Income Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Report

Does your client receive Social Security benefits? Disability? VA income? If they have received any of those benefits since last year, they received a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). Each year, the Social Security Administration increases the benefits individuals receive in order to keep pace with inflation. The Veteran's Administration also provides a COLA for some of its benefits.

What does this mean for us? We need to document that increase in income for two reasons:

to accurately reflect the client's situation; and
improve our CoC's System Performance Measures, Measure 4: Increases in Income for CoC-funded Projects

Measure 4 looks at the percent of clients in CoC-funded projects that had increases in income - even if it is just a one cent increase. This has been part of the data that HUD looks at in deciding CoC funding. When COLAs are not documented in HMIS, Measure 4 undercounts the number of clients whose income has increased.

This report will help you identify which clients have received a COLA for one or more of their income sources and whether that COLA was reflected in HMIS.

Report Logic

This report focuses on COLAs for the following sources of income:

SSI
SSDI
Retirement Income from Social Security
VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension
VA Service Connected Disability Compensation

Determining if the client has a COLA

COLAs are effective each January, so the report looks for clients who have one of the income sources listed above during the December-January period. These clients receive a larger benefit check in January than they did in December. This report looks to see if that increase in income, the COLA, has been documented in HMIS.

Income Before COLA

Income Before COLA pulls data from the HUD Income Verification Box for any active income recorded for a COLA affected source of income on 12/31 of the year prior to the year that you enter in the prompt "Enter End Date PLUS 1 Day". So for a report run from 12/1/2024 - 3/1/2025, the report looks for the most recent income record that was active on 12/31/24. The monthly amount in that income record is considered the Income Before COLA.

Income After COLA

The client has an income record that either:

has no end date as of the Report End Date; or
has an end date in the year of the Report End Date

So, for a report run from 12/1/2024 - 3/1/2025, the report looks for an income record that has no end date or an income record that has an end date in 2025. A client with such a record, along with an Income before COLA, is considered eligible for a COLA. Note that income records starting in the year prior (in this example, 2024) are not considered in the calculation of income change. Clients with this type of record, and no income records starting in the year of the Report End Date (in our example, 2025), are considered eligible for a COLA but do not have a COLA recorded.

Determining if the client has a COLA recorded

The monthly amount for the Income After COLA record is compared to the monthly amount for the Income Before COLA record. A client is considered to have their COLA recorded if there is an increase from Before to After. If not, the client's COLA has not been recorded.

Running the Report

Report Path

Folders
> Public Folder
    > missouri_live_folder
      > Data Quality and Completeness
        > Income Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Report

Recommended Export Format

Schedule to Microsoft Excel - Reports

Setting the Prompts

Prompt	Instructions
Select Provider(s):	Select the project(s) for which you wish to run the report.
Select Reporting Group(s):	Select the reporting group or which you wish to run the report.
Select CoC(s):	This prompt is for use by ICA System Administrators only. Leave set to "none selected".
Select Project Type(s):	This prompt is for use by ICA System Administrators only. Leave set to "none selected".
Limit to CoC-funded projects?	This prompt is for use by ICA System Administrators only. Leave set to "No".
Enter Start Date:	Enter the start date for the reporting period in m/d/yyyy format. For example, if you're running a report for 7/1/2023-6/30/2024, the date entered in this box would be 7/1/2023.
Enter End Date PLUS 1 Day:	Enter the date after the last date of the reporting period in m/d/yyyy format. For example, if you're running a report for 7/1/2024-6/30/2025, the date entered in this box would be 7/1/2025.
EDA Provider	If only one project is selected in the "Enter value(s) for Provider:" prompt above, select the same project here. If more than one project is selected in the "Enter value(s) for Provider:" prompt, then select one of the projects.
Enter effective date	Enter the date after the last date of the reporting period in M/d/yyyy format. For example, if you're running a report for 7/1/2023-6/30/2024, the date entered in this box would be 7/1/2024.

Using the Report

This report has several tabs, each serving a specific purpose.

Summary

The top summary table shows, for each source of income, how many clients were eligible for a COLA, how many of those have a COLA recorded, and the percentage of clients who have a COLA recorded.

The second summary table shows, for each project in the report, the percentage of clients eligible for a COLA that have one recorded, for each income type.

