Background

Projects funded by the Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG) to provide essential services to Emergency Shelters operated by a different agency should not be set up in the OC HMIS. Instead, the ESG funded agency needs to report on the clients residing in the Emergency Shelters that they serve. In addition, 211OC will generate the ESG required reports. For this purpose, there should be an agreement between the ESG funded agency and the agency operating the Emergency Shelter so that the ESG funded agency can report on the Emergency Shelter clients' data. This article will detail the overview of the process needed for the ESG agency to be compliant with the ESG reporting requirements. 

Overview of the Process 

1. The agency receiving the ESG Emergency Shelter - Essential Services funding should enter a ticket with the OC HMIS Helpdesk to inform to which Emergency Shelters they are providing services 
2. The HMIS team will verify the funding information with the ESG funder and will verify that the Emergency Shelters served are existing projects in the OC HMIS
3. If the Emergency Shelter do not exist in the OC HMIS, the HMIS team will work with the agencies operating the shelter to set the project in the HMIS
4. Once it has been verified that the projects are correctly set up in the HMIS, the ESG funded agency should work with the agency operating the shelter to write a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in which all parties acknowledge that the ESG funding agency will report on the Emergency Shelter clients as part of the ESG reporting requirements. The MOU also needs to specify the name of the Emergency Shelters being served. 
5. The ESG funded agency should submit the MOU to the HMIS Helpdesk. Note that there should be one MOU for each agency that operates an emergency shelter the ESG funded agency will be serving
6. The ESG funded agency should request any ESG CAPER or CSV reports that they need to the HMIS Helpdesk by submitting a ticket with at least three business days notice. 
7. If the ESG funded agency would like to track the services provided to the residents of the Emergency Shelters, a Services Only project can be set up in the OC HMIS. Please note that this project would not be used for ESG reporting, which means that setting it up is completely optional.