Understanding the HLC Data Dashboard

The Homeless Leadership Coalition (HLC) uses data to better understand how people interact with Central Oregon’s homelessness and housing response system, identify community needs, measure outcomes, and improve services.

The information displayed in these dashboards comes directly from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) used by participating homeless service and housing providers within the Central Oregon Continuum of Care (CoC).

HMIS is a secure data system used to record information about individuals and families who access participating homelessness, housing, and supportive service programs. It allows our region to better understand who is being served, what services people are accessing, and how people move through the regional system of care.

This number should not be interpreted as the number of people currently experiencing homelessness in Central Oregon.

The Total Number of People Assisted represents people whose participation in HMIS-participating programs is captured during the reporting period. Depending on the programs included in the dashboard, this can include people who:

  • are staying in emergency shelter;
  • are experiencing unsheltered homelessness and engaging with outreach programs;
  • are receiving homelessness prevention assistance;
  • are participating in rapid rehousing or other housing programs;
  • are already housed in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) while continuing to receive housing and supportive services; or
  • may have had only a brief or one-time interaction with a participating program during the reporting period.

For this reason, the dashboard provides a picture of the reach and activity of our regional homelessness and housing response system, rather than a count of how many people are homeless at one particular point in time.

The HMIS dashboard looks across a period of time and captures people who interacted with participating programs, including people receiving prevention services or already living in permanent housing. The Point-in-Time (PIT) Count is a very different measure: it estimates the number of people experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness on one specific night. Because one measures people interacting with the system over time and the other measures homelessness on a single night, the two numbers answer different questions and should not be directly compared.

Central Oregon Regional Dashboards

Community Snapshot Dashboard

Reporting period: Rolling 12-Months

Central Oregon Community Analysis Dashboard

Reporting period: Rolling 12-Months

National Data Dashboard