The Homeless Alliance of Western New York serves as the Continuum of Care (CoC) Lead Agency and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead Agency for NY-508 (Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties). As the lead agency for these programs, the Homeless Alliance works with homelessness alleviation providers and the community to leverage the information within HMIS to continually evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts at both the project and system level.
Rolling 12-Month Performance Reports:
Each quarter the Homeless Alliance publishes a Rolling 12-Month Performance Report, commonly referred to as the Quarterly Report. This report contains a section for each homeless assistance project type (Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Re-housing, Transitional Housing, Emergency Shelter, Street Outreach, and Supportive Service Only) with locally developed performance measures related to the services each project type provides. The intent of this report is to:
- Provide timely feedback to projects to improve their services and to learn from each other,
- Help funders make funding decisions based upon performance, and
- To evaluate our CoC’s system performance.
System Performance Measures (SPM):
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires communities to measure their performance as a coordinated system. Every year, each Continuum of Care (CoC) is required to report their community’s HMIS data to HUD. The HMIS data is compiled into seven System Performance Measures (SPMs) that HUD uses as a competitive element in its annual CoC Program Competition and to gauge the state of the homeless response system nationally. The seven SPMs below contain counts, averages, and medians of client level data with limited breakout reporting by project type.
- Measure 1: Length of Time Persons Remain Homeless
- Measure 2: The Extent to which Persons who Exit Homelessness to Permanent Housing Destinations Return to Homelessness
- Measure 3: Number of Homeless Persons
- Measure 4: Employment and Income Growth for Homeless Persons In CoC Program-funded Projects
- Measure 5: Number of Persons who Become Homeless for the First Time
- Measure 7: Successful Placement from Street Outreach and Successful Placement In or Retention of Permanent Housing
Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA):
In addition to the data submitted to HUD for the System Performance Measures, each CoC also submits their community’s data for the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA). HUD compiles this information into a detailed report with critical information about how people experiencing homelessness use our system of care. Most information in the LSA is reported at the household level with detailed breakout reporting. Some examples of information found in the LSA include:
- Demographic characteristics like age and veteran status;
- Length of time homeless and patterns of system use;
- Information specific to populations whose needs and/or eligibility for services may differ from the broader homeless population, such as veterans and people and households experiencing chronic homelessness; and
- Housing outcomes for those who exit the homeless services system.
HUD also compiles the LSA data from every community into one report, the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), and submits it to the United States Congress. The AHAR is a national-level report that provides information about homeless service providers, people and households experiencing homelessness. It informs strategic planning for federal, state, and local initiatives designed to prevent and end homelessness.