Introducing the MDHA Homeless Response System Community Dashboard

In February, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) will begin to publish quarterly reports tracking our community’s progress in making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring in Dallas and Collin Counties. This Homeless Response System Community Dashboard will provide a snapshot of the core system metrics that inform us on achievements in moving individuals to permanent housing.

Simply put, it will capture who is homeless and in need of housing, and inform the community on how well we are utilizing the housing resources we have. The dashboard is purposely centered on housing as the primary solution to homelessness.

The core system metrics conform to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) performance indicators. The data comes directly from agencies reporting into MDHA’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). As more emergency shelters begin reporting into the HMIS system, the more valuable this report becomes to the community.

The dashboard will be organized across ten measures, five on the ‘demand/need’ side, and five on the ‘supply’ side. Click through to view all ten measures in detail. (For convenience, this document includes all of the language in this blog post too.)

The first report, scheduled to be published on February 13, 2017, will cover activity between October 1 through December 31, 2016. This first dashboard will establish a baseline to which we can compare future performance.

With each Homeless Response System Community Dashboard, MDHA will provide a brief executive review of what the data tells us, methods for systemic improvement, and other impacts to the system of care.