“Houselessness | Data Obsessed? | Date-Driven? | OR BOTH | Is the Data Accessible in the Lakes Region? HMIS DATA Collection”
Houselessness: Data Obsessed? | Date-Driven? | OR BOTH | Is the Data Accessible in the Lakes Region? HMIS DATA Collection
When any human being commits to research and then study the growing number of HOUSELESS people and families in the Lakes Region, certain tropes will be found repeated in local news articles, posts, short form videos, and more. In common discussions, a false premise is deployed beginning with “… All HOUSELESS people are HOUSELESS because …”.
These BECAUSEs may include one or more of these conclusory statements:
1. The HOUSELESS live without a home by choice,
2. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to substance abuse;
3. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to domestic abuse;
4. The HOUSELESS live without a home due to their criminal history;
5. The HOUSELESS live without a home because they have failed to submit an application for housing assistance; … and there are more GENERALIZED premises not supported by DATA.
Each of those tropes, may indeed be true for some of the HOUSELESS and those conditions are also true for some people in the in the Lakes Region who live in either a rented or mortgaged home.
In reviewing the slides below from HUD which has been studying HOUSELESS in America since 2007, the DATA which Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has gathered -- simply does not support these generalized statements about the HOUSELESS as a group, nor even as ubiquitous contributing factors to HOUSELESSNESS … that is; as outweighing one factor which is common to all:
the growing GAP between income … and rising COSTS for: rent, energy, food, and other expenses all households and individuals must pay in 2025.
The subject of this blog post are RECENT quotes from the following 14 page report:
https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DataReformReport-9-12-2023-1.pdf
Also this blog post is a follow-up to two previous blog posts entitled:
Houselessness: Data Obsessed? | Data Driven? OR BOTH.
This post is neither a rant nor a criticism regarding those stakeholders in the Lakes Region who have been and are contributing valiant efforts to addressing current houselessness … and those of us “one paycheck away” from that circumstance.
Data access “to the public” on the subject of HOUSELESSNESS (and those “one paycheck away”) is the focus of this blog post.
To assist readers, from current research which is on-going, two Tables have been prepared by TEAM CONNECTED from slides provided with findings from online sources including:
Tables Analying DATA regarding Point in Time Counting of HOUSELESS and more …
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
https://icanewengland.helpscoutdocs.com/collection/71-new-hampshire-hmis-users
https://icanewengland.helpscoutdocs.com/article/274-the-pit-and-hic
Simply stated … the access to the data is … and has been … consistently LIMITED, or not easily understood and complex to a general reader … perhaps both. Twelve years ago David Horvath, founder of “Invisible People” chaired a panel of subject matter experts on this exact subject.
“… There is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change. Most people blame homelessness on the person experiencing it instead of the increasing shortage of affordable housing, lack of employment, a living wage or the countless reasons that put a person at risk. This lack of understanding creates a dangerous cycle of misperception that leads to the inability to effectively address the root causes of homelessness. …”
And Horvath wrote this in 2016 as a description to his video below:
“David Henderson, founder and CEO of Idealistics Inc, Michael Shore, CEO of Hom Inc & Operations Director for 100,000 Homes, Marcella Maguire, Director of DBH Homeless Services at City of Philadelphia, and Iain De Jong, President & CEO of OrgCode, all took time out of their busy day to join me online for this important conversation on an important topic. I know it changed my thinking in a few areas!”
[Summary of Video and Frustrations with Broken DATA system]:
“At this year's SXSW, I kept hearing the phrase "big data" over and over and over! Homeless services is starting to adapt the use and sharing of data. HUD has now even mandated all service providers use HMIS (Homeless Management Information Systems) as a requirement to funding! …”
“… That's all great, but to make data really work we need policy and cultural changes!
For example, Homeless Management Information Systems [HMIS] is mostly based on satisfying funder requirements and is not client focused.
Basically, HMIS is built to get money over providing care for our homeless clients. When you go any hospital they collect data to both help a person's wellness and satisfy insurance billing requirements - so it can be done! Another issue I have is the time it takes to do a homeless client's 'intake'! Sitting in an office for 5 plus hours waiting is the norm not the exception.
