April 12, 2023
Built for Zero April 2023 Update
Joint Office reaches Built for Zero milestone: Releasing data from a by-name list of people experiencing chronic homelessness
The Joint Office of Homeless Services is excited to share some big news related to our work on Built for Zero, a framework for measurably ending homelessness with a data-driven approach. (Don’t know what Built for Zero is? Learn more about it here.)
After extensive work by our data team, we are releasing our first data to come from a quality by-name list of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Multnomah County. This is foundational for accomplishing the other aspects of Built for Zero, and is a major milestone in our overall work to implement Built for Zero, which we launched in 2021.
“We’re excited to see Multnomah County reach this important milestone as they continue efforts at system transformation.”
— Kristy Greenwalt, Built for Zero Consultant for Community Solutions
With this data, the Joint Office and our providers will be able to better match housing solutions and services with the needs of individuals. At the population level, our community will be able to use the data to track the changing size, composition and dynamics of our chronically homeless population. This information will enable us to prioritize resources, test changes to our system and understand whether our efforts are truly helping solve chronic homelessness.
“We’re excited to see Multnomah County reach this important milestone as they continue efforts at system transformation,” said Kristy Greenwalt, Built for Zero consultant for Community Solutions. “The design of workflows and protocols to develop and maintain a comprehensive, quality by-name list of individuals experiencing homelessness is a major undertaking, especially in large, complex communities with an ever-changing landscape.”
There is still a lot of work ahead, including continual refinement of our process and expanding our data collection. But we wanted to share this special announcement and let you know that from this point forward, the Joint Office will be providing monthly data updates on our Built for Zero webpage and sending out quarterly newsletters (like this one) providing updates and the latest data as we continue implementing Built for Zero.
Key takeaways from our first by-name list data
Here are some of the key findings from our first by-name list data.