The HIC process will run from January 25th - February 9th. All projects must complete the HIC survey during this period. Projects will proceed along different paths based on their project type and whether the project is in HMIS.
HMIS Housing Projects:
All HMIS participating permanent housing projects (PH and RRH) will be able to generate a Utilization Report from BusinessObjects for the night of January 25 (the night of the PIT count). Providers will need to confirm these reports are accurate or correct any errors for each operating project. Once confirmed providers will need to complete the HIC survey.
HMIS Other Projects:
Emergency Shelter (Entry/Exit and Night-by-Night)(ES), Transitional Housing (TH), and Safe Haven (SH) projects will need to complete the HIC survey starting January 25th.
Projects that do not use HMIS:
Projects that do not regularly enter data into HMIS (non-participating) will need to complete a survey to report occupancy and vacancy on the night of count ( January 25th) similar to recent years.
Accessing the 2024 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) Survey
We have created the 2024 Housing Inventory Count Reference Table which will show each project's summary as it is in HMIS or as it was submitted in the 2023 HIC. The same as last year, the username and password are the HMIS ID associated with the Project.
Username: HMIS Project ID
Password: HMIS Project ID
Example: (883) All Chicago - Emergency Shelter
Username: 883
Password: 883
2024 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) Survey Link <- Link will be available on 1/25/2024
2024 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) Survey Sections
This year the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) Survey has 10 sections in total. This survey uses conditional logic based on the responses to provide you with the most appropriate version of the survey.
- Section 1: Project Information
- Section 2: Inventory in Development
- Section 3: Project Type
- Section 4: Target Population
- Section 5: Units
- Section 6: Beds
- Section 7: Emergency Shelter Beds (ES types only)
- Section 8: Permanent Supportive Housing Dedicated Beds (PSH only)
- Section 9: HMIS Participation
- Section 10: Night of January 25, 2024 (Non-Participating and PH project types only)
Section 1: Project Information
The following section is related to the basic information regarding the specific project at your
agency. This section will first capture the information of the person completing the survey. Please be sure that the email address added to the survey is accurate as this email will be used to send a confirmation once the survey has been completed.
The following questions will relate to the project operating information and how the project is funded.
If your project was not included in the 2024 Housing Inventory Count Reference Table please reach out to Helpdesk@allchicago.org
Question 6, Selecting the following Funding sources will generate follow-up questions.
- HHS RHY: Health and Human Services Runaway Homeless Youth
- HUD HOPWA: HUD Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
- VA: Department of Veterans Affairs
Section 2: Inventory in Development
The following section asks about New and Under Development Beds and/or Units. Projects that have new fully funded Beds and/or Units that will come available after January 25, 2024 but before January 31, 2025
If your project's capacity increased in beds and/or units from February 1, 2023 to January 25, 2024; the inventory will be considered as "Current".
Current Beds/Units: Your current beds are any available for occupancy on the night of January 25, 2024.
Under Development Beds/Units: Any beds and/or units that are fully funded in FY23 and will be available for occupancy after January 31, 2024 but before January 31, 2025.
Projects that select "yes" will need to provide the total count of Beds and Units in development.
Section 3: Project Type
This section is important to complete. Depending on the Project Type selected, the survey will populate additional questions needed for the HIC.
The Project Types included in the HIC, as identified in the most recently published HMIS
Data
Standards are:
A. Emergency Shelter - Entry/Exit
B. Emergency Shelter - Night-by-Night
C. Transitional Housing (TH)
D. Safe Haven (SH)
E. Permanent Housing (PH)
1) Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
2) Rapid Re-housing (RRH)
3) Other PH (OPH) – combines two project types from the HMIS DataStandards:
• PH – Housing with Services (no disability required for entry)
• PH – Housing Only
Section 4: Target Population
The following section is designed to identify projects that have HUD Target Populations. For projects to indicate a HUD Target Population, they must meet the following requirements:
1. The project intends to serve that specific population
2. At least three-fourths (75%) of the clients served by the project fit the target group
descriptor.
Only one descriptor can be selected for the HUD Target Population per project. If this project
doesn't target a specific population, please select N/A.
