Emergency Shelter

All materials developed by ICA are based on the Bitfocus Clarity HMIS platform and reflect the most current information available to us. Materials are updated as new information, guidance, and functionality are released by the vendor. Because the system continues to evolve, there may be updates or changes to the interface or functionality that are not yet reflected in these materials. ICA will continue to review and update these resources as additional information becomes available from Bitfocus.

Emergency Shelter means “any facility with overnight sleeping accommodations, the primary purpose of which is to provide temporary shelter for the homeless in general or for specific populations of the homeless." (HUD Glossary)

Entry / Exit Model

The entry / exit method should be used for all shelters requiring an entry, a continuous stay, and an exit.

The length of stay will be calculated based on the number of nights between project entry and project exit and performance will include changes from project entry and project exit data collection stages.
Funder preference for emergency shelter projects is the use of the project entry / exit date method except for projects where clients are permitted to enter and exit on an irregular basis (e.g., mass shelter).
Most year-round shelters use this tracking method in the HMIS.

Seasonal / Night-by-Night Model

The night-by-night method should be used for shelters that allow clients to enter and exit on an irregular basis and do not require a continuous stay and must instead rely on a method of tracking “bed nights”. In this method:

All data required to be collected at project entry is collected
The project records every discrete date or series of dates that the client utilizes a bed
The system maintains historical data on the nights sheltered
The duration of each stay can be accurately determined and aggregated to calculate each client’s total length of stay in the project
The client may be exited or the system may be designed to automatically generate an exit after an extended absence.

Length of stay is calculated on bed nights used in this method. Utilization of the night-by-night method does not mean that an HMIS must identify a client in a specific bed. Seasonal Shelters use this tracking method on the HMIS.

Seasonal (Night-by-Night) Emergency Shelters have additional data entry steps in Clarity that is required to document the shelter service being provided.

Night-by-Night Workflow

Enroll the client into the Emergency Shelter Program
Once the client has an enrollment, they will need to be checked in using the Attendance Module. The Attendance tab can be found in the left-side main menu.

Clicking the Attendance tab directs you to the landing page. The landing page displays a data table of services with the following columns:
- Service Name (Sortable)
- Category (Sortable)
- Program (Lists all relevant programs associated with the service)

Use the search bar for searches on Service names or use filters to narrow results by Program or Reservations Enabled status.

Click on the Service Name

The Reservations Attendance View will populate. Search for your client by name and click Add.

The client will appear in the In Attendance View

If there are additional household members, the system will prompt you to add them. Click the client name and then click Check in Selected.

If you need to delete the attendance, this can be done in the Service Attendance view using the trash can.

Confirm the deletion

Resources

Vermont Emergency Shelter Programs have additional workflow requirements. For more information, please follow the link below:

Vermont Emergency Shelter (website)

Forms

Looking for Emergency Shelter forms for your state? Click the link: New England Forms