Only City In California To Solve Veteran Homelessness Is On A Mission To Go Bigger

A nonprofit called Breaking Ground has paired up with the Brooklyn Public Library to provide social and administrative services to New York’s homeless population. This unique partnership works collaboratively to build engagement, trust and a housing action plan for homeless people; while the librarians help patrons gather practical housing resources and sift through complex bureaucratic matters, social workers build positive community rapport, and provide more holistic, psychosocial assistance with individual cases.

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 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.

Homes for All Veterans, a program within the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Human Services, recently began training volunteers to walk the city's streets in search of homeless veterans, with the goal of effectively eliminate veteran homelessness by the end of the year. If successful, advocates say the push to end veteran homelessness could be the first step in addressing the city's larger, chronically homeless population.

San Francisco's Care Not Cash program began in 2004 in response to the city's homelessness crisis. One facet of the program is an outreach team, whose members regularly visit homeless people on the street to connect them to resources such as housing and drug rehabilitation.

Ahead of the World Cup, Seattle organizations worked to find shelter for people living outside in the city’s Pioneer Square with a focus on connecting each person to the right type of housing or temporary shelter for them, not just whatever happened to be available. In all, the effort has helped 66 people get into shelter or housing, while 14 are still waiting to be placed.

Tiny home complexes are emerging as solutions to combat homelessness throughout the country, offering a cheap and efficient way to provide shelter amidst the national housing crisis. In some cases, living in a tiny home community serves as a stepping stone to help locals achieve permanent housing.

In Minnesota, Hennepin County is using a housing-first approach, working with individuals on their specific needs, and focusing on the most vulnerable populations first to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county.

As a part of Seattle’s Third Avenue Project to relieve disorder downtown, the organization We Deliver Care has workers stationed on the streets almost constantly to provide necessities like snacks and water to those who need it. Their consistent presence and assistance builds relationships with the people they help, which allows the We Deliver Care workers to de-escalate conflicts.

To limit the spread of COVID-19, the Everyone In initiative offers housing to people experiencing homelessness. In the first few months of the program, the government paid for hotel rooms – which were empty due to the pandemic – for about 15,000 people. Additional services provided include helping people with substance abuse issues, accessing welfare benefits, and finding permanent housing. Some hotel residents expressed a renewed sense of purpose from having stable housing. A new set of workers, like hotel staff, addressing homelessness for the first time also led to innovation.