Dive Brief:
California launched its first-ever "data warehouse" to provide a more complete picture of homelessness in the state, helping local officials make more data-informed policy decisions to prevent and end homelessness.
The state’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, in partnership with 44 continuums of care (CoCs), created the Homeless Data Integration System (HDIS) to compile data about homelessness into a single repository.
The HDIS will help the state and CoCs determine which homelessness services are being provided across the state; who is accessing those services; and which interventions are the most effective.
Dive Insight:
California’s homeless population increased almost 7% last year, to 161,548 people, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) January 2020 point-in-time count, a number that is reported to likely have been exacerbated amid the pandemic. And the number of people served by homeless prevention services increased 131.6% from 2017 to 2020.