In 2021, the annual Menino Survey of Mayors released its first report of findings focused on homelessness.
Summary
We are proud to announce the results of the 2021 Menino Survey of Mayors, which we conducted in partnership with Boston University’s Initiative of Cities, with support from Citi and the Rockefeller Foundation.
The 2021 Menino Survey of Mayors represents the eighth nationally representative survey of American mayors and is based on interviews with 126 sitting mayors from 39 states.
For the first time, the annual survey includes a report of findings about homelessness, including mayoral perspectives on their roles, challenges, and opportunities around creating accountability for ending homelessness. Some key findings include:
Mayors believe they are held accountable for addressing homelessness in their cities, but feel they have little control.
An overwhelming majority of mayors (73%) perceive themselves as being held highly accountable for addressing homelessness in their communities, but 81% feel that homelessness in their cities is outside of their control.
A strong majority of mayors do not define policy success in terms of reducing homelessness, and a surprising number of mayors do not have clear definitions for success.
60% of mayors do not define successful approaches to homelessness in their community based on a goal of reducing rates of homelessness.
Mayors largely lack dedicated staff to address homelessness, often relying on police departments.
Almost one-third of cities (28%) have no staff exclusively dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness. A striking 22% of mayors place their homelessness staff in their police departments.
Mayors have limited access to data, which is exacerbated by challenges in coordinating with cities, counties, and nonprofits.
Most mayors (38%) cited access to annual counts.
FINDINGS
Mayors believe they are held accountable for addressing homelessness in their cities, but feel they have little control.
- An overwhelming majority of mayors (73%) perceive themselves as being held highly accountable for addressing homelessness in their communities. Mayors across all regions of the country — including those characterized with both high and low housing costs — hold remarkably similar views. Strong majorities of mayors (69% of less expensive cities and 79% of more expensive cities) believe that their residents care about homelessness and use this as a gauge when evaluating their local leadership.
- Yet, mayors largely feel (81%) that homelessness in their cities is outside of their control. Only 19% of mayors believe they have a lot of control over this serious challenge. Mayors in the Northeast are particularly pessimistic: only seven% of them perceive themselves as having a lot of control over local homelessness. Twenty-nine% of their Southern counterparts, in contrast, see themselves as having a fair amount of influence over local homelessness.
- As far as significant obstacles to addressing homelessness in their cities, over half of all mayors cite public opposition to new housing or homeless shelters, limited funding, limited human and social services, and a lack of coordination between the government and different social service agencies.
Mayors do not have access to the quality, comprehensive, real-time data they need to address homelessness.
- Many mayors (38%) cited access to annual data on homelessness.
- 35% collect monthly data.
- 3% collect daily data.
- 10% of mayors say that they do not have access to city-level data (8% indicate that their community only has county-level data available).
- Struggles to coordinate data collection contributed to challenges around accessing the data they need. Data on homelessness is often not collected at the city level. Several mayors highlighted city-county coordination problems as obstacles to acquiring municipal data. Mayors also struggled to coordinate with their nonprofits, who are often directly responsible for data collection.
- Mayors observed that it was especially difficult to count members of their unsheltered population.
A strong majority of mayors do not define success by reducing homelessness, and a surprising number of mayors do not have clear definitions for success.
- 60% of mayors do not define successful approaches to homelessness in their community based on a goal of reducing rates of homelessness. Interviewers were surprised by how many mayors initially struggled to articulate any goal, suggesting it is not a policy objective many local administrations have elevated as a core priority.
- A surprising number of mayors – 10% – did not have clear definitions in mind for success in addressing homelessness.
- When asked to define success, 42% of mayors highlight better housing, while 16% mention access to better social services. 11% emphasize minimizing what they perceive as the negative impacts of homelessness on surrounding residents and businesses.
Mayors largely do not have dedicated staff to address homelessness, often relying on police departments.