No one wants to sit for that long in a lobby. Homeless people know an 'intake' means they sit there for hours, and if they are lucky - they get placed on a waiting list! The more vulnerable the homeless person is, the more the traditional intake process actually becomes a roadblock to services.
HMIS is also far from being user-friendly, which makes it challenging to use and hurts data integrity.
Probably my biggest frustration is we have the technology to show availabilities but don't. Technology allows me and you to find an available hotel room anywhere in the world from any computer in the world that has internet access.
Yet, at best, what homeless providers give to a homeless family or individuals are 'referrals'. Referrals normally are just a list of phone numbers. Now the homeless person or family has to contact each agency, often having to go there to physically fill out an intake (it's how the agencies get paid). It's a broken system that is completely inefficient, and is a huge reason why so many homeless people just give up!”
The following video is foundational and critical to understanding what is presented shortly below from as a discussion of selected quotes from the National Alliance report. Yes! It takes time to watch this video; but what is revealed (as of 2016) has NOT CHANGED. And NO! This cannot be condensed into a nice PowerPoint slide show with bullets; nor some 3 minute short form video. It’s granular and it’s all in the details!
“A Conversation on Data and Homeless Services”: The video of Horvath and his panel CANNOT BE EMBEDDED here … but can be viewed in its entirety here by clicking this LINK to YouTube: : https://www.youtube.com/live/KkxRofgehfc?si=pcI40E4VDRQoL4Q3
In addition this short video is insightful: 8,441 views Dec 28, 2024 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released new data Friday, revealing that more than 770,000 people experienced homelessness in 2024.
This data represents an 18% increase since 2023. That is an exponential and not linear increase in both the population of houseless people in the Lakes Region and an exponential increase in their needs. See PREVIOUS BLOG POST addressing “Exponential” versus “Linear” growth.
Finally, for readers’ information, it should be transparently stated the author of this blog is “data agnostic”. Where the existing data (or lack thereof) goes, as well as community access to it (or not) in the Lakes Region, clearly follows trends and experiences of other communities in the country. Readers will be presented below with recent findings by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Whether those significant findings are “data-obsessed”, “data-driven” … or BOTH is left up to the personal discernment of readers.
NO PUBLIC “ACCESSIBLE” DATA from Continuum of Care (CoCs) found anywhere online … specific to Houseless People and Families in the Lakes Region ... as Successes or Failures of Programs? But this issue is topical in the NEWS regarding the up-coming November election cycle.
During the research process for this blog — comprising several months — the Laconia Daily Sun has reported on Mayoral and councilman upcoming elections; now set for November 2025. Articles in the Sun have been recently published on homelessness; and, a number of Letters to the Editor have also been published; where candidates for these seats have expressed homelessness being an issue they will address — if elected.
The unanswered question on the table for the Lakes Region public on HOUSELESSNESS is simple: … address? … based on WHAT DATA?
Again, in researching for this blog post, online public sources were sought for DATA on the following relevant questions concerning houselessness in the Lakes Region. “Thusfar”, as of the publication of this post, nothing has been found on HOUSELESSNESS DATA “specific to the Lakes Region”. However; that said, the following has been found after diligent searches and is recommended to readers:
New Hampshire has three Continuums of Care (CoC): Greater Nashua (GNCoC), Manchester (MCoC) and Balance of State (BoSCoC). The Balance of State Continuum of Care covers 223 municipalities in NH. The LAKES REGION in included in the BoSCoC. That includes every city, town and land mass outside the city limits of Nashua and Manchester.
Source: https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/homeless-services/balance-state-continuum-care
Balance of State Overview
The mission of the BoSCoC is to provide a coordinated and sustainable system of care to individuals, youth, and families who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness within the BoSCoC geographical area.
The vision of success for the BoSCoC is of a community where homelessness no longer exists. In this community there would be an ample supply of safe, affordable, permanent housing and the supportive services that each individual and family may need to prevent homelessness and achieve greater self-sufficiency.
The Bureau of Homeless Services (BHS) is the Collaborative Applicant, which submits the CoC Consolidated Application for planning resources to HUD on behalf of the BoSCoC when funding is available. If awarded, they will administer these funds for the BoSCoC. They will also assist with advising and carrying out other HUD CoC requirements as needed.
