By Mary Carr Lee, Mayors Innovation Project
At the Mayors Innovation Project summer meeting, mayors and experts from cities across the country dug into the issue of homelessness, highlighting the urgent need for a shift away from crisis management to sustainable solutions that demonstrate measurable results. Featuring leaders from Takoma Park, MD; Albuquerque, NM; Newark, NJ; and Missoula, MT, the discussion focused on innovative, data-driven approaches, the importance of partnerships, and the critical role of political will.
The Problem: A Worsening Crisis and Outdated Metrics
The panelists underscored that homelessness is not a static issue, but a growing problem fueled by economic hardship, a lack of affordable housing, and inadequate support systems. Mayor Talisha Searcy of Takoma Park urged attendees to think about housing insecurity as a spectrum, “You need to focus on not just people experiencing homelessness, but on people who are at risk of entering homelessness.” Ian Fletcher of Community Solutions, an organization that spearheads the “Built for Zero” movement, pointed out that traditional “Point-in-Time” counts—a single-night snapshot of the unhoused population–are insufficient. He emphasized the need for “by-name” data—knowing each person by name and being able to articulate their specific needs—to create a “movie, not a picture” of the issue.
Luis Ulerio, who leads the city of Newark’s Office of Homeless Services which uses a by-name approach, noted that while his city has seen a significant reduction in unsheltered homelessness, the overall inflow is still growing. “At the end of our first year we reduced unsheltered homelessness by 57.6% with strengthened street outreach and increased shelter capacity,” said Ulerio. “However, our homelessness inflow grew by 25%.” This stark reality is what has led them to invest even more heavily in prevention and outreach.
From Emergency Shelter to Permanent Housing: Building a True System of Care
A central theme of the panel was the need to move beyond a short-term, emergency response and build a true “continuum of care” that leads to permanent housing. Gilbert Ramirez, Albuquerque’s administrator of Health, Housing and Homelessness, stressed that while shelters save lives, housing ends homelessness. He described his city’s efforts to build a 24/7 Gateway network that serves as a single point of entry, linking unhoused individuals with the “right response” from a team of first responders, social workers, and medical professionals.
This sentiment was echoed by Mayor Andrea Davis of Missoula, who detailed her city’s “On Our Way Home” strategy, which brought together a group of 25 stakeholders to work on the issue. She described a spectrum of shelter options, ranging from low-barrier emergency shelters to transitional housing and critical permanent supportive housing—all designed to help people get on the path to housing stability.
Key Strategies and Solutions
The panelists shared several actionable strategies that have proven successful in their communities:
- Political Will and Dedicated Leadership: Luis Ulerio emphasized that a city’s ability to tackle homelessness is a “lesson in political will.” He credited Newark’s success to a dedicated office and budget, a strategic plan, and mayoral leadership. Similarly, Mayor Davis highlighted the importance of a mayor-led strategy in Missoula. Mayors are also the best spokesperson for a startling but real economic argument for proactive investment: it costs far less to invest in prevention and housing subsidies than to treat or incarcerate unhoused individuals.
- Flexible Funding: A major barrier to housing people is the small, often surmountable, costs that prevent them from securing – or can lead to loss of – a lease. Mayor Davis’s “housing sprint” program uses flexible funds to pay for things like pet fees, rental application fees, or even outstanding medical bills that can lead to housing insecurity. This small investment can clear the path to permanent housing, proving to be more cost-effective than long-term emergency services.
- Innovative Partnerships and Programs: The panelists showcased creative collaborations. Newark’s “texting hotline” allows the public to alert a street outreach team to someone in need. Both Takoma Park and Newark have leveraged private dollars, with Takoma Park working with nonprofits and Newark partnering with organizations like Prudential to fund projects. The idea of converting vacant public housing or unused city land into quick, non-congregate housing was also proposed as an effective strategy.
- Addressing the Workforce: The discussion also brought to light a critical but often overlooked challenge: the high turnover and burnout among case workers due to high workloads and low wages. Trust with housing insecure individuals and families – and increasingly with immigrant populations – is hard to build and easy to lose, and worker instability can easily lead to a loss of trust. Mayors on our panel spoke of numerous ways they’re leveraging volunteers for street outreach to supplement the formal workforce, but Ian Fletcher stressed that having a stable, well-supported workforce is essential not only for getting people into housing but, more importantly, for keeping them housed.
Despite these innovative solutions, securing and sustaining funding remains a primary concern for mayors, especially as federal support fluctuates. Attendees explored models like cross-sector funds, combining public, private, and philanthropic resources to ensure long-term stability.
A Message of Hope
Despite the immense challenges, a clear message of hope and possibility emerged. The panelists universally agreed that homelessness is a “solvable problem.” Mayor Davis urged leaders, particularly those in small communities, to be “scrappy,” find what works for their local context, and celebrate their small wins. The ultimate takeaway was a call to action: focus on local data to identify specific challenges, engage great people on the ground, and commit to a diversion strategy that prevents people from becoming homeless in the first place.
In the end, the panel’s message was clear: By moving from a reactive, crisis-management model to a proactive, housing-focused approach, and by using data and partnerships to guide their decisions, cities can make measurable progress toward a future where homelessness is more rare and brief.