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TOOL: Provider Participation Inventory

September 12, 2024

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 their contributions to the by-name dataset (BND), and identifying any gaps that may hinder the development of a comprehensive dataset. The purpose of the provider participation inventory is to create a shared, central document that can be used to analyze levels of participation and contribution to the by-name dataset. 

The completed tool also serves as documentation for questions 2A and 2B on the All Singles Scorecard, and can help to support the responses to questions 3A-3D.

The Provider Participation section of the Quality Data Toolkit provides further background and context for using this tool. 

Provider Participation Inventory Tool
Google Sheets version | Excel version

How to complete the Provider Participation Inventory

Set up: Provider Name and Provider Type

The Provider Participation Inventory (PPI) should include all local homeless response system providers that serve folks experiencing homelessness in your community, regardless of funding source. Other community organizations that serve both folks experiencing homelessness and the general population, such as institutions, health care systems, meal centers, police departments, hotlines, or others should be added if they have programs that specifically focus on folks experiencing homelessness and/or are a critical part of the provider landscape. If a provider runs multiple programs, consider adding a row for each program, using the provider type column to differentiate between program types.

The PPI can be built using the local improvement team’s shared knowledge, or by using the most recent Housing Inventory Chart (HIC) as a starting point. We recommend using HIC data for any community that functions within an entitlement CoC (i.e. not a region of a Balance of State). Below you will find detailed instructions for each method.

Please note, that the PPI does provide the option of including providers that only serve Youth and Family. If your community is only working on the All Singles Scorecard and identifying Youth and Family providers is not helpful at this time, please consider limiting the providers in the inventory to only those that serve the Single Adult population. 

Option 1: Using HIC Data
Find the most recent HUD-published HIC data here (download the Raw File that only includes the most recently published year of data) or use a recent HIC that can be obtained locally.If using HUD-published HIC data, filter the data set to show just your local CoC name (column = CoC) or CoC Code (column = HudNum)Copy all providers to the PPI using the following crosswalk:PPI “Provider Name” = HIC Organization Name/Project NamePPI “Provider Type” = HIC Project TypeAdd any additional providers not accounted for on the HIC, including Coordinated Entry, Street Outreach, Day Shelters, and any other projects that serve folks experiencing literal homelessness in your community. Remove any providers that are no longer in service and consider removing housing providers, except those housing providers that work with folks who may not otherwise be connected to the homeless response system. Please note that Transitional Housing programs should be included in the Provider Participation Inventory. Clients served by these programs are considered experiencing literal homelessness and counted as “active” for BFZ reporting purposes.As noted above, to ensure complete coverage, consider adding other providers that serve folks experiencing homelessness including hotlines, institutions, police departments, meal centers, health care systems, or day centers.

Option 2: Starting from Scratch
List out all providers serving single adults experiencing literal homelessness in your community, including, but not limited to Outreach teams, Coordinated Entry teams, Emergency Shelters, Safe Havens, Transitional Housing projects, and Day Shelters. As noted above, to ensure complete coverage, consider adding other providers that serve folks experiencing homelessness including hotlines, institutions, police departments, meal centers, health care systems, or day centers.Add housing providers if they work with folks who may not otherwise be connected to the homeless response system.

Completing the Inventory

How to identify the “Household Type Served”

This field should reflect the type of households served by each provider. If a provider only serves single adults (such as a men’s emergency shelter), select “Single Adults only.” If a provider serves both single adults and families or youth (such as a general outreach provider, select “Combination of Single Adults and Youth/Families.” If a provider only serves youth and/or families and does not serve single adults (such as a youth shelter), select “Youth/Families Only” if you are including youth and family providers in the inventory.

How to Complete “Estimated Households Served (#)” and “Estimated Single Adults Served (#)

These fields are an estimate of the total number of households and the total number of single adults served by each provider during a typical month and should be based on your team’s best understanding of your current state. If a provider on your list works with adults and families or youth, enter the estimated number of households served in the “Estimated Households Served (#)” column and only the estimate of single adults served in the “Estimated Single Adults Served (#)” column. If you are only focusing on building an inventory of providers that serve single adults, you can consider the “Estimated Households Served (#)” category an optional field. If a provider does not serve single adults, enter “0” in Estimated Single Adults Served. Please reference the BFZ Reporting Reference Guide for more information on the definition of a “Single Adult.”

