As Community Solutions says, “No single actor is fully accountable for ending homelessness in a community. Each local agency or programme holds its own small piece of the solution, but no one has their eye on how the pieces fit together.”
Therein lies the explanation for the intractability of homelessness. Operating in isolation from one another, even the most effective and well-intentioned of support services can fail to see the bigger picture.
By connecting all the different agencies and organizations that interact with homeless people, Community Solutions’ president Rosanne Haggerty believes homelessness can be eliminated altogether.
“Imagine a world where homelessness is rare, brief when it happens, and really gets fixed for those people to whom it happens – the first time,” she says.
In Abilene, Texas, they can do more than just imagine. They can see the results. Following the Built for Zero programme championed by Community Solutions, the Abilene authorities set the goal of zero homelessness.
