Presentation given by Julia Wygnanska, PL at the Ninth European Research Conference on Homelessness, "Homelessness in Times of Crisis", Warsaw, September 2014 http://feantsaresearch.org/spip.php?article222&lang=en

1. Homelessness and Housing Exclusion
Data Collection Standard BIWM
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014
Julia Wygnańska
Camillian Mission of Social Assistance
www.misja.com.pl/ category/activities
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2. Data collection context in PL
National
Strict personal data protection rules
Success of Pomeranian Survey influencing national decisions on
monitoring homelessness – headcount methodology dominates
thinking – mimetic isomorphism (Powell, Di Maggio 1983).
No funding for informatisation in ngos sector, although quite a lot of
funding for public administration in that field (ESF, government)
Ngos value their independence and perceive data sharing as a threat
Local for Warsaw (true for some other communities):
Scattered service provision – services provided and funded by
local government as ngo projects (80%) not public tasks or
public welfare, or services to individual clients etc.
Controversy over „central data base” on homeless people
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

3. 9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014
Consequences
Only few counts conducted locally eg. Pomerania, Krakow, Białystok
Concentration on headcount metohology
Flow and prevalance measures not available
NHPC 2011 (roofless 9789, CLQ for the homeless 11851, CLQ for mothers 4133
MPiPS counts 2010, 2013 (inhabitable 8445, facilities 22158, training apt. 1330
Ngo service providers do not engage in constructing internal data collection
registers on their clients:
Research in Mazovia 2011: all services for the homeless do collect basic
information but none does it electronically, instead they use paper registers and
spreadshits
Available research results in crooked picture of the
homeless population in Poland = typical homeless
person is modal service(h) user

4. Data Collection Standard BWIM
– goals of the project
Demonstrating that data sharing between independent agencies is
possible without violating data protection rules and independence of
institutions.
Demonstrating the nature of the flow measure to service providers
Demonstrating that generating flow and prevalance measures is
possible
Showing how it can be done technically – methodology and software
Testing Data Collection Standard on Homelessness and Housing
Exclusion based on European recommendations, in particular
MPHASIS Core Variables on Homelessness and ETHOS
Project cost: 30 000 PLN = 7200 E
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

5. Data collection from agencies
Engaged agencies: different sectors (ngo, public) and services
(nightshelter, shelter, long term, health clinic, municipal hospital, for
the homeless/mainstream),
All agencies from one district – all kinds of services for the homeless
available in town. 1/3 of all.
Common data base in MS ACCESS provided to agencies
Two software tools meeting data protection regulations:
On agency level for anonimisation = unique code based on name,
surname, date of birth and sex
On project level for aggregation (allowing for 3% error in excluding
duplicates)
Statistical analysis based on available data (not all data could be
aggregated).
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

6. Data Collection Standard BIWM
Based on MPHASIS and ETHOS (paper copy)
Differences to Polish tradition in data collection on homelessness:
Substance abuse defined as a cause to homelessness (MPiPS count,
PFWB) not a support need
PL: no tradition of researching support needs – no variable
Important in PL and not available in MPHASIS – detailed geographical
and administrative origin
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

7. 9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014
cd.
Biggest difficulties observed in agencies using the standard:
Substance abuse is treated as a cause to homelessess.
Inability do diagnose suspected mental health problems, identify
symptoms of potencial disease
Accepting ETHOS as definition of homelessness eg. even if client’s
housing situation is one of Ethos types (living in a shelter), it is
questioned if she/he is really homeless. = housing situation as
additional variable not necesairly defining the fact of being homeless.
Social apartament is believed to be a stable housing situation – not
housing exclusion, not part of ETHOS

8. Results – data on homelessness
4380 unique people used services located in Wola district due to
homelessness in three year long period, over 2000 people each year,
(municipal data = stock at the end of the quarter for the whole town – about
1700); avarage daily stock 342 of which 308 in shelters
Avarage quarterly flow in the district twice as big as stock at the end of each
quarter.
Data on sex, age, administrative and geographical origin, family status,
length of homelessness, migrations between services, stock on each day of
the research period.
Only one third of all service users were clients of District Welfare Centre
Chronic homelessness:
Over 200 unique service users were registered for four or more stays in Wola
shelters in period of three years
Some people stay in shelters for excesively long time – over 5 years
120 clients of the DOM Drop in Centre – over 5 years, many over 10
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

9. Results – mainstreaming of the standard
Rather poor, but:
10 institutions declared using the biwm standard and received
relvant software and training
8 reports for individual services including services serving mostly
people residing in public space and unconventional dwellings
Lekarze, CMSA, Caritas Wola, one municipal hospital use it with no
extra funding
Cooperation with Municipality of Warsaw on analysing data on
homelessnessA CMSA was chosen to be a partner.
Data on chronic homelessness and service avoiders – pro housing
first awarness raising.
Methodology used in „Housing First – Evidence based Advocacy”
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014

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Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014
Follow up 2013
CMSA Position on Measuring Homelessness and Housing
Exclusion in Poland, 2013:
ETHOS as a framework for national data collection
Replacing ministerial national „no-cost” count by research resulting in flow and
prevalence measures
Obliging service providers to implement electronic registers based on national
standard for example BIWM and obliging ministry to provide incentives for that
Living the process of planning, analyzing and interpreting results of ministerial
research to social researchers
Position in EN (short version): http://www.misja.com.pl/cmsa-position-on-measuring-
homelessness-and-housing-exclusion-in-poland/
CMSA Position on Reporting Effectiveness of Shelter for the
Homeless in PL Template for Quantitative Report
CMSA Annual Quantitative Report 2013: http://www.misja.com.pl/wp-content/
uploads/2014/02/2013-Quantitative-Report-of-the-Saint-Lazarus-
Boarding-House.pdf

11. Projects on Data Collection Standard on Homelessness
and Housing Exclusion (2010 and 2011) were implemented
by Foundation for Social Innovation and Research
Shipyard http://stocznia.org.pl/about-us/ and funded by the
Voivodship Office of the Mazovia Region.
2010 – Wola Pilot Study
2011- Data registers on homelessness in Mazovia
9th European Research Conference
Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014
Voivodship;

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Homelessness in Times of Crisis
Warsaw, Friday 19th September 2014