Minor Heads of Household

Per the HMIS Data Standards, when a group of persons present together as a household or family unit, one of those persons must be designated as the Head of Household and the rest must have their relationship to the Head of Household recorded. However, the term “Head of Household” is not intended to mean the "leader" of the house.

If the group of people is composed of adults (18 and over) and children (under 18), an adult must be indicated as the Head of Household. If a household consists solely of minors under the age of 18, there are special data entry considerations that must be taken into account for these clients, and this article provides guidance about these requirements.

Minor Heads of Household

Entering clients into separate households should not prevent clients from receiving services as a family unit. However, when households consist solely of minors under the age of 18, you must follow the following guidance for data entry into HMIS:

Any unaccompanied youth under age 18 will be considered their own Head of Household, even if they present as a couple or sibling group and would like to be served together.
If two minors present together with a child, the two minors should be recorded in separate households, and the child should be added to the household of the parent that the child would live with should the parents be separated for any reason.

Please see below for a range of scenarios that illustrate how to implement these data entry guidelines.

Scenario 1

A 17-year-old client and their two younger siblings (ages 14 and 16) are seeking assistance from a homelessness services project and would like to be served together as a family unit. Provided that the funder guidelines allow all clients to be served by the project, all three individuals should receive services together, but because all clients are minors under the age of 18, each client will be entered into HMIS as their own separate Head of Household and will have their own separate project entry into HMIS.

Scenario 2

Two 16-year-olds parents and their 1-year-old child are seeking assistance from a homelessness services project and would like to be served together as a family unit. If the couple were to separate, the child would live with their mother. Provided that the funder guidelines allow all clients to be served by the project, all three individuals should receive services together. However, because all clients are minors under the age 18 years old, two separate households and two separate project entries must be created, with the mother and child in one household/project enrollment, and the father in a separate household/project enrollment.

Scenario 3

An 18-year-old client and her 17-year-old boyfriend are seeking assistance from a homelessness services project and would like to be served together as a family unit. Because the oldest client is older than 17 years old and no longer considered a minor, both individuals would be entered into the same household, with the 18-year-old designated as the Head of Household, and a single project entry for both household members would be created.

Scenario 4

A 19-year-old client and their two younger siblings (ages 15 and 17) are seeking assistance from a homelessness services project and would like to be served together as a family unit. Because the oldest client is older than 17 years old and no longer considered a minor, all three individuals would be entered into the same household, with the 19-year-old designated as the Head of Household, and a single project entry for all household members would be created.

Scenario 5

Two 20-year-old parents and their 3-year-old child are seeking assistance from a homelessness services project and would like to be served together as a family unit. If the couple were to separate, the child would live with their mother. Because the oldest client is older than 17 years old and no longer considered a minor, all three individuals would be entered into the same household, with the mother designated as the Head of Household, and a single project entry for all household members would be created.