What is the Quality Data Foundations Toolkit?
- Overview
- Resources
- Data Quality
- Deduplication
- Inactivity
- Outreach Coverage
- Provider Participation
- Tracking List Statuses
- Tracking Population Statuses
- Tracking Race Equity
- Unassessed
Provider Participation
Questions 2a-3d
Does my by-name dataset include at least 90% of all single adult individuals and households experiencing literal homelessness? BFZ’s use of the term “literal homelessness” aligns with HUD’s definition of Category 1 and 4 homelessness. Please review HUD’s webpage, which describes the four categories of the homeless definition, for detailed descriptions of these definitions.
The information on this page will help you answer this question by providing tools and resources to better understand the comprehensiveness of your by-name dataset. The provider participation scorecard questions help you identify what data is going into your by-name dataset and if that data is inclusive of 90% of homeless response providers and people experiencing homelessness in any given month.
It is important to note that the purpose of the All-Singles Scorecard is to zoom in on single adult individuals and households experiencing literal homelessness. This does not mean you should not consider providers that serve family and youth populations in your improvement work. However, when you evaluate the provider contribution scorecard questions, you will want to answer those questions specifically for the single adult population.
How does BFZ define a “homeless response system” or “providers?”
BFZ defines a “homeless response system” as the organizations and entities serving individuals and households experiencing literal homelessness within a designated geographical area. The term “provider” or “homeless service provider” refers to those organizations and entities.
More specifically, when BFZ says “provider,” we refer to organizations and entities that operate a program and/or offer services that primarily serve individuals and households experiencing homelessness. This can include nonprofit organizations, local and federal government agencies, faith-based organizations, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and other homeless coalitions. The provider participation scorecard questions further break these providers into the following categories, which may or may not be inclusive of all provider types in your community:
- Providers that serve people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including but not limited to street outreach services, hotlines, and other access points
- Emergency shelters, safe havens, season overflow beds, hotels paid for by homeless providers, or Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) beds
- Transitional housing, including VA-funded Transitional Housing
- Victim Service Providers
Depending on how coordinated entry is set up in your community, the organization that runs coordinated entry may also be included on your provider list.
What about organizations that don’t fit the definition of a homeless service provider?
You may need to include organizations or entities outside the “homeless response system” to get to “yes” on the provider contribution scorecard questions. These could include organizations that serve people experiencing homelessness but also serve a larger population. For example, hospitals, food banks, general assistance programs, justice systems like jails and prisons, psychiatric facilities, substance use treatment centers, and more. It can also include organizations that refer individuals experiencing homelessness to services, but do not provide direct services such as libraries, general services hotlines, and others. In some cases, communities may need to include and engage these types of organizations to get to the 90% threshold set in the scorecard, especially if fewer services or resources exist that are specifically for people experiencing homelessness.
As with much of this work, context matters, and communities are encouraged to apply these concepts in a way that makes sense to them while centering the overarching goal of the provider participation scorecard questions — including at least 90% of single adults experiencing homelessness on the by-name dataset in any given month.
Why does provider participation matter?
Gaining a shared understanding and connecting providers
A prerequisite for answering “yes” on the provider participation scorecard questions is analyzing and documenting the existing provider landscape in a given community. Coming to this shared understanding can help partners and stakeholders get clearer about who encompasses their homeless response system. Not only can this information help providers better coordinate and communicate, but it can surface gaps that may not have been evident. This gives community teams the information needed to improve their data and connect providers across the system.
Improving equitable access to resources and services
By increasing provider participation, a community can decrease the likelihood that someone does not access resources solely because of where they present as experiencing homelessness. By completing a full analysis of the provider landscape, a community can identify gaps and work towards connecting all possible locations where individuals may present as experiencing homelessness to the by-name dataset. This can help ensure the homeless response system can quickly identify individuals for resources and services. Existing triaging and prioritization processes can then link individuals and households to the services or optimal combination of supports that best fit their needs.
Scorecard Assessment
2A: 90% Provider Contribution
This scorecard question focuses on understanding 1) who all the homeless service providers in your community are and 2) how many of those providers contribute data to the by-name dataset. The question asks communities to identify if at least 90% of providers are reporting data into the by-name dataset (the number of providers contributing data to the by-name dataset divided by the total number of homeless service providers identified ). The content above provides detail on how to identify all of the providers in your community.
| The BFZ Provider Participation Inventory Tool can help your community document your provider landscape and evaluate the provider participation scorecard questions. |
Scorecard Question
Are 90% of CoC-funded and non-CoC-funded providers reporting data into your by-name list?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
The community is able to document all providers that are primarily serving homeless populations within the community and demonstrate who is and is not contributing data. The community is able to ensure that at least 90% of all homeless service providers are entering data or referring individuals to the by-name dataset.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
The community has a documented process to verify provider participation and can demonstrate with confidence (based on the housing inventory count or HIC and/or supplement documentation) that they are accounting for 90% or more of CoC/non-CoC providers.
