1. 2018 PIT/HiC Guidance for communities

2. 2018 PIT/HIC Guidance for Communities
The MCAH Staff is always here to help you with PIT/HIC questions you might have:
Elizabeth Hurkman Gerry Leslie Jill Shoemaker

3. Today’s Agenda PIT/HIC Overview Important Changes for 2018
Activities to Get Ready for the PIT/HIC

4. HUD Resources for Pit and hic
2018 PIT/HIC Data Collection Notice HIC-PIT-Data-Collection-Notice.pdf PIT Count Methodology Guide Methodology-Guide.pdf

5. What is the PIT and Hic? PIT : Point In Time Count
A count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness on a single night of the year
HIC: Housing Inventory Count
The count of beds dedicated to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in a community.

6. Federal requirements for the pit
According to HUD, the PIT is a “count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by HUD.”
All communities that receive funding from HUD must perform a sheltered PIT annually, and an unsheltered PIT biennially on odd years.
In 2017 MI BOS began conducting an unsheltered PIT Count annually. Other MI CoCs are encouraged to conduct their own annual unsheltered count if they are not already doing so.

7. MICHIGAN PIT and HIC
The Michigan Balance of State will be conducting the PIT on Wednesday, January 31, Independent Jurisdiction CoCs can choose another date within the last 10 days of January, however we encourage all of Michigan to join us on the 31th, if possible.
Data is submitted to HUD through the HUDHDX.info website, and the typical submission window is during the month of April.

8. 2018 PIT/HIC Changes

9. PIT Changes for 2018
HUD is requiring that data reported on survivors of domestic violence should be limited to reporting on those who are currently experiencing homelessness because they are fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, as opposed to reporting on survivors who have ever experienced these circumstances.
**This change will be addressed by using an additional question on HMIS PIT assessments. It will be important to make sure that DV questions are included on any customized assessments being used for PIT, ES, or TH projects. Additionally, it will be important to make sure that any clients who are enrolled in a project like RRH or PSH but are NOT YET housed are included in the PIT via a Participating or Non-Participating ES project or in an Unsheltered PIT page.**
“If yes for Domestic Violence Victim/Survivor, are you currently fleeing?". 

10. PIT Changes for 2018
CoCs are now required to report the number of children of parenting youth families where the parent is under 18 separate from the children of parenting youth families where the parent is aged 18 to 24.
Consistent with the updated 2017 HMIS Data Dictionary, HUD changed the “Don’t identify as male, female, or transgender” gender response option to “Gender Non-Conforming (i.e. not exclusively male or female).”

11. Hic changes for 2018
HUD published its 2017 HMIS Data Standards in April 2017, outlining changes to HMIS data collection. While communities are not required to use HMIS to generate their HIC, HUD updated the data standards to include the data elements associated with the HIC so that communities can generate most of the data for the HIC directly from their HMIS, if desired.
The 2017 Data Standards funding sources were updated to include VA-funded Contract Residential Services (CRS), which is a consolidation of the former Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Emergency Housing and Residential Treatment Programs. This Notice has been updated to reflect that change.

12. Hic changes for 2018
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently designated components within its Grant and Per Diem (GPD) program. The 2017 HMIS Data standards were updated to reflect these changes. Beginning in 2017, communities must report their GPD projects by component type and project type in the HIC. The chart below identifies the appropriate project type in HMIS and the HIC based on the GPD components.

13. Activities to get ready for pit/hic

14. Activities to get ready for pit/hic
Verifying HUD Standards on your Provider Pages
Training Count Volunteers and Workers
The Homeless Definition for the PIT
The Count Window
Data Collection Forms
Issues of Safety and Client Confidentiality

15. Verifying HUD data Standards on provider pages

16. Verifying HUD data Standards on provider pages

17. Verifying HUD data Standards on provider pages

18. Verifying HUD data Standards on provider pages
Of Particular Importance:
If your project is a Permanent Housing type, make sure the appropriate PH category is selected. Remember, Rapid Rehousing is now considered a category of Permanent Housing.
Provider Grant Type: Make sure to select the correct option where appropriate. (HOPWA, PATH, RHY, SSVF)
Make sure you have entered the correct CoC codes for all of your projects.

