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New homelessness response manager outlines limits of PIT count, urges improved data sharing
Summary
Newly hired homelessness response manager reviewed the Jan. 23, 2024 point-in-time count, highlighted state reporting differences and HMIS data-sharing limits, and said local partners are building a by-name list and weekly coordination despite central reporting gaps.
Jen Jones, introduced as the city’s new homelessness response manager, told the Government Operations Committee on Aug. 5 that the 2024 point-in-time (PIT) count — conducted Jan. 23, 2024 — provides an imperfect but important snapshot of people experiencing homelessness in Hub 7 (Penobscot and Piscataquis counties).
Jones said the PIT count is required under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and that Maine Housing compiles and publishes statewide results; Maine’s 2024 aggregate PIT total was reported as 2,695. She cautioned that the statewide decrease relative to some prior years reflects changes in program availability and reporting definitions rather than a simple decline in need, pointing to the end of emergency hotel programs and differences in whether “doubling up” or couch surfing is counted under HUD definitions.
The manager described Hub 7 as the local continuum led by a hub coordinator; local volunteers, providers and city staff canvassed a large geographic area and submitted data to Maine Housing. Jones said the region lacks robust community-level disaggregated outputs from Maine Housing, which complicates local planning. She said providers and outreach workers on the ground communicate frequently, and the city maintains a by-name list and weekly meetings to track individuals — but that the HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) is not configured to make community-level reports easily available, and providers enter data in different ways.
Committee members asked whether couch surfing could be incorporated in future reporting; Jones said that would require a definitional change at the reporting level. She and other staff said Maine Housing has recently aligned more closely with HUD in how transitional housing is reported, which explains year-to-year shifts in some categories. Jones said Maine Housing has indicated plans to replace HMIS but that a state-level change will be slow; the city is building local reporting tools but needs partner participation. Hub 7 and Maine Housing were invited to brief the committee in September.
The presentation included multiple requests from councillors for more local reports (quarterly or monthly) on how many people have been housed; staff said some provider-level reports exist but there is not a single uniform, pullable community report from HMIS. Staff committed to continue coordination with providers and to seek a data briefing from Hub 7 and Maine Housing in the fall.
