Rationale
To determine whether households are accessing all eligible mainstream program benefits at the time of project start and to allow for analyzing changes in the composition of non-cash benefits between project start and exit.
Data Entry Instructions
Indicate whether each head of each household served (including minor heads of their own household) and each adult household member is receiving any of the listed benefits.
Non-Cash Benefits collected at project start and project exit are to reflect the information as of the date of project start and the date of project exit. 'Information Date' for those records must reflect the date of project start and the date of project exit, respectively.
To collect benefits information, projects are expected to ask clients about each of the benefits sources listed to confirm or negate whether the benefit is received (either on paper or through client interview) rather than generally asking what benefits are being received. Clients are not required to provide documentation of benefits. Requiring documentation of benefits when it is not a funder's requirement unnecessarily slows down the process for assisting people to exit homelessness.
Benefits data should be recorded only for benefits that are current as of the 'Information Date' (i.e. have not been terminated). Clients may identify multiple sources of non-cash benefits.
- For example, a client received food stamps on the first of the month and expects to receive food stamps again on the first of the next month. Record the response for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) as ‘Yes.’
- For example, a client received food stamps on the first of the month but is not eligible to receive food stamps on the first of the next month. Record the response for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) as ‘No.’
Non-Cash Benefits is intended to identify regular, recurrent benefits. Services and/or gifts such as phone cards and vouchers that are provided by a project to clients during enrollment are fundamentally different and are not considered benefits.
More Resources
For more detailed and the most up-to-date information regarding HUD required HMIS Program Data Elements, please find the Data Standards Manual here: HMIS Data Standards - HUD Exchange.
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 9:00am - 3:00pm Monday-Friday (excluding holidays).
When contacting HMIS Support about a particular client, please do not send sensitive personally identifiable information (Sensitive PII) through email, such as full name, social security number, or any other information used to determine a person's identification. Instead, please send the Clarity Unique Identifier found on the client's Clarity Profile page. You can use the messaging system in Clarity if you need to send sensitive personally identifying information.