A study released in the March issue of Cityscape, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) publication, investigated adoption of the Homeless Information Management System (HMIS) amongst a sample group of homeless providing agencies.
HMIS is a national HUD initiative to streamline information sharing across homeless service providers. The idea is that better information sharing decreases duplication of services and leads to more effective service delivery. However, implementation has been uneven as HMIS software systems vary from one continuum of care to another.
The study investigated user adoption, that is, to what extent staff in homeless service providing organizations actually uses the systems. Amongst the findings was a slight gendered effect as in “organizations reporting higher levels of organizational proficiency, male staff members showed increased use of HMIS.”
Most important amongst the findings was that HMIS use is uneven, with some organizations using the systems extensively with others hardly using it at all. The uneven use suggests that the system either
- Meets the needs of some organizations better than others
- Some organizations have greater capacity to use the system than others
Part of the problem with the HMIS initiative, like many struggling initiatives in the social sector, is that HMIS creates regional technology monopolies, locking continuum of cares into long-term contracts with vendors that might not actually meet their needs (or even know the organizations they serve!).
Innovation and Competition
As the rest of the country basks in the benefits of the technology age, the social sector remains shackled by antiquated, anti-competitive initiatives like HMIS. Initiatives like this one force frontline staff to use poorly designed, cumbersome technology, whether it meets their needs or not.
Pardon me, but I figured we were in this line of business to help people. If we want to do that, we need better technology. But we aren’t going to get better technology so long as service homeless service providers are stripped of choice, and a select few companies hold the reigns to the homeless services data backbone.
I’m really baffled how good people make bad decisions. You and I experience the benefits of technological innovation all the time. This innovation comes from competition.
Adoption of HMIS is low because the systems are not meeting user needs. If we want more adoption, let’s allow the markets to work and afford implementing agencies more choice. After all, it is through frontline staff that the real work of lifting people out of poverty and homelessness happens
Photo by e-magic