Shelter Reservation Teams Workflow

Author: ICA | Date Created: August 5th, 2024| Date Updated: May 14th, 2025


Overview

Shelter Reservation Teams use HMIS to work with emergency shelters by assessing the needs of unsheltered clients and making reservations on the behalf of the shelters.

This guide will show you how to complete a screening assessment, project enrollment, and shelter reservation for a client.

More About This

Some emergency shelters in Minnesota use a custom reservations workflow in HMIS to help fill their open shelter beds and rooms. Shelter Reservation Teams use this system in HMIS to work with emergency shelters to assess the needs of unsheltered individuals and book reservations on behalf of the shelters.

To create a reservation for a shelter in HMIS, the client must first have a Shelter Screening assessment AND a project Enrollment completed for the corresponding emergency shelter project. Do not add a new client through any button or functionality found in the Facilities workspace. Doing so will cause significant data quality errors.

Details


Screening Assessment Workgroup & Org.

When a client contacts your team, the first step is to review Bars and availability to know whether there is a spot available. To do this, follow the steps below.


  1. Click the icon with your initials in the upper-right corner of the page to access your Settings menu:

  1. In the Settings menu bar, locate the Account Settings section, and make the following selections:
    1. Workgroup: Shelter Reservation Team
    2. Organization: Your Shelter Team organization/agency (Adult Shelter Connect, Family Shelter Team, Ramsey Single Point of Entry)

  1. Click on Apply after making your selections.

  1. In the Clients Workspace navigate to the client record.


  2. Now click on the client Dashboard to view any possible bars

  3. Click on the Facilities workspace to view shelter availability and make a determination as to which shelter you want to make a reservation for the client, then move on to the next section.

Now that you have confirmed there's a spot available, complete a Shelter Screening Assessment. To do this, follow the steps below:


Complete a Shelter Screening Assessment

  1. Once you are in the client's record, navigate to the Clients workspace, and locate your system's Shelter Screening Assessment in the menu group folders:

  1. Fully complete each form in the Shelter Screening Assessment guided workflow to determine the client's shelter needs.
  2. Once you have completed the entire Shelter Screening Assessment, click the Finish button to close out the workflow.


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Create a Shelter Enrollment and Bed Reservation

  1. Click the icon with your initials in the upper-right corner of the page to access your Settings menu:

  1. In the Settings menu bar, locate the Account Settings section, and change only the following field:
    1. Organization: Select the shelter organization where the reservation is being be made.

  1. Click Apply to confirm your selection:

  1. Return to the Clients workspace if not already there:

  1. On the client's Dashboard, locate the Enrollments section, and confirm they do not already have an enrollment for the destination shelter:

✅ If you do find an active shelter enrollment:

  • If it is an enrollment for an extended-stay shelter project, then the client would not need a new reservation. In this case it's a good idea to reach out and confirm with that shelter that they are returning.
  • If it is an enrollment for a night-by-night shelter project, then you should confirm whether or not the client already has an existing matching reservation before creating a new one.
  1. Click Intake from the menu group to complete the guided workflow to create an Enrollment for the client in the desired shelter project. (Please refer to the Client Intake and Project Enrollment series of instructional articles in our Knowledge Base here: Intake and Enrollment)

  • 💥NOTE: Since you previously filled out many of the same forms and fields for the client during the Shelter Screening Assessment, utilize the Default Last... button whenever you can during this Intake and Enrollment to make the process go much faster!

  • If you are enrolling a family, make sure all included family members are selected on the Enrollment page.

  1. Once the client's enrollment is finished, click Housing Reservation from the menu group:

  1. On the Housing Facilities form, find the row for the destination Shelter facility, and if there are beds available, click on the Reservation link:

  1. On the Housing Reservation form, complete the following fields:
    • Facility: The specific shelter program in which the client will be staying. The correct date should be pre-filled, but it can be updated as needed.
    • Room & Bed: DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, this will be assigned by the shelter.
    • Client: The correct client should be pre-filled, but it can be updated as needed.
    • Client Must be on Bottom Bunk: Check this box to notify shelter staff that the client requires a bottom bunk.
    • Reservation Begin Date: The date the reservation is being made.
    • Reservation End Date: The day after the reservation check-in date.
    • Enrollment: Link the matching shelter project enrollment that has already been completed.

💥 NOTE: Shelter staff will assign the Room & Bed at a later time. Please DO NOT fill out those fields at this point in the Reservation process!

  1. Click the Save button in the bottom-right corner of the page to complete the reservation!

  1. If you are reserving spaces for a family, repeat steps 9-11 for each individual family member.
Core HMIS Workflow How-to Guides:

HMIS Fundamentals

ClientTrack Basics

Client Intake

Program Enrollment


Questions? Email the Helpdesk: MNHMIS@icalliances.org

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