Community Solutions is a New York City-based non-profit organization, created by Rosanne Haggerty. It works with communities across the United States to create a lasting end to homelessness that leaves no one behind. Community Solutions leads Built for Zero, a national initiative of more than 80 communities working to measurably end homelessness. Community Solutions also led The 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national campaign that housed more than 105,000 people experiencing chronic homelessness.
History
Community Solutions was created by a team within Common Ground, a non-profit housing organization, also founded by Haggerty. While at Common Ground, Haggerty noticed that even though more supportive housing was being constructed and there was more funding for shelters and other relief programs, homelessness continued to increase. Common Ground launched the national 100,000 Homes Campaign in July 2010. It worked with 238 communities to find and house 100,000 of the most vulnerable and chronically homeless individuals by July 2014. On June 11, 2014, the Campaign announced they had housed the 100,000th individual. The campaign used online problem-solving infrastructure and in-person training and coaching to help communities improve their housing placement systems. The local community leads identified all of their homeless neighbors by name, tracked and measured their local housing placement progress, and adopted process improvements and evidence-based best practices to improve their ability to house homeless people more efficiently. The team became a separate nonprofit known as Community Solutions in 2011 to look not just at ending homelessness, but at solving the problems that can lead to homelessness. While the 100,000 Homes Campaign surpassed its goal, the team found that none of the participating communities managed to end homelessness. As a result, Community Solutions launched Built for Zero in 2015, to help communities measurably end chronic and veteran homelessness.
Initiatives
The Built for Zero initiative is a methodology and movement of over 80 communities using real-time person-specific data, collaboration, and a community-wide commitment to end veteran and chronic homelessness. Communities aim to reach and sustain a standard called Functional Zero, which states fewer people are experiencing homelessness than a community can routinely house in permanent housing in a single month. In the New York City neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn, where a handful of major indicators for poverty are found, the Brownsville Partnership works to create solutions to the neighborhood's most pressing challenges. The Partnership comprises more than 30 partner organizations, and it draws on the intense engagement of community members and local stakeholders. The Brownsville Partnership is launching the 5,000 Jobs Campaign in August 2014 to connect 5,000 Brownsville residents to jobs by December 2017. The Northeast Neighborhood Partnership works in Hartford, Connecticut to improve the health and economic security of the neighborhood. The partnership is working with the community to revitalize the M. Swift and Sonsgold leafing factory into a health and employment hub.
Recognitions and awards
Community Solutions's 100,000 Homes Campaign won the 2013 World Habitat Award.
