What’s behind the numbers in Douglas County’s homelessness dashboard

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

A Homeless Response Team vehicle is pictured on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.

Douglas County’s homelessness dashboard offers a closer look at who is experiencing homelessness locally, but understanding what its numbers mean requires a closer look at how the data is collected and who is counted.

The Douglas County Homelessness Dashboard is a public online tool displaying monthly data on homelessness in the county. The dashboard is intended to give the public, policymakers and service providers a clearer picture of the scope and characteristics of homelessness in Douglas County and to help track progress and plan services.

“There was a desire on the part of community members and policy leaders that we have some sort of a community-facing dashboard that tells the story of how many people are experiencing homelessness,” Jill Jolicoeur, assistant county administrator, said.

It’s also meant to help provide insight into how the City of Lawrence, the county and other partners are progressing in the plan to end chronic homelessness, “A Place for Everyone.”

“I do think it is a great accountability tool to the different partners in our homelessness system for us to have a user-friendly way to look at (the data) … to get a sense of what’s going on and do their own research,” Jolicoeur said. “But it also just helps folks just understand.”

The Journal-World sat down with Douglas County and Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition staff to learn more about how to interpret the data in the county’s homelessness dashboard.

Here’s what officials said about how to read the dashboard and understand its numbers:

Terms in the dashboard you may run into:

“Inactive” means someone who has exited to a nonpermanent destination or with whom the system has lost contact and is trying to reconnect within the 90-day period.

“Coordinated Entry” is the system through which people are assessed, prioritized and referred for available housing assistance.

“Street Outreach” is the people who engaged with homelessness outreach workers in the field, including helping them obtain IDs, connect with treatment or services and get onto housing/service lists.

“Services Only” are people utilizing services such as case management, obtaining documents, making appointments and transportation that don’t themselves constitute housing.

“Homelessness Prevention” are the individuals utilizing assistance intended to keep someone from becoming homeless, such as rent or utility assistance and short-term case management.

The “Other” category in where people went after leaving housing is a combined exit category that includes a variety of unique circumstances for individuals exiting homelessness.

Where does the dashboard’s data come from?

The data comes from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) – a digital database managed by the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition to collect, track, and analyze data on individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Individual service providers and agencies enter information about people experiencing homelessness into HMIS, and that information is then exported to the county’s public dashboard.

Which agencies contribute data to the dashboard?

The agencies contributing to Douglas County data include the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Catholic Charities, Mental Health of America of the Heartland, Lawrence Community Shelter, Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, Salvation Army, Family Promise of Lawrence, Homeless Resource Center, Heartland RADAC, Tenants to Homeowners, The Willow Domestic Violence Center and Artists Helping the Homeless.

Not every organization listed necessarily enters program data directly into HMIS. Some participate through coordinated entry instead.

The Willow, for example, does not directly contribute to HMIS because it is a domestic violence provider and those systems are kept separate for client safety under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, requirements. It does participate in coordinated entry when appropriate.

Who is included — and who isn’t?

The dashboard includes people experiencing homelessness in Douglas County, regardless of whether they are Douglas County residents. The dashboard is based on HUD’s definition of literal homelessness — people staying on the street or in shelter.

“This … is only looking at people who meet HUD’s definition of literal homelessness,” Molly Mendenhall, director of statewide initiatives at the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, said.

“We are only looking at people who are on the streets or in shelter, staying in places not meant for human habitation or in shelter.”

It does not capture everyone experiencing housing instability, though.

“It’s not looking at people who are staying in a hotel; they’re paying for it themselves,” Mendenhall added. “It’s not looking at people who are living doubled up on their friend’s couch.”

That means the dashboard’s numbers should not be interpreted as the total number of people in Douglas County who lack stable housing.

Why does the dashboard use a 90-day period?

The 90-day period is an “inactivity period” used to determine whether someone should remain in the active homelessness count. If a person is still receiving services or has an exit that is not considered permanent — such as going to jail, a hospital, staying temporarily with friends or family, or losing contact with providers — they can remain in the active count for up to 90 days.

The purpose is to give agencies time to reconnect with people and update their status rather than immediately removing someone from the homelessness count.

“It takes time to resolve their homelessness. … That 90-day window is what we feel is a way to accurately frame what is the … inflow time frame, what is that outflow time frame, and it’s how you can have some way of tracking whether or not you’re making progress,” Mendenhall said.

What happens when someone hasn’t been heard from for 90 days?

If an agency has not been able to contact someone for 90 days, that person is classified as “inactive” and exits HMIS, meaning they are no longer included in the active homelessness count.

“If we don’t know, like if we have lost contact with somebody, we can’t just keep them in there forever and say that they’re homeless if we don’t know,” Adele Honn, director of HMIS at the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, said. “So … after 90 days they’re exited.”

Before that happens, agencies have opportunities to try to reconnect with the person. The county also has weekly coordinated-entry meetings where agencies review clients and their current status or location.

Can one person be counted more than once?

Not in the dashboard’s main active-homelessness total. HMIS is designed to identify duplicate records using identifying information such as a person’s name, date of birth and Social Security number. The HMIS team also runs reports looking for close matches.

However, one person can appear in multiple categories on the dashboard — for example, someone could be both a veteran and chronically homeless. Those categories aren’t mutually exclusive. The overall active-homeless count should still count that individual only once.

What counts as a housing placement in the dashboard?

The available housing-placement categories are determined by HUD.

A housing placement is essentially a permanent exit from homelessness recorded in HMIS. Some examples include renting a home or apartment with a subsidy; renting a home or apartment without a subsidy; and moving into a permanent arrangement with family or friends.

A temporary move — such as staying with friends or family temporarily, going to a hospital or jail, or another nonpermanent situation — does not count as a housing placement. Those situations can instead keep someone in the system during the 90-day period.