How many providers are being considered?
This number can be found in the housing inventory count (HIC).
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Is there a list of partners who would be participating? The requirements mention city departments such as Health, Police, and Fire. Would other departments require access to the solution? What service providers would require access? How do these partners currently communicate? Which organizations and agencies will be involved in using the proposed solution?
As mentioned, only agencies that are required to participate in HMIS (those that receive federal funding) would be engaged in this project. Access to HMIS would need to be managed using data sharing agreements and user controls, which is a conversation to be had with the Continuum of Care and WellSky (HMIS vendor).
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Would the solution need to be built from the ground up, or is there a framework that the City currently employs?
Since the City currently does not track shelter bed availability, a system would need to be established to do so. Additionally, a data sharing agreement will need to be in place to share information across shelter providers and homeless service agencies.
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What are the motivations behind conducting this RFP? Are beds available currently going unfilled, or are clients not being appropriately matched to beds that they qualify for?
According to Jesse, developing a real-time shelter bed tracking app wouldn’t help with reducing unfilled beds since there is such a high bed occupancy rate (estimated over 90%) across all shelter providers. The app, however, may help with the coordinating of filling beds and helping match people to the most appropriate bed types.
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1.) Have all the non-profit, public, and private partners agreed to use a new system to report this information? Are there MOUs in place to make sure that this data gets reported?
2.) Are there any restrictions or certifications that are necessary to connect with the HMIS system?
3.) What is the not-to-exceed budget for this project?
1. There is currently a data sharing agreement with DHHS and their Human Services, Community Impact, and Homeless Services Bureaus to share HMIS data. Every user must be trained with a user agreement before gaining access. HMIS data is reported on a constant basis to HUD and monthly to SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families),
2. Restrictions depends on level of data that is requested. For example, aggregate data may not be a problem since personal identifiable information is obscured, but client-level data may require a new agreement. This is topic being explored since DHHS, Fire, and Police are looking into high-frequency utilizers (HFUs).
3. To be determined.
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Is there a list of current bed providers in the area that the City works with?
Yes, those that participate in HMIS are all part of the Continuum of Care spearheaded by the City.
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What is the total stock of bed inventory available?
This number is hard to determine since not all service providers participate in HMIS. However, the HIC provides a rough picture of the city’s bed inventory and each month, bed occupancy is reported, so we can get a sense of how many beds are occupied (though we won’t be able to know if any are available at a specific moment unless you call the provider).
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How many shelters and agencies do you work with to provide supportive services?
Each year, the Long Beach Continuum of Care conducts the Housing Inventory Count (HIC), which is an inventory of service projects. The 2019 data can be found here, which includes the different agencies that participate in HMIS and the number of beds they have. The HIC includes shelters who do not necessarily report to HUD, but provide information to the CoC each year out of their own volition.
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What is the HMIS provider for the City and is bed reservation tracked within the HMIS?
HMIS is designed to track people experiencing homelessness and the services they enroll in through the housing process. It is currently used mainly as a case management tool and not for bed reservations or availability tracking.
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How is bed reservation currently conducted in the Long Beach area?
As mentioned, this depends on each respective service provider. When a client is being navigated to a shelter via the Multi-Service Center, the staff calls around each shelter to determine where beds are available. Currently, there is no real-time digital system that tracks which shelters have available beds.
As of now, shelters will only take referrals from the MSC. Case workers will still need confirmation from the shelters that they can bring a client there. Usually, men experiencing homelessness are referred to the Long Beach Rescue Mission, but women have to wait several months because the City does not have enough emergency beds for them.
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What parts of the current bed reservation process require the most improvement?
Bed reservation processes differ among each service provider. Every shelter employs different policies and methods to assigning beds, so there is no citywide standard. HMIS does not involve bed reservations.
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Is there an API available for the HMIS system is the City currently using?
There is the capability, but not determined if this is true since there is no current integration with HMIS for any other system. We would need to work with WellSky to figure out the tech integration piece.
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The challenge refers to the requirement to integrate with the HMIS. What is the nature of this integration? Does that system have a public/published API and is there any documentation on how it works?
Thanks.
Integration may be possible, but is not currently active with any other systems. The main issue with HMIS integrating with an app is that the data is reliant on partners/service providers willingness to update bed availability information. Since HMIS is not designed as a bed availability tool, service providers are not required to provide that information on an ongoing basis. Additionally, data entry by homeless service providers is not always accurate or reliable (human error may lead to bed miscounts).
Right now, they only provide monthly occupancy reports, which shows entry/exits within their projects. This is a prescribed method by HUD that shows how many days of a month a bed is occupied, so real time bed availability is not a measure that is currently captured.
HMIS can only export to XLM or CSV files, which must then be imported into the app. WellSky is the parent vendor of their data system, so an agreement with them is needed to integrate).
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