Background

What is the HIC?

The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) collects information about all of the beds and units in each Continuum of Care homeless system, categorized by Project Type. Only beds dedicated to serve homeless clients should be counted on the HIC.

 

What is the PIT?

The Point In Time Count (PIT) provides a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons. The PIT includes population data (number of households and persons), as well as subpopulation data (number of chronically homeless clients, clients with a mental illness, etc). The Sheltered Point In Time count is a survey of clients residing in Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing projects on the night of the count.

 

What project types are included on the HIC and PIT?

Project Type	HIC	PIT
Emergency Shelter	✓	✓
Transitional Housing	✓	✓
Rapid Re-Housing	✓
Permanent Supportive Housing	✓
Other Permanent Housing	✓

2024 Important Dates & Deadlines

211OC will use Dropbox to send and receive files related to the 2024 HIC and Sheltered PIT. Please ensure you are able to access your agency's Dropbox folder by reviewing the instructions for accessing your account in the How to Access your Agency's Dropbox Folder knowledge base article. If you need assistance accessing your agency's Dropbox folder, please submit a ticket to the HMIS Help Desk.

 

Wednesday, January 17th

• HIC/Sheltered PIT Training
  • Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85486981315
  • Meeting ID: 854 8698 1315 

Monday, January 22nd

• Night of the Housing Inventory Count and Sheltered Point In Time Count

Wednesday, January 24th

• Agencies complete data entry into HMIS or comparable database for all clients served by the agency through January 22nd

Friday, January 26th

• 211OC sends HIC Forms to the agencies. Agencies will update these forms as needed to reflect the bed and unit inventory information for their projects as of the night of the Housing Inventory Count, January 22nd, 2024
• Agencies participating in HMIS will also receive PIT data for review and update in HMIS as needed

Wednesday, February 7th:

• The following items are due for HMIS Participating Projects. Please note the data in HMIS must match the documents submitted. Client Forms and Answer Forms must be submitted to Dropbox. Submit a ticket to the HMIS Help Desk to notify the team when the forms have been uploaded, and to notify the team that the HIC Forms have been finalized.

  • HIC Forms

  • PIT Reports for Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing projects

• The following items are due for projects not participating in HMIS.

  • HIC Forms

  • HIC Client Forms for PSH/OPH/RRH projects that do not participate in HMIS

  • PIT Answer Form for Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing projects

Training Materials

Below are the meeting materials from the January 17th training.

 

HIC/Sheltered PIT Training Slides

HIC/Sheltered PIT Training Recording

 

Documents

NOTE: Hover over cells in Excel forms highlighted in yellow for more information about the data being collected. 

HIC Documents

Review the Filling Out the HIC Form & HIC Client Form knowledge base article.

 

• 2024 HIC Form: This form should include all Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Rapid Re-Housing, Permanent Supportive Housing, and Other Permanent Housing projects at the agency with bed inventory dedicated for homeless clients, whether or not the project is participating in HMIS. The HMIS team will send drafts of these forms to all agencies for review. Agencies will only need to create new forms if a form was not created by 211OC.
• 2024 HIC Client Form (for PSH/OPH/RRH projects that do not participate in HMIS): This form should be completed for each permanent housing project that does not participate in HMIS, and is a list of all clients active in the project and in permanent housing on the night of the HIC/PIT. 

 

PIT Documents

Review the Filling Out the PIT Answer Form knowledge base article.

 

• 2024 PIT Answer Form (for ES/TH projects that do not participate in HMIS): This form should be completed for each Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing projects at the agency that served homeless clients on the night of the HIC/PIT. 

 

HMIS Reports

For HMIS participating projects, there are a number of reports on the Data Analysis tab to assist you in making sure your data is accurate. Review the Running a Saved Look knowledge base article for information on how to use these reports.