19. Training: The Homeless definition
The Homeless Definition used for the PIT Count is a subset of the HUD Homeless Definition and includes only persons who are:
“living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangement (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local government programs for low-income individuals)” (Sheltered)
living “with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground” (Unsheltered)

20. Training: The Homeless definition
This means that:
Individuals who are imminently at risk for homelessness but not physically unsheltered or residing in a primary nighttime residence for homeless persons should not be counted. (Category 2)
Individuals who meet other federal definitions of homelessness, such as the McKinney-Vento Educational definition, but do not align with the prior subset of the definition should not be counted. (Category 3)

21. Training: The Count Window
If your Count Date is Wednesday, January 31st, your Count window will be from Sunset on the 31st through Sunrise on February 1st.

22. Training: The Count Window
This means that to count a person, they must:
Have stayed in a place unfit for human habitation starting on the night of the count and ending on the night after the count. (Unsheltered Counts Only)
Have been in an ES, TH or Safe Haven defined facility for homeless persons starting on the night of the count and ending on the night after the count.

23. Training: The count window
Unsheltered Count for 2018: When conducting street counts, there are two primary strategies communities often use:
Night of the Count Approach: Communities send count teams throughout the entire jurisdiction, or into known locations on the night of the count to identify homeless individuals.
Service Based Approach: Communities are permitted to go to places that offer homeless based services up to seven days after the night of the count to identify persons who were homeless on the count night.

24. Training: The count window
If using a Night of the Count approach, a community should:
Send street teams out at a time after which shelters have stopped receiving new clients for the evening on the night of the count.
Define coverage areas for each team to avoid “double coverage” of specific areas in the CoC.

25. Training: the count window
HUD guidelines permit that communities use a mixed strategy of both a Night of the Count Approach and a Services Based Approach, provided that communities ensure that clients are unduplicated, and that they are asked whether they were homeless on the night of the count itself.

26. Training: Data collection forms
Updated MCAH Data Collection Forms: resources/finish/187-pit-kit-resources/ pit-data-collection-form
Updated MCAH Data Collection Form Instructions: resources/finish/187-pit-kit-resources/ pit-data-collection-form- instructions

27. Training: Data collection forms
Environments where Data will be collected in:
HMIS Participating Agencies
Non-HMIS Participating Homeless Service Providers
Domestic Violence/Victim Service Providers
Unsheltered Persons Counted by CoC Partners/Local Volunteers

28. Training: Data collection forms
HMIS Participating Agencies: As long as standard workflows are used and all clients are entered into the system on the night of the count, no additional work should be necessary to ensure that clients pull properly into the Mediware/Bowman developed PIT Report

29. Training: Data collection forms
Non-HMIS Participating Agencies: Data collection forms should be distributed to all Non-HMIS Participating Agencies within the community. The forms can either be completed by agency staff, or by volunteers whom the agencies are partnering with to collect client information for the PIT night. This information will then be entered into HMIS following the count.

30. Training: Data collection forms
Unsheltered Count: Data collection forms should be distributed to each count team participating in count activities. These forms should be completed in the field when engaging with clients, then secured in a confidential envelope and delivered directly to the data entry staff who will put the data into HMIS.

31. Training: Data collection forms
Victim Service Provider Agencies: Data collection forms should be distributed to each DV agency within the CoC. DV agency staff should complete the forms using the specific DV related instructions on the form and in the form instructions document. Forms should be secured in a private envelope and returned to the data entry staff who will be responsible for the PIT Count data.

