County staff brief Board on Metro data‑sharing agreement for supportive housing services; quarterly, de‑identified HMIS data to be provided

Washington County Department of Housing Services staff on March 18 briefed the Board of Commissioners on a regional data‑sharing agreement with Metro to provide de‑identified Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data for the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) program.

The agreement implements language in the SHS intergovernmental agreement among the three counties and Metro (the IGA was referenced as signed in January 2022) and defines the technical mechanism by which Washington County will send a quarterly, de‑identified dataset of 84 elements to Metro for regional analysis and program evaluation. Jess Larson, assistant director of the Department of Housing Services, said the submission will include household characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, disability), program enrollment and outcomes, and SHS‑specific elements in addition to HUD universal data elements.

Why it matters: the regional dataset is intended to let Metro and the counties “roll up” program results and support research and evaluation while preserving individual privacy. Staff emphasized that the shared data will be de‑identified; personally identifying information will remain in county HMIS systems for operational use by providers and coordinated entry staff who work directly with clients.

Key technical points staff described: - The counties and Metro agreed to share a de‑identified, deduplicated dataset. County HMIS systems retain identifying data for service coordination; the export to Metro removes direct identifiers and applies deduplication logic so the same person served in multiple counties will not be double‑counted in regional rollups. - The dataset will contain 84 elements based mainly on HUD universal HMIS elements plus local SHS fields (staff cited “population A and B” as local elements). - Submissions will be quarterly, tied to the county’s data‑quality and reporting cycles. - The agreement includes a data validation step: Metro’s analysis will be shared with county data staff for accuracy checks before public release; communications coordination was described as part of the process.

Larson and other staff described HMIS as a federally required data system used to manage continuum‑of‑care reporting and program operations and said the counties are pursuing a longer‑term HMIS modernization effort (currently administered through Multnomah County under the WellSky vendor) that could include a regional procurement for a future vendor.

Board members asked clarification questions about why Metro receives de‑identified data rather than identifiable records (county HMIS systems retain PII for operational coordination and HUD compliance, while Metro is not a continuum‑of‑care operator), the frequency of submissions (quarterly), the de‑duplication method and whether the data template in the packet was accessible (staff said an attachment appeared blank in the packet and agreed to correct the record). Commissioner Catherine Harrington and others welcomed the milestone after a multi‑year negotiation; staff noted that Metro has since hired a data specialist that helped finalize the technical elements.

Staff said the data‑sharing agreement is tied to the SHS IGA and that Metro has already indicated willingness to proceed; implementation of automated submissions will begin the first quarter after the IGA is executed and the Metro administrator signs the agreement. The data‑sharing agreement does not expand to other homelessness‑related datasets beyond SHS without additional negotiation, staff said.

Staff indicated the data‑sharing agreement will come forward as an action item at the business meeting that evening. Larsons and other county staff said they will also return to the board in future briefings to discuss the HMIS modernization work and any vendor procurement plans.