Data Sources

Homelessness continues to be one of the most pressing challenges in Colorado and across the country. Data is central to understanding and solving this issue. The State of Homelessness report synthesizes several data sources along with input from people with lived experience to comprehensively depict homelessness in Colorado. The methodology, time frame, and definition of homelessness vary by data source.

Important Data Considerations & Limitations

The COHMIS Leads from each CoC are constantly looking at ways to improve our dashboards to ensure the metrics are as accessible and straightforward as possible. Homeless service data is complex and requires nuanced interpretation. We highly recommend that you visit the Definitions page before analyzing the data available on these dashboards.

Please be respectful as your view these dashboards as they represent people in our communities.

Do not use information from these dashboards in publications without first contacting the COHMIS Lead agencies to ensure you are interpreting information correctly. You can contact the COHMIS Leads by submitting a ticket at our Helpdesk.

Limitations

This report synthesizes the current information available regarding homelessness in the region. However, as with any data surrounding the issue of homelessness, there are several key limitations. The data does not provide “apple-to-apple” comparisons across sources. Comparison is not possible nor advised. Significant differences in counts do appear; however, each of these data sets is unique in what, who, and how it measures homelessness. When combined, they create a much broader understanding of homelessness in our community.

Different Definitions of Homelessness

Two definitions of homelessness are used for this report, provided by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Department of Education.

Different Timeframes and Methodologies

The Point in Time takes place on a single night; HMIS data are cumulative 2024 calendar year; and the Mc-Kinney Vento data is from the last reported school year (23-24). Each of these sources has different methodologies and reporting requirements for data collection.

Duplicate Profiles

These dashboards reflect the unique count of Client & Household Identifiers associated with people having their information entered into COHMIS. However, we know there are a number of duplicate profiles due to data collection challenges associated with homeless services. COHMIS Leads regularly monitor the system for duplicate profiles, merging them as they are identified, but it is likely the overall numbers reflected in these dashboards are impacted by these records.

Within the dashboards the total number of people and households served uses an unduplicated count. When reviewing Project Type (i.e. emergency shelters, housing, etc.) these are unduplicated counts per type but are duplicated counts across all projects as households can access multiple projects at any given time.

Underrepresented Populations

Agencies designated as Victim Service Providers (VSPs) who serve people fleeing domestic violence are prevented by law from entering personally identifying information about these participants into HMIS. These providers are generally required to use an HMIS Domestic Violence Comparable Database. Due to these requirements, we are unable to reflect the persons being served at VSP organizations in our COHMIS dashboards.

Not Exhaustive on the Topic of Homelessness

This report is a mechanism to inform the public, lawmakers, and our local provider community on the wider issue of homelessness in order to improve collaboration throughout the region. It is not exhaustive.

Sources

Additional Sources and Information