This article includes:

  • how to request the report
  • a detailed description of the Recidivism 2.0 report
  • how to read the report

How to Request a Recidivism Report

This report is currently unavailable to End Users in Clarity due to sharing limitations and client privacy policies as this report looks at any return to homelessness documented in Clarity at any agency within our community. Users can request this report by contacting HMISsupport@end-homelessness.org with the following information:

  1. Project Names and whether the reports should be run separately for each project or together
  2. All clients or Heads of Households only
  3. Exit dates (The client must have been exited during the reporting period. For example, if the report is run for 7/1/2021 - 6/30/2022 it will include any client who exited within that period and if they have since returned to homelessness - up to two years after the exit)
  4. Any other requests applicable to this report


About the Report

This report is intended to help determine a program's recidivism rate which is sometimes requested by funders. We have used HUD's definition of recidivism (returning to homelessness) when building out this report.  Please note, HUD does not require individual projects to report on recidivism, however, they do require communities to report on returns to homelessness in the System Performance Measures report.


This report is only available to users who have access to the data analysis tab.


HUD defines returning to homelessness as any client who has exited to a permanent housing destination and resurfaces as homeless in HMIS within two years of the exit.


Based on the 2020 Data Standards, permanent housing exit destinations include:

  • Owned by client, no ongoing housing subsidy
  • Owned by client, with ongoing housing subsidy 
  • Permanent housing (other than RRH) for formerly homeless persons 
  • Rental by client, no ongoing housing subsidy 
  • Rental by client, with GPD TIP housing subsidy 
  • Rental by client, with other ongoing housing subsidy 
  • Rental by client, with VASH housing subsidy 
  • Staying or living with family, permanent tenure 
  • Staying or living with friends, permanent tenure 
  • Rental by client, with RRH or equivalent subsidy 
  • Rental by client, with HCV voucher (tenant or project-based) 
  • Rental by client in a public housing unit 
  • Moved from one HOPWA funded project to HOPWA PH 


A client will be considered returning to homelessness if, after exiting to a permanent housing destination, they have a Clarity enrollment in an emergency shelter, street outreach or safe haven project.


Reading the Report 

This report was built in Looker by the STEH HMIS team. Unlike the reports found in the Clarity Report Library, this report will default to include all programs in agencies you have access to as a Clarity user, not only the agency you are logged into.  


The first tile of the report includes the names of the agency(s) included in the report. You can use filters to target the report to a specific project or agency. You can also use filters to define additional report criteria.



Report Details


This report looks at anyone who exited to stable housing within the report time period and then has a subsequent enrollment without stable housing (ES,SO, SH). The tiles under the Agency Name display the total number of clients exited within the report date range (inclusive of all exit destinations) and the number of clients exited to permanent housing destinations within the reporting period.


In this example, 884 clients exited within the reporting period. While 488 exited to permanent housing destinations. 


Below the heading is a table with three columns and five rows. 


The first column tells you the time frame between the time the client exited to a permanent housing destination and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing.


The second column tells you the number and percentage of clients returning to homelessness.


The third column tells you the average days between exit and returning to homelessness.



Explaining the Table


The first row returns an unduplicated count of clients who exited within the report date range and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing (ES, SO, SH) within 6 months of exiting. The report returns:

  • The number of clients who returned to homelessness within 6 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The percentage of clients who exited to a permanent housing destination and returned to homelessness within 6 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The average number of days between the exit to permanent housing and resurfacing in HMIS for the number of clients who returned to homelessness within 6 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.


Note: If a client has two or more instances of exiting to permanent housing and returning to homelessness in HMIS within any one measure, the most recent instance will be reported.



The second row returns an unduplicated count of clients who exited within the report date range and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing (ES, SO, SH) within 6 - 12 months of exiting. The report returns:

  • The number of clients who returned to homelessness within 6 - 12 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The percentage of clients who exited to a permanent housing destination and returned to homelessness within 6 - 12 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The average number of days between the exit to permanent housing and resurfacing in HMIS for the number of clients who returned to homelessness within 6 - 12 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.



The third row returns an unduplicated count of clients who exited within the report date range and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing (ES, SO, SH) within 1 year of exiting. If you run the report with a date range of less than 1 year in the past this measure may result in 0. If you run the report for the appropriate date range, the report returns:

  • The number of clients who returned to homelessness within 1 year of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The percentage of clients who exited to a permanent housing destination and returned to homelessness within 1 year of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The average number of days between the exit to permanent housing and resurfacing in HMIS for the number of clients who returned to homelessness within 1 year of exiting to a permanent housing destination.


Note: The measures for each time period returns an unduplicated count of clients. Therefore, if a single client has an exit to permanent housing and subsequent return to homelessness in the 6 months measure and the 6-12 months measure, that client would only be counted once in the 1-year measure. Therefore, the 1-year measures may not equal the total of the 6 months and 6-12 months measures.


The fourth row returns an unduplicated count of clients who exited within the report date range and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing (ES, SO, SH) within 13 - 24 months of exiting. If you run the report with a date range of less than 24 months in the past this measure may result in 0. If you run the report for the appropriate date range, the report returns:

  • The number of clients who returned to homelessness within 13 - 24 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The percentage of clients who exited to a permanent housing destination and returned to homelessness within 13 - 24 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The average number of days between the exit to permanent housing and resurfacing in HMIS for the number of clients who returned to homelessness within 13 - 24 months of exiting to a permanent housing destination.



The fifth row returns an unduplicated count of clients who exited within the report date range and resurfaced in HMIS with unstable housing (ES, SO, SH) within 2 years of exiting. If you run the report with a date range of less than 2 years in the past this measure may result in 0. If you run the report for the appropriate date range, the report returns:

  • The number of clients who returned to homelessness within 2 years of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The percentage of clients who exited to a permanent housing destination and returned to homelessness within 2 years of exiting to a permanent housing destination.
  • The average number of days between the exit to permanent housing and resurfacing in HMIS for the number of clients who returned to homelessness within 2 years of exiting to a permanent housing destination.


Note: The measures for each time period returns an unduplicated count of clients. Therefore, if a single client has multiple exits to permanent housing and subsequent returns to homelessness in the 6 months, 6-12, 1 year, or 12 - 24 months measures, that client would only be counted once in the 2-year measure. Therefore, the 2 year measures may not equal the total of the 6, 6-12, 1-year, or 12 - 13 months measures.





Contact Us


If you need help or wish to offer suggestions or feedback, please contact the Cincinnati/Hamilton County HMIS Support Team at HMISsupport@end-homelessness.org or by calling 513-263-2790 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday excluding holidays. 


Note: When contacting HMIS Support about a particular client, please do not send personally identifiable information such as full name, social security number, medical records, or any other information used to determine a person's identity. Instead, send the client's Clarity Unique Identifier found on the client's Clarity profile.