protecting Data While Sharing Data to Prevent and End Homelessness
• Creating Transparency and Improving Partnerships with Good HMIS Governance
• Achieving a Quality and Stable HMIS Team

Abt TA providers, in partnership with Cal ICH, have developed a webinar on Trauma-Informed and Equitable Approaches to Data Collection for grantees and other entities that collect information from people served by the homelessness system and enter data into Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS). This webinar introduces grantees of California state-funded homelessness programs to concepts related to trauma and its presentation, defines trauma-informed and equitable approaches, and applies this perspective to inform best practices in data collection for HMIS.

The webinar is available to view at the link below, and slides are attached.

Trauma-Informed and Equitable Data Collection in HMIS

• Trauma-Informed and Equitable Data Collection for HMIS.pdf

The Homelessness Prevention Project Performance Report and the Goals and Outcomes Report for 1/1/2023 – 12/31/2023 have been published!

Click here to view the reports.

HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing (OHH) and its partners are working to support Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) grantees and project sponsors to embrace and implement OHH’s new approach of Reset, Renew, Recharge (3R). 3R is an overarching strategy intended to enhance HOPWA program design and promote core values that will positively impact the lives and housing stability of people living with HIV/AIDS.

As part of the roll out of 3R, a series of webinars will provide grantees, project sponsors, and local communities with information on best practices and strategies to successfully introduce and operationalize 3R into their local HOPWA programs. Register today for the first webinar in the series, Permanent Housing Placement (PHP) – Getting in the Door.

Note: Prior to participating in this webinar series, it may be helpful to learn more about 3R by watching the recording of the 3R: A HOPWA Program Strategy Webinar held in 2022.

Objectives

• Provide a blueprint for HOPWA program design and core values
• Support communities to achieve program excellence and impact
• Ensure programs are designed to meet the changing needs of the modern HIV epidemic
• Promote equity for all people living with HIV/AIDS
• Encourage consistent use of client-centered, low-barrier approaches

Audience

This series is intended for HOPWA grantees and project sponsors.

Schedule and Registration

Webinar Title	Date and Time	Registration
Permanent Housing Placement (PHP) – Getting in the Door	March 13, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Webinar Materials
HOPWA Rent Standards: Beyond Fair Market Rent (FMR)	April 10, 2024 2:30 – 4:00 PM EDT	Register Now
Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS)	April 24, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	TBD
Short-Term Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Assistance (STRMU): Ensuring the Right Fit	May 8, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	TBD

You must have a HUD Exchange account to register. Follow these instructions for registering.

Contact

HOPWA 3R Webinar Series Registrar | info@tacinc.org

Request 3R Technical Assistance

In addition to these webinars, HOPWA Technical Assistance (TA) is free and available to assist grantees and communities to implement 3R strategies. TA support is tailored to each community’s needs and goals. Examples of TA include:

• Reviewing grant spending and identifying strategies to utilize HOPWA dollars most efficiently
• Improving grantee and project sponsor capacity and expanding project sponsor networks
• Educating grantees and project sponsors on client-centered, low-barrier approaches
• Exploring new models of housing and services
• Leveraging new resources to expand the number of people with HIV/AIDS served by a program

Submit your TA Request via the HUD Exchange. Under Topics, select Affordable Housing and Community Development > HOPWA. In the Subject Line enter, “HOPWA 3R Technical Assistance.”

We are pleased to announce the upcoming HUD Innovations in Ending Homelessness Roundtable Series. This series is a continuation of the Rapid Rehousing Roundtable Discussion Series, which included panel discussions from system leaders, program staff, and people with lived experience of homelessness, to discuss challenges, lessons learned, and innovative new approaches to rapid rehousing. This new series will move beyond the specific focus of rapid rehousing and focus on innovative strategies and interventions that provide the most effective, equitable responses to homelessness at the individual and system levels. The first session, The State of Homelessness in 2024, is taking place on March 14, 2024. Save the date!

