System Performance Measures Data







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Below is a detailed list of the measures reported on in the System Performance Measures Report and the data they contain.  To jump directly to the information for a specific measure, press <Ctrl+F> to access your browser's search field and enter the name of the measure you'd like to view.

IMPORTANT! When reviewing this information, please keep in mind the following:

Data Used in the Report - The System Performance Measures Report looks the following data elements, primarily for project stays up to two years before the start date of the report:

- 3.03 Date of Birth
- 3.10 Project Start Date
- 3.11 Project Exit Date
- 3.12 Destination
- 3.15 Relationship to Head of Household
- 3.16 Client Location CoC
- 3.917 Priori Living Situation (especially the field Approximate Date Started)
- 3.20 Housing Move-In Date
- 4.02 Income and Sources
- 5.08 Personal Identifier
- 5.09 Household Identifier

In addition the report looks at the following project descriptor data elements when determining which projects should be included for each report measure:

- 2.02.6 Project Type
- 2.06 Funding Sources

In the event that projects are assigned to multiple CoCs, the report relies on the Client Location option at Intake/Admission to determine which clients are associated with the CoC for which the report has been run.

Individual Detail - If individual detail has been included in the report, it is displayed in a special table at the bottom of the page and can be particularly useful if it's necessary to troubleshoot report content.  Every client included in the report has his/her own row in the individual detail table, and each metric from the report is shown in a separate column.  When reviewing the data in this table, please keep in mind that if a client was served by more than one project, all of his/her project stays are grouped together in the table; as a result, you will sometimes see more than one Client ID, Name, or Project Type, all listed in a single row. The individual details can sometimes be used to spot duplicate clients, for instance when you see one row containing two different names.  Additionally, please note that not all measures apply to all project types, so the HMIS Project Type information can be used to see which types of project a client was enrolled in.

Inline Details - Many of the numbers in the report have underlined links, referred to as "Inline Details."  Click one of these links to see a filtered version of the Individual Details table that isolates the clients who are counted in that number.

Measure 1 - Length of Time Persons Remain Homeless

  NOTE: This measure is only relevant and displayed when the report has been run for a Continuum of Care, not for a single project or custom grouping.

Measure 1 looks at the length of time clients are homeless.  The goal of this measure is to show that your CoC is helping to reduce the average and median length of time that clients remain homeless. To be included in Measure 1, a client must have spent at least one night in an Emergency Shelter (ES), Safe Haven (SH), or Transitional Housing (TH) project during the reporting period.  

This measure is split into two parts, each with an identical table.  The first row of each table counts the clients enrolled in ES and SH projects, while the second row counts clients enrolled in ES, SH, and TH projects.  In regard to columns, the first shows the total number of clients counted in each row, the next shows the average length of time homeless, and the final shows the median length of time homeless. 

  Metric 1a looks only at the client's admission dates and discharge dates to determine the average and median length of time homeless across the relevant universe of projects. This includes time homeless during the report date range as well as prior to the report start date, going back no further than two years from the start date of the report (known as the "Lookback Stop Date").  

  Metric 1b looks at the client's admission date and discharge date, as well as data from his/her "Approximate Date Started" field.  If "Approximate Date Started" is available, this becomes the client's "Adjusted Entry Date," which is then used in the calculations just as if it were the client's actual entry date.  For children in households, the head of household's "Approximate Date Started" is used.

Please note that in the rare circumstance that a client has overlapping residential project history, certain rules are followed.  If a client was enrolled in ES or SH at the same time as a TH project, the time spent in the TH project is not counted in row 1 of either table.  For Permanent Housing and Rapid Re-Housing projects, any time spent housed (based on the Permanent Housing Move In Date) is also ignored.

For each client the episodes which are counted in the report are first measured by finding the very last day during the report period in which the client was active in a homeless project (ES, SH, or TH).  This becomes the "Client End Date."  The report then looks back exactly one year from the Client End Date to figure out the "Client Start Date."  The report adds up all of the bed nights when a client was enrolled in ES, SH, or TH during that date range.  If the client was enrolled in an ES, SH, or TH project on the Client Start Date, then the report will go back even farther to the client's admission date or the "Lookback Stop Date" (two years from the report start date), whichever comes first.  In Metric 1b, instead of using the client's admission date, the report will go back to the "Adjusted Entry Date" or the "Lookback Stop Date."  

This is a complicated measure so it can be helpful to reference the individual details when included in the report.  Those details provide you with the total number of bed nights (total length of time homeless) for each client in Metric 1a and 1b.   

