HUD has released the FY 2020 Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Data Standards, which includes dictionary table shells and data collection instructions for Project Descriptor, Universal, Common, and Metadata Elements, and placeholders for Federal Partner Data Elements (coming soon). There are several documents to ensure proper mapping of old data to new data, including back-data entry requirements and an updated CSV schema that will be released in the next few days. The XML schema will be released in the coming months, as will updated reporting specifications and other supporting documents. There will also be an interactive, online FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards tool released prior to October 1, 2019 that will be available to anyone needing specific, detailed, and easily searchable information about the FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards.
Timing
FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards provides the requirements for the programming and use of all HMIS systems and comparable database systems, effective October 1, 2019. HMIS software must be able to collect all the data elements defined within these HMIS Data Standards, support the system logic, including dependencies, identified in the document, and ensure that the data collection and the visibility of data elements is appropriate to the project type and federal funding source for any given project by this date.
As noted in a recent HUD Exchange listserv message, Elements 4.19 Coordinated Entry Assessment and 4.20 Coordinated Entry Event data elements are part of the FY 2020 Data Standards and should be available on October 1, 2019, however, HUD understands that some Continuums of Care (CoCs) and vendors may need a little more time to transition from their existing coordinated entry process to a new one. To allow for this, HUD is making April 1, 2020 the “go live” date for the Coordinated Entry data elements (4.19 & 4.20). In the coming months, HUD will provide more guidance to CoCs, HMIS System Administrators, and Vendors to help communities think through how they might best implement these new Coordinated Entry data elements.
Additional Information
- This release of the FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards supersedes the previously released 2017 HMIS Data Standards Data Dictionary Version 1.3
- Supporting Documents (to be released later this week):
- The Mapping Document is designed to show the changes found in the 2017 HMIS Data Standards for the Project Descriptor, Universal, Common, and Federal Partner Data Elements
- The Data Entry Requirements for FY 2020 Data Standards provides additional guidance about back-data entry requirements
- The updated FY 2020 CSV schema (and forthcoming FY 2020 XML schema) are available on the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX)
If you have questions about the FY 2020 HMIS Data Standards, please submit your questions to the Ask A Question (AAQ) portal. In Step 2 of the question submission process, select “ HMIS” in the “ My question is related to” dropdown. |
