Sign of the times. COVID took a devastating toll on the economy. Businesses shut their doors, employees were laid off, bills went unpaid. Families and individuals working in the service and entertainment industries suddenly found themselves struggling to make ends meet without income, forced to choose between groceries, childcare, and housing. The housing crisis was worsened as more minimum wage jobs disappeared.

The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a nationwide database application that was set up with the intention of accounting for the homeless and their needs. HMIS connects those in need of housing with long term solutions, but at what expense? Background For years localities had no standard means for collecting information on the homeless. Indeed, there was no clear count of how many homeless were in the U.