Abilene, TX

Map of Abilene, TX
Community Name:
Texas Balance of State CoC - Abilene
Population:
Large (>250,000 people)
Type:
Midsize City
Functional Zero:
Chronic (Jan 2020), Veteran (Nov 2018)

Overview

In 2019, Abilene, Texas announced that it reached functional zero for veteran homelessness. The city became the fastest community to achieve functional zero, Built for Zero’s standard for functionally ending veteran homelessness, just 10 months after joining the movement. In November 2020, the community announced it had reached functional zero for chronic homelessness, after sustaining the achievement for a year.

Built for Zero communities like Abilene, Texas have made a commitment to ensuring that homelessness is rare overall and a brief experience when it occurs — and never a sustained or defining part of someone’s life. The community achieved functional zero by:

  1. Creating a by-name list that accounts for every veteran experiencing homelessness in the area
  2. Bringing every agency working on homelessness together around the shared aim of ending veteran homelessness. 
  3. Testing new ideas as a team. The shared accountability created through the command center “keeps people coming back,” said John Meier, a program manager at the West Central Texas Regional Foundation. 

“We’re not done. I don’t know that we’ll ever be done. We’re going to constantly shift and evolve to meet the needs of our population.”

John Meier, program manager at the West Central Texas Regional Foundation.


Key Milestones

February 2018

Joined Built for Zero

Abilene joined Built for Zero, a national movement committed to measurably ending homelessness.

Learn more about Built for Zero

June 2018

Achieved quality by-name data (Veterans)

Abilene built a comprehensive real-time, by-name list of all veterans experiencing homelessness in the community.

Learn more about by-name data

November 2018

Achieved quality by-name data (Chronic Adults)

Abilene built a comprehensive real-time, by-name list of all single adults experiencing chronic homelessness in the community.

Learn more about by-name data

November 2018

Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness

Learn more about functional zero

January 2020

Achieved functional zero for chronic adult homelessness

Learn more about functional zero


Homelessness is solvable.

Communities in the Built for Zero movement are proving it.

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