Counting the Homeless: Homeless Management Information Systems

Publication Date: April 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Social conditions

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Abstract:

In 1998, Congress directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop a process for collecting data about the homeless. Together with local communities, HUD began in 2001 to implement a series of Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS). Two categories of federal fund recipients are required to participate in HMIS: organizations that receive grants through the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program and organizations that receive HUD Homeless Assistance Grants. The HOPWA program provides housing and supportive services for persons living with AIDS, while the Homeless Assistance Grants fund transitional and permanent housing, as well as services, for homeless individuals.

Local jurisdictions called "Continuums of Care" (CoCs) -- typically cities, counties, or combinations of both -- are the entities that implement HMIS. Homeless service providers in these CoCs collect and store information about homeless individuals they serve, and the information is aggregated in computer systems at the CoC level. HUD anticipates that information about homeless individuals from CoCs across the country eventually will help it to better serve the needs of the homeless.

HUD released the first analysis of data from a sample of participating HMIS jurisdictions -- the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) -- in February 2007. The AHAR used HMIS data from a sample of 64 communities to derive national-level estimates of the number of homeless at two points in time in 2005, and over a three-month period from February to April 2005. The report also provided point-in-time estimates of homeless individuals from counts done by local communities in January 2005. It is expected that data from HMIS eventually will provide an unduplicated count of the number of homeless from communities across the country.

Congress initially allocated funds for homeless data collection in the FY2001 HUD Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-377), and has continued to allocate funds in all HUD spending bills from FY2002 to FY2007. Local communities can then apply to HUD for available funds that they may use to implement HMIS. According to the most recent HUD progress report to Congress regarding HMIS, 72% of local CoCs were implementing HMIS, meaning that they had established systems into which data are entered. Approximately 20% of CoCs had decided to implement an HMIS, and were in the process of planning the system, and 7% of CoCs were not yet planning an HMIS.

This report describes the development of HMIS, summarizes information released in the AHAR, describes previous attempts to count the homeless, and reports on the continuing progress of HMIS. It will be updated as events warrant.