Alarming reports about the increase in US homelessness reached a fevered pitch at the end of 2023, with data showing 143,000  chronically homeless individuals -- a higher level than had been recorded through the federal government’s annual point-in-time count in the past 15 years.

But there appears to be some hope and a new report about the intergovernmental challenge of homelessness from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) focuses in on the lessons learned from three locations in which intergovernmental and local cooperation and coordination have helped to turn the tide, at least in their own areas.

The three areas chosen were:

• Houston Texas, where an integrated effort resulted in a decrease in homelessness of 60% in ten years. According to the report, “Houston area partners have moved over 28,000 formerly homeless people into permanent housing, reducing the number of individuals experiencing homeless by over 60,000 in a decade.”

• Santa Clara County, California, which is achieving “remarkable progress” in meeting its goal “of housing 26,000 people between 2015 and 2025”. 

• North Central Massachusetts, where an alliance among a variety of intergovernmental and local partners are attempting to reduce homelessness with a region-wide approach that “transformed a loose collection of programs and services into a region-wide integrated system”

The report emphasizes that solutions differ from place to place but provides key management approaches and five basic tasks that greatly contribute to success: 1) The commitment to shared goals and strategies, which are publicly communicated; 2) Building networks; 3) Utilizing integrated service delivery; 4) Collecting, sharing and using information 5) Sustaining governing and funding structures.

Beyond these summarized basic management elements, the report provides interesting and useful details on each place. One strong message: No fixes are simple or can be accomplished quickly. 

In Houston, for example, the report describes the problem faced in 2011 when it had the sixth largest homeless population in the US. When an array of city, county and nonprofit partners came together with support from city leadership, business and philanthropy, they discovered that it was essential to define homelessness, the language to use in describing it, and its primary causes. This also included reaching agreement on common goals, and important messages to communicate publicly, including “the potential public sector savings from housing a homeless person.”

Summing up the key takeaways from Houston and the other two areas as well, they include:

• The catalyzing role of local leaders, who were willing to transcend jurisdictional boundaries

• The importance of forging connections with stakeholders

• Helping to “define public expectations about appropriate responses.”

• Community self-knowledge “of local challenges and unmet needs”

• The use of valid and reliable data to better characterize and understand the problem, and its causes which may differ locally and over time.

• The need to create both horizontal alignment and partnerships – bringing together a wide variety of local players – as well as vertical alignment, to work in coordination with counties, regions and the state and federal government. 

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