HMIS 101: Who Participates in Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)?

AKHMIS collects data from homeless service providers throughout the state to gain a comprehensive understanding of homelessness. Participating organizations provide housing services such as transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and emergency shelters, or provide auxiliary services such as homelessness prevention, drop-in centers, food shelves, and street outreach programs.

The more organizations serving persons experiencing homelessness that participate in AKHMIS, the more we can understand our community and clients, and better service client needs, better evaluate programs, and strengthen our efforts to end homelessness while informing policy at the federal, state, and local levels.

Those Required To Participate In HMIS

Projects receiving funding from the following programs for homeless services may be required to participate in HMIS:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD)

• Continuum of Care Program (CoC)
• Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG and ESG-CV)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA)
• Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program (RHSP)
• HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (VASH)
• Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)
• Pay for Success (PFS)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)

• Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH)
• Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHY)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (VA)

• Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (SSVF)
• Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD)

Alaska HOUSING finance corporation (AHFC)

• Housing Assistance Program (HAP)
• Special Needs Housing Grant (SNHG)

Those Required to Use an HMIS-Comparable Data Base

Note to Victim Service Providers

The HEARTH (Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing) Act defines a victim service provider (VSP) as "a private nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to provide services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Such term includes rape crisis centers, battered women's shelters, domestic violence transitional housing programs, and other programs".

VSPs (Victim Service Providers) are prohibited from entering data into HMIS. Depending on their funding, such organizations may instead be required to enter data into an HMIS-comparable database. Federal programs such as the Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) programs will generally require the use of comparable databases, whereas Alaska's state-funded programs may allow for alternative reporting methods.

While VSPs cannot enter HMIS, there are some instances where organizations with domestic violence programs can enter into HMIS. This includes organizations with broad missions that may receive DV (Domestic Violence) Bonus funding through the CoC competition.