The question is … applications made based on what DATA? and …
FINDINGS and Quotes from the Alliance Report | Questions and Discussion:
FULL REPORT LINK: https://endhomelessness.org/resources/research-and-analysis/calculating-change-future-directions-for-homelessness-data-use-and-reporting/
Quote 1:
“We must improve how we use data to advance our bottom line—reducing and ending homelessness…
Data reform efforts could have varying types of goals. This report focuses on generating and reporting data that:
1) informs improvements to service delivery; and
2) sheds light on resource gaps (thus opening doors to efforts to fill those gaps).
Discussion Regarding the Lakes Region:
This is an opening mission statement for the Report. The purpose is improvements in services delivery … not obtaining grant funding … an observation made by David Horvath above. Identifying resource gaps is another mission of the report … one of which is detailed in these additional reports by the National Alliance: Published: NOV 19, 2024 “Increasingly Unsustainable: Unpartnered Homeless Services” and Published: APR 25, 2024 “Working with Unsheltered People: Findings from the Alliance’s Workforce Survey”.
These gaps include pay to social workers (public and private) causing high turnover and continuity of mission obstacles. As well high turnover impacts continuity of houseless DATA training, collection, analysis and reporting by all-too-common staffing interruptions.
Quote 2:
“DEMOCRATIZING ACCESS TO DATA In many communities, only a limited number of CoC {Continuums of Care) employees have access to homeless system data.
Meanwhile, many other entities and people are daily making decisions that impact efforts to end homelessness—they include government agencies, non-profit organizations, legislators, researchers, advocates, and others. The decisions and contributions of these other actors should be fully informed. Reaching this goal requires democratizing access to data. More homelessness data must be publicly available for everyone to use.
The benefits of public data are varied. For example, it feeds cross-entity collaborations on strategy, goal setting, planning, implementation, and progress monitoring. Equal access to data can also have implications for racial equity. …”
Discussion Regarding the Lakes Region:
As indicated above, it appears from an exhaustive search online actionable DATA on those who are houseless, and those “one paycheck away” from that condition is either not currently available to the public in the Lakes Region, or possibly not well publicized.
Quote 3:
“These upsides of democratizing access to data are also associated with concerns about how data will be handled by new users. Homeless services systems have records that may contain information about private matters including mental health conditions, domestic violence experiences, substance use, or immigration status. If such data is tied to particular clients and made available to an expansive list of users, individuals’ privacy would be violated.
Further, some stakeholders fear that data could be used by bad actors to misrepresent the work of individual systems or broader efforts to end homelessness. Relevant concerns should help shape policy around data reforms—for example, anonymizing data and prescribing which data points will be publicly released is important. …”
Discussion Regarding the Lakes Region:
In this age of data sharing and privacy concerns the medical and genomics communities have resolved the issues of concern by simply anonymizing data. Many off-the-shelf software programs exist to accomplish this task in a relatively short period of time.
Quote 4:
“… Currently, a subset of CoCs (and states) regularly publish data dashboards and charts on public websites. Such efforts are not required nor is there any guidance about what types of information should be included.
HUD has invested in Stella P, a technological tool that converts CoC (Continuums of Care) data into standardized visualizations. But Stella P access is often limited to a small number of CoC administrators. HUD has been exploring the possibility of making Stella P publicly available. HUD should ensure that Stella P visualizations for each CoC are public facing and available through community-based websites (known and accessible to those working or interested in ending homelessness in the community). …” [ANNOTATED RESOURCES FOR STELLA P: 117 page report by HUD Dec. 2024 reporting on CoCs, of which only 365 nationwide participated (using Stella P) in the data submitted including “point-it-time” PIT counts. Definition: “Continuums of Care (CoC) are local planning bodies responsible for coordinating the full range of homelessness services in a geographic area, which may cover a city, county, metropolitan area, or an entire state“. … AND pure estimates known as: ”Point-in-Time (PIT) Counts are unduplicated one-night estimates of both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. The one-night counts are conducted by CoCs nationwide and occur during the last week in January of each year.” https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Additional Quotes for Future Study and Consideration by readers in the Lakes Region:
Quote 6:
“… HUD currently presents most of its data in 1) static charts embedded within text- based reports or 2) Excel spreadsheets. These formats limit the quantity of available information, but also its functional use. For example, users (often researchers and data analysts) perform their own calculations to obtain useful information. One exception to this rule is the agency’s public reporting of System Performance Measures (SPMs).
