City of Detroit, partners release five-year improvement plan for Detroit’s homelessness system

Developed over the course of a year in partnership with community members and homelessness service providers, the plan serves as a roadmap for the future of the homelessness response system, which includes the city's shelters, programs that connect residents experiencing homelessness to housing, teams that provide resources to residents living on the streets, and supportive housing programs.

The improvement plan outlines core priorities and action items to improve these system services and ultimately enhance housing and quality of life outcomes for residents experiencing homelessness.

The planning process to create the roadmap was a partnership between the City of Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department, the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, and the Detroit Continuum of Care. The City contracted with Barbara Poppe & Associates, a team of national experts on homelessness, to facilitate the planning process with community stakeholders.

From June to December 2023, residents with experience of homelessness, service providers, community members, and city leaders contributed their input to the plan through roughly 50 engagement events, including focus groups, listening sessions, community planning sessions, site visits, meetings, and surveys.

Breaking down the numbers

Recent data indicates that 6,221 people experienced homelessness in Detroit over the course of 2022. Over a two-year look back period, data shows that 21% of all households who exited homelessness to permanent housing ultimately returned to homelessness. Residents experiencing homelessness are on average spending nearly four months in shelters.

"No Detroiter should go to sleep at night without a roof over their head and a safe, quality place to call home," said City of Detroit Housing and Revitalization Department Director Julie Schneider. "With this plan, we commit to collaborating with our partners to improve programs so that residents who enter the homelessness system find services that respect their dignity, quickly connect them to housing stability, and put them on a path to fulfill their household goals."

"The latest strategic plan ensures that we have common goals and a shared roadmap," said Tasha Gray, executive director of the Homeless Action Network of Detroit. "Collaboration leads to collective impact and collective impact leads to real change in our efforts to end homelessness."

Core areas of focus

The plan centers on eight improvement action areas. Each action area includes several improvement activities, with anticipated timelines for implementation and key entities responsible for managing and executing activities. Action areas include:

1. Strengthening and Reimagining Shelter so that residents receive effective, trauma-informed services in high-quality facilities and programs that ultimately reduce their time spent in shelters and puts them on a path to housing stability and positive life outcomes. Activities in this action area will focus on making capital improvements to shelter facilities, expanding the range of shelter models deployed in Detroit, and improving case management and resident services in shelters.
2. Expanding Housing Supply and Building an Effective Rehousing System so that people are quickly connected to safe, stable, and affordable housing when they experience homelessness. Activities in this action area will focus on strengthening programming to find housing placements for residents experiencing homelessness, expanding affordable housing options, and cultivating more effective relationships with landlords and other housing providers.
3. Reducing Unsheltered Homelessness to decrease the number of people sleeping outside and to connect them to housing and other resources. Activities in this action area will focus on strengthening street outreach teams, who travel around the city to support residents sleeping in uninhabitable places and connect them to shelters, housing programs, and other social services.
4. Enhancing Staffing and Capacity Across the Homelessness Response System so that front-line staff in homelessness service organizations get the support, training and compensation they need to provide high-quality services to residents. Activities in this action area will focus on implementing an evaluation of compensation levels across the homelessness system, implementing changes to improve wages and benefits, and providing training opportunities and pathways for staff to provide input on how to improve homelessness services.
5. Leading the System toward Equity and Justice to uplift the perspectives and leadership of people with lived experience of homelessness and to ensure programs and services are designed and implemented with a leading focus on equity and justice. Activities in this action area will focus on providing equity-focused training to staff in the homelessness system, evaluating policies and procedures for their effects on enhancing equity in the system, and providing professional development opportunities to residents with lived experience of homelessness.
6. Advocating for Resources to increase federal, state, and local funding to both prevent and resolve experiences of homelessness and improve the quality of programs. Activities in this action area will center on coordinating and developing an advocacy agenda across all stakeholders in the homelessness system.
7. Building Upon Existing Improvement Efforts to sustain focus on improvement efforts centered on Detroit's coordinated entry system, youth homelessness, and veteran homelessness. Activities in this action area will focus on reducing youth and veteran homelessness, and improving Detroit's central intake system that connects residents experiencing homelessness to shelter and housing programs.
8. Establishing the Structures Necessary for Plan Implementation, which centers on putting the appropriate staffing, governance, and partnership structures in place to successfully implement all plan activities.