San Luis Obispo County recently rolled out a new homelessness management information system.
The system is Clarity Human Services and it streamlines homeless case management, outreach, engagement and coordinated entry across the county.
“Having technology as a tool to coordinate care is what creates a more collaborative and cohesive system of response,” said Kari Howell, Program Manager of the County’s Homeless Services Division.
Eleven county outreach homeless service providers and 145 users now use Clarity, which was released county-wide over a month and a half ago bringing everyone together under one platform.
For Austin Solheim, the Director of Operations and Development with El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO), before the change in management systems, they were left to do their own reporting the old-fashioned way.
“As an organization, we're tracking on our own — we had spreadsheets. This puts all of that information into one organized system,” Solheim said.
The system is one that could assist and track the progress of the county’s five-year plan to cut homelessness by 50% come 2027.
“I think HMIS and the Point-in-Time Count are creating a more reliable baseline in order to track and measure progress over time,” Howell stated.
According to Howell, since the rollout, users from service providers have been happy with the change.
“A current HMIS user said, 'It's so easy, I must be doing something wrong' and we just love that. I think that's indicative of finally we have this tool to help people on site in the front line,” Howell said.
The new system rolled out March 4 and according to Howell, is the same one used in high-population counties across the state like L.A. and Alameda, as well as other service providers across the country.
