Thirteen U.S. communities have met this standard for ending veteran or chronic homelessness — and many more are on their way.
What is functional zero?
Functional zero is a dynamic milestone that indicates a community has solved homelessness for a population. Reaching and sustaining this milestone is in service of building a future where homelessness is rare overall, and brief when it occurs.
VETERAN
A community has ended veteran homelessness when the number of veterans experiencing homelessness is less than the number of veterans a community has proven it can house in a month.
> What’s the difference between functional zero and the The Federal Criteria and Benchmarks for ending veteran homelessness?
CHRONIC
A community has ended chronic homelessness when the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness is zero, or if not zero, than either 3 or .1% of the total number of individuals reported in the most recent point-in-time count, whichever is greater.
Ending homelessness isn’t just possible — it’s already happening.
12 communities have ended veteran homelessness
- Gulf Coast, MS
- Arlington, VA
- Montgomery County, MD
- Rockford, IL
- Bergen County, NJ
- Fort Myers, FL
- Riverside, CA
- Abilene, TX
- Lake County, IL
- Norman, OK
- Chattanooga, TN
- Lynchburg, VA
4 communities have ended chronic homelessness
- Rockford, IL
- Lancaster, PA
- Bergen County, NJ
- Abilene, TX
Three have ended both.
Meet some of the Built for Zero communities that have reached functional zero:
ABILENE, TEXAS
Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness (2019)
BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Achieved functional zero for both chronic (2016) and veteran (2017) homelessness
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness (2019)
GULF COAST, MISSISSIPPI
Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness (2015)
LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness (2019)
ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS
Achieved functional zero for both veteran (2015) and chronic (2016) homelessness
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
Achieved functional zero for veteran homelessness (2020)
“We were definitely the community that thought we didn’t have resources, but it turns out it wasn’t true at all… Suddenly change started happening without it.”
– EMMA BEERS, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
