What Is HMIS?

In technical terms, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires all Continuums of Care (CoCs) across the nation to use a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), mandated by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by S.896 The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009. An HMIS is a locally-administered information technology system used to collect client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to individuals and families at-risk of and experiencing homelessness. Each CoC is responsible for selecting an HMIS software solution that complies with HUDs data collection, management, and reporting standards.

*** In less technical terms, an HMIS is used by agencies that provide services to individuals and families at-risk of and experiencing homelessness. This data matters not only because HUD requires every CoC across the nation to use an HMIS it also informs the community and agencies about the state of homelessness at the local level, how projects are doing at serving clients, and how clients at-risk of and experiencing homelessness may be changing over time. ***