Measure 2 - The Extent to which Persons who Exit Homelessness to Permanent Housing Destinations Return to Homelessness

  NOTE: This measure is only relevant and displayed when the report has been run for a Continuum of Care, not for a single project or custom grouping.

Measure 2 looks at clients who exited Street Outreach (SO), Emergency Shelter (ES), Transitional Housing (TH), Safe Haven (SH), or Permanent Housing (PH) projects with a permanent housing destination in the date range two years prior to the report date range, to see how many returned to homelessness within 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months.  This measure is sometimes referred to as the "recidivism rate" for homelessness.

This measure is broken down into two tables.  The first table, Measure 2a, looks at how many of the clients returned to homelessness up to 12 months after their initial exit.  The second table, Measure 2b, looks at how many of the clients returned to homelessness up to 24 months after their initial exit.  

Each table contains a separate row for each project type, as well as a "Total" row that looks at all clients who exited to permanent housing.  (Keep in mind that the Total row is not a sum of the other rows because one client may have been served by more than one type of project.)

The first column of each table shows the "Total Number of Persons who Exited to a Permanent Housing Destination (2 Years Prior)."  For example, if the date range for the report is 10/1/2014 to 9/30/2015, the report will look at discharges that happened between 10/1/2012 and 9/30/2014 to find clients with a "Destination" that was classified as a Permanent Housing destination.  If a client has more than one discharge during the two years prior to the reporting period, the report will use the earliest discharge that had a Permanent Housing destination (this is referred to as the "chosen discharge date").  

Permanent Housing destinations include the following options found in the "Destination" drop-down at discharge: 

- Moved from one HOPWA funded project to HOPWA PH     
- Owned by client, no ongoing housing subsidy     
- Owned by client, with ongoing housing subsidy     
- Permanent housing (other than RRH) for formerly homeless persons     
- Rental by client, no ongoing housing subsidy     
- Rental by client, with GPD TIP housing subsidy     
- Rental by client, with other ongoing housing subsidy     
- Rental by client, with VASH housing subsidy     
- Staying or living with family, permanent tenure     
- Staying or living with friends, permanent tenure
- Rental by client, with RRH or equivalent subsidy
- Safe Haven (this is a positive outcome for Street Outreach projects only)

The second column of each table looks at the "Number Returning to Homelessness in Less than 6 Months (0 - 180 days)."  When determining returns to homelessness, the report looks for any new enrollments in SO, ES, TH, SH, or PH that come after the client's chosen discharge date.  The client does not have to return to the same type of project.  Returns to PH are still considered returns to homelessness since PH projects require the client to be homeless in order to be admitted.  (Note that returns to TH and PH must be more than 14 days after the client's chosen discharge date.  Returns to PH must also be more than 14 days after any other PH project stays.  This makes sure that the client is not just proceeding through the continuum of care or moving from one PH project to another.) 

Additional columns count the "Number Returning to Homelessness from 6 to 12 Months (181 - 365 days)" and (in table 2b) the "Number Returning to Homelessness from 13 to 24 Months (366 - 730 days)."  There are also columns that show the percentage of clients who returned to homelessness for each of these three date ranges.  

A total column at the end of table 1a shows the total "Number of Returns in 1 Year" as well as the percentage of all applicable clients who returned to homelessness within 1 year.  Table 1b shows the total and percentage of "Returns in 2 Years."

If individual detail is included in the report, clients with a successful discharge to permanent housing will be counted in the "Exited From" column there, showing what project type they were in at the time of their successful discharge.  Those clients who then returned to homelessness will have a number displayed in the "Returned After" column.  The number "1" means that they were counted in the first date range (0 to 6 months), "2" that they were counted in the second date range (6 to 12 months), and "3" that they were counted in the third date range (13 to 24 months). 

Measure 3 - Number of Homeless Persons

Measure 3 looks at the total number of homeless persons in your CoC.  In eSNAPS there are two tables; however, in AWARDS only Measure 3b is present.  Measure 3a asks communities to manually enter their Point-In-Time Count data, and does not rely on any HMIS data.  Measure 3.2 gives an unduplicated count of clients who spent at least one night in Emergency Shelter (ES), Safe Haven (SH), or Transitional Housing (TH) during the reporting period.  There's an additional line that gives the total unduplicated count of sheltered homeless persons from all three project types.  The total line is not a sum of the other three rows because one client may have been served by more than one project type.  

If individual detail is included in the report, the "HMIS Project Type" column there can be used to see all of the clients who resided in each type of project.   