32. Training: Data collection forms
Use Anonymous 1, 2, 3 etc to identify each unique DV Homeless Client. Use Anonymous 1, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3 to identify each unique child in the Anonymous Client 1’s Household
Use the Age Range Codes on the Data Collection Form’s Instruction sheet to mask the Date of Birth. For example, Jane Doe is 34 so she is a 5, Jack is 12, and a code 3, Jill is 8 and a code 2.
As an example for DV Providers using the MCAH forms, if a client named Jane Doe with a Birthdate of 5/13/1980 is fleeing Domestic Violence, and she has two children, Jack, born 1/13/2003 and Jill born 2/5/2007, the information should be entered using the masking technique above.

33. TRAINING: DATA COLLECTION FORMS

34. TRAINING: DATA COLLECTION FORMS
A few follow up notes on Data Collection Forms:
For persons with multiple races, put the second race in the row below the individuals record, and leave the rest of the row blank
Be sure to complete the new “Number of Household Members” column.
The disability types are designed to align with which disabilities the Bowman report draws from. Separating Alcohol Abuse and Drug Abuse is new to the report. Other disabilities, while HUD values, do not pull into the Mediware/Bowman report, thus are not listed.

35. Training: Data collection forms
New to the 2018 Data Collection Forms:
Gender options have been updated. See form instructions.
A column to document “Number of Household Members” has been added to facilitate the accurate documentation of households. See form instructions.
Additional guidance regarding the changes in documentation of DV households/individuals experiencing homelessness. See form instructions.

36. Issues of safety and client confidentiality
**CRITICAL** Always provide training to ALL PIT volunteers prior to sending them out in the field. This training should include:
A fundamental understanding of the homeless definition used for the count.
Instructions on properly filling out the forms
Information on how to effectively interview homeless clients
Basic principals on safety and confidentiality

37. Issues of safety and client confidentiality
If using Count Teams in the field on the Night of the Count:
Have Count Teams wear identification badges so people know who they are. Make sure they identify themselves as they approach individuals in the field.
Always make sure Count Teams are made up of multiple individuals, four persons is ideal.
Have Count Teams carry flashlights when walking around after dark.
Each Count Team should have at least one member with a cell phone and instructions to call 911 in case of an emergency. They also should have the phone number of a PIT Team Organizer to call with questions.

38. Issues of safety and client confidentiality
If using Count Teams in the field on the Night of the Count:
Count Teams should never walk into situations that make them feel uncomfortable. They should not enter abandoned buildings, go into places not easily accessed or closed off from view. If text messaging technology is available, they should frequently report changes of location to PIT organizers to keep them informed on where they’re at.
A PIT Team Organizer should be available at all times at a central team dispatch location to answer questions and provide count guidance

39. Issues of safety and client confidentiality
If using Count Teams in the field on the Night of the Count:
If available, PIT Team members should receive training ahead of the count on the fundamental principles of conflict de-escalation by counseling professionals. (Often, counselors from CoC mental health, substance and alcohol use agencies are happy to provide this service as part of the PIT training process.)

40. Issues of safety and client confidentiality
Important Notes on Confidentiality:
Always look for ways to ensure communication between individuals being interviewed is confidential. When interviewing persons, attempt to do so in a fashion that keeps their responses out of the hearing range of others.
When writing responses on data collection forms, keep them out of the line of sight of others in the vicinity. Once data collection has been finished, forms should be returned to a privacy envelope. After the interviewing process is complete, only the person entering the data into HMIS should be permitted to see the completed forms.

41. A few Final Notes
Each community in Michigan is responsible for entering their data in the HMIS. There also must be an HMIS licensed individual in each CoC or local planning community who will update local provider pages (with MCAH TA).
Independent Jurisdictions are responsible for running final PIT/HIC reports and entering the data into HUDHDX. MCAH Staff run final reports for the Balance of State and make the submission through HUDHDX.

42. 2018 PIT/HIC Guidance for Communities
The MCAH Staff is always here to help you with PIT/HIC questions you might have:
Elizabeth Hurkman Gerry Leslie Jill Shoemaker
MCAH Help Desk
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