Required Participation
Projects receiving funding from the following programs for homeless services may be required to participate in HMIS:
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Continuum of Care Program (CoC)
Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG)
Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA)
Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program (RHSP)
HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (VASH)
Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH)
Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHY)
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (SSVF)
Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD)
Minnesota Housing (MN HSG)
Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP)
Ending Long-Term Homelessness (LTH) and other program funds designated for long-term homelessness
Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS)
Housing Support (HS)
Healthy Transitions to Adulthood (HTA)
Long-Term Homelessness Supportive Services Fund (LTHSSF)
Minnesota Department of Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity (DHS-OEO)
Emergency Services Program (ESP)
Homeless Youth Act (HYA)
Transitional Housing Program (THP)
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Click here to see a list of the agencies currently participating in Minnesota’s HMIS.
A note on victim service providers
The HEARTH Act defines a victim service provider (VSP) as “a private nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to provide services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Such term includes rape crisis centers, battered women's shelters, domestic violence transitional housing programs, and other programs.”
VSPs are prohibited from entering data into HMIS. Depending on their funding, such agencies may instead be required to enter data into an HMIS-comparable database. Generally speaking, federal programs such as the Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) programs will require the use of comparable databases, whereas Minnesota’s state-funded programs may allow for alternative reporting methods.
While VSPs cannot enter into HMIS, there are some instances where agencies with domestic violence programs can enter into HMIS. This includes agencies with broad missions (such as a CAP agency) that may receive DV Bonus funding through the CoC competition. There are additional considerations if an agency receives funding from the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), or Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) – which in Minnesota are funneled through the Department of Public Safety’s Office of Justice Programs. These considerations are detailed in HUD’s useful When to Use a Comparable Database decision tree.
If you have any questions about how these rules apply to your agency or program, please contact us. Members of Violence Free Minnesota (formerly the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, or MCBW) may also wish to reach out to their team for more information.