Using data visualization software, it offers a series of interactive charts. In general, such charts can be more user-friendly than a spreadsheet while allowing readers to access greater amounts of data. …”
Quote 7:
“ … Some CoCs have been experimenting with phone apps that make it easier for clients to access their own case files. Currently, this approach may be cost prohibitive for budget- strapped systems, but there may be ways to reduce costs or other ways of achieving this goal could be identified. The use of such practices is currently not widespread. …”
Quote 8:
“Communities collect and maintain information about people experiencing homelessness in a database called the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Once a year, HUD requires communities to transfer HMIS data in the form of a Longitudinal System Analysis (LSA) report. The reports respond to a set of pre-defined questions. Essentially, they provide counts of people falling into specified categories—for example, the total number of people aged 65 and over who stayed in their shelters in 2022.
The overall counts (or aggregate data) in LSAs are limited pieces of information. And these limited pieces of information comprise much of what HUD knows about key issues related to people experiencing homelessness and the systems that serve them. By extension, this information comprises all that can be easily known by policymakers, advocates, researchers, and CoCs seeking to learn about other systems.
It is difficult to do national or regional analysis that goes beyond the requested data points (even as communities have far more information available to them). And the process supports the idea of only examining community data once a year.
This process of data collection limits the field’s ability to use data to identify existing and emerging challenges across communities. The missing information could help HUD direct available resources, provide technical assistance, or inform Congress of homeless services system needs. It could also help other stakeholders contribute to solutions. …”
Quote 9:
“… In recent years, the homeless services field has been paying increasing attention to subpopulations uniquely at risk of homelessness (e.g., older adults and people of color), pathways through homelessness, and homeless services outcomes. As a part of these efforts, HUD has been updating required data collection related to race and gender, essentially ensuring the collection of more detailed information about an individual’s identity.
These changes create an opportune time to revisit the types of information communities are sharing for data analysis and research purposes. A deliberative body of experts should be established to develop and weigh recommendations. Group members should be diverse, including CoC leaders, workers responsible for data collection, people with lived experience, and advocates. These experts should have a dual mission.
First, they should reconsider the data points required as a part of the LSA reports that form the basis of HUD’s annual reports.
Second, the group should reconsider ideas for the nationwide collection of person-level data. Person-level data are the records for each person in a community’s database. In addition to its current work, person-level information would allow governmental and non-governmental agencies to investigate a practically endless set of research questions. However, there are risks to this approach and the field should proceed with caution and careful thought, including input from people whose data is captured in these systems. …”
Quote 10:
“… WORKFORCE. During the height of the pandemic, the Alliance conducted a series of surveys and focus groups with homeless services system leaders to better understand how the health crisis was impacting people experiencing homelessness and the delivery of services. One theme that consistently emerged was widespread staffing shortages. A 2021 survey of the nation’s non-profit organizations indicates that these challenges extend beyond homeless services—significant job vacancy rates were reported across sectors.
These challenges likely pre-dated the pandemic.
Available evidence suggests that, in general, non-profits struggle with worker shortages rooted in competition with higher-paying employers and insufficient childcare options. Homeless services sector employees also typically have low pay and can find it difficult to manage high caseloads and the emotional stress of serving a high-need population.
When non-profits don’t have enough workers, it impacts their ability to function properly and effectively serve people in need. Some organizations report cutting or reducing services. Indeed, Alliance-led focus groups indicated that staffing shortages hindered efforts to connect people experiencing homelessness to permanent housing during the pandemic.
