Last year, in mid-October, a U.S. military veteran joined a program for homeless residents in Southern California. It wasn't the first time he'd asked for help. The man, who is disabled, had once participated in several initiatives without finding permanent housing. Yet after two-plus months with Volunteers of America, he was connected with both a home and rental assistance.
, sent the requested data for free. There were no signed agreements and no limits on how the records could be used. There is one obvious reason for the divergent responses. is a government agency while San Diego's task force is a nonprofit. 'The California Public Records Act only applies to public agencies,' said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition. While the task force was created decades ago by a San Diego mayor and remains a key part of the system distributing taxpayer dollars for homelessness, it earned tax-exempt status as a 501 nonprofit in the mid-2000s.
, which manages Los Angeles' data, more control over sharing records. A representative for wrote in an email that anyone who misuses HMIS data loses access. 'In the limited cases where this has happened, we have determined that no sensitive client information has been compromised,' said Ahmad Chapman. Proponents of San Diego's approach also raise concerns about how data could be misinterpreted.
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