Homelessness can be described as the state of having no permanent home or residence; the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing.

There is generally a stigma surrounding the homeless population. Many believe that homeless people are in those circumstances because they allowed themselves to get to that point through laziness or some other reason. Oftentimes, the general population believes that getting a job will be enough to pull the homeless out of their circumstances, however it is not that simple. People fail to take into consideration all of the factors that lead to and exacerbate homelessness. For example, there is a lack of affordable housing for low income people. People in the poorer classes do not have enough money to pay for food, clothing, other necessities, and rent. Even prices for some of the more dilapidated houses are too high. Another central reason for homelessness is mental and physical disabilities. 31% of the homeless population have reported serious mental health illness. A person can become chronically homeless when they are ill, as it can become too difficult to maintain housing. A lot of these people do not have health insurance or have difficulty engaging health care providers in their community. Another prominent issue exacerbating homelessness is racism. Minority groups have historically been denied rights and socioeconomic opportunities. This disproportionality in homelessness is a by-product of systemic inequality. The lingering effects of racism continue to perpetuate disparities in housing. There are a lot of factors out of these people’s control that cause them to be in these circumstances. Yes, it is true that there are homeless people who are drug addicts and spend the little money they have on drugs, but we should not generalize that idea to the entire homeless population. It is essential to take into consideration these other factors and come together in order to create viable solutions to each of these issues. 

A coordinated systems approach is a community wide coordinated approach to deliver services, housing, and programs.  It involves strategic planning among community members, local organizations and business, and non-profits in order to identify the root causes of homelessness. Furthermore, this approach is data driven. It requires using local data to inform decisions on how to most effectively allocate resources, services, and other programs to those experiencing homelessness in the community.  There are four key elements to this approach:

• Coordinated entry - A process designed to quickly identify, assess, refer, and connect people to housing and assistance

• Planning - Creating plans helps communities establish goals and what should be prioritized

• Collecting and examining local data - Analyzing data on local homelessness trends and service needs can help further action and resource allocation

• Performance measure and evaluation - Performance measures used by communities will be able to examine their progress and see what else needs to be done to reduce homelessness