Workforce concerns impact service delivery and efforts to end homelessness. Therefore, they should be included in data collection and goal-setting efforts. And progress in this area should be monitored. …”
Quote 11:
“… RECOMMENDATION: HUD should regularly and publicly report workforce data. Current federal reporting highlights the ability of systems to serve people in need. It answers questions such as: 1) how many shelter beds are available, or 2) how many people are accessing permanent housing? Staffing is another significant factor that illustrates a system’s capacity to serve people. Further, it is helpful context for understanding system performance (i.e., data points such as average lengths of stay in programs and successful exits to housing). Workforce health and stability likely play a role in such outcomes. …”
Quote 12:
“… OLDER ADULTS The share of older adults being served in the nation’s shelters is on the rise and continued growth is projected through the end of the decade. Beginning in 2023, HUD is requiring communities to ask for age information that will allow for reporting on the size of the group as a part of the annual Point-in-Time Count. Thus, new types of data are forthcoming. The Alliance’s discussions with the field suggest still further possibilities for improvement. …”
Quote 13:
“… ADDITIONAL IDEAS During the Alliance’s conversations about potential data use and reporting reforms, additional ideas arose that did not fall into the above categories. They are grouped together and discussed below.
RECOMMENDATION: The homelessness field should supplement quantitative data by developing protocols for surveying and interviewing people with lived experience. Quantitative data is enlightening. However, qualitative approaches often reveal useful information that can’t be gained through reviewing numbers on a spreadsheet. By asking thoughtful questions and listening, homeless services systems can gain a richer understanding of an individual’s circumstances, challenges, strengths, and ideas for bettering services and their own circumstances.
CoCs such as King County in Washington have been exploring ways to interview and survey people experiencing homelessness with the goal of using the information to provide better services. …”
Quote 14:
“… RECOMMENDATION: The AHAR should directly highlight system capacity to serve people experiencing homelessness. Through its State of Homelessness report, the Alliance calculates each community’s ability to serve people in need. Using the Housing Inventory Count and Point-in-Time Count data included in AHAR Part 1, the number of people who are experiencing homelessness (sheltered and unsheltered) is compared to the number of shelter beds available in the community. Thus, the report can make statements such as, “Community Y is only able to provide a shelter bed to 50 percent of individuals experiencing homelessness.”
Quote 15:
“… RECOMMENDATION: The homelessness field should experiment with new forms of data collection that reflect the severity of people’s needs. Currently, the homelessness field uses the category of “chronic homelessness” as one way of estimating the number of people who have high-level needs. Members of this group have a disability and have experienced homelessness for multiple and/or extended periods of time.
The “chronic homeless” category fails to fully capture the type and depth of needs of the homeless population. Consider the example of hypothetical Person A—he has a disability that interferes with every aspect of daily living, including his ability to work. Person B has a disability that doesn’t impact her ability to hold a full-time job. The “chronic homeless” category does not distinguish between Person A and Person B. Further, the category does not allow for estimates of resource needs—e.g., a system that has 100 people who require full-time nursing care. Some stakeholders believe there should be a more sophisticated method of categorizing and then counting the number of people with the highest-level needs. …”
Quote 16:
“… RECOMMENDATION: Enhance the quality of data in HMIS databases. Many communities continuously work to improve the quality of the data in their HMIS systems. Such activities include ensuring that more unsheltered people are included in databases by incorporating (or better incorporating) information gathered by street outreach programs. Other possible improvements include expanding the number programs participating in data reporting, expanding the number of users who can directly add data to HMIS, and training frontline staff to correctly and reliably record information. CoCs stand to benefit from continued technical assistance from HUD (and other agencies) as well as support in identifying funding sources for this work. …”
Quote 17:
“… FUNDING Some recommendations in this report may result in added costs for communities that have another looming priority placing demands on their resources—housing people experiencing homelessness. Moreover, existing data efforts are often considered to be underfunded. For example:
1) the Point-in-Time Count does not have dedicated funding and significantly relies on volunteers, and
2) localities may not have sufficient staffing for minimally required data work.
These circumstances suggest that it is unlikely that the federal government and communities could immediately adopt all this report’s recommendations (plus other good ideas for reform). Instead, priorities must be established, determining which types of reforms would be most useful to efforts to end homelessness. Those determinations may vary over time and by community.
One thing is also clear: new fiscal resources would help in realizing desired data reforms. …”
Quote 18:
“… RECOMMENDATION: Target new resources towards data reform. Congress could act to ensure that new dollars are dedicated to homeless services data reforms and improvements. State and local governments and private foundations should also expand their contributions to such endeavors. And, finally, advocates and other stakeholders should help in identifying and creating new funding sources. …”
