HUD Deploys AWS-Based Performance Analysis Tool to Combat Homelessness

Research and technical assistance firm Abt Associates has deployed Amazon Web Services products to develop an analytics tool designed to help the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development address the homelessness crisis.

The “Stella” tool uses data from organizations under HUD’s agencies, or Continuums of Care, to monitor an individual’s transition to permanent housing and help inform the department’s courses of action through performance analysis, AWS said Monday.

Stella’s first module revolves around performance measurement, while the second is intended to be a modeling tool for assessing impacts to performance. The latter is slated for release next year.

“This tool provides the analytics that empower communities to obtain insights from their data and be able to act on them,” said David Pulaski, associate director of enabling technologies at Abt Associates.

Stella is powered by AWS’ Lambda and Aurora Serverless technologies. The tool has been deployed to over 400 CoCs at the local and regional level.