1. OCTOBER 24, 2012 PRESENTED BY RENEE LAMBERJACK, RESEARCH & EVALUATION ASSISTANT Annual Homeless Assessment Report Presentation to Safe Harbors Partners

2. What is the AHAR? The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) is a report to the U.S. Congress on the extent and nature of homelessness. It is an effort to use administrative data to produce national estimates of homelessness. The AHAR is also a good tool for communities to assess the quality of their data in HMIS. 1

3. Why is it important? HUD has placed increased emphasis on HMIS to learn more about people who are receiving homeless assistance. AHAR participation is used in the scoring of the Continuum of Care (CoC) funding application for “McKinney” funds. The greater the number of accepted table shells the higher the CoC score. 2

4. What programs are included? Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, and Permanent Supportive Housing programs are included Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs (HPRP), Safe Havens, Permanent Housing, and Service Only programs are NOT included Domestic violence programs are NOT included 3

5. AHAR Reporting Categories ALL & VETERAN King County  Emergency Shelter – Individuals  Emergency Shelter – Families  Transitional Housing – Individuals  Transitional Housing – Families  Permanent Supportive Housing – Individuals  Permanent Supportive Housing – Families Seattle  Emergency Shelter – Individuals  Emergency Shelter – Families  Transitional Housing – Individuals  Transitional Housing – Families  Permanent Supportive Housing – Individuals  Permanent Supportive Housing – Families 4

6. Time Frame Report Period: Oct 1, 2011–Sept 30, 2012 Report Draft Due to HUD: November 15 th Final Report Due to HUD: January 15 th 5

7. Data Quality Enter and exit people from programs as timely as possible For Emergency Shelter programs, be sure clients have an emergency shelter service for every night they were served Enter ALL clients served by your program into HMIS Ensure records are as complete as possible (Universal data elements are the most important for AHAR) Permanent Supportive Housing programs report on program specific disability questions (mental health, physical disability…) 6

8. How to check your Data Data Quality Report for all programs  Look at your utilization rate on each of the four AHAR nights. Confirm that your program served that # of people on each night.  Look at your data completeness. Is there any way to improve your data? Universal Data Elements_Details for all programs  Use the AHAR report period for your dates (10/1/2011-9/30/2012)  Make sure everyone you served during this time is on the report  Find clients who have missing universal data elements Bed Night Report for ES  Use the AHAR report period for your dates (10/1/2011-9/30/2012)  Make sure everyone you served during this time is on the report 7

9. Safe Harbors Help Desk Phone: 206-386-0030 E-mail address: SafeHarborsHMISHelp@Seattle.gov Website: www.safeharbors.org 8