Orange County HMIS

Last month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) sent a message to all State Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) Contacts and PATH Providers providing guidance on the PATH Annual Report and alerted PATH contacts to a recent update of the PATH Program HMIS Manual. The entire message is included in this listserv in an effort to make sure all communities receive this updated guidance:

December 22, 2016

Greetings State PATH Contacts (SPCs) and PATH Providers,

SAMHSA and the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are pleased to announce the release of updated guidance to further enhance efforts to integrate PATH into local Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS).

In November 2013, SAMHSA released the Technical Assistance Plan for PATH Program Participation in HMIS, which describes SAMHSA’s goals for PATH participation in HMIS. SAMHSA expects full PATH participation in HMIS by the end of each state/territory’s fiscal year (FY) 2016. Full participation is considered to mean entering all PATH client data directly into the HMIS designated by the local Continuum of Care (CoC), both for client care coordination and generating the PATH Annual Report.

In addition, SAMHSA expects PATH providers to participate in their local CoC to engage in program planning and implementation activities, discussions regarding effective client service coordination, and discussions to solve issues and challenges related to PATH data collection in HMIS.

The primary resource for PATH-specific guidance on HMIS is the PATH Program HMIS Manual, which was recently updated by HUD. All SPCs and PATH providers should review this resource because it contains information on key topics, including PATH project set-up in HMIS and PATH data collection definitions and expectations. During SAMHSA’s January and February HMIS Learning Community meetings, there will be a brief training on this new resource and the opportunity to ask any questions you may have on the topic.

HUD has also released HMIS Programming Specifications for the New PATH Annual Report. Vendors are required to have the new PATH Annual Report programmed into their HMIS software by April 1, 2017, to ensure PATH providers have sufficient time to generate their FY 2017 Annual Report and any FY 2017 progress reports that they are working to submit to their SPC. SAMHSA understands that this means PATH providers completing their FY 2017 progress reports may not have the data they need in time for the first two quarters of the year. SAMHSA asks that providers complete as much of those reports as they can when they are due and do not submit those reports unless they have all required data from HMIS (meaning that some will not submit progress reports until after April 1, 2017). More guidance on this will also be shared during the January HMIS Learning Community meetings.

SAMHSA will release more information on its HMIS Learning Communities in the coming days and looks forward to convening these again. The PATH HMIS Learning Communities are designed to assist states/territories in achieving these goals and for participants to share successes and challenges related to this transition. Periodic webinars are also offered to present information related to overcoming common challenges associated with PATH programs’ use of HMIS. SAMHSA expects SPCs and PATH providers to both fully participate in all PATH HMIS Learning Community meetings and webinars.

SAMHSA acknowledges that most PATH providers have been able to successfully use HMIS for data collection and reporting efforts but that there are still considerable challenges for many. SAMHSA appreciates all efforts that have been made and will continue to provide support for these efforts through its Homeless and Housing Resource Network (HHRN) team. If you are not familiar with your state’s point of contact (PoC) for HHRN, please review the HHRN contact list for PATH.

Thank you for your dedication to this important work and for your efforts to improve PATH data collection to ensure the continued success of the PATH program.

Sincerely,

Caroline B. Fernandez, M.S.W.
Director, PATH Program
Homeless Programs Branch
Center for Mental Health Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

To read HUD’s original email, please click here.

Any changes to data made in HMIS will not be reflected in Management or AdHoc reports until tomorrow, 12/30/2016. We apologize for any inconvenience.

HUD released a new report Effective Strategies for Implementing State ESG Programs: Lessons Learned from State HPRP Administrators aimed to assist state recipients administering Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program funds. The report’s authors interviewed 20 States to learn about their implementation of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) – the $1.5 billion grant program authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and administered by HUD. This report shares different approaches that these state administrators took to implement HPRP – from program planning and design to effective use of staff resources, monitoring, HMIS, and more – and applies it to ESG today.

Although the authors interviewed state HPRP administrators, the report offers insights for all ESG administrators, whether at the city, county, or state level. The purpose is to inform the continuing evolution of ESG program design and implementation and thereby to increase impact and effectiveness of these programs.

To see the email from HUD, please click here.

Earlier today, HUD announced $1.95 billion to more than 7,600 local homeless housing and service programs across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These Continuum of Care (CoC) grants will help end homelessness and provide critically needed support to local programs on the front lines of serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding.

This year, HUD continued to challenge CoCs to support their highest performing local programs that have proven most effective in meeting the needs of persons experiencing homelessness in their communities. Overall, CoCs stepped up to meet this challenge. Many state and local planners embraced HUD’s call to shift funds from existing underperforming projects to create new ones that are based on best practices that will further their efforts to prevent and end homelessness. HUD recognizes the hard work it took for CoCs to make these sometimes difficult choices, and appreciates their efforts to work towards results.

Secretary Castro stated, “Today marks another critical investment in support of those working each and every day to house and serve our most vulnerable neighbors. We know how to end homelessness and will continue to encourage our local partners to use the latest evidence to achieve success. These grants support proven strategies to end homelessness once and for all.”

HUD strongly encouraged local applicants to prioritize their funding request very carefully, using a mix of performance data and local needs. In addition, applicants were encouraged to submit projects that were based on research-driven approaches and supported the nation’s goals to prevent and end homelessness. As a result, local CoCs reallocated a combined $103 million in renewal funding from lower performing projects in order to apply for new housing projects; between reallocation and Bonus projects, HUD is awarding $139 million in new projects, including critical investments in permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid re-housing (RRH).

Ultimately, the awards made today will help us achieve the bold goals established in Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. This means continuing the progress made in reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness and setting a path to ending homelessness in this country.

The Department estimates there were 549,928 persons experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2016. Since the launch of Opening Doors in 2010, local communities around the country report:

• The total number of individuals experiencing homelessness declined by 14 percent;
• Veteran homelessness fell by 47 percent;
• Chronic homelessness declined 27 percent; and
• Family homelessness declined by nearly 23 percent.

Adjustments to Funding

The conditional awards for renewal projects may be different than what was requested in the project application.

1. Projects were reviewed to ensure that they were consistent with the approved Grant Inventory Worksheet (GIW) and CoC Program interim rule.
2. In some cases, a project straddled Tier 1 and Tier 2 and only the Tier 1 portion of the project was funded.

Unlike prior years, HUD did not make Fair Market Rent (FMR) adjustments to the awards. HUD uses the FMRs that were in effect at the time applications were due, which means that FY 2016 FMRs will be used for these awards.

If you have questions or require more specific information, please submit a question to the e-snaps HUD Exchange Ask A Question (AAQ) portal or contact your local HUD CPD field office.

To submit a question to the e-snaps AAQ portal, select “e-snaps” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process. If you have questions related to the CoC Program interim rule or a policy related question, please submit your questions to the CoC Program AAQ portal. To submit a question to the CoC Program AAQ portal, select “CoC Program” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process.