 

• 2024 HIC and Sheltered PIT Data Dashboard: This dashboard includes aggregate and client-level data for all projects that should participate in the HIC and Sheltered PIT. The active clients tables include aggregate data by household type for each project, and can be used to complete the PIT Count section of the HIC Form. The client details reports includes client-level data regarding the clients included in the aggregate data. Agencies with Emergency Shelter Entry/Exit or Transitional Housing projects must submit the ES Entry/Exit, SH, and TH Client Details report to the HMIS Help Desk in CSV format for their Sheltered PIT submission. Agencies with Emergency Shelter Night-by-Night projects must submit the ES Night-by-Night Client Details report in CSV format to the HMIS Help Desk for their Sheltered PIT submission.
  • TH, ES Entry/Exit Active Clients - These reports include clients who were active in your TH or ES Entry/Exit projects on the night of the HIC. If clients are missing from these reports who should be considered active on the night of the HIC, make sure the client has an enrollment in HMIS that was active on 1/22/24. Project Start Date should be before or on 1/22/24, and Project Exit Date should be blank or after 1/22/24.
  • ES Night by Night Active Clients - These reports include clients who were active in your Emergency Shelter night-by-night project on the night of the HIC. If clients are missing from these reports who should be considered active on the night of the HIC, make sure they have an enrollment in HMIS with a bed night service on 1/22/24.
  • RRH, PSH, OPH Active Clients - These reports include clients who were active in your permanent housing project and placed in permanent housing on the night of the HIC. If clients are missing from these reports who should be considered active and housed on the night of the HIC, make sure they have an enrollment in HMIS and that the head of household has a Housing Move-In Date of 1/22/24 or earlier.
  • SSVF EHA Active Clients - These reports include clients in SSVF Rapid Re-Housing Projects that were not in permanent housing on the night of the HIC/PIT, but were active in the project and had received Emergency Housing Assistance on the night of the HIC/PIT. These clients must be included on the HIC and PIT as an Emergency Shelter project, are considered not participating in HMIS.
• HOPWA STSH: 2024 HIC and Sheltered PIT Data Dashboard - This dashboard is specifically created for HOPWA Short Term Supportive Housing Projects, and includes aggregate and client-level data for STSH projects. The active clients table include aggregate data by household type for the project, and can be used to complete the PIT Count section of the HIC Form. The client details report includes client-level data regarding the clients included in the aggregate data. The Client Details report should be exported in CSV format and submitted to the HMIS Help Desk for the Sheltered PIT submission. The report is located under your agency's folder on the Data Analysis page.
• Average Family Size Data - Run this report to find your project's average family size for use in calculating the number of beds in a project with a fixed number of units or vouchers.
• RRH - Number of Enrollments and Households in a Given Week - RRH projects can run this report to determine their project's maximum capacity. Pull the report for one project, and find the week during the year when the project had the most active enrollments. Then, run the County of Persons by Household Type report for a date during that week to determine the project's maximum capacity.

FAQ

How do I know which of my projects should be included on the HIC?

If the project's primary intent is not to serve homeless clients and the project does not verify homeless status as part of its eligibility, it should not be included on the HIC. If only one of those conditions is true, please include the project on your HIC form and OC HMIS staff will discuss with you.

 

Clients

Which clients should be counted as "active" on the night of the HIC/PIT?

Clients are considered active if the following conditions are met, according to project type:

• Emergency Shelter (Entry/Exit) & Transitional Housing  - The client has an enrollment in the project in HMIS with a Project Start Date on or before the night of the HIC and a Project Exit Date that is blank or after the night of the HIC.

• Emergency Shelter (Night-by-Night) - The client has an enrollment in the project in HMIS with a bed night service on the night of the HIC.

• Rapid Re-Housing, Permanent Supportive Housing, & Other Permanent Housing - The client has an enrollment in the project in HMIS with a Project Start Date on or before the night of the HIC and a Project Exit Date that is blank or after the night of the HIC, AND the client's head of household has a Housing Move-In Date that is on or before the night of the HIC.

 

Inventory

How do PSH Voucher and VASH projects determine bed counts?

Use the following calculations based on the number of bedrooms in the unit:

• 0 bedrooms – 1 bed

• 1 bedroom – 1 bed

• 2 bedroom – 3 beds

• 3 bedroom – 5 beds

 

When should inventory numbers change for a project from the previous year?

For all projects except for Rapid Re-Housing, the same number of beds and units for each household type should be reported every year unless units or vouchers were removed from or added to the project.

 

How do I determine the number of available beds if my project has a fixed number of units or vouchers but not a fixed number of beds?

Multiply the number of units by the project’s average family size to determine the number of beds for the project. HMIS participating projects can run the Average Family Size Data report to determine this number.