When homeless service providers in Bakersfield, California, were working their way down the list of people experiencing chronic homelessness in the area, trying to find housing units for each one, the groups had to solve for a variety of challenges, says Anna Laven, executive director of the Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative. The groups began meeting regularly after joining the Built for Zero campaign to end homelessness in 2015. The cornerstone of the Built for Zero approach is a by-name list of every person experiencing homelessness in different categories chronically homeless, veterans, youth, families, and so on. The collaborative worked to find housing for every person on the list through case conferencing, regularly meeting to discuss individual cases and figure out what it would take to get that person into an apartment.
Homelessness on the rise here in Bakersfield, permanent housing more difficult to establish
1 in 5 of those experiencing homelessness is a child
Posted at 10:40 PM, Feb 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-18 16:36:47-05
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. â Officials say we are seeing a decrease in the ability to secure permanent housing opportunities in the last quarter of 2020 and those latest spikes show concerning trends of newly homeless community members.
âWhat we want to see is the creation of a system where homelessness is rare, it is brief, and it doesn t happen again.â
It remains a strong goal for Anna Laven, the executive director of the Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative, but reports put together by that organization show some concerning trends
Bakersfield provides blueprint for ending chronic homelessness
KABC
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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. Extreme poverty and homelessness have long been community challenges, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, finding solutions became more difficult.
But in spite of everything in 2020, Bakersfield in Kern County managed to achieve functional zero for chronic homelessness, defined as homeless for more than a year or repeatedly over three years. Now we re at a point where if somebody becomes known to us and they meet this definition, we re able to essentially house them within one month, said Anna Laven, executive director of the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative.