What this is
A library, not a website. It is a shelf for the things we publish — stories from neighbors, assessments of homelessness systems and processes, newsletters, and the foundational documents that outline Durham’s Strategic Framework to Make Homelessness Rare and Brief — so that each one has a home and a link we can send.
Stories from neighbors 4 items
“I feel safe. I feel happy.”
After years of building homes for other people — hanging sheetrock, inspecting her crews’ work — Wanda has one of her own, and a covered walkway to sit out on when it rains.
Told with consent · October 2026“It’s a real thing.”
After almost four years outside, James has a Durham apartment, two settling cats, and a morning routine that no longer starts at a Walmart sink.
Told with consent · July 2026“I had to pinch myself a couple of times.”
At 27, after a stretch of homelessness spent in a car with no air conditioning, alongside the dogs who have been his help for seven years, Tony moved into an apartment he chose.
Told with consent · July 2026“I’ll show them my keys.”
After about six years in a tent, Rocky has a Durham apartment of his own — and an answer for anyone who doubts this work makes a difference.
Told with consent · June 2026Data and Assessments 4 items
A Sprint Assessment for May–June 2026
How it worked and what we learned. 15 neighbors, 3 encampments, 4 weeks — what the sprint achieved and what we would do differently.
Durham Community Safety Department · Updated July 27, 2026Unsheltered Deep Dive
A By-Name List analysis of unsheltered homelessness in Durham: the trend population by population, the data issues we’re actively fixing, how we count someone as unsheltered, and a working prioritization scorecard.
HOPE Team Data Lab · June 2026HBA Assessment Score Dashboard
Distribution of Housing Barriers Assessment total and subsection scores across the assessed client population — filterable by year, demographic group, and eligibility flag, with an item-level breakdown behind each section.
Durham Community Safety Department · De-identified · July 17, 2026On the web
Homelessness Data SnapshotA one-day count of people experiencing homelessness in Durham, drawn from HMIS rather than the annual street count — updated monthly, and the basis for the inflow and outflow analysis the Homeless Services Advisory Committee uses to track whether the number is moving.City of Durham LinkReports and Presentations 5 items
Winter Shelter: End of Season Report
The 2025–2026 season in full — 391 neighbors served, 64 of 74 eligible White Flag nights called, a ten-day storm response, and what changes next winter.
Durham Community Safety Department · May 20262025 HSAC Annual Report
What the Homeless Services Advisory Committee decided, funded, and evaluated in 2025 — the year before the Framework began.
Homeless Services Advisory Committee · January 2026Coordinated Entry Evaluation Report, 2025
Who came through the front door in FY24 and FY25, how long they stayed, where they went when they left, and what the numbers say needs attention.
Durham City and County CoC · August 2025The By-Name List Learning Process
What HOPE staff and providers said about how the By-Name List actually works. No respondent said prioritization is administered equitably; 78% said meeting time is not used well.
Learning and Iteration Team · October 2025 · Web editionThe First 100 Days of HOPE
What the team built in its first hundred days as lead agency, across five areas of practice — and what it named as next.
HOPE Team · October 2025 · Web editionSystem mapping 2 items
In December 2025, frontline staff and leadership from across Durham’s homelessness system spent a day mapping how a person actually moves through it. The Bellwether Collaborative for Health Justice turned what they said into these two products.
Narrative Summary & Critique of the Baseline Journey Map
What workshop participants said about each phase of the journey — the pain points, the bright spots, the data gaps, and the open questions.
Bellwether Collaborative for Health Justice · Revised 8 July 2026Client Journey Map: Lowest-Barrier Single Adult
The revised map built from that feedback — eight phases, and where clients drop off, get stuck, and what works.
Bellwether Collaborative for Health Justice · July 2026Newsletters 4 items
Rare & Brief — September 2026
Thirty neighbors housed through two simultaneous sprints, a federal funding application delivered inside a 12-day window, and Year 1 targets heading for revision.
HOPE Team · September 2026Rare & Brief — August 2026
The final weeks of our most ambitious sprint yet — aiming to house 63 people across 30 households in five weeks — plus Homeward Durham gets its name.
HOPE Team · August 2026Rare & Brief — July 2026
14 of the 15 households in the May–June sprint are now housed, celebrations across the partner community, what three new documents taught us, and what’s ahead in August.
HOPE Team · July 2026Rare & Brief — June 2026
The first monthly partner update: Rocky’s keys, the Year 1 targets under assessment, governance in motion, and one ask.
HOPE Team · First edition · June 2026Briefs 13 items
Short explainers on how each part of the Framework actually works — one per operational function, plus the evidence and peer learning behind them.
