Night-by-Night Shelter

Night-by-Night (NbN) emergency shelters serve folks whose shelter needs may be intermittent. NbN shelters create an enrollment for all clients they are sheltering but, because clients may come and go, they also use attendance records to track who is staying on any given night, with the enrollment dates serving as bookends for the period a guest received shelter services.

Enrolling a household

1. At many shelters, an enrollment must be created prior to documenting attendance. This is true even if the guest is unwilling or unable to share any personal details. See Creating a New Client and Date of Engagement for additional information on what to do if a guest declines to share.
2. First, search for the Head of Household's Clarity profile. If you do not find the client name do a thorough search using all available personal information (for example partial name, DoB, SSN, etc). If you still cannot find the client please follow these links for additional information on Creating a New Client and managing households.
3. Next, select the appropriate Emergency Shelter project under the Program tab and Create a Program Enrollment for the client and any additional household members.
4. Date of Engagement - Use this field to document when interactive client relationship results in a deliberate client assessment or beginning of a case plan.
5. Enter a Clarity Attendance service coinciding with the program start date.
   
   1. Shelter Services may be documented using the Provide Services tab.
   2. In many cases it is simpler to use the Attendance Module to document shelter stays.
6. Funder and/or CoC specific guidance
   1. DEHCR Homeless Case Management Services (HCMS) - There are additional HCMS specific questions to answer at the end of the program enrollment.
   2. Milwaukee CoC - After completing the program enrollment, you are automatically directed to the Milwaukee City-County CoC Assessment. 
   3. Madison / Dane CoC - You will need to complete the mainstream checklist with shelter guests. Check with your agency to see if this checklist is completed in Clarity.
   4. Madison / Dane CoC - Beginning July 2024 shelters will see additional questions associated with the Re-imagined CE data collection requirements. Follow this link for more information.

While enrolleds

1. Enter an attendance service every time a guest stays at the shelter for the night. Some shelters use the Attendance Module, some enter Attendance Services, and other's use Clarity scan cards.
2. Follow your CoC's guidance for connecting guests with Coordinated Entry and other housing search supports.
3. Some agencies or funders require documentation using Notes, Services. Talk to your manager if you have questions about your project's expectations.
4. Use Status Assessment to document changes to a client's income and benefits at anytime throughout the enrollment.
5. Update the Date of Engagement field on the enrollment screen when a previously non-engaged client agrees collaborate on housing and related goals.
6. For long term shelter stayers, Annual Assessments should be completed on the anniversary of the head of household's start date.

Program exits

1. Exit a Client for the date following their last stay. If a guest leaves and will not be coming back (ie. they obtained housing), exit them and select the appropriate exit destination. If a guest stops using shelter without informing staff, follow agency and/or CoC guidelines about how long to wait before exiting them (for example/30 days without a shelter stay). The exit date should be backdated to the morning after their final stay and, in most cases, the exit destination should be No Exit Interview Completed. The Potential Exits report is one useful tool for identifying who should be exited.
2. When exiting a household, pay particular attention to the Exit Destination field which is used for both project and system performance measures. Avoid using "other" when completing this field.
3. If the Head of Household exits, but other household members will remain in the project, a new head of household must be designated.
4. If a client leaves for an extended period time, is exited, and then returns, they will typically require a new enrollment.
5. If it becomes known that the client is deceased, please indicate so on the profile screen. See Death and Deceased Documentation Guide.

Reporting, data clean up, and project analysis

1. ESG funded emergency shelters submit the ESG CAPER. This report can also be used for data clean up and project analysis. The grant reporting page has additional information including resources for reporting on SSSG and HCMS funded projects.
2. EHH Report for Data Quality - Includes a project level DQ score and key performance metrics useful for project, agency, and system level analysis
3. SSSG - State Shelter Subsidy Grant - additional information related to this funding source
4. The Households Connected to CE Housing Queue report is a Looker Data Analysis based report that can display which shelter clients are also connected to CE.
5. Additional guidance and resources for using reports for data clean up and project analysis can be found on this Project Oversight page.

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