Zero Returns to Homelessness is a bold, new vision with an ambitious goal: secure housing for every person returning to their community from incarceration.
This vision was unveiled at the first-ever national reentry housing symposium in Washington, D.C. in June 2023, where over 150 federal, state, and local leaders, criminal justice and housing practitioners, researchers, people with lived experience in both incarceration and homelessness, and other key partners gathered from across the country to begin a powerful and ongoing conversation about how to make this vision 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 a future where all people have a safe, permanent place to call home upon reentering the community after incarceration. While episodes of homelessness will still occur at times, as with work to end chronic and veterans’ homelessness, the Zero Returns to Homelessness vision seeks to make these episodes rare and brief.
Efforts to achieve this vision will require elected officials, providers, funders, and community leaders to work together across systems and sectors—sometimes in new and creative ways—to ensure there are sufficient housing and support service resources for all who need them. Communities will also need involvement from a wide range of people, from the decisionmakers who allocate resources, to the program managers who make meaningful coordination happen, and finally to the people who have experienced homelessness and incarceration firsthand to provide leadership and inform all aspects of the work.
Making this vision a reality will require the inclusion of a wide range of cross-system partners, including (but not limited to):
- State departments of correction
- Sheriffs’ departments and other local corrections agencies
- Parole and probation departments
- Continuums of Care
- Public Housing Authorities, affordable housing providers, and landlords
- State housing finance agencies
- State and local officials
- Federal agencies
- Behavioral health and other service providers
- Leaders and staff from key planning bodies, such as Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils
- Philanthropic and other private funders
Are you ready to take the next step in your community and work toward making the Zero Returns to Homelessness vision a reality? Learn more about our Approach, Practical Tools, and How to Connect with our team.