• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • CAREERS
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT US
  • AGENCY PORTAL
Calgary Homeless Foundation
  • MEET US
    • Who We Are
      • Our Purpose & Ambition
      • Board Members
      • Executive Leadership Team
      • Lived Experience
        • Client Action Committee
        • Youth Advisory Table
      • Work for Us
        • Our Organization
        • Our Culture
        • Our Benefits
        • Job Listings
    • What We Do
      • Allocate Resources
        • How We Are Funded
        • How We Fund
        • Who We Fund
      • Build Knowledge & Understanding
      • Galvanize Public & Political Will
      • Report to Community
        • Our Report to Community
        • Past Reports to Community and MD&As
    • History
      • Our Beginning
      • Art Smith
  • DISCOVER & LEARN
    • Learn About Homelessness
      • Homelessness in Calgary
        • Homelessness 101
        • Who Experiences Homelessness?
        • Causes of Homelessness
        • Chronicity and Complexity
        • Myths About Homelessness
    • Our Approach to Fighting Homelessness
      • How We Define Success
        • Functional Zero: How We Measure Success
        • Housing First and People First
      • Research & Data
        • Research
          • Research Vision
          • How We Use Research
        • Data
          • How We Use Data
          • Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS)
          • Data Sharing
          • Point in Time Count
          • Data That Makes a Difference
        • Data Dashboard
        • Research Library
          • Our Published Papers
          • Other Organizations’ Papers
      • Community Collaboration
        • Our Role as a Community-Based Organization
        • Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care
      • System Planning
        • Coordinated Access & Assessment
        • Agencies and Programs
        • Accreditation
        • Frameworks and Resource Guides
      • Plans
  • DONATE
    • Donate
    • Sidewalks to Door Locks
    • Community Led Fundraising
      • How Do I Create a Community-Led Fundraising Event?
      • Partnering With Us
      • Success Stories
    • What Else Can You Do?
  • BLOG
  • NEED HELP?
  • Search
  • Menu

How We Use Data

You are here: Home1 / Discover & Learn2 / Research & Data3 / Data4 / How We Use Data
  • How We Use Data
  • HMIS
  • Data Sharing
  • Point in Time Count
  • Data That Makes a Difference

What do we use data for?

We use data to:

  • Guide and coordinate the efforts of agencies that make up Calgary’s homeless-serving system of care;
  • Measure the success of the programs we fund, and
  • Inform our research.

We collect data through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the richest database on homelessness in Canada. It tells us who is accessing Calgary’s homeless-serving system of care and their unique needs. We then develop effective and innovative ways to help them and improve the programs and services we fund.

How do we collect data and what do we do with it?

When people experiencing homelessness approach an agency, they fill out a questionnaire that is entered into the HMIS and reviewed by Calgary Homeless Foundation and other agencies at weekly meetings.

Based on the data, we determine the severity of a person’s need and connect them to appropriate programs and services. This process, called “triaging,” is at the heart of what we do and you can learn more about it here.

In addition to assessing people’s needs, we look at data to determine if programs are achieving their aims and if people are receiving the care and help they need

Data also provides the raw material for us on to conduct research, which helps us identify ways we can improve the system of care. For example, in 2017, we helped house 109 people who had been living in shelters for years, thanks to data from Calgary Alpha House Society, The Calgary Drop In & Rehab Centre and The Mustard Seed Shelter.

chf annual appeal how we use data

The data revealed that adults who had been chronically homeless for 5, 10, and sometimes 20 years, were falling through the cracks because their needs were never “acute” enough on the existing scoring system to be triaged for housing.

As a result, we launched a pilot program providing housing spaces for 109 chronic shelter users. The discovery also changed the way we assess clients’ needs.

You can read more about how data and research changed people’s lives here.

Contact Us

Calgary Homeless Foundation
Rocky Mountain Plaza
Suite 1500, 615 Macleod Trail SE
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 4T8

Ph: (403) 237-6456
Fax: (403) 262-2924

Guiding the Fight Against Homelessness

Support Pages

  • Need Help?
  • Donate
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Careers
© Copyright Calgary Homeless Foundation. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement
The Calgary Homeless Foundation is a registered charity: BN# 88084 6829 RR0001
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Site Map
Scroll to top