Recording Client Addresses (St. Louis City CoC)

This guide reviews the basics of recording client addresses in the HMIS within the entry/exit, as required in the St. Louis City CoC for all shared (aka "unprotected"), tenant-based permanent housing projects (including Rapid Rehousing, Permanent Supportive Housing, and Other Permanent Housing). These fields will show only to projects which are required to gather the information. Any questions regarding data entry may be directed to the St. Louis team via the ICA Missouri Helpdesk.

Purpose of Collecting Addresses

The CoC has elected to collect client addresses for tenant-based (also known as voucher-based) permanent housing project clients in order to support an initiative to examine eviction data. Questions about the initiative to examine eviction data may be directed to the CoC board. The zip code may also be utilized for other purposes, such as identifying zip codes where clients may be housed at higher rates compared to other zip codes. Housing Address Form can be downloaded here if needed.

Gathering Client Consent

Before a client address can be entered into this particular field in HMIS, client consent must be gathered. Individual projects/agencies may decide how they wish to gather and document this consent; there is no official form provided by ICA or the CoC at this time. Consent is only required to be collected from the head of household - it does not need to be collected from each member of the household. Housing status, plus consent (or lack thereof) is defined using the following options:

N/A - Client Not Housed

This selection should be utilized to document that the client has not yet found housing. Consent does not need to be gathered until the client has moved into housing. If this option is selected, the street number, street name, street suffix, apartment/unit number, and zip code fields must all be blank.

Client Consented to Entry of Full Address

This selection means the client has consented to have their street number, street name, street suffix, apartment/unit number (if applicable), and zip code documented in the HMIS. If this option is selected, the street number, street name, street suffix, and zip code fields must be completed.

Client Consented to Entry of Zip Code Only

This selection means the client declined to have their street number, street name, street suffix, and apartment/unit number (if applicable) documented in the system but consented to have their zip code documented in the HMIS. If this option is selected, the street number, street name, street suffix, and apartment/unit number must be blank, while the zip code must be completed.

Client Declined Entry of Full Address or Zip Code Only

This selection means the client declined to have any portion of their address, including the zip code, documented within the HMIS. If this option is selected, the street number, street name, street suffix, apartment/unit number, and zip code fields must all be blank.

Relationship to the Housing Move-In Date

While the Housing Move-In Date and the Client Address will typically be gathered and entered at the same time, they will not always be directly linked to each other.

Housing Move-In Date

The Housing Move-In Date must reflect the day the Head of Household initially became housed while enrolled in that project. In the event a client moves from one unit directly to another housing unit (without becoming homeless in between), the Housing Move-In Date will not be updated to match the new move-in date, but the Client Address would be updated. In the event a client transfers between projects, but maintains the same housing unit, the Housing Move-In Date would be updated, but the Client Address would not.

Client Address

The Client Address, when the client has granted consent, must reflect the current location of the client's housing unit, regardless of the date they moved into the housing unit or started in the project. In the event a client moves from one unit directly to another housing unit (without becoming homeless in between), the Client Address would be updated, but the Housing Move-In Date would not. In the event a client transfers between projects, but maintains the same housing unit, the Client Address would not be updated, but the Housing Move-In Date would.

Recording the Address/Zip Code

This requirement is in place for all clients who were served in any permanent housing project in the CoC, regardless of funding source, on or after March 1, 2022. For those clients who were already housed as of March 1, 2022, the client's consent (or lack thereof) and address (assuming consent was granted) should be entered on an interim review dated March 1, 2022. For those clients who become housed or change housing units after March 1, 2022, the information should be recorded on an interim review matching the date the client began living in the housing unit.

The consent and address information can only be recorded at update or exit. In the event a client is housed as of the project start date, an interim review must be recorded on the project start date in order to record the address.

An example address, and what goes into each field in the HMIS, is shown below. A description and information about requirements are also provided.

Example Address

1234 Elmo Lane, Apt 4S

St. Louis, Missouri 63101

Field	Example	Description & Requirements
Street Number for Housing Unit	1234	If the client consents to the entry of their full address, this field must contain the street number. It may contain letters if the street number of the housing unit includes letters.
Street Name for Housing Unit	Elmo	If the client consents to the entry of their full address, this field must contain the street name. It may contain letters or numbers.
Street Suffix for Housing Unit	Lane	If the client consents to the entry of their full address, the appropriate street suffix must be selected from the dropdown. If the street suffix is not available within the dropdown, please contact the ICA Missouri Helpdesk for guidance.
Apartment/Unit Number for Housing Unit	4S	If the client consents to the entry of their full address and lives in an apartment or specific unit within the building, this field should include the apartment or specific unit number. Do not include anything other than the unit number (i.e., no "Apt" or # sign), which may include letters or numbers. If there is no apartment/unit number, leave this field blank (i.e., do not enter "N/A").
Zip Code of Housing Unit	63101	If the client consents to the entry of their full address or the entry of their zip code only, this field must have the 5-digit zip code entered into it. The field can only accept zip codes between (and including) 63000 and 65999. If your client has a zip code outside of this range, please contact the ICA Missouri Helpdesk for guidance.

Training video

This short training video (about 7 minutes) demonstrates how to record the address within WellSky Community Services (formerly ServicePoint). The password for the video is available from the helpdesk.

Data completeness requirements

Data completeness of the client address will be monitored and scored by checking for consistency between the Consent & Address Data Quality selection and the other address fields. At this time, it will not be monitored or scored based upon the percentage of clients who agree to have their full address entered into HMIS, though the CoC does have the right to change monitoring and scoring practices. Clients must not be pressured to consent to have their address entered in order to improve the project's data quality or completeness scores.

At this time, a report is not yet available that will allow projects to monitor their data completeness for client addresses. Once a report is available, this guide will be revised to include a link to a guide on how to run and utilize the report.

Need Assistance?

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the ICA Missouri Helpdesk. The helpdesk will connect you with an available member of the ICA St. Louis team who can answer your question, typically within one business day.