HMIS Newsletter: October 2026

Table of Contents

• Announcements
• October 2026 Feature Focus
• Help Desk Reminders
• Report Spotlight
  
• Data Quality Dashboard
• Upcoming Events 
• Bitfocus is Hiring

Announcements 

New Data Quality Initiative

Starting shortly, Housing for Health (H4H) will begin a new data initiative focused on tracking client ‘s (1) income, (2) non-cash benefits, and (3) insurance levels. This initiative will include Agency Leads receiving automated monthly HMIS reports with program level data on the number and percent of clients in each program that has either maintained or decreased their non-cash benefits and/or income (i.e. those that have not increased their income), as well as the number of clients that either don’t have or have recently lost their insurance. These reports will focus only on clients that have been enrolled in your programs for 90 days or more, in order to ensure that they’ve had enough time to experience changes in these three areas.

In addition to the monthly reports Agency Leads will receive, H4H staff will be reaching out on a quarterly basis to the Leads of the agencies with the lowest performing programs for these metrics. These agencies will be expected to do an analysis of why their results are lower than the other programs and implement a plan to better capture this data and improve the programs’ scores on these three metrics. If you have any questions on this initiative please reach out to Loren White at loren.white@santacruzcountyca.gov.

Quarterly Assessment Month Reminder - November

A friendly reminder that November is an Assessment Month. This means, as per the recently updated Quarterly Assessment Policy, that both Current Living Situation (CLS) and Status Update Assessments are required to be submitted before the end of the month for each of your clients that are enrolled in an HMIS-participating program. You can download a pdf of the Quarterly Assessment Policy by visiting the Santa Cruz Bitfocus Homepage under the Policies & Procedures section.

If you have any questions please reach out to your HMIS Lead Loren White at loren.white@santacruzcountyca.gov.

October 2026 Feature Focus  

Bitfocus released this update to all production sites on October 1, 2026. The full list is in Clarity Human Services: October 2026 Feature Updates, and the Feature Focus recording is linked at the top of that article.

The new Clarity interface is live for every community

On October 1, Bitfocus switched all production instances and user accounts to the new Clarity interface. This was a required, system-level change, and no one had to opt in. What that means day to day:

• New login screen. Everyone now sees it, and successful logins go straight to the user's new-interface home page.
• Old links still work. Legacy links redirect to the matching new-interface page. The legacy interface remains available only for the few screens that don't have a new-interface equivalent yet.
• Settings removed. The "Enable New Clarity Interface" and "Access to New Clarity Interface" toggles no longer exist, because the new interface is no longer optional.
• Back to your home screen from anywhere. Click the Bitfocus icon in the top-left header to return to your preferred Home Screen. On mobile and tablet, use the new Home option in the global menu.
  
  

Client records and enrollments

• Client Records > Reports. Case managers can now browse, run, schedule, and view client-level reports from inside the client record. A status card shows reports run in the last 60 days, and a Report Status icon in the header alerts you when a report finishes. The existing Client Reports access right controls who sees it. See Client Reports (New Clarity Interface) in the Help Center.
• Current Living Situation (CLS) in the enrollment workflow. For CLS-enabled programs, a Record Current Living Situation step now appears after the Head of Household entry screen. If you close the workflow early, your enrollment is still saved and prompts on the program's Home tab help you add the CLS assessment or enroll household members later.
• Smaller improvements. A client preview card in the Attendance Module, a dedicated 404 page instead of a blank screen, and a redesigned Password Change Required screen.

Referrals and inventory

• Pending referral unit change. Housing providers can now move a client on a Pending referral to a different available unit, without denying and recreating the referral. Each change is recorded in the referral's history and audit log.
• Future Status card. Referral Details now shows a status change scheduled for a future date, and users with edit rights can cancel it.
• Drop-in occupancy ownership corrected. Unit/bed occupancies now belong to the enrolling agency instead of the referring agency. If your community changed sharing settings or access rights as a workaround after the August release, System Administrators should review them and revert anything broader than intended.

XML retirement

Clarity XML support in the Data Import Tool and the HUDX-111 export ended on September 30. Communities that uploaded Clarity XML files must now use Clarity CSV or HUD HMIS CSV 2026. The report is now named [HUDX-111(-AD)] HUD CSV Export [FY 2026], and the old links redirect.

Reporting and Data Analysis

• FY26 LSA updates. The updated LSA reports are in training sites now. Bitfocus will release them to production sites in October, when CoC submissions open. The exact date is not yet confirmed.
• Federal Report Data Cleanup Assistance dashboard. This new LookML dashboard helps System Administrators find and fix data issues before federal reporting, with a focus on residential and lodging programs. It includes 78 Looks across nine tabs, and agencies can use it to monitor their own data quality too. The six LSA Data Cleanup dashboards and the SPM and Recidivism dashboards now default to the 10/01/2025–10/01/2026 reporting period.
• [HUDX-223-AD] System Performance Measures. A new Report Output Mode parameter lets you skip generating the previous year's SPM.
• Also new: tabbed dashboards, Assigned Staff fields in the HMIS Performance and Data Quality models, and a Unit History view in the Inventory model.
• Release notes have moved. Report Library updates now appear in the monthly Feature Updates article instead of a separate Pentaho Release Notes article.