Client Detail

This detail table is organized by project and shows all clients with entries to the project during the report period with their Entry and Exit Dates. Note that only clients with an Entry Date in the last year are included, as clients with a later start date would not have received a COLA.

Next is a column showing the client's Annual Assessment Window. This column is included as we understand that income increases may not be recorded right away in January when the COLA first takes effect. Rather, these increases may be recorded at the client's Annual Assessment. In those cases, if no COLA is recorded and if the Report End Date is prior to the end of the Annual Assessment Window, the report considers that there is "Still Time to Complete" recording the COLA.

Finally, the table indicates if they have a COLA recorded for each income source. These columns ("SSI COLA Recorded?", "SSDI COLA Recorded?", "Retirement Income from Social Security COLA Recorded?", "VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension COLA Recorded?", "VA Service Connected Disability Compensation COLA Recorded?") will show one of these:

COLA Recorded?	Definition
n/a - no SSI	This client does not have an income record for this source marked "Yes" during the time period of the COLA. Note - this wording will reflect each income source.
Yes	This client has a COLA recorded for this income source. See the specific Income Detail tab for amount.
Still Time to Complete	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" during the time period of the COLA but does not have a COLA recorded. However, this client's Annual Assessment Window has not yet occurred as of the Report End Date, so it is understood that the COLA may be recorded at that Annual Assessment.
No - Passed Annual Window	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" during the time period of the COLA, but does not have a COLA recorded. This client's Annual Assessment period has passed as of the Report End Date.
Exited without COLA	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" during the time period of the COLA, but does not have a COLA recorded. This client has exited the project as of the Report End Date.

SSI Detail

This detail table includes all clients eligible for a COLA in their SSI income. The table lists the Entry Provider, Client ID, and information from the income HUD Verification record: Income Provider, Start and End Date, and Monthly Amount.

For each client, only income records that are considered in the calculation of the COLA are displayed.

The column "SSI Income Change" displays the change between Income After COLA and Income Before COLA. Note that clients may be considered eligible for a COLA if they have an income record starting before the report end year with no end date, but it is only considered Income After COLA if the Income Start Date is in the report end year.

SSI Income Change	Definition
$ Dollar Amount	This indicates the amount of income change for the client, comparing Income After COLA to Income Before COLA. A positive value indicates the COLA was successfully recorded.
Missing Income Record in Current Year	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" that extends into the current year, but there is no income record starting in the current year to include in the COLA calculations.
Multiple Records On This Start Date	This client has more than one income record for this source marked "Yes" with the same start date.

Finally, the "SSI COLA Recorded?" column indicates whether the client has ("Yes") or has not ("No" in red) had a COLA recorded. A client is considered as having a COLA recorded if there is an increase in income in "SSI Income Change". This is the same as on the Client Detail tab - see the COLA Recorded? table above for details on the possible values.

SSDI Detail

This detail table includes all clients eligible for a COLA in their SSDI income. The table lists the Entry Provider, Client ID, and information from the income HUD Verification record: Income Provider, Start and End Date, and Monthly Amount.

For each client, only income records that are considered in the calculation of the COLA are displayed.

The column "SSDI Income Change" displays the change between Income After COLA and Income Before COLA. Note that clients may be considered eligible for a COLA if they have an income record starting before the report end year with no end date, but it is only considered Income After COLA if the Income Start Date is in the report end year.

SSDI Income Change	Definition
$ Dollar Amount	This indicates the amount of income change for the client, comparing Income After COLA to Income Before COLA. A positive value indicates the COLA was successfully recorded.
Missing Income Record in Current Year	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" that extends into the current year, but there is no income record starting in the current year to include in the COLA calculations.
Multiple Records On This Start Date	This client has more than one income record for this source marked "Yes" with the same start date.

Finally, the "SSDI COLA Recorded?" column indicates whether the client has ("Yes") or has not ("No" in red) had a COLA recorded. A client is considered as having a COLA recorded if there is an increase in income in "SSDI Income Change". This is the same as on the Client Detail tab - see the COLA Recorded? table above for details on the possible values.

SS Retirement Detail

This detail table includes all clients eligible for a COLA in their Retirement Income from Social Security. The table lists the Entry Provider, Client ID, and information from the income HUD Verification record: Income Provider, Start and End Date, and Monthly Amount.

