Last week, Built for Zero (BFZ) visited Grand Rapids to huddle with health and service providers. The outcomes include: 

• A gut check of homelessness data
• Discussions on outreach policy and coverage
• A 90-day-sprint to reduce the chronic population by 32% by mid-October

Kent County has been working with BFZ at Community Solutions since 2021 to end chronic homelessness when local business leader Dan Meyering offered to sponsor Kent County’s costs to join the program.  

Organized through the Continuum of Care (CoC)/Kent Homelessness Coalition, our network has received technical assistance, 1:1 coaching and more through cohort participation. 

Due to progress on ending chronic homelessness and being the only cohort member to achieve a level of quality data for the youth by-name-list, our system was invited to become a “Vanguard Community.” 

This affords us almost all the resources Community Solutions has to offer, including an onsite visit from three of our Improvement Advisors who spent a half day with the CoC’s Outreach Workgroup, a half day with partner agencies serving the chronically homeless population, and a half day with the Downtown Pathways leadership team.

In addition to data quality, outreach, and goal-setting discussions, substantial discussions were held on: 

• Increasing housing stock for those with complex needs and felony barriers
• Developing a streamlined landlord engagement program
• Better engaging and tracking folks before they become inactive
• Developing a common definition for a monthly dashboard of chronic and unsheltered population. 

There is still a strong sense of urgency to meet community needs and expectations. But we were pleased that our coaches affirmed that our current path towards reducing chronic homelessness is rare and impressive. 

We have seen a 40% reduction on our by-name list in the last year. What is happening in Kent County is working.  

 “The system improvement muscle is strong in Kent County” is what keeps replaying as I think about where we go next. This onsite provided the encouragement we needed to keep the momentum going. We are headed full speed in the right direction. And with a team of expert coaches cheering us on, community stakeholders helping us clear barriers, and a collaborative effort between providers with shared goals, I have never felt more confident that Kent County can end chronic homelessness.

Authored by: Alyssa Anten, Acting Director of the Kent Homelessness Coalition