How to Identify the “Estimated Level of Contribution to BND”

This field is an estimate of the percentage of single adults served by the provider that are connected to the BND and should be based on your team’s best understanding of the current state of each provider. If the BND is populated by HMIS enrollments and the provider enrolls every single adult served into HMIS, enter 100%. If the BND is based on enrollment into Coordinated Entry and the provider only connects approximately a quarter of the single adults they serve to Coordinated Entry, enter 25%. If a provider that serves single adults is not contributing to the BND, enter 0%. If a provider does not serve single adults, leave the field blank.

Optional Fields

Estimated Households Served (#): If you are only focusing on building an inventory of providers that serve single adults, you can consider the “Estimated Households Served (#)” category an optional field. 

Method of Contribution: The response to this question depends on how by-name data is collected across the system. The objective of this section is to provide more context on how each provider connects single adults to the BND. Some examples of values to use are “HMIS,” “CE Enrollment,” “HMIS or CE Referral,” etc. For example, if the BND is generated by HMIS data and the provider does not participate in HMIS, but does refer all single adults to an HMIS participating access point, or collaborates with an HMIS participating provider to connect folks to HMIS on site, note “HMIS Referral.” This is an optional field and can be used in any way that is most helpful. 

Sub-Population: If your team would like to look at a specific sub-population, such as veterans or chronically homeless individuals, use this field to indicate those sub-populations. This is an optional field and can be used in any way that is most helpful. 

Notes/Next steps: Use as needed. This field could be used to document when the provider row was last updated.

Calculated Fields 

There are three helper columns that are hidden in the inventory and are used in the calculations listed at the top of the inventory and described below. The hidden columns should not be edited. If a calculated field is not calculating accurately, please make sure you have completed the non-optional fields for every provider. You can also find all of the formulas listed on a separate tab in the workbook, in case one inadvertently is changed.

Total Number of providers: Calculates the total number of providers on the inventory (based on the entry in the “Provider Type” column data).

Total number of providers serving the Single Adult population: Calculates the total number of providers where the “Household Type Served” includes single adults.

Total estimated Households served: Calculates the sum of all households across all providers, regardless of household type. This may remain as “0” if your community elected to not include this data.

Total estimated Single Adults served: Calculates the sum of all single adults across all providers that serve single adults.

Total Single Adult providers contributing to the BND: Calculates the sum of all providers where the “Household Type Served” includes single adults and “Estimated Level of Contribution” is greater than 0%.

Total Single Adults on the BND: Calculates the sum of single adults included on the BND, based on “Estimated Level of Contribution” and “Estimated Single Adults Served.” 

2A: Providers contributing to the BND: Calculates the percentage of providers that serve Single Adults and are contributing to the BND.

2B: Single Adults served by providers contributing to the BND: Calculates the percentage of total single adults added to the BND based on the providers that are contributing to the BND.

How to document providers that end services: In order to maintain a historical record of your provider landscape, you can retain a provider on the list even if they have stopped services. To do this, clear all of the cells except the Provider Name column and add a note to the Notes/Next Steps column with the date the entry was changed.

Analyzing the inventory — what comes next?

After the inventory is complete and all fields are filled out your team can use the inventory to determine next steps and as documentation to support questions 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D on the All Singles Scorecard. 

If the “Estimated Level of Contribution” is below 100%, the cell will be highlighted yellow to indicate the provider does not contribute 100% of their single adult data to the BND. If the contribution level is 0%, (i.e. the provider does not contribute to the BND), the cell will be highlighted red. 

If the percentage calculated for “2A: Providers contributing to the BND” is under 90%, it will be highlighted red. In order to increase the percentage to above 90%, more providers need to contribute to the BND. Look at the inventory to determine which providers are not yet contributing to the BND (as indicated by a 0% in the “Estimated Level of Contribution to BND (%)” column). 

If the percentage calculated for “2B: Single Adults served by providers contributing to the BND” is under 90%, it will be highlighted red. In order to increase the percentage to above 90%, either more providers need to contribute to the BND. or the level of contribution for the providers already contributing needs to increase. For example, if a provider serves 50 single adults, but only adds those to the BND who have been assessed, consider working with that provider to have them add the unassessed single adults to the BND.

DROP DOWN MENU SELECTIONS
Provider Type:
  • Coordinated Entry
  • Street Outreach
  • Emergency Shelter
  • Victim Service Provider
  • Safe Haven
  • Day Shelter
  • Transitional Housing
  • Permanent Housing (PSH, RRH, or OPH)
  • Supportive Services Only
  • Other
Household Type Served:
  • Single Adults only
  • Youth/Families only
  • Combination of Single Adults and Youth/Families
Sub-Population (Optional):
  • Veterans Only
  • Chronically Homeless Individuals Only
  • Other Sub-population
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