Zero Returns to Homelessness Explainer

• NCJ Number: 308985
• Author(s): Thomas Coyne
• Date Published: April 2024
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2020-CZ-BX-K001
• Agencies: BJA-Sponsored
• Award: Supporting Health, Home, and Family for Comprehensive Reentry

Annotation

This brief published by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments, and Zero Returns to Homelessness discusses the cycle of homelessness and justice involvement and solutions to ameliorating homelessness.

Abstract

This publication by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments, and Zero Returns to Homelessness introduces the Zero Returns to Homelessness program. Zero Returns to Homelessness involves elected officials, providers, and community leaders working together to ensure there are sufficient housing and support service resources. It also requires the involvement of decision makers, program managers, and people with lived experience in homelessness. In 2024, there is evidence of progress, as 83 communities and 3 states have all but ended veteran homelessness, and 5 communities in the U.S. have ended chronic homelessness. Across the country, communities are also making significant progress toward increasing housing options for people reentering the community from prison and jail, and starting to show that the Zero Returns to Homelessness vision can become a reality. Just as the “functional zero” concept is used to measure if a community has sustainably ended homelessness for a population, the concept of Zero Returns to Homelessness challenges states and communities to drive toward an ambitious goal: a future where all people have a safe, permanent place to call home upon reentering the community after incarceration. This critical goal can help break the cycle between homelessness and incarceration and “move the needle” on one of the most challenging issues in reentry. While episodes of homelessness will still occur at times, the Zero Returns to Homelessness vision seeks to make these episodes rare, brief, and non-recurring.