HMIS 101: What are System Performance Measures (SPM)

Background

The System Performance Measures (SPMs) are designed to measure a community’s performance as a coordinated system.

A critical aspect of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended, is a focus on viewing the local homeless response as a coordinated system of homeless assistance options as opposed to homeless assistance programs and funding sources that operate independently in a community. To facilitate this perspective the Act now requires communities to measure their performance as a coordinated system, in addition to analyzing performance by specific projects or project types.

The Act has established a set of selection criteria for HUD to use in awarding CoC funding in section 427 that require CoCs to report to HUD their system-level performance. The intent of these selection criteria is to encourage CoCs, in coordination with ESG Program recipients and all other homeless assistance stakeholders in the community, to regularly measure their progress in meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness in their community and to report this progress to HUD.

https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/system-performance-measures/#guidance

The SPM report calculates how long people are homeless in all the projects they receive services from in the system, whether they successfully exit the homeless system to permanent housing, and whether they later return to homelessness after exiting to permanent housing. This evaluation of HMIS records across the system is very different from reporting on project-level outcomes, however each project plays a role in providing the most accurate picture of people experiencing homelessness in Alaska.  The SPMs use data about people’s interactions with multiple projects across the homeless response system in Anchorage and in the Balance of the State to evaluate whether the systems are making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Data Elements Included in the Measure

Each Measure relies on only a handful of data elements. When considering data quality to improve the accuracy of the report, prioritize review of these data elements for the data analysis period.

SPM 1 Length of Time Persons Remain Homeless

Data Elements:

·         2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Emergency Shelter

o    Transitional Housing

o    Permanent Supportive Housing

§  Disability required for entry

§  Housing Only

§  Housing with services (no disability required for entry

§  Rapid Re-Housing

o    Street Outreach

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska) 

• 2.02.C Method for Tracking Emergency Shelter Utilization (defined when the project is created in HMIS)
• 3.10 Project Start Date
• 3.11 Project Exit Date
• 3.917 Prior Living Situation - Approximate date homelessness started
• 3.20 Housing Move-In Date

Measures

Measure 1a:  This measure uses each client’s start, exit, and bed night dates strictly as entered in HMIS, going back no further than the [Lookback Stop Date] (10/1/2012, or the client’s [date of birth], whichever is later).

Measure 1b: This measure includes data from each client’s Living Situation (Data Standards element 3.917) response as well as time spent in permanent housing projects between Project Start and Housing Move-In. Measure 1b can include time homeless prior to the [Lookback Stop Date] under some circumstances but should never count a client’s time.

Use: This measure helps CoCs understand if they are making progress towards helping people become quickly and stably housed (SPM 1, 4 and 7).

Note:  Failing to exit clients and not updating 3.917 based on their current instance of homelessness will have the biggest negative impact on this measure.

SPM 2 Return to Homelessness

Data Elements:

• 2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Emergency Shelter

o    Transitional Housing

o    Permanent Supportive Housing

§  Disability required for entry

§  Housing Only

§  Housing with services (no disability required for entry

§  Rapid Re-Housing

o    Street Outreach

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska)

• 3.10 Project start Date 
• 3.11 Project Exit Date 
• 3.12 Destination Selected destinations as described Appendix A  of the FY2024 HMIS Data Dictionary page 106)

Measures

Measure 2a and 2b: The Extent to which Persons Who Exit Homelessness to Permanent Housing Destinations Return to Homelessness within 6, 12, and 24 months. 

Use: This measure helps CoCs understand how efficiently the system is moving people out of homelessness for good and if they are reducing the overall number of people becoming homeless (Measure 2 and 5).

SPM 3 Number of Homeless Persons

Data Elements:

• 2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Emergency Shelter

o    Transitional Housing

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska

• 3.10 Project Start Date
• 3.11 Project Exit Date

Measures

Measure 3.1: Counts of clients using PIT count data.

Measure 3.2: Counts of clients using HMIS data. Using HMIS data, determine the unduplicated counts of active clients for each of the project types throughout the reporting period: a. Emergency Shelters b. Safe Havens c. Transitional Housing d. Total unduplicated across all applicable project types.

Use: This measure directly assesses whether a CoC is making progress towards ending homelessness.

SPM 4  Employment and Income Growth for Homeless Persons in CoC Program–funded Projects

Data Elements:

• 2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Transitional Housing

o    Permanent Supportive Housing

§  Disability required for entry

§  Housing Only

§  Housing with services (no disability required for entry

§  Rapid Re-Housing

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska)

• 2.06 Federal Partner Funding Sources Federal Partner Programs and Components, Grant Start Date, Grant End Date
• 3.03 Date of Birth
• 3.10 Project start Date 
• 3.11 Project Exit Date
• 4.02 Income and Sources Earned Income and all other source.
• Annual assessments capture the employment and income growth
• Include projects funded with specific HUD: CoC funding sources. 

Measures

Measure 4.1: Change in earned income for adult system stayers during the reporting period

Measure 4.2: Change in non-employment cash income for adult system stayers during the reporting period

Measure 4.3: Change in total income for adult system stayers during the reporting period

Measure 4.4: Change in earned income for adult system leavers

Measure 4.5: Change in non-employment cash income for adult system leavers

Measure 4.6: Change in total income for adult system leavers

Use: This measure helps CoCs understand if they are making progress towards helping people become quickly and stably housed (SPM 1, 4 and 7).  Achievement of quick and stable housing is assessed by measuring length of time homeless (#1), employment and income growth (#4), and placement when people exit the homelessness system (#7).