- Almost one-third of cities (28%) have no staff exclusively dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness. For many mayors, this lack of staff means that large numbers of over-burdened housing and social service staff are tasked with addressing this complex issue amid their many other responsibilities. One Western mayor observed that this problem “eats up everyone’s time” as the mayor’s office, communications office, and housing office all allot significant effort to supporting people experiencing homelessness, without any administrative support or coordination.
- A striking 22% of mayors place their homelessness staff in their police departments. This operational arrangement comes with risks, such as criminalizing homelessness rather than connecting those experiencing it to necessary social and health services.
Mayors see the local nonprofit community, Continuums of Care, and the police as shaping homelessness policy.
- 78% of mayors say that police have at least some influence over their city’s homelessness policy. More mayors highlight the role of the police as influencers, rather than people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Police were the third most influential group listed by mayors, just above people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
OUR
RECOMMENDATIONS
Many mayors cited believe they are held accountable for homelessness, but lack control. Built for Zero works with more than 90 communities across the country. Through these efforts we have seen that mayors have a critical role to play in helping their communities reduce and end homelessness.
We have summarized recommendations on how mayors can use their convening power and influence to address some of the challenges noted in the survey, and help communities make progress on homelessness.
FINDING
A strong majority of mayors do not define success by reducing homelessness, and a surprising number of mayors do not have clear definitions for success.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
As a first step, mayors can play a powerful role in helping communities establish a shared aim around ending homelessness at a population level. By establishing a shared aim, the community can ensure that all activities and efforts are collectively contributing to progress.
Many communities across the country are using functional zero as that end state, which offers a measurable end state for ensuring homelessness is rare and brief for a population. Using functional zero as the goal, communities track progress through reductions in homelessness.
As a second step, mayors should create shared accountability across a collaborative, community-wide team. Mayors can use their convening power to bring together the key actors working to end homelessness.
FINDING
Mayors do not have access to the quality, comprehensive, real-time data they need to address homelessness.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
Mayors should help communities collect and use quality, real-time data so that the city can:
- access the data needed to understand the population experiencing homelessness at any given time
- make decisions and investments toward its shared aim, and
- understand if those activities are actually contributing to progress toward that goal.
Communities in Built for Zero have proven it is possible to maintain comprehensive, quality, real-time data on a population experiencing homelessness, which includes both the sheltered and unsheltered population. Learn more about by-name data and the scorecards used to assess quality data.
FINDING
Mayors largely do not have dedicated staff to address homelessness, often relying on police departments.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
Mayors have a critical role to play in ensuring the appropriate lead entities are staffed, accountable, and supported to achieve systems change.
Mayors should leverage their support, commitment of funding, and political influence to ensure the community has a lead agency or two to three lead partners that perform key leadership and staffing functions. These lead entities should sit outside of police departments and be tasked with building and sustaining a data-driven coalition culture focused on ending and sustaining homelessness at the population level.
Mayors should create accountability to ensure the lead entity is demonstrating a long-term commitment to hiring and retaining system-level leadership, and supported by the necessary staffing levels. This must include dedicated staff focused on measurable system change — like driving coordinated entry system outcomes, quality monthly data, and aligned funding — as opposed to focusing exclusively on programs, compliance and funding management.
In order to drive measurable systems change, staff must be tasked with building a data-driven, accountable culture. This requires not only the commitment of staff and resources but also a shared understanding of actively homeless numbers, understanding of racial disparities using credible data, a high-functioning coordinated entry system, a problem-solving mindset to improve coordination, and a commitment to listening to frontline implementers and people with lived experience of homelessness. Staff must have sufficient time and support to work toward functional zero and systems improvement.
FINDING
Mayors see the local nonprofit community, Continuums of Care, and the police as shaping homelessness policy.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
The aforementioned entity (or entities) need to wield sufficient authority to drive an evolving strategy and achieve measurable outcomes. They must have a strategic relationship with the local Continuum of Care, be accountable to people most impacted by homelessness, and be committed to equity as part of the shared aim to end homelessness.
Mayors should ensure the Lead Agency/Partners have created an accountable structure equipped with necessary political support to sustain the required leadership and implementation teams to be accountable for achieving functional zero.
