Meet Thurston Alexander-Smith

Meet Thurston Alexander-Smith

1. Can you give me your job title and a description of the work you do?

Though I’m really another System Administrator in our strong team, my title is NC HMIS Implementation Lead. As that suggests, the vast majority of my time is spent supporting our 7 North Carolina CoCs. Whether it’s troubleshooting data errors, HUD compliance, sharing best practices or training new Local System Administrators, I assist and advise on anything and everything HMIS-related.

2. How does your work help homeless people, or help more people become housed?

Our frontline folks doing the good work of serving people experiencing homelessness are among the most hardworking, dedicated, and caring people you will find anywhere. They did not, however, typically get into the business of serving people because they love navigating labyrinthine government standards or diving deep into relational databases.

Applying for grants is hard. Meeting the requirements to keep those grants is even harder. One of our main functions is to keep the lights on for agencies. The other is to provide the 1000-foot view of who is being served by the community, and what the service gaps are. HMIS is at the same time a compliance tool and a vehicle for communities to gain much-needed perspective on their effectiveness serving folks experiencing homelessness.

3. Is there one project or achievement with MCAH that you are particularly proud?

Before I joined the team, MCAH staff were blindsided by an official HUD complaint filed by one of the CoC leads in Michigan. The accusation was false of course, but, obviously, a source of concern for the HMIS staff.

HUD TA was brought in to investigate the accusation, but their lack of historical context and technical knowledge of our software platform made investigation difficult. I was asked by HUD TA to investigate these claims, as I had access but no direct history with this particular CoC. I proceeded to do an in-depth analysis of the claim, collecting audit data from HMIS along with correspondence and community documentation from all parties involved. My investigation lead to a definitive and complete dismissal of the complaint from HUD, dissipating a black cloud that hung over the team for multiple years.

4. Is there anything else you want to say or would want people to know?

I just celebrated my 12th anniversary of this career, working with HMIS. I’ve survived agencies closing, structures changing, CoCs restructuring; I refer to myself proudly as North Carolina’s unkillable HMIS cockroach. Of my 12 years, the past 2 and a half with MCAH have been by far the most rewarding of my career. This team is the most positive, supportive, understanding, and pleasant I’ve ever worked with. I’m very grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to work with these folks.