Measure 4 - Employment and Income Growth for Homeless Persons in CoC Program-funded Projects

Measure 4 looks at the income changes of clients in CoC Funded Projects.  A CoC Funded Project is any HMIS project with a Funding Source that starts with "HUD:CoC."  

This measure is broken up into six tables: 

Metric 4.1: Change in earned income for adult stayers
Metric 4.2: Change in non-employment cash income for adult stayers
Metric 4.3: Change in total income for adult stayers
Metric 4.4: Change in earned income for adult leavers
Metric 4.5: Change in non-employment cash income for adult leavers
Metric 4.6: Change in total income for adult leavers

Each table has one row showing the total applicable universe of clients, a second row showing the number of clients who increased that type of income, and a third row showing the percentage of clients who increased their income.  

Metrics 4.14.2, and 4.3 relate to "stayers."  A stayer is a client who was active in one or more CoC funded projects on the last day of the reporting period.  To be included in the counts the client must have been 18 years old on the report start date, and they must have been enrolled in the project for more than 365 days by the end of the reporting period.   The first row in each of these three tables gives the total "Number of adults (system stayers)."  

Metrics 4.14.2, and 4.3 rely on "Annual Assessment" data for comparison purposes.  An Annual Assessment is an HMIS Info record that has an effective date within 30 days of the client's anniversary of admission (up to 30 days before or 30 days after).  For example, if a client was admitted on June 15th of last year, then an annual update would need to be recorded (under HMIS Info on the client's face sheet) with an effective date between May 16th and July 15th of the current year in order to be considered an "Annual Assessment."  Clients with no valid annual assessment will not be counted as having succeeded on any of these metrics.  Clients who have been in a project for more than two years, and who have more than one Annual Assessment, will use the last two Annual Assessments for comparison purposes.  Clients with only one Annual Assessment will compare that Annual Assessment to the client's income at admission.  

Metrics 4.44.5, and 4.6 relate to "leavers."  A leaver is an adult client who was discharged from one or more CoC funded projects during the reporting period.  If a client was discharged from more than one applicable project during the report period, each stay will be evaluated separately.  These metrics compare the client's income at admission with the client's income at discharge.

Metrics 4.1 and 4.4 look at income with the source "Earned Income."  
Metrics 4.2 and 4.5 look at all income sources except for "Earned Income."
Metrics 4.3 and 4.6 look at the total income amount for all sources.  

Please note that if a client is missing their income at admission they will not be included in the universe of clients for any of these metrics.  To be considered missing the "Income from Any Source" option needs to either be blank, or set to "Client Doesn't Know," "Client Refused," or "Data Not Collected." 

If individual detail is included in the report, four columns are present there which show which clients were counted in which measures.  The first column "M4 Stayer/Leaver Status" tells you whether the client is counted as a leaver or not.  "Increased Earned Income" tells you if the client was counted successfully in Metric 4.1 or 4.4.  "Increased Other Income" tells you if the client was counted successfully in Metric 4.2 or 4.5. "Increased Total Income" tells you if the client was counted successfully in Metric 4.3 or 4.6.  All of these columns will be blank for clients who were not counted in these tables (such as youth, clients in non-CoC-funded projects, or clients missing their admission income).  

Measure 5 - Number of Persons who Became Homeless for the First Time

Measure 5 is a simplified look at the number of clients who became homeless for the first time.  This is not intended to be a comprehensive look at first-time homelessness.  This measure only looks at Emergency Shelter (ES), Safe Haven (SH), Transitional Housing (TH), and Permanent Housing (PH) projects in the selected CoC.  The report also only looks back up to two years before the start date of the report.  This measure is divided into two tables: 

Metric 5.1 – Change in the number of persons entering ES, SH, and TH projects with no prior enrollments in HMIS
- Metric 5.2 – Change in the number of persons entering ES, SH, TH, and PH projects with no prior enrollments in HMIS

For Metric 5.1 the report finds each client's earliest enrollment in any ES, SH, or TH projects from the selected CoC with an admission date that falls within the report range.  This is the Universe of clients reported in the first row of the table.  The report then looks to see if the client has any history in ES, SH, TH or PH over the two years preceding the client's admission date.  If they do not, then they are counted as becoming newly homeless (row 3).  If they do have previous history, they are counted in row 2.  

Metric 5.2 is the same as Metric 5.1, but it also includes clients who entered a PH project in the selected CoC during the report range.  The numbers in Metric 5.2 should always be bigger than Metric 5.1.

If individual detail is included in the report, there is one column there called "First Time Homeless ES" that tells how many clients were counted in Metric 5.1, and one column called "First Time Homeless PH" that tells how many clients were counted in Metric 5.2.   