Target Population
- DV: Domestic violence victims
- HIV: Persons with HIV/AIDS
- N/A: Not Applicable - Project does not have a HUD Target Population
Since DV projects do not input client data into HMIS, Projects that select "DV: Domestic violence victims" will need to provide what comparable database is being used.
Section 5: Units
The following section asks about units within this Project. Please review to ensure the total
includes all available units in this project.
For the purpose of the HIC, please review the following definitions when referring to a unit.
- Unit: A unit is intended to be separated living quarters. This could be a single room occupied
as separate living quarters or an apartment. Units should be viewed as the count of households
that can be served. If the project is serving Single clients then the Unit and Bed inventory
Must be 1:1 - Funded Unit: Please indicate the total funded number of units available and is indicated to
the funding source for the project. - Total Unit Inventory: The number of funded units plus the number of over-capacity units will
equal the total unit Inventory.
1) Households without children: Beds and units typically serve households with adults only. This includes households composed of unaccompanied adults (including unaccompanied youth ages 18-24) and multiple adults (including households with multiple youth ages 18 to 24).
2) Households with at least one adult and one child: Beds and units typically serving
households with (at least) one adult (including youth ages 18 to 24) and one child.
3) Households with only children: Beds and units typically serving households
composed exclusively of persons under age 18, including one-child households,
multi-child households or other household configurations composed only of children.
Section 6: Beds
The following section asks about beds within this Project. Please review to ensure the total
includes all available beds in this project.
For the purpose of the HIC, please review the following definitions when referring to a bed.
- Bed: A piece of furniture for sleep, typically a framework with a mattress intended for an individual to sleep in. An example of another type of bed would be a cot or mat. Beds should
be viewed as the count of individual clients that can be served. If the project is serving
Families then the Unit and Bed inventory Can NoU be 1:1 - Funded Bed: The total number of beds available and required by the funding source(s) for the project.
- Total Bed Inventory: The number of funded beds plus the number of over-capacity beds will equal the total bed inventory.
1) Households without children: Beds and units typically serve households with adults only. This includes households composed of unaccompanied adults (including unaccompanied youth ages 18-24) and multiple adults (including households with multiple youth ages 18 to 24).
2) Households with at least one adult and one child: Beds and units typically serving
households with (at least) one adult (including youth ages 18 to 24) and one child.
3) Households with only children: Beds and units typically serving households
composed exclusively of persons under age 18, including one-child households,
multi-child households or other household configurations composed only of children.
Section 7: Emergency Shelter Beds (ES Project type only)
The following page is only applicable to projects which are considered an Emergency Shelter - HUD Type.
Each ES project must indicate the Bed Type, Bed and Unit Availability as well as Overflow Beds. For the purpose of the HIC, please review the following definitions.
Bed Type: The following Bed Type describes the types of beds offered by emergency shelter
projects
1. Facility-based - Beds (including cots or mats) located in a residential homeless assistance facility dedicated for use by persons who are homeless
2. Voucher - Beds located in a hotel or motel and made available by the homeless assistance project through vouchers or other forms of payment
3. Other - Beds located in a church or other facility not dedicated for use by persons who are homeless
Bed Availability
1. Year-Round - year-round beds and units are available on a year-round basis.
2. Seasonal Beds - Seasonal beds are not available year-round but instead are available on a planned basis, with set start and end dates. Please identify only the total number of seasonal beds available for occupancy on the night of the count.
Overflow Beds: Overflow beds are available on an ad hoc or temporary basis during the
year in response to demand that exceeds planned (year-round or seasonal) bed capacity. If
there is no fixed number of overflow beds, please report the number of overflow beds that
were occupied on the night of the count.
Projects that select "yes" to any of the 3 questions will need to provide follow-up details.
Section 8: Permanent Supportive Housing Beds (PSH only)
This section asks for the number of beds dedicated to a subpopulation. Projects that do not have Dedicated beds should input a Zero (0) for each of the following questions in this section.
The total dedicated bed count (cumulative total of questions 25 through 27) should not exceed the total bed count for question 16 on the survey.
Previously, a 'Dedicated Bed' was any bed dedicated to the following three subpopulations:
Individuals experiencing Chronic Homeless, Veterans, and Youth.
