Ending homelessness isn’t just possible — it’s already happening!
Cities and counties just like yours are changing how local housing systems work to ensure an end to homelessness that lasts and leaves no one behind.
Built for Zero is movement of more than 80 communities working to measurably end homelessness, starting with veteran and chronic homelessness.
12 communities have ended veteran homelessness
- Gulf Coast, MS
- Arlington, VA
- Montgomery County, MD
- Rockford, IL
- Bergen County, NJ
- Fort Myers, FL
- Riverside, CA
- Abilene, TX
- Lake County, IL
- Norman, OK
- Chattanooga, TN
- Lynchburg, VA
5 communities have ended chronic homelessness
Three have ended both.
What is Functional Zero?
A community has ended veteran homelessness when the number of veterans experiencing homelessness is
less than the number of veterans a community has proven it can house in a routine month. It has ended chronic homelessness when the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness is zero, or if not zero, then either 3 or .1% of the total number of individuals reported in the most recent point-in-time count, whichever is greater.
Stories of Success
Bakersfield and Kern County, California: Functional Zero Case Study
Bakersfield and Kern County joined an elite group of just five communities in the United States that have been certified for functional zero for chronic homelessness.
Spotlight: Bakersfield and Kern County reach functional zero for chronic homelessness
Kern County is the first county in California — and one of only five communities in the nation — to end chronic homelessness.
SPOTLIGHT: Abilene Texas Reaches Functional Zero for Chronic Homelessness
Abilene has become the fourth community in Built for Zero to reach functional zero for chronic homelessness — and sustained this achievement for a year.
“People think ending homelessness is not achievable, because the system wasn’t designed to end it: it was designed to manage it. But if you redesign it with zero in mind, it can be ended.”
Brenda O’Connell and her community of Lake County, Illinois, ended veteran homelessness with the help of Built for Zero.
