Takeaways from B'field/Kern County homelessness success: Dump orthodoxies, follow the data, focus on prevention

Image by David Seibold

While SJ and Santa Clara County bicker over arcane legal issues, some big CA cities are busy maintaining functional zero on homelessness. Perhaps our Supes and City Council can learn something from muni gov'ts that are not dysfunctional. Community Solutions reports.

Decreasing Inflow

In order to decrease inflow onto their by-name list, the Bakersfield team formed an at-risk list for clients close to qualifying for chronic homeless status, endeavoring to house those clients before they became chronically homeless, therefore keeping inflow low.

Failing Forward

Altering the way the team presented results of newly tested change ideas proved to be a useful shift as well. Rather than looking at an idea as a success or failure, the Bakersfield team would instead approach it with curiosity, asking questions beyond the result. “It was ‘Here’s what we tested. It didn’t do what we thought, but here’s what we learned instead,’” said Kimmel. The team would then ask themselves “What did we learn?  What can we take from this?”

Go Deeper:

• SJ homelessness audit discourse reveals need for targeted, relevant metrics, say local fiscal watchdogs
• Opinion: LA's homeless progress portal could pave the way for SJ
• Nonprofit researcher: Homeless orgs fail from skewed spending, self-perpetuated bureaucracy, demonizing actual treatment

The team was reinforced by the successes of change ideas as demonstrated by their data, while also recognizing that “failed” improvement projects were also beneficial. “Getting it perfect isn’t important — doing it is important,” explained the team’s improvement coach, Eddie Turner. “It sounds simple or too obvious, but the confidence with which they implemented ideas made the difference. There’s a beauty in how they have gotten into a habit of implementing change ideas, in saying, “We’ll try it.’”

Protecting Zero

After reaching and sustaining functional zero for chronic homelessness, they are now working to end homelessness for all populations in Bakersfield and Kern County. However, there is concern about increased inflow into homelessness resulting from the economic instability associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing housing placements during the pandemic has also been harder than ever, but the team has maintained their housing placement rate. In December 2020, the community drove numbers back down below functional zero threshold, and sustained.

Read the whole thing here.

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