Looking Ahead: November 2026 Release

The November release reaches training sites on October 20 and production sites on November 3. The full list is in Clarity Human Services: November 2026 Feature Updates.

• Reports module in the new interface. A new Reports module lets you browse, build, and run reports without switching back to the legacy interface. It includes Report Library (a searchable table with My Report Queue and Favorites), Explore (build ad hoc reports), and Data Analysis (browse and run pre-built reports). It uses your existing access rights, so no new permissions are needed.
• Inventory updates. A unit that has ever been occupied can no longer be deleted, only set to Inactive, which protects historical occupancy data. When you change a unit's Unit Configuration Type while it has current or upcoming occupancies, a new pop-up asks you to map each client to a bed in the new configuration so bed statuses carry forward.
• Merge module: Move Client Programs. When an enrollment moves to a new agency, the client's service records now move with it. System Administrators may want to review services in the Manage module, where copies marked "[Program Move Copy]" may appear, and check any saved report or filter built on the original service IDs.
• Action for VA-funded Homelessness Prevention programs. The 2026 VA: Project Enrollment screen went live in production on October 16 with the SSVF HP Targeting Criteria fields changed from Soft Required to Required. System Administrators must make the same change by hand on any custom enrollment screens, because they don't update automatically.
• Already live: an Eligible Programs column on the Community Queue (October 14), and a new step order for CLS-enabled enrollments, where "Include household members" now comes right after you select the program (October 8).

HelpDesk Reminders

We're always looking for ways to get you the answers and support you need faster! Here are a few quick insights and pro-tips to help us serve you better:

• Send a fresh email for each new request: To make sure your issue gets assigned, prioritized, and solved as quickly as possible, please send a brand-new email for every distinct question or issue. Replying to or forwarding older HelpDesk emails can cause tickets to get grouped together or delayed.
• Account issues topped the charts this month: Nearly half of all our support requests were related to user account updates, reactivations, password resets, and lockouts.
• Self-service shortcut for client record questions: Client record inquiries were our second-largest request category. Did you know you can often find instant solutions in our Help Center? Most client record workflows feature step-by-step guides, and we've updated all of them this month to match our new interface!
  

Report Spotlight: [GNRL-220] Program Details Report

With LSA season opening, this report lets you review the data behind your enrollments, one screen at a time, before HUD does. It returns every field and response on the screens you choose, plus some profile and housing service information. Use it to find missing data in the elements that matter most to the LSA. Missing means a “Data not collected” selection or a blank (null) field in some cases. It is also best practice to review “Client doesn't know/Client prefers not to answer” selections to see if the data can be updated. Data elements that help determine household type like Date of Birth are especially important to review and update as you're able to.

Review these first:

• Date of birth
• SSN
• Race and Ethnicity
• Prior Living Situation: the "Type of Residence" question (enrollment screens only)
• Exit Destination (exit screens only): also review responses of "No exit interview completed" and "Other"
• Disabling Condition (enrollment screens only)
• Survivor of Domestic Violence (enrollment screens only): review if collection is required by the program's funding source

Why this matters: HUD sets thresholds for the percentage of missing data across a CoC's whole system. A CoC that exceeds them gets flagged, and high levels of missing data affect how usable the community's LSA data is. Every blank or "data not collected" answer you fix now helps your whole community.

• Where to run it: Report Library → Program Based Reports → [GNRL-220] Program Details Report. Administrators can use [GNRL-220-AD] under Administrator Reports to cover multiple agencies at once.
• Who can run it: Anyone can run it. Your access rights and visibility settings limit what comes back.
• How to set it up: Choose the Project Type(s), Program Status, Program(s), and Screen Type(s). Under Enrollment, pick Active Enrollments or New Enrollments. Entry screen data is only limited to the reporting period if you pick New Enrollments.
• How to read it: The report downloads as a zip of Excel workbooks, one per program and screen type. Each file name starts with a screen prefix (ENT for Entry, EXT for Exit, ANN for Annual, CUR for Current Living Situation). A Programs List file shows which programs you selected. Its "Screens Without Client's Data" tab lists programs with nothing to report. Blank cells are normal for fields that aren't on a screen or have no entry.
• One caution: The workbooks include names, dates of birth, and SSNs. Store and share them securely, and delete the files when you finish your review.

Want more information? Check out our Help Center Article. 

Data Quality Dashboard

Please see below for the agency-level data quality dashboard and report content updates. This is updated monthly.

Download the PDF file by clicking here.

Upcoming Events

Housing for Health - HMIS Office Hours | November 23, 2026 |Click here to open the Zoom Registration link

Housing for Health and Bitfocus host office hours every fourth Monday of each month (in lieu of HMIS Workgroup meetings). Drop-in for as long or as short as you’d like to ask any and all questions related to the HMIS. All users are welcome. Please join us within the first 15 minutes or we will assume nobody will be joining us for Office Hours.

Bitfocus is Hiring

Join our Team!

• Visit bitfocus.com | Jobs | About Bitfocus

• Work with us at Bitfocus! Join a team committed to innovation, collaboration, and real-world impact in human services.  

Questions?

Your HMIS Administrators are happy to help.

Phone: 831-713-2288

Email: santacruz@bitfocus.com