Objectives

• Explore practices to respond to the current challenges from the increase in homelessness
• Highlight communities implementing Housing First and decreasing barriers to housing
• Using person-centered practices to examine the threat that criminalization poses to preventing and ending homelessness
• Find innovative ways to create a system that ends homelessness with housing as the focus
• Discover services and supports needed after rehousing, the importance of partnerships outside of the homeless services system, and how to engage in broader housing affordability conversations
• Provide practical, specific steps communities can take to incorporate the values and philosophies essential to a person-centered homelessness response

Audience

This series is intended for front-line staff, program directors, system leaders, and funders.

Schedule and Joining Instructions

Participants do not need to register in advance. It is strongly recommended that you join each webinar 15 minutes prior to the start time (12:45 PM EDT).

Title	Date and Time	Joining Link
The State of Homelessness in 2024	1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Join the Webinar
Housing First: Still the Right Way to End Homelessness	April 4, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Join the Webinar
Criminalization: An Emerging Threat to Ending Homelessness	May 2, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date
Housing-Focused Interventions Across the Continuum	June 6, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date
Staying Housed	July 11, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date
The Person-Centered CoC	August 8, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date

Contact

2024 HUD Innovations in Ending Homelessness Roundtable Series Registrar | trainings@hudexchange.info

New resources to assist communities in training workers to take a client-centered and trauma-informed approach to data collection are now available. The FY 2024 HMIS Data and Technical Standards provided first-time guidance on how data collection should be approached: “Communities [should also] employ a person-centered approach to the review and use of the HMIS Data Manual with a clear foundational understanding of racial trauma and trauma-informed practices, cultural humility, and a person first, data-informed perspective.”

Immerse Yourself in this Virtual Reality Experience

The Client-Centered Data Collection Approach: Virtual Reality Series resources help support this directive.

Five Virtual Reality (VR) videos provide an immersion experience to increase empathy. The immersion, accessible through any smartphone, provides a first-person view into trauma-informed approaches to data collection.

Before engaging with the VR videos, we recommend that you start with the Facilitator’s Guide which provides helpful information to support the use of the VR videos as part of a group training curriculum. Additionally, there is a brief Human-Centered Approach to Intake video which provides helpful context and reviews why identifying questions, such as those about race and gender, might be stressful to answer and suggests strategies that minimize or eliminate potential frustration or disenfranchisement at the point of intake.

View the Resource Collection

Last year, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2022 Foundations for Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Webinar Series provided detailed, foundational knowledge about implementing VAWA and survivor-centered housing practices. VAWA and Survivor Housing Community Conversations will continue in 2024 through a series of discussions about successfully implementing VAWA and survivor-centered housing at the system, project, and human levels. Each conversation will feature a diverse panel of system leaders, project staff, and people with lived experiences from both the homelessness response and victim services worlds. The first session in this series, Building System-Wide Partnerships Between Housing and Victim Service Providers (VSPs), will take place on March 21, 2024, from 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT. Save the date!

Objectives

• Learn about VAWA housing provisions that apply to CoC and ESG program recipients as outlined in the VAWA letter to CoC/ESG program recipients
• Engage practitioners and experts about best practices in survivor-focused housing
• Explore diverse range of VAWA and survivor housing implementations from communities across the country
• Discover new ways to reach compliance with VAWA requirements and improve survivor-focused housing practices

Audience

This series is intended for CoC and ESG recipients and staff, including but not limited to CoC and ESG leadership, program managers, direct staff, and people with lived experience of homelessness. This series is also intended for victim services leadership, VSPs, and survivors.

Schedule and Joining Instructions

Participants do not need to register in advance. It is strongly recommended that participants join the webinar 15 minutes prior to the start time (12:45 PM EDT).

Title	Date	Join Link
Building System-Wide Partnership Between Housing and Victim Service Providers	March 21, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Join the Webinar
Building a Better Emergency Transfer Plan	April 18, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date
HMIS and Data-Sharing for Victim Services Providers and Survivors	May 16, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date
Coordinated Entry and Housing Problem-Solving for Survivors	June 27, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Save the Date

Contact

VAWA and Survivor Housing Community Conversations Registrar | trainings@hudexchange.info

The Street Outreach Project Performance Report and the Goals and Outcomes reports for 12/01/22 – 11/30/23 have been published!

Click here to view the reports.