Ongoing monitoring of performance data plays an important role in diagnosing challenges and highlighting successes in the King County homelessness crisis response system. It allows funders, agencies, and the community to review progress and allows us to adjust as necessary to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. Explore the dashboard to view trends across time, by intervention type (like emergency shelter, or permanent supportive housing), and by subpopulations (like race/ethnicity, or household type).
Data for this dashboard comes from the Seattle-King County Continuum of Care’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). HMIS is an online database that enables organizations to collect data on the services they provide to people experiencing homelessness. Over 85% of programs in King County’s Continuum of Care who are providing some level of care, shelter, or housing, report into the HMIS on an ongoing basis.
Exit to or Maintain Permanent Housing
Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Rapid Re-Housing Programs
The primary goal of the homeless response system is to support individuals and households to move from homelessness into permanent housing. To track our progress, we measure the rate at which programs exit households from the homelessness response system to a permanent housing destination.
How it’s calculated: Exits to permanent housing = Total number of households who exited to permanent housing during the timeframe ÷ Total number of households who exited to any destination during the timeframe
Permanent Housing Programs
Some programs, such as Permanent Supportive Housing, are meant as permanent housing solutions for clients who formerly experienced homelessness that require ongoing housing support. In these programs, maintaining enrollment or exiting to permanent housing are considered successful outcomes.
How it’s calculated: Exits to or maintain permanent housing = Total number of households who maintain enrolled past the end of the timeframe and total number of households who exited to permanent housing during the timeframe ÷ Number of households active in the system during the timeframe
Average Length of Enrollment
This measure looks at the average amount of time households are enrolled in a program. Best practices aim to reduce the amount of time someone experiences homelessness by moving them to housing as quickly as possible.
How it’s calculated: Average length of enrollment = total number of days that households stay in a program by the end of the timeframe ÷ total number of households who accessed that program during the timeframe. This includes households that exit during the timeframe (leavers) and those that remain enrolled at the end of the timeframe (stayers)
Return Rate
While it is important to house people experiencing homelessness quickly, it is equally important to ensure that a permanent housing situation is sustainable so that people don’t experience homelessness again. This measure is calculated only for clients who consent to share identifying information in HMIS.
How it’s calculated: Return rate = Number of households returning to homelessness within 6 months of the timeframe ÷ Number of households who exited to permanent housing during a given timeframe
Literally Homeless Entries
This measure allows us to monitor the extent to which our system is serving clients who are literally homeless as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)at the time of program enrollment.
How it’s calculated: Percent literally homeless = Number of households who reported sleeping in emergency shelter, a safe haven, a place not meant for human habitation, or an institutional setting (e.g., jail, hospital, drug treatment facility), or fleeing domestic violence prior to project enrollment ÷ Number of households active in the system during the timeframe
Utilization Rate
Utilization rates allow us to monitor the use of beds and units in the system. Utilization rates are not calculated for Rapid Re-Housing programs because these programs do not have a fixed number of units.
How it’s calculated: Utilization rate = Total number of nights that units were occupied ÷ total number of nights that units were available in the timeframe
Definition: Number of Units = The maximum number of units that were available at a given time during the reporting period.
Other Definitions
The Annual Population Trends dashboard provides trends by age group, household composition, race/ethnicity, and veteran status. Data on these characteristics are based on information reported about the designated head of the household.
Age Group: Determined based on the age of the head of household at the time of enrollment. Adults are heads of households aged 25 and older and Youth and Young Adult heads of households are 24 and younger.
Household Composition: Determined based on the age and household composition of the head of household at the time of enrollment.
Race & Ethnicity: Head of household’s self-reported race and ethnicity at the time of enrollment using HUD-defined categories. The Fiscal Year 2024 HMIS Data Standards provide two significant updates to how clients can identify their race and ethnicity:
- Middle Eastern or North African was added to the list of options clients can identify as. Before October 2023, this was not an option for clients.
- “Race” and “Ethnicity” were combined into one question. These were previously two separate questions for clients, with Ethnicity identifying whether someone identifies as Hispanic/Latina/e/o. Now, Hispanic/Latina/e/o is part of a single “Race & Ethnicity” list.
Veteran Status: Head of household’s self-reported veteran status at the time of enrollment. Note: The “non-Veteran” category includes some households that are ineligible for military service (e.g. youth).
NOTE: Since some families are headed by young adults, these households are categorized as “Families with Children” in the Household Composition view and as “Under 25” in the Age Group view.