The method used to track the nights that a client stays at an Emergency Shelter project. One method must be identified in an HMIS for each Emergency Shelter project. The method used is important for the indication of length of stay in projects.
Entry/Exit: Used for all shelters that are able to collect client data (Universal Data Elements and certain Program-Specific Data Elements) at project start and project exit, including projects that require or strongly encourage a continuous stay while a client resolves their homelessness. For such shelters, length of stay is calculated based on the number of nights between project entry and project exit.
Night-by-Night (NBN): Used by some high-volume shelters and shelters where a significant proportion of clients spend a night at the shelter as needed on an irregular basis. For reporting purposes, a client’s length of stay in the project will be based on the actual number of bed nights and not on the period of time from entry to exit.