A Vision to End the Experience of Homelessness in the Greater Dallas Area - Response to City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is committed to leading the development of an effective homeless response system that will make the experience of homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties rare, brief, and non-recurring. We strongly believe that a coordinated approach, across private, public and nonprofit sectors, is critical to addressing this important social issue. Therefore, we are encouraged that the City of Dallas is taking an active role in addressing our homeless response system.

MDHA, and the Continuum of Care, have embarked on a novel approach to addressing the experience of homelessness and enable transparent communications across a variety of agencies. In November of 2015, the MDHA Board of Directors, including representation from the City of Dallas and The Bridge, voted unanimously in an open forum to migrate to a ground-breaking, modern technology -- one that would go above and beyond traditional HMIS systems to holistically address barriers to care for vulnerable populations.

Launching an innovative information solution such as this is no easy task. “We chose to take this new HMIS implementation approach provided by the PIECES Tech IRIS information solution with long-term objectives in mind: Coordinating a data share across 38 homeless service providers, with the unique added value of building connections and resources with the broader Dallas area community based organizations outside the homeless system of care. We have nearly completed this transition.” said Cindy Crain, MDHA President and CEO.

In the past six months of being live on the new HMIS system, we have seen many successes, including full participation from the Veterans Affairs homeless programs and more complete reporting by shelters. In September of 2014, there was no documentation of individuals served by emergency shelters within the HMIS in our Annual Homeless Assessment Report submitted to HUD. By September of 2017, 57% of individuals served in shelters were documented within the new HMIS system. Tracking of this information allows us to better understand and serve persons experiencing homelessness.

“We embrace our service-focused relationship with all of our partner agencies and appreciate how forthcoming they have been in supporting this process, sharing their data and seeking even more improvements to the HMIS.” said Crain. “We are removing silos between homeless providers, connecting them to a larger network of resources which is enabling more robust reporting providing transparent accountability of our performance, identifying service gaps, and innovating future solutions to help the most vulnerable residents in the greater Dallas area.”