Flowchart-of-HUDs-Definition-of-Chronic-Homelessness.pdf
To appear in an HMIS report about the people who are chronically homeless, a client must have particular responses recorded in HMIS. If these data are not recorded in HMIS, the system cannot generate a report counting them as chronically homeless. It should be noted that documenting a client's CH status in VESTA is not the same as gathering the documentation required to prove chronic homelessness for project eligibility purposes.
To quickly check whether or not a particular client is documented as chronically homeless in VESTA, navigate to the Client Summary within their record. There, a Chronic homelessness information box is displayed:
At the bottom of the box the text >VIEW this client's chronic homelessness status at entry is a hyperlink which will open up a separate tab and contains some basic information about their CH status.
How Chronic Homeless Status is Calculated in VESTA
First, in VESTA the client record must show a time continuously homeless of 1 year or more, or that they were homeless on at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years, as long as the combined occasions equal at least 12 months and each break in homelessness separating the occasions included at least 7 consecutive nights of not living as described.* This data is collected on the Intakes / Exit form in VESTA, and includes a series of questions about where the client stayed the night prior to entering the project, how long they were there, approximately when the current homeless episode started, how many times they were homeless in the last three years, and total number of months homeless over the last three years.
The above questions help to determine if someone was chronically homeless when they entered the project, but their time spent in an emergency shelter can also be used to calculate if they became CH at any point during their project stay.
Additionally, the client must have a disabling condition recorded in HMIS. Client information about health conditions and disabling conditions are found on the Special Needs (SNeeds for short) form in VESTA - it is collected at project start, annually, at exit, and any time there is an update needed to the client record. A disabling condition can be indicated by answering the serious of questions regarding chronic health conditions, substance use disorder, developmental or cognitive disabilities, mental health disorders, physical disabilities, or HIV/AIDS (some of which are considered disabling on their own, others which require a "yes" response to the condition being long-lasting and substantially impairs their ability to live independently). Alternately, a disability can simply be recorded by responding "yes" to "At least one of the above special needs is a disabling condition."
How is Chronic Homelessness defined?
In 2015, HUD published the Defining Chronically Homeless Final Rule clarifying the definition of chronic homelessness, which applies to all program participants admitted after January 2016.
HUD encourages CoCs to prioritize funding for projects serving households with the highest level of need, including those that may be chronically homeless. However, only projects that serve individuals and families defined as chronically homeless must document chronic status for HUD.
In order to be eligible for housing restricted to chronically homeless individuals or families under the CoC program, participants must meet the definition of chronically homeless. The definition of chronically homeless is:
- A homeless individual with a disability as defined in section 401(9) of the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(9)), who:
- Lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter, and
- Has been homeless and living as described for at least 12 months* or on at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years, as long as the combined occasions equal at least 12 months and each break in homelessness separating the occasions included at least 7 consecutive nights of not living as described.
- An individual who has been residing in an institutional care facility for less, including jail, substance abuse or mental health treatment facility, hospital, or other similar facility, for fewer than 90 days and met all of the criteria of this definition before entering that facility**; or
- A family with an adult head of household (or, if there is no adult in the family, a minor head of household) who meets all of the criteria of this definition, including a family whose composition has fluctuated while the head of household has been homeless.
*A “break” in homeless is considered to be 7 or more nights.
**An individual residing in an institutional care facility does not constitute a break in homelessness.
An “institutional care facility” includes:
- Jail
- Substance abuse treatment center
- Mental health treatment facility
- Hospital, or
- other similar facility