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Data Entry: Current Living Situation
Introduction
This explains the Current Living Situation sub-assessment that is found in PATH program projects, Street Outreach projects, and Anchorage Coordinated Entry projects in HMIS. Its use is different across project types. You will need to know whether you’ll be entering data for a PATH Program, a Street Outreach project, and/or Anchorage Coordinated Entry.
What is a current LIVING SITUATION?
The Current Living Situation is a series of questions in HMIS that appear in a pop-up window called a sub-assessment.
A client’s Current Living Situation is where they are staying at the moment an outreach worker makes contact with them. Each time there is a contact, a Current Living Situation must be recorded in HMIS. This is different from Prior Living Situation, which asks a series of different questions about where they stayed the night before a contact.
If a client is staying temporarily in a housing situation, the Current Living Situation sub-assessment keeps a record of whether the client will need to leave within 14 days. It also contains information to help locate a client.
When to record a current living situation
PATH Program and other Street Outreach projects require a Current Living Situation every time a client is contacted. The Current Living Situation is also referred to as a Street Outreach contact.
Anchorage Coordinated Entry requires Current Living Situation be entered at Project Start, when more than 90 days have passed since the last one was recorded, when there’s a change in the client’s living situation, and every time any other updates are recorded on the Coordinated Entry enrollment.
Do not record a Current Living Situation if you’re working on a client’s case but the client is not present. For example, if you’re talking to another provider to plan a referral but the client is not part of that conversation, don’t record a Current Living Situation.
How to record a current living situation
For projects that require Current Living Situation Information data entry, Current Living Situation sub-assessments are available for data entry on the summary tab and on the Entry/Exit tab at Project Start, Project Update, and Project Exit.
1. To expand the Current Living Situation sub-assessment, click “Add” in the Current Living Situation section.
2. The Information Date is the same as the Start Date. Remember, a Current Living Situation is where the client is currently staying, which may not be the same as where they stayed last night. This pretend client is staying in an unsheltered encampment. Choose the correct Current Living Situation.
3. Each Current Living Situation must have a notation of which organization or project verified the information.
4. Your first and last name must be entered as the worker who made contact with the client. Enter the ZIP Code of the client’s current living situation if it’s known.
5. In the client location details field, record information that may help you or another provider locate the client again. For example, this client is staying in an encampment off Main Street near the Main Street Grocery Store. The client has a blue tent.
6. The contact notes should include information that’s important about your contact with the client, such as indicating if a client has a pet, if they prefer to be approached by a particular outreach worker, if they prefer to be addressed by an Alias name, or if they have any immediate needs, they need help with.
7. Read the rest of the questions on the Current Living Situation sub-assessment. If any of the other questions are relevant to the client’s current situation, answer them.
8. There are additional questions for clients who are not in a Place Not Meant for Habitation or Emergency Shelter. For example, if a client is staying with friends, you’ll need to answer whether or not they’ll need to leave within 14 days. If they will have to leave within 14 days, there are other questions to answer. Note the instruction to save the information at this point for clients who are in a Place Not Meant for Habitation or Emergency Shelter. For this pretend client who is staying in a place not meant for habitation, these additional questions are not required.
If you entered data in a Current Living Situation sub-assessment that needs to be edited, click the pencil to the left of that record. Don’t edit a Current Living Situation entered by someone else unless you have been specifically trained in data cleanup.
Video
Data Entry: How to Record Current Living Situation