Beating the Odds on Chronic Homelessness in Minneapolis

The Denver Basic Income Project gave no-strings-attached funding to people experiencing homelessness, with some participants receiving $1,000 per month, some receiving a lump sum of $6,500 followed by $500 monthly payments, and some receiving $50 per month. After one year, almost half of the participants had found stable housing, and research showed that the program likely saved the city nearly half a million dollars in costs for services like ambulance rides and shelter stays.

The Denver Basic Income Project provided people experiencing homelessness with no-strings-attached monthly stipends that they could spend however they’d like. At the end of the pilot, twice as many participants were in stable housing, more of them were working full time, and the nights that participants spent in shelters decreased by half.

Washington's Office of Homeless Youth administers funding and creates policy solutions to help youth experiencing homelessness across the state. The agency organizes services like shelter, sober-living housing, and financial assistance tailored to their personal experiences.

A guaranteed income program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided 130 single caregivers who made below 80% of the local median income with $500 cash payments, no strings attached. The 18-month program, Cambridge Recurring Income for Success, helped participants increase their savings, cover emergencies, and spend more time with their children.

The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village provides temporary housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles with the goal of transitioning them into permanent housing. Residents get a private room with a TV and a shower and share other facilities like kitchens and laundry rooms.

School districts in Washington State are required to identify students experiencing homelessness and enroll them into a state program in which the district pays for the students' transportation and covers the cost of other necessities with allotted federal funds.

The city of Detroit’s government spearheaded new partnerships at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to provide transit options for people living in city shelters and residents who don’t have cars to access COVID-19 testing. These partnerships among government departments allowed for transporting those experiencing homelessness to designated emergency shelters and hospitals to prevent the spread of the virus among shelter residents. Government officials anticipated as many as 450 shelter residents would contract the virus, but so far, only 154 people have tested positive with no deaths reported.

In North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County, they’ve allocated funding for tenants to have access to free legal aid, provided by Legal Aid of North Carolina, in their eviction cases. With eviction often being the start of a downward spiral, having legal representation can help people prevent or delay their evictions. Beyond funding some legal aid, the courthouse also provides residents with information about evictions and their specialty eviction court.

In Los Angeles, The Bin gives homeless people a chance to store their valuables. “If I didn’t have this bin, I’d have to get rid of most of my stuff. These bins are really great to have.” Across the nation, other cities are unfolding efforts to help the homeless population.

Riverside is the only city in California to solve veteran homelessness. The approach, called Housing First, works by placing vets into subsidized housing and then proceeding with support services like finding employment or rehabilitating from drugs/alcohol dependence. Now that Riverside has housed all of its 89 homeless vets, it is moving on to apply the same approach to their 400 chronically homeless citizens.