The city of San Diego is joining a national effort to address homelessness by focusing on specific populations, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The model of the initiative is reported to have been effective in ending chronic or veterans’ homelessness in 14 different communities.
The initiative is Built for Zero, which is led by Community Solutions.
The efforts in San Diego will start with a focus on homeless veterans and the plan includes a monthly count of homeless veterans and tracking how many veterans have been housed each month.
“Built for Zero isn’t saying there will never be people who are unhoused,” said Region Task Force on the Homeless CEO Tamera Kohler in a press release. “It is taking a different approach to how we collect and analyze data, and how we work with every single person in a particular subpopulation, provide opportunities for housing for each of those people, and ensure that if someone becomes homeless, it is brief and does not occur again.”
