A five-year, cross-sector framework to build a system that prevents homelessness, ends it quickly when it happens, and ensures it does not recur — measured year by year, by population, in numbers we publish.
Durham is shifting from managing homelessness to ending it: moving each person into housing as fast as the system can produce a unit, supporting them through the year that follows, and ensuring the conditions that led to homelessness do not repeat.
Upstream prevention, diversion, and cross-sector partnerships keep households from becoming homeless in the first place — so inflow stays below outflow.
A clear, predictable path to housing — not a waitlist. People move in within weeks, not months, with case management focused on long-term stability for the year that follows.
Functional zero is not zero on any given night. It is a system condition where the number of people experiencing homelessness in a population is consistently fewer than the number the system can house each month.
When that condition holds, homelessness becomes a temporary disruption people recover from — not an ongoing way of life.
A winter storm displaced ten families to hotel rooms through Durham’s White Flag response, with the family shelter at capacity. The Community Safety Department organized a 25-day sprint to house ten families before the funding ended.
It worked because every component showed up at once, around the same households, with a deadline — flexible payments within one business day, housing locators presenting real units, case managers focused on housing, and daily coordination clearing stuck cases in hours.
Targets are tracked monthly from the by-name list and reported publicly. As the system reaches functional zero for one population, the work sustains that condition while broadening focus to the next.
| Population | Year 16/30/27 | Year 26/30/28 | Year 36/30/29 | Year 46/30/30 | Year 56/30/31 |
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None is sufficient alone. They interlock: foundations make ways of working possible; ways of working produce housing outcomes; outcomes are sustained by enabling conditions; the backbone coordinates it all.
Each has its own discipline, contracts, and metrics — but all are sequenced around the same households at the same time.
Strategic direction, HUD-funded program governance, system alignment, and frontline action are separated — none doing the others’ work. When each part focuses on what it’s built for, the whole system moves faster.
11–13 cross-sector leaders who clear barriers and align resources no single agency can move alone. Meets every 6–8 weeks.
13 voting members (from HSAC, July 2026). Governance, funding & compliance authority for HUD-funded programs only.
Provider executive directors aligning the homelessness system, clearing pathways, and mobilizing rapidly during sprints.
Day-to-day backbone: leads operations, manages communications, coordinates teams and tables, and carries the City’s CoC Lead Agency function.
Co-investor upstream of homelessness — DSS, behavioral health via Alliance Health, prevention, and justice diversion.
Where recurring barriers get named, tested, and redesigned into new workflows.
People with lived experience shaping system design, decisions, and accountability — the most important measure of whether it works.
The public-private model is intentional: public funding provides the operating floor; private community investment provides agility and the proof of confidence from Durham’s anchor institutions.
A single figure — total households actively experiencing homelessness in Durham, by population, drawn from the by-name list. If the number is not moving, the system is not working.
The Community Safety Department engaged directly with peer cities, attended two national convenings, and drew on the broader network of 140+ Built for Zero communities.
Engagement happens at every level — from sector leaders to the residents who will hold it accountable.
Join or champion the work through the Champions Table; commit to path-clearing actions only your authority can unlock.
Participate in case conferencing, the Executive Roundtable, and Communities of Practice.
Join the Lived Experience Advisory Group and shape system design and accountability.
Join the landlord network — on-time rent, a real human on the phone, and shared risk. Become part of the unit pipeline.
Contribute to the $5M community investment campaign or align grants to the framework’s populations and functions.
Champion the work, contribute to the Flexible Housing Assistance Fund, and take part in the public conversation.