Hurricane Florence Data Collection Update
October 2, 2018
NC Natural Disaster/Storm Questions now for all SO, ES, TH, and RRH projects
Hello,

Over the past week, North Carolina has learned a lot more about the services that those who are displaced by Hurricane Florence need. Our homeless system has begun to see more clients running out of time in temporary disaster shelters or running out of resources to temporarily stay in hotels/motels.

The good news is there are financial resources specifically dedicated to clients displaced by natural disasters or storms. But first, we need to identify those clients who qualify!
New project types to collect data
NC HMIS added a section called "NC Natural Disaster/Storms" to Street Outreach and Emergency Shelter's entry forms last week. We heard from providers that clients were directly reaching out to Transitional Housing and Rapid Re-Housing projects as well. There are also Permanent Housing units that were damaged or destroyed by the storm.

With this new information, NC HMIS has expanded the use of the NC Natural Disaster/Storm questions to all Street Outreach, Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, and Rapid Re-Housing projects. PSH projects have the option as well.
New forms should be printed immediately
The new questions were added to your NC HMIS Entry Assessments last night. New paper assessments can usually be found on MCAH's website here, but the site is not working as of sending this email.

Print your projects new Entry Assessment

If you do not know which assessment your HMIS project uses, please call the NCCEH Data Center. We are happy to help identify the right form!
How to collect NC Natural Disaster responses?
Similar to other sub-assessments, the NC Natural Disaster/Storm Questions begin with a gateway question to identify if the client is experiencing homelessness because of a natural disaster. Then, the client is led through a series of questions to determine if:
  1. The client gives verbal consent to your agency sharing data to coordinate disaster relief assistance
  2. Which natural disaster or storm contributed to the client's current experience of homelessness (it may be Florence, Matthew or another named storm)
  3. Where the client stayed immediately before evacuation or displacement from the storm
  4. When the client left the area impacted by the storm
  5. Details about the client's housing/property losses

The questions were developed with reference to disaster recovery surveys from other states in order to provide the location, timing, and potential need of clients within our community. Remember to get contact information for clients so follow-up is possible.

Thank you for your help to get folks the resources they need!
Additional Hurricane Florence Resources
If you have a client who was displaced by Hurricane Florence, make sure they register immediately on disasaterassistance.gov for benefits. If you have any questions about resources for your agency or your clients, NCCEH has gathered information on our Hurricane Florence Recovery Resources page.

Our staff are holding everyone impacted by Hurricane Florence, especially along the coast, in our thoughts.

Please let us know if you have any questions!
NCCEH Data Center | 919.410.6997 | hmis@ncceh.org