2B: Inclusion of 90% of People Experiencing Homelessness
2B is the follow-up question to 2A. 2A helps you understand how many providers are contributing data into the by-name dataset, but 2B asks how many people are served by the providers that are contributing data into the by-name dataset. The distinction between these questions can be broken down in a few ways:
- First, it helps you think about scale. For example, say that you have 95% of providers contributing to the by-name dataset, but one of the providers that isn’t contributing (the 5%) serves 15% of all people experiencing homelessness. In this case, the answer to 2A would be “yes,” but 2B would be “no.”
- Second, it helps you better understand how providers connect people to the by-name dataset and can help identify providers that do not report data from all of their programs serving individuals experiencing literal homelessness. For example, say you have a large shelter contributing data into the by-name dataset through coordinated entry assessments. However, further investigation reveals that only 50% of their clients are completing assessments and, therefore, being added to the dataset. If that provider is serving 30% of all people experiencing homelessness, then you end up missing 15% of people on the by-name dataset. In this case, the answer to 2A would be “yes,” but 2B would be “no.”
Scorecard Question
Are approximately 90-100% of currently homeless single adult individuals served by the providers reporting into your by-name list?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
The providers identified in 2A as contributing to the BNL serve 90-100% of currently homeless single adults.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
The community has a documented process in place to continually evaluate provider participation to verify that 90-100% of any single adult individual identified as literally homeless is included in the by-name dataset.
3A-3D: Provider Coverage
Question 3, divided into four parts or four “core” homeless service provider types, helps clarify how data is collected and connected to the by-name dataset. These provider types often require different approaches to data collection. For example, data collection can look very different for street outreach services compared to a brick-and-mortar shelter. Therefore, different considerations must be addressed to connect these four types of providers to the by-name dataset.
For this reason, answering the 3s can help balance your work on 2A by allowing you to account for each provider within these core provider types. Documenting the different approaches to data collection (as required in the sustaining criteria) can help you set up sustainable processes for how these provider types can continue contributing data to the by-name dataset. For example, developing avenues in which victim service providers (VSPs) can contribute data as part of your work on 3D can set up a community for success if VSP providers change over time.
| As communities work on answering yes to 3A and 3D, the question of how to collect anonymous or limited data often comes up as a consideration. For this reason, it can be helpful for communities working on these questions to review the resources for the Tracking Those Who Have Declined Services domain. |
Scorecard Question
3A: Is your by-name list able to collect data on all currently homeless single adults in your community, including unsheltered individuals living in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g.street, cars, campsites, beaches, deserts, or riverbeds)?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
3A: The community is able to clearly articulate that they are able to collect data on all unsheltered individuals living in a place not meant for human habitation.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
3A: The community is able to document and demonstrate they are able to collect data on all unsheltered individuals living in a place not meant for human habitation.
Scorecard Question
3B: Is your by-name list able to collect data on all currently homeless single adults in your community, including individuals in shelters, safe havens, seasonal overflow beds, hotels paid for by homeless providers or Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) beds?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
3B: The community has identified all providers within the system that are providing emergency shelter services to individuals experiencing homelessness.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
3B: The community is able to document and demonstrate they are able to collect all emergency sheltered program information as denoted on their most recent HIC and/or supplement documentation.
Scorecard Question
3C: Is your by-name list able to collect data on all currently homeless single adults in your community, including individuals in transitional housing, including VA-funded Transitional Housing?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
3C: The community has identified all providers within the system that are providing transitional housing services to individuals experiencing homelessness.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
3C: The community is able to document and demonstrate they are able to collect all transitional housing program information as denoted on their most recent HIC and/or supplement documentation.
Scorecard Question
3D: Is your by-name list able to collect data on all currently homeless single adults in your community, including individuals fleeing domestic violence?
Initial Quality Data Threshold
3D: The community is able to communicate and/or have documentation on how they coordinate with VSP providers within the homeless response system to ensure that those fleeing domestic violence are included on the by-name dataset.
Sustaining Quality Data Threshold
3D: The community is able to document agreement and understanding that they have a process for safely including those fleeing from domestic violence on the by-name dataset.
We want to hear from you! Please submit general feedback or a specific question/comment about the material on this page using the form below.
Provider Participation Tools and Resources
TOOL: Provider Participation Inventory
All Singles Scorecard – Questions 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D Overview Understanding the current provider landscape is crucial for identifying which organizations serve single adults in your community, assessing …
Provider Participation Case Studies
Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee CoC
Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee increased provider participation and contribution to their by-name dataset by: Background and Key Milestones Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee CoC joined the Built for Zero (BFZ) initiative in 2016 with a …
