What does BFZ mean by “outreach”?

• Outreach – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines street outreach as activities “designed to meet the immediate needs of people experiencing homelessness in unsheltered locations by connecting them with emergency shelter, housing, or critical services, and providing them with urgent, non-facility-based care.” In practice, outreach aims to connect with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who would otherwise be unknown to the system.
• In-reach – Built for Zero adopted the term In-reach to refer to the practice of deploying staff to brick-and-mortar areas that do not contribute data to the by-name dataset, like libraries, hospitals, and food banks where individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness are likely to be, with the aim of connecting them to services.
• Unsheltered – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines unsheltered as “on the street” or “place not meant for human habitation.” As HUD explains, “the phrases ‘on the street’ or ‘the streets’ are used as shorthand for any place that meets the statutory definition of ‘place not meant for human habitation’ and means a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground.”
• Outreach Referral Pathways – Processes designed to link individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness with outreach teams when staff capacity and geographic complexity prevent thorough and consistent canvassing.

Accounting for providers that conduct outreach, but don’t collect or contribute data

Providers who conduct outreach but do not directly contribute data to the by-name dataset should have a pathway to ensure clients served by their program are included. Examples of pathways include referring to community access points, completing paper intake forms, or combining client rosters across programs. Establishing these outreach referral pathways enable the community to have confidence that everyone experiencing unsheltered homelessness can connect to resources and will be included in the community’s counts to comprehensively understand how many people are truly experiencing unsheltered homelessness at any given time. See additional information on referral pathways in the sections below. 

Why does having coordinated outreach matter?

Ensures everyone experiencing unsheltered homelessness is known and connected with system providers

Outreach is an integral part of a community’s homeless response system. How a community responds to and collaborates around addressing unsheltered homelessness is key to building a strong system. Outreach services are critical to ensuring that folks who cannot or choose not to be connected to sheltering services are accounted for and served in an effective and timely manner. Many communities do not have adequate shelter resources to serve the large number of people in need, and individuals have no choice but to stay in an unsheltered location. Additionally, many communities have high barrier shelters that do not meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness, forcing people to sleep in an unsheltered location. For these reasons and others, it is critical that outreach services are able to connect with folks wherever they are to meet their own self-determined needs.

Improves effectiveness & efficiency 

A coordinated outreach approach can help to ensure that folks are served in a way that best meets their needs, and can also ensure that a community’s outreach resources are used effectively. Bringing outreach teams together to coordinate services and collaborate is an effective way to ensure that a homeless response system does not lose track of folks experiencing unsheltered homelessness and that people can be connected to the right resource at the right time. An outreach collective (described further below), an outreach committee or workgroup, or a regular outreach team meeting can help communities get clarity on how other teams are functioning across the geographic areas. This can help to reduce duplication of services, prevent gaps in coverage, and ensure a higher level of care coordination. 

Establishes a shared understanding and approach to outreach

Developing and maintaining written outreach policies and procedures ensures that all outreach teams and the larger community have a shared understanding and approach to how outreach is conducted locally. If practices are not documented, there are often gaps between what is known by the team conducting outreach and what is expected by others in the community. Additionally, documenting practices gives teams a shared starting point for adapting and improving those practices. This is especially important when considering outreach schedules and how schedules are continuously assessed to meet the needs of those experiencing unsheltered homelessness. 

How to reach everyone experiencing unsheltered homelessness with minimal traditional outreach capacity

The importance of communication and community partnerships

Many communities face challenges in building outreach teams capable of reaching all individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Forming an outreach collaborative significantly alleviates the burden on staff and enables more efficient use of limited resources. This collaborative approach allows teams to brainstorm collectively, ensure consistent care, coordinate their efforts effectively, make the best use of limited resources, and quickly identify clients served by multiple teams.

Developing outreach referral pathways

While it might be challenging to reach every corner of a geographic area through canvassing, communities can create effective referral pathways that allow the public and community partners to easily request outreach services. These pathways should be designed to be accessible and widely known throughout the community. For example, they could include an online request form on the outreach agency’s website or a dedicated hotline for individuals seeking assistance.

Once these referral pathways are set up, it’s crucial to promote them effectively. This can be achieved by engaging with local resource navigation hotlines, collaborating with adjacent systems such as hospitals, law enforcement, and libraries to ensure their staff are informed about the services available, and distributing flyers with clear instructions to request outreach. Additionally, social media campaigns and local news coverage can further enhance awareness and accessibility.