Measure 6 - Homeless Prevention and Housing Placement of Persons Defined by Category 3 of HUD's Homeless Definition...

Measures 6 is not currently used by any databases and does not appear in the report.  This measure only applies to CoCs that have been approved by HUD to serve families with children and youth defined as homeless under other federal laws (going beyond HUD's definition of homelessness).  As of spring 2016 no CoCs have been approved.  This measure may be added in future years if HUD approves any communities to serve this special population.

Measure 7 - Successful Placement from Street Outreach and Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing

Measure 7 looks at the number of clients who were discharged to Permanent Housing destinations during the reporting period.  This measure is split up into three different tables, each looking at different project types:

Metric 7a.1 - This metric looks at Street Outreach (SO) projects.  The first row records all the clients who were discharged from Street Outreach projects.  (Yes, you are expected to discharge clients from Street Outreach projects once your outreach team has helped place a client, or when a client disappears.)  The second row records all the clients with a discharge to a temporary or institutional setting (as defined below).  The third row records all the clients with a discharge to a permanent housing destination.  The fourth row gives the percentage of successful exits. Clients counted in rows 2 and 3 are all counted as having successful exits from street outreach.

Metric 7b.1 - This metric looks at Emergency Shelter (ES), Safe Haven (SH), Transitional Housing (TH), and Rapid Re-Housing (PH-RRH) projects, as well as Permanent Housing (PH) clients who were discharged before being housed in the project.  The first row records all the clients who were discharged from these projects.  The second row records all the clients with a discharge to a permanent housing destination.  The third row gives the percentage of successful exits.  For Rapid Re-Housing projects, all exits are used, not just the ones where there was a Housing Move In Date.

Metric 7b.2 - This metric looks at all Permanent Housing (PH) projects except for Rapid Re-Housing, and includes only clients with a Housing Move In Date.  The first row records all the clients who were active in these projects, including both leavers and stayers.  The second row records all the clients who were still present in the project on the last day of the reporting period (stayers) OR clients who discharged to a permanent housing destination.  The third row gives the percentage of successful exits and retentions.  Staying in a permanent housing project is considered just as successful as exiting to a different permanent housing destination.   

The Temporary or Institution destinations which are counted as positive outcomes in Metric 7a.1 include: 

- Emergency shelter, including hotel or motel paid for with emergency shelter voucher, or RHY-funded Host Home shelter (1)
- Foster care home or foster care group home (15)
- Safe Haven (18)
- Hotel or motel paid for without emergency shelter voucher (14)
- Moved from one HOPWA funded project to HOPWA TH (27)
- Psychiatric hospital or other psychiatric facility (4) 
- Staying or living with family, temporary tenure (e.g., room, apartment or house) (12)
- Staying or living with friends, temporary tenure (e.g., room apartment or house) (13)
- Substance abuse treatment facility or detox center (5)
- Transitional housing for homeless persons (including homeless youth) (2) 
- Long-term care facility or nursing home (25)

The Permanent Housing destinations which are counted as positive outcomes in all metrics include:

- Moved from one HOPWA funded project to HOPWA PH (26)    
- Owned by client, no ongoing housing subsidy (11)
- Owned by client, with ongoing housing subsidy (21)    
- Permanent housing (other than RRH) for formerly homeless persons (3)    
- Rental by client, no ongoing housing subsidy (10)    
- Rental by client, with GPD TIP housing subsidy (28)    
- Rental by client, with other ongoing housing subsidy (20)    
- Rental by client, with VASH housing subsidy (19)    
- Staying or living with family, permanent tenure (22)    
- Staying or living with friends, permanent tenure (23)
- Rental by client, with RRH or equivalent subsidy (31)

If individual detail is included in the report, three columns are present there which show whether the client was counted in the universe of clients and whether or not the client was counted as having a successful exit or retention.  The column "M7a Universe/Success" looks at Metric 7a.1 and will display "Yes" if the client was discharged from an outreach project, followed by the word "Institution" if they were discharged to a temporary or institutional setting, or the word "Permanent" if they were discharged to a permanent housing destination. The column "M7b1 Universe/Success" looks at Metric 7b.1 and will display "Yes" if the client was discharged from one of the applicable project types, followed by a "Yes" or "No" to denote whether or not the destination was permanent housing.  The column "M7b2 Universe/Success" looks at Metric 7b.2 and will display "Yes" if the client was present in a Permanent Housing project, followed by a "Yes" or "No" to denote whether or not client was successful at retaining or exiting to permanent housing.   

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