Unsheltered No More

unshelterednomore.com

Each night, approximately 2,400 Atlanta citizens sleep under bridges, in parks, and on benches and sidewalks. Another 2,500 cycle in and out of emergency shelters. Despite significant increases in housing and social services over the past decade, the number of homeless Atlantans has not decreased.

With leadership and commitment from Mayor Reed, Unsheltered No More is an effort to improve cross-agency collaboration and community partnership around homelessness. The short-term goal of this effort is to move 800 people into stable housing by December 2013. Over the long term, Unsheltered No More seeks to catalyze a new level of coordination among all of the public, private, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations that serve the homeless—and to set Atlanta on a path to meeting the federal government’s goal of ending chronic and veteran homelessness by 2015.

Unsheltered No More draws on local expertise, data-driven decision-making, and national best practices to improve coordination in these areas:

• streamlining the process of moving homeless individuals from the street to stable housing
• identifying the most vulnerable individuals and ensuring that community resources are most
• effectively matched to people based on need
• making sure Atlanta’s housing stock and services align with our homeless population’s needs and with shifting federal priorities
• eliminating criminal justice barriers to housing and stability

Unsheltered No More relies on the leadership and expertise of individuals who understand the dynamics of homelessness in Atlanta and have the authority and influence to drive change. The Unsheltered No More Advisory Board is charged with shaping the priorities of initiatives, while the Strategy Team is charged with developing a strategic framework for implementing the priorities of the Advisory Board. The Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team provides guidance, coordination, and oversight.