Wyandotte Homeless Services Coalition and the Wyandotte County Continuum of Care has been selected, along with 68 other U.S. communities, to participate in Zero: 2016, a national campaign to end veteran and chronic homelessness in the next two years.
The campaign is spearheaded by Community Solutions, a national nonprofit based in New York City. The organization said it would work intensively with WHSC to meet the federal goals set by President Obama to end veteran homelessness by December 2015 and chronic homelessness by December 2016.
The initiative is a rigorous follow up to the group’s successful 100,000 Homes Campaign, which announced in June that it had helped communities house 105,000 chronically homeless Americans in under four years.
“I am excited that these different networks are joining forces to continue combating homelessness on our streets” said Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Mark Holland. “Our veterans have served our country with honor and the fact that some are homeless, living on our streets is unacceptable. I’m confident in the vision of these groups and know they will make a measureable impact on the homeless in our community by 2016.”
“The WHSC is thrilled to be selected for this campaign” said Amy Thomas, WHSC coordinator. “We as a community are already striving to get all homeless individuals and families housed and this campaign will help push us to a ZERO number quicker and more effectively as we use evidence based tools and practices with prioritization strategies to drive the work we do.”
“Chronic and veteran homelessness are urgent, solvable problems,” said Zero: 2016 director Beth Sandor. “These communities represent a potential tipping point. If they can show that getting to zero is possible, we think it will become untenable for other communities not to follow suit. Zero: 2016 is about bringing shared accountability to this work. Participants are making a public commitment to get to zero on time, and they are going to use that commitment to drive measurable progress.”
Recently, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released a report showing that on a single night in January, Wyandotte County had 10 veterans and 26 people experiencing chronic homelessness on its streets. Those numbers represent a 73 percent decrease in veteran homelessness and a 92 percent increase in chronic homelessness since 2010. Local officials said they are committed to reducing those numbers to zero.
The report also showed that communities selected to join Zero: 2016 account for a combined 31,669 chronically homeless Americans and 16,218 homeless veterans. Community Solutions said it estimates an overlap of 10,000-12,000 between these two populations.
Opening Doors, the federal plan to end homelessness in America, calls for communities to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 and to end chronic homelessness one year later.
The 69 communities selected for Zero: 2016 represent 31 different states and the District of Columbia. Among them are 50 communities who also participated in the 100,000 Homes Campaign and 19 new communities. Combined, the group represents the joint, public commitment of 234 housing authorities, local government entities, nonprofit organizations, and community agencies.
Sandor said Community Solutions would work with communities to accelerate their housing efforts through four focus areas: closing the research-to-practice gap, real-time data and performance management, local systems redesign, and local team and leadership development. Community Solutions will provide hands-on coaching and data tools, and will curate a national peer-to-peer learning network to accelerate innovation across communities.
Sandor added that communities would focus narrowly on data and performance management for the first 90 days of the initiative with a goal of developing clear targets for the total number of housing placements needed locally to end chronic and veteran homelessness on the federal timetable. This number will consider projected inflow and other key factors. Each community will use this number to determine the monthly housing placement rate it will need to meet in order to succeed.
Communities will learn real-time performance improvement techniques drawn from healthcare, manufacturing and other sectors to reach these ambitious monthly goals.
Zero: 2016 will dovetail with other large-scale initiatives working to help communities end homelessness, including the 25 Cities Initiative, led by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Mayor’s Challenge to End Homelessness, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. Many communities selected to join Zero: 2016 are also participating in one or both of these initiatives, and Community Solutions has coordinated extensively with VA and other federal agencies to ensure that all three initiatives complement each other as well as possible.
Mayor Mark Holland has signed the Mayor’s Challenge to End Homelessness, and supports the WHSC in their work to end veteran and chronic homelessness, according to a news release. In support of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, the WHSC held a community breakfast last week. Items were collected to assist the homeless veterans in Wyandotte County. Items included razors, soap, shampoo, conditioner, combs, toothpaste, toothbrushes, Q-tips, and full or queen size new or gently used bed sheets.