Runaway and Homeless Youth - Homeless Management Information System

RHY–HMIS

Effective April 2015, Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) grantees are required to collect data on all youth served in their Continuum of Care (CoC)-designated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) application. The use of a local HMIS helps RHY grantees and communities understand the prevalence, characteristics, service utilization, and outcomes of youth served by RHY programs, and has the potential to identify and plan policies and practices to accelerate efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.

All RHY grantees, including Street Outreach, Basic Center, Transitional Living, and Maternity Group Home Programs must collect their data in HMIS. Basic Center Programs need to record data for youth served in emergency shelter (in an emergency shelter project) as well as youth who are provided services outside of the shelter system (in a homelessness prevention project).

RHY grantees should connect with the point person from their CoC’s HMIS lead, the entity responsible for ensuring that the RHY programs are properly set up in HMIS and to provide training to RHY grantees on how to use HMIS, including generating reports. RHY grantees should ensure that HMIS leads include their accurate HHS grant number in the funding identifier in HMIS. As users of an HMIS application, RHY grantees are responsible for paying license fees associated with the use of HMIS. To locate your HMIS lead, go to the Contact a CoC page here. Grantees should generate a FY 2024 HMIS CSV Format Specifications - Version 1.4 (hudexchange.info) report – de-identified (or “hashed”) for RHY.

In addition to collecting data in HMIS, RHY grantees must upload their data quarterly during the grant fiscal year using the RHY-HMIS Repository website. Data uploads occur during specified periods in January, April, July, and September/October. 

The collection and reporting of data by RHY grantees is governed by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and accompanying regulations. Additional guidance on data collection and uploads is found below.

RHY-HMIS Technical Assistance

  • Grantees and staff with questions about your data upload including logins, files and error messages, please contact the RHY-HMIS Service Desk. Please note: if you have not used the service desk, you will need to create a username and password the first time you visit.
  • For assistance with issues concerning your agency’s CoC/HMIS or questions about RHY-HMIS data, please email FYSB/HHS staff at: [email protected]
  • Questions regarding HMIS: Contact the HUD Exchange, Ask A Question HMIS Desk.

RHY-HMIS Resources

"The RHY-HMIS Data Collection: Uploading RHY Data and Viewing Data Quality Reports"

Dashboard Resources

Beginning December 2023, the Report Dashboard is part of the RHY-HMIS Repository. You can access the Report Dashboard by logging into the RHY-HMIS Repository. Report Dashboard resources:

Additional Resources

Please click the following links to access pertinent information regarding RHY uploads:

Archived Materials

Please click the following links to access the prior RHYPoint artifacts, past memos regarding RHY data collection, sharing, and transfer:

Updated 3/13/2024