SPM 5 Number of Persons who Become Homeless for the First Time

Data Elements:

• 2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Emergency Shelter

o    Transitional Housing

o    Permanent Supportive Housing

§  Disability required for entry

§  Housing Only

§  Housing with services (no disability required for entry

§  Rapid Re-Housing

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska)

• 3.10 Project start Date
• 3.11 Project Exit Date

Measures:

Measure 5.1: Change in the number of persons entering ES, SH, and TH projects with no prior enrollments in HMIS

Measure 5.2: Change in the number of persons entering ES, SH, TH, and PH projects with no prior enrollments in HMIS

Use: This measure helps CoCs understand if they are reducing the number of people becoming homeless (Measure 2 and 5).

SPM 6 Homeless Prevention and Housing Placement of Persons Defined by Category 3 of HUD’s Homeless Definition in CoC Program-funded Projects

This metric only applies to high performing COCs. Currently, no CoCs have this designation.

SPM 7 Successful Placement from Street Outreach and Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing

Data Elements:

• 2.02.6 Project Type (defined when the project is created in HMIS)

o    Emergency Shelter

o    Transitional Housing

o    Permanent Supportive Housing

§  Disability required for entry

§  Housing Only

§  Housing with services (no disability required for entry

§  Rapid Re-Housing

o    Street Outreach

o    Safe Haven (there are none in Alaska)

• 3.10 Project start Date
• 3.11 Project Exit Date
• 3.12 Destination Selected destinations as described in Appendix A  in the FY2024 HMIS Data Dictionary page 106)
• 3.20 Housing Move-In Date

Measures

Measure 7a.1: Counts leavers who exited SO during the report date range and how many of those exited to an acceptable destination.

Measure7b.1: Counts leavers who exited ES, SH, TH, PH – RRH, and PH (without moving into housing) during the report range and how many of those exited to permanent housing destinations.

Measure7b.2: Counts stayers and leavers with a housing move-in date in all PH projects except PH-RRH and how many of those were stayers or leavers who exited to permanent housing destinations. 

Use: This measure helps CoCs understand if they are making progress towards helping people become quickly and stably housed (SPM 1, 4 and 7).

Critical System Data For the System Performance Measure Report

HUD places particular emphasis on three of the measures: length of time persons remains homeless (Measure 1), successful placement in and retention of housing (Measure 7) and returns to homelessness (Measure 2). These measures evaluate a homeless assistance system’s performance on the most effective practices currently known and assess results of HUD investments.

Data Elements Included in the Measure: Each Measure relies on only a handful of data elements. When considering data quality to improve the accuracy of the report, prioritize review of these data elements for the data analysis period.

* This information is something that is maintained by ICA.  Providers are required to provide regular updates on funding sources.

Data Completeness, Accuracy, Timeliness, and Consistency: Accurate client-level data must be gathered about each client served in the data analysis period, for each data element relevant to the respective measure. The data must also be entered into the HMIS correctly. Correct entry and exit dates, destination, income and sources, and residential/housing move-in dates are the most crucial data elements for the SPM results. Client identifier information used for deduplicating clients across project enrollments is also important for a CoC to review. Without accurate deduplication results, the measures may not reflect the reality of system use.

Actions Providers can take to improve AKHMIS data

• Review Entry/Exit or similar reports or APRs to identify high error rates for exit destinations, entries that need to be closed, duplicate entries, abnormally long stays for the project type, or missing or incorrect household information.
• Review and correct data at least once a quarter (preferably once a month) all projects to review HMIS data against participant files to ensure clients are being exited on the correct date and to the correct destination.
• Review protocols in place for data collection in shelters (entry/exit or night-by-night methods) - are they meeting the standards in the AKHMIS Data.
• Check the accuracy of the entry dates (e.g., Is there a typo in the date of entry? Is someone recorded as entering before the project opened?).
• Look for dates when the number of persons sheltered is higher than the number of beds available without a reasonable explanation.
• Check that entries and exits are being entered in a timely manner. Projects that delay entry of intake or exit data can cause inaccurate results and inconsistencies when the measures are run year after year.
• Confirm that funding source and grant start dates are correct in HMIS. Measure 4 cannot be generated without those data, and missing information can cause the report to produce an error message.
• If changes in income are lower than expected, ensure annual assessment updates are completed and entered timely (30 days before or after anniversary of entry date). 
• For Metric 5.2, use information from the local coordinated entry process to review the number of people who have not had previous contact with the homeless assistance system. If the number of persons entering permanent housing projects without a prior stay in ES, SH, or TH is higher than expected based on the coordinated entry reporting or other local reporting, the CoC may need to resolve a coverage issue or work closely with projects that are using “side doors” to entry.  
• If placement results on the SPM report are lower than expected based on individual project APRs (Q23), this may not be the result of a data quality issue. Measure 7 looks at unduplicated clients across project types and does not count a placement until the participant has completely finished participation with the “system” of projects (i.e., after the participant is completely exited from any ES, SH, TH, or RRH project for the reporting period).

Other Resources

System Performance Improvement Briefs