HUD 2024 HMIS Data Standards

HSH and Bitfocus are excited to share that the newest HUD Data Standards have been released. Every two years, HUD updates the data standards, working to ensure that the fields in HMIS systems across the country are capturing the most relevant information.

Read on or watch this training video to learn more about how the 2024 HMIS Data Standards will impact the ONE System:

Click here for presentation slides shown in video.

Client Centered Changes 

Sometimes these changes are purely technical and do not impact end users. This year, some exciting changes help to make several areas in the ONE System more client-centered. Most notably, HUD has merged the race and ethnicity fields into a single field. This will allow people who identify their race or ethnicity as Hispanic/Latina/e/o will be able to identify it as such. Further, a race/ethnicity category for Middle Eastern/North African has been added, allowing clients to choose the identity that best fits them. The gender options have also been updated, better aligning with the language that we know clients in our community use to identify themselves. Please click here for more information.

Additionally, ‘client refused to answer’ will now be reworded to read as ‘client prefers not to answer’. 

Other ways to ensure client-centered practices 

While we are excited to roll out some of these client-centered changes to the ONE System, we recognize there are other questions and fields required by HUD that are deeply personal and can be inherently challenging for people to answer. Client-centered practices can be applied through relationship building, allowing the client to lead the pace of the conversation, and ensuring a private space for safe conversation. For support or information on best practices on ensuring a client-centered approach, please contact your HSH program manager.  

What else is changing? 

There are a few back-end changes to the program setup information that will not impact what you see in the system. A few other fields have minor changes in the language or dropdown options. A few specific programs have more detailed changes, although none of them should pose any challenges or problems. 

Changes worth noting:  

• If a client’s exit destination, prior living situation, or current living situation was “Rental by client, with ongoing housing subsidy”, a new drop-down will appear to select the specific type of rental subsidy. This reorganizes many of the existing subsidy options and adds in a few additional ones. Please click here for more information.
• A new field will be available to track if the client requires translation assistance. 
• Sexual Orientation, which San Francisco currently collects at the client profile level, will now be added to the enrollment questions for CoC programs. HSH uses the client profile question to report on City-wide data, and the CoC enrollment question is a new HUD requirement. The answer choices differ slightly between the questions, as the San Francisco question on the profile was developed in partnership with our local community and the HUD question for CoC enrollments is less specific to our locally preferred language. HSH is working on a technical solution to streamline this change.  
• Veteran Specific Changes
  • Space Force is being added as an option for the branch of military the client served in
  • Extended Shallow Subsidy is being renamed as Shallow Subsidy
  • Landlord Incentive and Tenant Incentive are being added as options for the SSVF Financial Assistance Services
  • The SSVF eligibility AMI percentages are being updated to the following ranges:
    • 30% or less
    • 31% to 50%
    • 51% to 80%
    • 81% or greater 

Timeline 

These changes will go live on October 1st, 2023. HSH and Bitfocus will provide training and detailed information about the changes as that date draws closer. As a ONE System user, you will automatically see the changes in the system on October 1st and will only need to know how to work with them. 

Updating internal databases 

While these updates only require changes to the ONE system, individual agencies may choose to update their internal databases to align with the 2024 HUD standards. For detailed information, please review HUD's resources. Regardless of the specific fields that each provider chooses to use in any internal databases, each provider is responsible for completing all fields in ONE.