In recent months, sweeping changes to the federal government have impacted how CoCs can care for their unhoused populations.
But even as workforces have been reduced and once-reliable resource pools have dried up, communities are already adapting, strategizing, rolling up their sleeves and finding new ways to do the work. And if our recent conversations with community leaders are any indication, now’s the time to replace uncertainty with stability, to find firm footing and take the next step.
In this piece, we’ve compiled five strategies to help give your team that foundation. If you’d like to be part of the deeper dialogue, join our upcoming AMA on July 10, from 1 PM – 2 PM ET, where we’ll discuss how you can protect and maximize your funding streams, handle thorny data requests, and more as you provide excellent care for your community.
We hope to see you there!
While the recent upheaval has added urgency for many communities, best practices are still largely the same: diversifying funding sources, heightening data security, living out local values. If your community hasn’t already made the moves below, now’s the time to set them in motion.
Diversification is, and always will be, one of the best ways to shrink risk.
As the current administration looks to shift more power to state and local governments, position your CoC for success at those levels. Tap into state- and county-level funding whenever possible to buffer against federal change and increase the sustainability of your care efforts.
Remember, while the balance of power between federal, state, and local governments is always shifting, it’s a closed ecosystem. Building bridges at every tier will ensure that you have a path to public funding no matter who’s in office.
As your CoC works to make inroads with state and local agencies, take opportunities to draw from private and individual funding sources as well:
Here’s the bottom line. Diversification kills risk, and it will still be an effective and important strategy 5, 10, and 50 years from now.
Like many of our partner CoCs, our team at Bitfocus places a tremendous emphasis on the security and ethical usage of data.
In our upcoming webinar, we’ll dive a little deeper into how your organization can navigate potentially problematic data requests from the federal government or associated agencies. For now, we’ll offer a concise reminder of a few vital practices in the space.
In recent conversations with partner communities, we’ve heard the same need over and over: All people in human services, even CoC leaders, are looking for stability.
Confusing federal messaging has created a lack of direction, and communities are searching for solid ground amid the squall. When the messaging from the top is unclear, where can you look for clarity?
Your organization’s own, codified core values make for an excellent starting point. How can you put people with lived experience first while complying with new federal requirements? How can you ensure DEI/JEDI principles aren’t swept away while you build equitable solutions for diverse populations?
By placing your local values front and center, you position yourself to continue strategically providing support where it’s most needed and strengthening the trust you’ve established with clients.
Even as friction arises between traditional best practices and policies under the current administration, there’s one invaluable commitment that we and our partners keep coming back to: Amplifying the voices of people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness.
As federal changes feel more and more daunting, making the fight against homelessness as small, as personal, as richly contextual as possible ensures mission-focused responses and solutions. After all, who knows what’s truly needed to combat homelessness better than our unhoused neighbors?
Compassionate listening is one of our most powerful tools in the fight against homelessness. Putting lived experience first in our interactions, workflows, and systems is a great starting place.
Before we wrap up, we have a few questions for anyone who has at least a few years of experience in human services:
You probably see where we’re going with this. People who are leading the fight against homelessness — e.g., outreach workers, case managers, community admins, and CoC leaders — have never had an easy job. That’s the nature of the work. It’s pivoting, compromising, rolling with the punches. And the people our team at Bitfocus work with every day are the best adapt-ers we’ve ever had the privilege of meeting.
Yes, the recent federal changes have created confusion and introduced new challenges in the fight against homelessness. And that’s why, now more than ever, communities need to open lines of communication, band together, and do the hard work.
Our team is thrilled to be hosting an AMA on this vital topic on July 10, from 1 PM – 2 PM ET. We’re firm believers that more voices means richer dialogue, and richer dialogue means stronger communities — so please, if fighting homelessness is your mission, consider pressing the button below, registering, and penciling us in on your calendar.
We can’t wait to see you there!
In the meantime, if you have any thoughts on how communities can navigate federal change, stories from your community, or just a desire to connect with mission-driven colleagues, give us a shout. Our door is always open!