The National Alliance to End Homelessness presents The HEARTH Academy Training and tools to help your community achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act

Federal Goal Nobody is homeless longer than 30 days Performance Measures Reducing lengths of homeless episodes Reducing new and return entries into homelessness The HEARTH Act Assess how your community performs Receive tools to help you implement proven strategies Create an action plan for reshaping homelessness assistance The HEARTH Academy

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessness HEARTH Academy Implementation Clinic Participants in this 1.5 day clinic will assess the performance of their homelessness assistance and implement community-wide strategies to better achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act. Individualized Consulting The Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building and other expert consultants will be available to provide customized assistance. Webinars and Tools Webinars, tools, and training materials will help communities prepare for the Implementation Clinic and learn about and implement the strategies that help prevent and end homelessness.

Aisha Williams Center for Capacity Building National Alliance to End Homelessness If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact: Note: The HEARTH Academy is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or any other federal agency. The HEARTH Academy is a project of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The HEARTH Academy Performance Improvement Strategies HEARTH Academy Sep Apr 2011

Performance Improvement Agenda Introduce the HEARTH performance measures Understand key measures, programs, and overall impact How to measure at a system level Successful performance improvement strategies Define performance measurement and improvement

Available at

Performance improvement requires systematic evaluation of your programs and system to determine their impact and guide efforts to improve results.

HEARTH Act Performance Measures Reduce the number of people who become homeless Reduce length of homelessness Reduce returns to homelessness Reduce overall homelessness Increase jobs and income Thoroughness in reaching homeless population Other accomplishments related to reducing homelessness

Core HEARTH measures Reduce new episodes of homelessness Reduce lengths of homeless episodes Reduce returns to homelessness

Measures of Homelessness Average number of homeless people at any time = Number of people who newly become homeless each day x Average length (days) of homeless episodes + Number of people who return to homelessness each day ,040

Measures of Homelessness Average number of homeless people at any time = Number of people who newly become homeless each day x Average length (days) of homeless episodes + Number of people who return to homelessness each day

Homelessness Assistance Programs Program Evaluation

Homelessness Assistance System Program Evaluation

System Measurement Challenges Program

Columbus, Ohio

2009 PerformanceFamiliesSingles Reductions in homelessness 6%4% Diversion32%13% Length of Stay5949 Reentries0%1% Columbus: Performance on Key Outcomes

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System Performance-Based Contracts Pay for performance Reward strong outcomes Support and expand effective programs

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System Contracts and Data Quality Participation Completeness Accuracy

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System Individual Outcome Performance Scores YES 90% or more or within 5% of numerical goal NO Less than 90% or not within 5% N/A New and Unassigned Goals System/Program Evaluation Ratings HIGH 75% overall outcomes or better MED 50% to 74% overall outcomes LOW Less than 50% overall outcomes

Columbus, Ohio: A Data Driven System Quality Improvement Intervention Problem Assessment Collaborative Goal Setting and Planning Regular Follow Up

Additional Resources

What now?

Examples of What to Measure Length of Stay % exiting shelter (for permanent housing) within 30,60, 90 days Return to homelessness % clients re-presenting at or entering shelter within 3, 6, 9, or 12 months of program completion Prevention / Diversion % clients diverted from shelter % clients prevented from homelessness % clients entering shelter within 1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 months of diversion/ prevention

Challenges and Tips Length of Stay Examine length of stay for each program Track persons with multiple program entries Use AHAR data for LOS in shelter and transitional housing Return to homelessness Prevention / Diversion Determine if prevention recipients entered shelter Compare shelter entries for those who received assistance with those who did not Compare permanent housing exits from one period with new entries in another period Compare HMIS ID’s for old and new entries

Measurement Tools & Strategies System Performance Measurement Tool Coming Soon…

Measurement Tools & Strategies ToolData you can getWays to Use HMIS – “canned reports” Entries, exits during the year Demographic characteristics Destinations Missing answers and rates of don’t know answers (important) Run the CoC APR for the entire system or a component of the system, such as all shelters Compare performance programs to component average, or year to year on exits to permanent housing Evaluate missing data and improve data quality HMIS custom reports Everything in your HMIS (entries, exits, demographics, outcomes, time frames) Select metrics you are interested in ( for example: exits to permanent housing within 45 days) Point –in – time Count Information about total population including chronic homelessness, demographics, etc. at a particular date/week over time Look at changes in size of total population and subpopulations over time Compare to system APR or AHAR for effectiveness of reach of system and with specific populations AHAR Population estimates, demographics, points of entry, lengths of stay, system capacity and turnover Look at turnover rates for singles and families, transitional housing and shelter Compare to need from PIT count, to turnover rates of rapid rehousing programs HPRP reports Information on prevention/rehousing population Costs of financial assistance Time of assistance Destinations Use to look at persons served, demand for prevention, costs of prevention Run Coc APR using HPRP data to compare with regular APR – look at differences in population Look in HMIS for people served in HPRP in other parts of the system Available at endhomelessness.org

Measurement Tools & Strategies ToolData you can getWays to Use HMIS – “canned reports” Entries, exits during the year Demographic characteristics Destinations Missing answers and rates of don’t know answers (important) Run the CoC APR for the entire system or a component of the system, such as all shelters Compare performance programs to component average, or year to year on exits to permanent housing Evaluate missing data and improve data quality

Looking Ahead Measure Gather data & establish baseline Analyze Consider which programs and activities lead to strong performance Examine data collection policies and practices Plan Consider where to adjust your program “portfolio” funding or investments to achieve better performance Consider policies and practices that encourage high quality data

Contacts: Norm Suchar Aisha Williams HEARTH Academy: System Assessment October 27 at 2pm Eastern Resources: org