Chattanooga, Tenn., October 1, 2024 — Today, Community Solutions announced that a Southeast Tennessee region, including Chattanooga and 11 counties with 375,000 residents, became the seventh community nationwide to obtain real-time by-name data on all single adults experiencing homelessness.
“You can’t solve homelessness if you don’t know who is experiencing it,” said Beth Sandor, chief program officer at Community Solutions. “With comprehensive by-name data in tow, leaders in Southeast Tennessee now have the foundation to make homelessness rare and brief in the region.”
Most communities rely on the annual Point-in-Time count, which only tallies the number of sheltered and unsheltered people once a year. Quality by-name data is a comprehensive source of information on every person experiencing homelessness, including their name, history with homelessness, and health and housing needs. Outreach teams and case managers collect the data with consent and update it monthly.
Unlike the annual Point-in-Time count, real-time data allows the region to evaluate whether their strategies reduce homelessness over time, effectively prioritize resources, and monitor whether homelessness reductions are happening equitably.
Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee joined Built for Zero, an initiative of nearly 150 U.S. cities and counties using data to measurably and equitably end homelessness, in 2015. The Southeast Tennessee region comprises Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Hamilton, Rhea, Meigs, Bradley, McMinn, and Polk counties.
After the region experienced a surge in homelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic, the team recognized they needed to change their system. With Built for Zero’s support, the team redesigned their assessment and data collection approach, deploying outreach teams across the region’s various mountains, rivers, caves, and woods to ensure no one was overlooked.
The team also implemented a web-based assessment tool and coordinated with hospitals, schools, libraries, and clinics in the region to help identify people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Collaboration with the health care system and training hospital staff to conduct homeless assessments proved invaluable, vastly expanding the team’s outreach efforts and improving data collection.
Next, the Southeast Tennessee team will focus on making homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring for all populations.
“Through the coordinated efforts of partners across our region, we’ve successfully closed gaps in our homelessness data,” said Mackenzie Kelly, executive director at Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition. “Now, we’re more prepared than ever to drive homelessness down in our community.”
Southeast Tennessee organizations that contribute to the shared homelessness database include AIM Center, Bradley Cleveland Community Services Agency, Bradley County Schools, Caring Place, Chatt State Community College, Chattanooga Housing Authority, CHI Memorial, City of Chattanooga Office of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Cleveland High School, Connecting Vets to Resources, Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, Erlanger Outreach, Family Promise of Chattanooga, Generation Stronger, Girls Inspired, GRACE Grundy, Hamilton County Coalition, Hamilton County Schools, Harbor Safe House, Homeless Health Care Center, Hope Center, Maclellan Family Shelter, McNabb Center, Metropolitan Ministries, Salvation Army, SETHRA, SSVF (Behavioral Health), St. Vincent de Paul, United Way Ocoee, Volunteer Behavioral Health, and Welcome Home.
Six other Built for Zero communities — Fairfax County, Va., Washoe County, Nev., Missoula, Mont., St. Louis, Mo., Thurston County, Wash., and South Central Indiana — have secured by-name data for all single adults. More than 75 Built for Zero communities have achieved quality by-name data for at least one homeless population.
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About Community Solutions
Community Solutions is a nonprofit committed to making homelessness rare and brief. It leads Built for Zero, a network of more nearly 150 U.S. communities using a data-driven methodology to improve local housing and homelessness response systems and the impact they can achieve. To date, 14 communities have reached functional zero veteran and or chronic homelessness, a milestone for homelessness being rare and brief for a population. Learn more at www.community.solutions or follow us at @CmtySolutions.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lauren Barnes