As of October 1, 2019, HUD updated national HMIS data standards and altered how
Dedicated Beds are reported.
All beds funded by HUD or another Federal Partner dedicated to the listed subpopulations
below must be reported as Dedicated Beds:
- Chronically Homeless Veterans
- Youth Veterans
- Any Other Veterans
- Chronically Homeless Youth
- Any Other Youth
- Any Other Chronically Homeless
Section 9: HMIS Participation
This section is related to the Project's Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) participation.
HMIS Bed Participating: If the project makes a reasonable effort to record all universal data elements on all clients served in that bed and discloses that information through the Data Quality Assessment on a quarterly basis.
The Project will be able to identify 4 levels of HMIS Bed Participation:
- Yes - All Beds Participate in HMIS
- A portion of beds in this project does not use HMIS
- No - This Project does not participate in HMIS
- No - This Project does not participate in HMIS because it is a Domestic Violence Project
Please ensure the Total Beds number is correct, and if needed, discuss this information with your agency's Agency Technical Administrator (ATA).
If a part of a project's inventory does not participate in HMIS, it will be separated into two HMIS projects.
If you would like further information on the HMIS system, please contact helpdesk@allchicago.org.
Section 10: Night of January 25, 2024 (Permanent Housing project types only)
The following section asks about unit/bed occupancy and utilization within this project on the night of January 25, 2024. Prior to completing this section PH providers should have generated a Utilization BusinessObjects report. This report will assist in answering the following questions, as it would provide data on the occupancy and utilization captured on January 25, 2024.
Please see our Helpdesk article "Generating and Interpreting the Utilization Business Objects Report"
Terminology Related to the HIC
- Persons in households with at least one adult and one child.
- This category includes households with one adult and at least one child under the age of 18.
- Persons in households without children.
- This category includes single adults, adult couples with no children, and groups of adults (including adult parents with their adult children).
- Persons in households with only children.
- This category includes persons under age 18, including children in one-child households, adolescent parents (under age 18) and their children, adolescent siblings, or other household configurations composed only of children.
- Project Type
- The relevant type of project (e.g., emergency shelter).
- Target Population
- The population served by the project, if applicable. A population is considered a "target population" if the project is designed to serve that population and at least three-fourths (75 percent) of the clients served by the project fit the target group descriptor.
- Housing Type
- All of the inventory for the project must fall within the selected Housing Type. If a project has multiple Housing Types, it must be split into separate projects.
- Victim Services Provider
- Identify whether the project is a victim services provider and is prohibited from HMIS participation by VAWA and/or the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. HUD is clarifying that, while DV providers are exempt from entering the address information, they are expected to enter a ZIP code.
- HMIS Participating
- CoCs must report the HMIS participation status of the entire project. Either the project completely participates in HMIS or it does not. If part of a project’s inventory participates in HMIS and another part does not, it should be split into two projects, one representing the inventory participating in HMIS and one representing the inventory not participating in HMIS.
- Comparable Database Participating
- Victim service providers are prohibited by VAWA from entering data into HMIS. CoCs must report whether victim service providers in their geography are participating in a comparable database.
- Bed Type (Emergency Shelter Only)
- The Bed Type describes the type of beds offered by emergency shelter projects according to the following mutually exclusive options:
1) Facility-based: Beds (including cots or mats) located in a residential homeless assistance facility dedicated for use by persons who are homeless.
2) Voucher: Beds located in a hotel or motel and made available by the homeless assistance project through vouchers or other forms of payment.
3) Other: Beds located in a church or other facility not dedicated for use by persons who are homeless.
- The Bed Type describes the type of beds offered by emergency shelter projects according to the following mutually exclusive options:
- Unit Inventory
- The total number of units available for occupancy on the night of the inventory count for each of the above-listed household types.
- Dedicated Bed Inventory
- All beds that have been funded by HUD or another federal partner that is dedicated to one or more of the following subpopulations must be recorded in the appropriate category.
For any questions please submit a ticket to Helpdesk@allchicago.org
All HIC surveys must be submitted via Alchemer. Paper/PDF copies will not be accepted.
The PDF below should be used as a reference as you gather the data to complete the survey in Alchemer.