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
Suburban Cook County targets an end to chronic and veteran homelessness during Covid crisis
The Suburban Cook County team, which joined Built for Zero in 2015, has managed the “COVID curveball” lobbed their way by strengthening their case conferencing and resource sharing, increasing outflow through housing placements, and implementing many targeted and impactful strategic improvements to the way they work.
Lake County, Illinois: Veteran Functional Zero Case Study
COVERAGE AREA Cities: 2Counties: 1Total Population: 696,535 The Achievement FUNCTIONAL ZERO FOR VETERAN HOMELESSNESS Milestones Reached: Veteran (2018) Next Population for Focus: Chronic homelessness In December 2018, the Continuum of Care for Waukegan, North Chicago/Lake County became the 11th community in the United States to end veteran homelessness as a part of Built for Zero, a […]
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.
“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.
