This spring, the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) will host a webinar series for the HMIS project set-up for the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA). The webinars will be presented in partnership with ABT, a national consulting agency specializing in the housing Continuums of Care (CoC).
The BHSA was part of Proposition 1, which passed in 2024, and becomes fully effective on July 1, 2026. The BHSA renames the Mental Health Services Act and changes how county behavioral health is required to spend their BHSA funds. Most significantly, the BHSA requires county behavioral health to spend 30% of their BHSA funds on housing interventions. Behavioral health departments are required to enter data into HMIS on anyone served with BHSA Housing Intervention funds.
These sessions are designed for county behavioral health housing staff who interface with the federal HUD HMIS data system and the county’s corresponding CoC HMIS lead. The CoC HMIS lead will be responsible for the HMIS project set-up but will need county behavioral health’s participation to provide the specific information about their housing intervention projects
HMIS Project Set-up for BHSA: Webinar 2
April 27th at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Please plan on attending this webinar as it is specifically for the CoCs who have Bitfocus as their HMIS vendor. Bitfocus will also have representatives attending this meeting to answer any system specific questions.
If you would like to learn more about California’s county behavioral health departments, see CalMHSA’s video explainer.
You can find more information on Proposition 1 and the BHSA at BHSA Resources and Mental Health for ALL: Proposition 1 Overview for Housing Providers.