Street Outreach

Street Outreach programs engage individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness in places not meant for human habitation, such as streets, parks, vehicles, encampments, and abandoned buildings. Within HMIS, Street Outreach programs use the system to document participant contacts, engagement activities, assessments, services provided, referrals, and housing outcomes in accordance with federal, state, local, and Continuum of Care (CoC) reporting requirements.

Street Outreach is designed to identify and engage people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, build trust through consistent contact, assess immediate needs, and connect participants to housing, shelter, healthcare, behavioral health services, and other community resources. Outreach efforts often focus on reducing barriers to services and supporting individuals on their path toward housing stability.

HMIS serves as the primary system for tracking outreach contacts, participant engagement, service delivery, referrals, and program outcomes. Accurate and timely data entry ensures communities can measure the effectiveness of outreach efforts and evaluate progress toward reducing unsheltered homelessness.

Funder and/or CoC Specific Guidance

PATH projects have two additional fields to complete on the enrollment screen: Connection to SOAR and PATH Status Determination.
RHY funded outreach projects have additional enrollment screen questions.
YHDP funded projects have additional enrollment screen questions.

Funding sources, including HUD ESG, require that outreach workers create an enrollment for everyone they are working with, even if they know very little about the individual or their long term needs. The enrollment screen may initially be incomplete and is updated over time as additional information becomes known.

Street Outreach eligibility typically requires a client's Prior Living Situation on the enrollment screen to be "a place not meant for human habitation."

Often times the date of engagement will be left blank when an enrollment is initially created. This field is used to document when "an interactive client relationship results in a deliberate client assessment or beginning of a case plan." Engagement rates are used to assess project performance, so it is important that staff fill out this field as soon as a client is "engaged" in services. This is also the date that staff are expected to ask a client about any remaining unanswered fields on the enrollment screen.

While Enrolled

Outreach workers should document every contact with a client using the Current Living Situation Assessment.
Follow your CoC's guidance for connecting guests with Coordinated Entry and other housing search supports.
Some agencies or funders, including RHY and PATH, require documentation using Notes and Services. Talk to your manager if you have questions about your project's expectations.
Use Status Assessments to document changes to a client's income and benefits while enrolled.
Update the Date of Engagement field on the enrollment screen when a previously non-engaged client agrees to collaborate on housing and related goals.
Annual Assessments should be completed on the anniversary of the head of household's start date.

HMIS Workflow

Resources

New England Street Outreach Workflow Manual

Forms

Looking for Street Outreach forms for your state? Click the link: New England Forms