For each client, only income records that are considered in the calculation of the COLA are displayed.

The column "Retirement Income from Social Security Change" displays the change between Income After COLA and Income Before COLA. Note that clients may be considered eligible for a COLA if they have an income record starting before the report end year with no end date, but it is only considered Income After COLA if the Income Start Date is in the report end year.

Retirement Income from Social Security Income Change	Definition
$ Dollar Amount	This indicates the amount of income change for the client, comparing Income After COLA to Income Before COLA. A positive value indicates the COLA was successfully recorded.
Missing Income Record in Current Year	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" that extends into the current year, but there is no income record starting in the current year to include in the COLA calculations.
Multiple Records On This Start Date	This client has more than one income record for this source marked "Yes" with the same start date.

Finally, the "Retirement Income from Social Security COLA Recorded?" column indicates whether the client has ("Yes") or has not ("No" in red) had a COLA recorded. A client is considered as having a COLA recorded if there is an increase in income in "Retirement Income from Social Security Income Change". This is the same as on the Client Detail tab - see the COLA Recorded? table above for details on the possible values.

VA Non-Service Connected Detail

This detail table includes all clients eligible for a COLA in their VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension. The table lists the Entry Provider, Client ID, and information from the income HUD Verification record: Income Provider, Start and End Date, and Monthly Amount.

For each client, only income records that are considered in the calculation of the COLA are displayed.

The column "VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension Change" displays the change between Income After COLA and Income Before COLA. Note that clients may be considered eligible for a COLA if they have an income record starting before the report end year with no end date, but it is only considered Income After COLA if the Income Start Date is in the report end year.

VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension Income Change	Definition
$ Dollar Amount	This indicates the amount of income change for the client, comparing Income After COLA to Income Before COLA. A positive value indicates the COLA was successfully recorded.
Missing Income Record in Current Year	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" that extends into the current year, but there is no income record starting in the current year to include in the COLA calculations.
Multiple Records On This Start Date	This client has more than one income record for this source marked "Yes" with the same start date.

Finally, the "VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension COLA Recorded?" column indicates whether the client has ("Yes") or has not ("No" in red) had a COLA recorded. A client is considered as having a COLA recorded if there is an increase in income in "VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension Income Change". This is the same as on the Client Detail tab - see the COLA Recorded? table above for details on the possible values.

VA Service Connected Detail

This detail table includes all clients eligible for a COLA in their VA Service Connected Disability Compensation. The table lists the Entry Provider, Client ID, and information from the income HUD Verification record: Income Provider, Start and End Date, and Monthly Amount.

For each client, only income records that are considered in the calculation of the COLA are displayed.

The column "VA Service Connected Disability Compensation Change" displays the change between Income After COLA and Income Before COLA. Note that clients may be considered eligible for a COLA if they have an income record starting before the report end year with no end date, but it is only considered Income After COLA if the Income Start Date is in the report end year.

VA Service Connected Disability Compensation Income Change	Definition
$ Dollar Amount	This indicates the amount of income change for the client, comparing Income After COLA to Income Before COLA. A positive value indicates the COLA was successfully recorded.
Missing Income Record in Current Year	This client has an income record for this source marked "Yes" that extends into the current year, but there is no income record starting in the current year to include in the COLA calculations.
Multiple Records On This Start Date	This client has more than one income record for this source marked "Yes" with the same start date.

Finally, the "VA Service Connected Disability Compensation COLA Recorded?" column indicates whether the client has ("Yes") or has not ("No" in red) had a COLA recorded. A client is considered as having a COLA recorded if there is an increase in income in "VA Service Connected Disability Compensation Income Change". This is the same as on the Client Detail tab - see the COLA Recorded? table above for details on the possible values.

Additional Information

This tab contains information about the report that can be utilized by ICA staff to determine whether the report was run properly by the user. If you seek assistance with this report from the ICA Missouri Helpdesk, please be prepared to read/send information off of this tab to the individual who assists you.

Training Video

This training was provided at the March 2025 ICA MO Reporting Office Hours.

Need Assistance?

If you need assistance running the report, understanding the information in the report, or troubleshooting potential errors, please reach out to the ICA Missouri Helpdesk. Include the name and date of the BusinessObjects report as it appears in your BI Inbox in your request for assistance.