Over three days this July, cross-sector teams fanned out across downtown Grand Rapids with a simple but ambitious goal: to build an accurate, shared understanding of who is actually out there, what they need, and how we can do better by them.
This was the Downtown Pathways Project’s Voice of the Customer survey, and it was unlike anything we’ve done before. Housing providers, medical partners, the Homeless Outreach Team, public safety, and community volunteers walked the same routes, asked the same questions, and sat down together afterward to make sense of what they found. Between the two initial days of outreach and a final push on Monday, teams engaged 344 people. We even set up pop-up services along the way to help people obtain missing identification, because meeting a real need in the moment matters more than any data point.
More people are homeless than we assumed
There has been a commonly held assumption, that many of the people gathering in our parks and public spaces were housed in low-income housing and simply spending time outside. The data tells a different story. 85% of the individuals we contacted were experiencing homelessness, and roughly two-thirds of those were unsheltered. Of everyone we engaged, 51% reported sleeping unsheltered and another 26% were in emergency shelter, with the rest in vehicles or doubled up with others.
That is a sobering picture. But alongside it came genuinely encouraging news.
We’re not missing many people
Nearly 90% of the individuals we engaged were already known to our system, with another 5% or so who likely are but for whom we lacked details like a last name. That tells us something important: we are not “missing” large numbers of people, and our data quality and engagement have improved significantly.
It also sharpens our focus. Ending chronic homelessness through permanent housing paired with stabilization and support services is the foundation of how we make progress toward a vibrant downtown.
And we are making progress. When Built for Zero visited Grand Rapids this month, their expert review of our data showed we have reduced chronic homelessness by 40% over the past year. Our providers have now set an aggressive goal to reduce it by another 32% by mid-October.
The work ahead
The count also surfaced work we still need to do, especially for individuals who are not chronically homeless but still spend their days in public spaces.
Many of the people surveyed in Veterans Park and Heartside Park told us they are there because it is where their friends are, or because they feel they have no alternative. In response, LaGrave Church, Mel Trotter, and Dégagé are investing in a community center where people can gather, share a meal, and access supportive services, a real alternative for connection and belonging. AYA is also expanding their drop-in center and hours to support unsheltered youth more effectively.
Behind the scenes, teams are doing careful work to ensure data quality: comparing first dates of entry into our system, cross-referencing the by-name list, and flagging duplicates. Those first-entry dates tell their own story. A number of individuals have been in our system for a decade or more, and the increase that began around the pandemic likely reflects both national trends and our own growing ability to engage the people already here.
We are also continuing to strengthen how outreach and engagement work together through cross-sector case conferencing and our Built for Zero work. The ultimate goal is individualized care plans that move people toward better outcomes, something we have improved on dramatically for those experiencing chronic homelessness through the by-name list.
A few notes for the data-minded
The count also surfaced work we still need to do, especially for individuals who are not chronically homeless but still spend their days in public spaces.
or those who like the details: of the 344 people engaged, 73% were male and 23% female, with 4% declining or identifying another way. The median age was 49, the largest age band was 55 to 64 at 24%, and 34% were over the age of 55. The highest concentrations of unsheltered individuals were found, in descending order, at Heartside Park, South Division, Veterans Park, and Bridge Street.
Two-thirds of the people we spoke with reported being from Grand Rapids. Among those who said they were not, most would still be considered “from here,” coming from the broader metro area or having lived in the city for more than a decade rather than being new arrivals. We will continue to examine trends for genuinely new arrivals and explore strategies to help people receive services where they already have community connections, including diversion efforts that reconnect individuals with family, friends, and providers in their hometowns.
Thank you
To everyone who joined us to canvass: thank you. Being out there was a genuinely valuable experience. Watching the cross-sector teams work together, and hearing their excitement and their ideas for future collaboration, gave me a clearer picture of where we are today and real hope for where we’re headed.
We have work to do. But we are doing it together, with better information than we’ve ever had, and with a shared commitment to ending unsheltered homelessness and building a downtown that works for everyone.