Date of Engagement

Emergency Shelters and Street Outreach providers will see a field on the enrollment screen for the Date of Engagement. While in some cases the enrollment date and the date of engagement will be the same, this field is present to acknowledge that it may take time for providers to build rapport and trust with new clients. The "engagement" period describes this period of rapport building, and becoming "engaged" signifies that staff have sufficient rapport to begin supporting a client with client identified goals, an important goal and outcome for shelter and outreach projects. The date of engagement is also the point upon which staff are expected to have asked all of the questions on the program enrollment screen.

Per the HMIS Data Standards and by agreement across all federal partners, an engagement date is the date when an interactive client relationship results in a deliberate client assessment or beginning of a case plan. The Date of Engagement should be entered into HMIS at the point when the client has been engaged by the shelter worker. This date may be on or after the project entry date and must be on or prior to project exit. If the client exits without becoming engaged, the Date of Engagement should be left blank.( HUDExchange)

For Street Outreach providers, a Current Living Situation must also be entered for that date.