White Flag Winter Shelter
The winter 2026–2027 plan: every door into shelter, 40 hotel rooms across two sites, and four Housing Sprints built to turn a cold-weather bed into a lease.
Durham Community Safety Department · October 2026Implementation Structure
How Durham organizes for five years of coordinated action — and which body does what.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentCase Conferencing
How Durham moves from “my clients” to “our clients.”
Durham Community Safety DepartmentHousing Sprints
Time-bound, coordinated pushes to make homelessness brief.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentEncampment Response Pathways
What happens when an encampment is reported, and the three pathways set by land ownership — private property, NCDOT right-of-way, and City-owned land — each with its own decision-maker and lead agency.
Durham Community Safety Department · July 2026The Flexible Housing Assistance Fund
Funding that moves at the speed of the work.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentLandlord Engagement
Building the unit pipeline for the Strategic Framework.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentHousing Stabilization Case Management
Building the on-ramp from subsidy to stability.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentOur Approach to Data
Making the system visible to itself.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentHow Matches Are Made
From an opening to an offer — how prioritization actually works.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentMeasuring What Matters
How Durham knows whether the work is working.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentThe CTI Model
Critical Time Intervention — the evidence behind Durham’s approach to housing stabilization.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentCities We’ve Learned From
Peer learning that shaped the Framework — what Durham took from other communities.
Durham Community Safety DepartmentTools, Guides, and Resources That Helped Shape Our Work 18 items
Work by other people that shaped ours — national guides and toolkits, peer-city evaluations, and the Durham reports that preceded the Framework. These are not our documents; they are the sources we learned from.
Case conferencing and flexible funds
Case Conferencing Action PackChange ideas and practical advice to make case conferencing action-oriented.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDF Case Conferencing Tool Bank: Agenda Building KitDesign principles, preparation, and an agenda template.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDF Case Conferencing Tool Bank: Facilitator’s Guide to Transforming Team CultureBuilding the skills and cultural norms that make case conferencing work.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDF Built for Zero Flex Fund GuideHow communities set up, use, and measure the impact of flexible funding.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDFData quality and backbone execution
Family Quality Data Scorecard RubricThe 2024 guidance document behind quality-data standards for families.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDF Single Adults Quality Data Scorecard RubricThe 2025 guidance document behind quality-data standards for single adults.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDF Backbone Execution Measurement TemplateThe self-assessment Durham uses to measure backbone execution.Community Solutions / Built for Zero PDFUnsheltered homelessness and encampments
Encampment Resolution GuideA practical guide to resolving encampments with housing-focused responses.Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative PDF Evaluation of Denver’s All In Mile High Initiative2025 interim report on Denver’s citywide push to house unsheltered neighbors.Urban Institute PDF Wake County Unsheltered Homelessness Response PilotSix-month update, July 2025 — a neighboring county’s unsheltered pilot.Wake County PDF Unsheltered Homelessness: Trends, Characteristics, and Homeless HistoriesNational research on who experiences unsheltered homelessness, and for how long.Urban Institute PDF Homelessness in US Cities and DowntownsThe perception, the reality, and how to address both.Brookings PDFPopulations and inflow
Community Strategies to Understand and Reduce Veteran Inflow into HomelessnessResearch on where veteran homelessness begins and how communities slow it.Urban Institute PDFDurham context
Adapting the Durham HSAC’s Strategic Approach to Addressing HomelessnessThe 2024 consulting report that helped set the stage for this Framework.Duke Sanford / consulting team, 2024 PDF Durham Housing Initiative Task Force: Housing RecommendationsSeptember 2025 recommendations shaping Durham’s housing supply strategy.Durham Housing Initiative Task Force PDF Housing and Hope: Built to Last — Annual Report 2025A Durham provider’s annual report on the year’s work.Housing for New Hope PDFOn the web
Housing-Focused Responses to Unsheltered HomelessnessCase studies from four communities — Atlanta, Monterey/San Benito, Newark, and Jackson/West Tennessee — that reduced unsheltered homelessness by expanding permanent housing access.National Alliance to End Homelessness Link How Communities Assess the Quality of Their Homelessness DataThe four components Built for Zero uses to judge quality by-name data — outreach, provider participation, policies, and data infrastructure — and how communities improved on each.Community Solutions LinkThe Framework 2 items
Strategic Framework to Make Homelessness Rare & Brief
The five-year, cross-sector plan: the North Star, the Year 1 targets, the six operational functions, the architecture, and the $13M Year 1 investment.
Durham Community Safety Department · 2026–2031Strategy Lanes, Milestones, and the Path to 2031
The companion: five strategy lanes, the annual reduction targets by population, and the year-by-year milestones that pace the five-year arc.
Durham Community Safety Department · 2026–2031