Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

Guilford County (NC-504) HMIS Policies and Procedures (updated 10.2025)

The Agency Administrator serves as the lead point of contact in the agency for all HMIS related activities and communication, provides the first point of contact for technical assistance for agency users, oversees data quality activities for projects at the agencies, monitors agency compliance, and works with agency staff and leadership to complete any funder required reports and submissions. 

All Agency Administrators must have a physical or virtual binders with the following documents:

• Administrative QSOBAA
• Participation Agreements
• Sharing QSOBAAs
• Confidentiality Policy
• Grievance Policy
• User Agreement and Code of Ethics Documents (Appendix: B, HMIS Policies and Procedures)
• User Training/Certification(s)

All Agency Administrators will ensure their agency has the following documents: 

• HUD Posted Public Notice
• Agency Privacy Notice
• Agency Privacy Policy
• Current Agency Privacy Script
• Current Agency Release of Information

All End-Users, no matter the level, must keep a record of their training certificates and annual training on file with them and their agency administrator. To complete your annual training please go to the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Learning Center.

End Users must complete the following annually according to the dates your first completed them: 

• 001: Client Privacy and Data Security Essentials
• 201: Unnamed and Anonymous Records

Agency Administrators must complete the following annually according to the dates your first completed them:

• 001: Client Privacy and Data Security Essentials
• 201: Unnamed and Anonymous Records
• 202: Locking and Unlocking Client Records
• 301: Advanced Privacy and Security
• 302: Establishing Visibility

All participating HMIS agencies are required to have specific Privacy and Confidentiality Forms. Please see the list below: 

• Confidentiality Policy
• Grievance Policy
• HUD Posted Public Notice
• Agency Privacy Notice
• Agency Privacy Policy
• Current Agency Privacy Script
• Current Agency Release of Information

If you are a new agency in HMIS and need assistance developing these items please visit the HMIS Learning Center Document Library for templates.

For those people and households served by continuum projects during the current LSA report period, the LSA includes:  

• Demographic characteristics such as age, race, gender, and veteran status;
• Length of time homeless and patterns of system use;
• Information specific to populations whose needs and/or eligibility for services may differ from the broader homeless population, such as veterans and people and households experiencing chronic homelessness;
• Exit destinations for those who exit the homeless services system.

The LSA submission from the local CoC is critical to providing federal and local policymakers with a deeper understanding of who is homeless and how homelessness changes over time. This information can be used to inform the public and help policymakers craft appropriate intervention strategies to prevent and end homelessness in the United States. Finally, LSA data used in the Annual HUD Assessment Report will assist in tracking progress toward the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. All available AHAR reports to Congress can be found on the HUD User page AHAR Reports - HUD Exchange

HUD has developed the following seven system-level performance measures to help communities gauge their progress in preventing and ending homelessness: 

1. Length of time persons remain homeless;
2. The extent to which persons who exit homelessness to permanent housing destinations return to homelessness;
3. Number of homeless persons;
4. Jobs and income growth for homeless persons in CoC Program-funded projects;
5. Number of persons who become homeless for the first time;
6. Homelessness prevention and housing placement of persons defined by Category 3 of HUD’s homeless definition in CoC Program-funded projects;
7. Successful housing placement; 

The purpose of these measures is to provide a more complete picture of how well a community is preventing and ending homelessness. The measures evaluate community homeless response as a coordinated system, guide local strategic resource allocation, and determine federal grant awards

The Point-in-Time (PIT) Count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.

The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is a point-in-time inventory of provider programs within a CoC that provide beds and units dedicated to serve people experiencing homelessness (and, for permanent housing projects, where homeless at entry, per the HUD homeless definition), categorized by five Program Types: Emergency Shelter; Transitional Housing; Rapid Re-housing; Safe Haven; and Permanent Supportive Housing.