(COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS) February 2, 2021

Alexzandra Hust, the co-lead for Abilene’s Built for Zero team, thought about the neighbors they had helped on their way to functional zero for chronic homelessness.

They were the most vulnerable neighbors, people who had experienced long-term homelessness and had a disability. There were people who had experienced homelessness for nearly two decades. There was the woman who lost her home after being diagnosed with breast cancer and losing her job. 

“She could have been a statistic and on the streets again,” Hust said.

But all of those neighbors were housed, thanks to the community’s commitment to building a system that could dynamically respond to people experiencing this long-term homelessness. 

This accomplishment came after ending veteran homelessness, reaching functional zero for that population in February 2019. Today, the community announced it had become the fourth community in Built for Zero to reach functional zero for chronic homelessness — sustaining this achievement for a year.

Source: https://community.solutions/case-studies/spotlight-abilene-texas-reaches-functional-zero-for-chronic-homelessness/