A national program in the United States called Built for Zero has been ending chronic homelessness – the state of being homeless for more than a year – in cities using real-time data that allows officials to identify and extend a hand to those in need.
“By ending homelessness, we mean getting to a place where it’s rare, brief, and it gets solved correctly and quickly when it does happen,” says Rosanne Haggerty, president of Community Solutions, the nonprofit that leads the Built for Zero program. “That’s a completely achievable end state, we now see.”
Three U.S. cities have ended chronic homelessness and nine more have ended veteran homelessness thanks to the nonprofit, who partnered with Tableau Foundation for their data visualization tools. Built for Zero has also recently announced that it is now accelerating its work in 50 communities.
