Investing in the Homelessness Response Workforce: Training in Data-Centric Approaches as a Workforce Support

Compounding challenges in homelessness response

At the same time that homelessness is surging, the capacity of the homelessness response workforce is strained. Homelessness in the United States is at the highest level since federally-mandated reporting began in 2007: the 2023 national point-in-time count recorded more than 650,000 people experiencing homelessness, a 12% increase compared to 2022, reversing national downward trends that had been slowly achieved over the past decade. Homelessness response staff regularly make difficult decisions about who to help and how to allocate available resources, while navigating complex multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency response systems. Recent national surveys found that people working in homelessness response are overworked, underpaid, and deeply stressed — with the result that significant numbers of homelessness response workers feel unable to provide sufficient help, and many are considering leaving the workforce entirely.

The homelessness services sector is struggling to maintain a skilled and stable workforce, and this challenge is negatively impacting the services provided to people experiencing homelessness. Those working in the field are clear about this connection: 75% of those who responded to a national survey, for example, indicated that workforce challenges disrupt service delivery, drive large caseloads, and contribute to slowed housing progress. And major homelessness research and funding organizations are increasingly paying attention to workforce concerns. In recent months, the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ Homelessness Research Institute, the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, and the United Way of Los Angeles have released reports or requests for proposals that call attention to the impact of workforce challenges on homelessness response and indicate that it is an area of serious concern for them. In the face of these two challenges, many jurisdictions are considering how they can strengthen and support the homelessness response workforce.

Responding to these needs, in 2024, the GPL created and led a 12-week training program on data- driven approaches to homelessness response for a cohort of more than 50 members of the New Jersey workforce. New Jersey homelessness response leaders wanted to test the idea that training staff in how to gather, analyze, and interpret data and how to use data to inform a big-picture, systems-thinking approach to homelessness response could be a valuable support for workers in the homelessness sector.

“With better training, agencies and CoCs could proactively support their people and be more effective.”

Initial insights suggest that this kind of training can help support improved service delivery and staff capacity, and that funders, CoCs, and governments should consider training in data skills and systems thinking a promising intervention and investment in the homelessness services workforce.

Why training?

The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) has worked with jurisdictions across the country as part of its Homelessness Prevention & Rehousing Accelerator, and we have heard directly from those on the front lines of the homelessness crisis about the urgent need for improving staff capacity to respond to complex, systems- level challenges. In 2022, the GPL received more than 100 applications from communities across the country in response to an offering of technical assistance. In those applications, many jurisdictions identified that in order to effectively respond to homelessness, they needed more robust data collection; improved channels for real-time, cross-agency data sharing and referrals; and centralized data access systems — along with staff who can use these tools.

“It’s become evident that you really need to be able to use data to get to the root of what’s causing people to be at risk of homelessness.”

Investing  in  the  homelessness  services workforce requires a multi-faceted, system-wide response by Continuums of Care (CoCs), governments, and funders alike. Against the backdrop of difficulties with recruitment, retention, and remuneration, this response must include long-term efforts to provide better compensation, clearer job requirements, and paths for career advancement. But equally important are efforts to equip homelessness response workers with the tools and skills they need to do their jobs as effectively as possible. Surveys reveal that homelessness system staff want and need better training. A 2023 survey of homelessness-system workers in Multnomah County, OR revealed that 41% of workers surveyed identified professional development opportunities as something that would help them feel more supported in their role, which is reflected nationally as well; thirty percent of those surveyed in a national survey of more than 5,000 homelessness-service workers identified “more training opportunities” as something that would help them do their job well.

The benefits of a data-driven approach to homelessness

Over more than a decade of work with homelessness response staff across the U.S., including social service providers, government agency staff, and CoC members, the GPL has seen that homelessness response staff frequently focus more on using data for compliance than on how they manage and improve service performance. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that CoCs regularly track, maintain, and report data on homelessness in their jurisdictions, but many communities are still working toward acting on data-backed insights to improve services. In 2023 and 2024, the GPL conducted interviews with and collected surveys from New Jersey Continuum of Care leaders and frontline staff, many of whom highlighted this dynamic. As one leader noted, homelessness response staff “historically haven’t been comfortable with data. They’re focused on working directly with people experiencing homelessness; using data and keeping it up to date is often the last thing that gets paid attention to.” This leader added, “in the last few years, it’s become evident that you really need to be able to use data to get to the root of what’s causing people to be at risk of, experience, or return to homelessness.” Several of the CoC members the GPL interviewed indicated that they could benefit from strengthening their data and systems-thinking skills. Some insights they shared about how they could use data differently include:

• Better identify gaps in service. One CoC leader said it is important “for service providers to look at the data…where are the needs, the gaps in services? How do we build a system that meets the needs of the community?”
• Better target interventions. “The population coming in is a huge population, [and] all these people will need supports,” noted one CoC member with lived experience of homelessness. “We need data to [figure out what they need].”
• Better evaluate program effectiveness. Data can help CoC staff “see what programs are working and not working,” said one CoC data analyst, adding that data provides an “obvious opportunity” to stop funding poor- performing programs “that have shown people returning to homelessness.”
• Better communicate with stakeholders. Improved capacity for data evaluation and visualization and the ability to “tell a more compelling story” could help “illustrate the depth of our need to our funders and political representatives,” said one CoC member.

“I now view data as a critical asset for strategic decision-making.”

Data-skills training may also have additional benefits. Equipping staff to establish better systems to manage, interpret, and act upon data might mitigate the loss of institutional knowledge that results from turnover. There is a clear opportunity for stakeholders looking to invest in the homelessness sector to support workers by providing training in systems thinking and using data-driven approaches to their work.

Applying Data Skills Training: Two Examples from New Jersey

During the training, each CoC applied skills they were learning to real-life challenges facing their communities. In one county, for example, CoC staff had seen growing homelessness and increased demand for emergency shelter but had limited space. Staff knew they needed to increase the number of individuals successfully exiting from the system into permanent housing in order to create space in the shelters. CoC staff needed a better understanding of community needs: Who was staying in shelters for long periods of time and not having success exiting into permanent housing?

By applying some of the skills learned in the GPL training, such as data disaggregation and data visualization, CoC staff found age and length of stay were correlated, with adults ages 55+ having the longest stays, and that individuals with disabilities experienced longer stays than those without disabilities. “Coming out of the training, we made some immediate changes,” said a CoC leader from this county. “We have become more intentional in defining key performance indicators, we’re using more data visualizations to share information. Overall, we’re reinvigorated when it comes to a data-centric mindset.”

In another county, CoC staff had a clear understanding of the complexities of the problem they faced. They knew that white, Hispanic, and Asian populations were underrepresented in their Coordinated Entry System (CES) compared to the total homeless population (see graph below). As one CoC member from this county put it, the CoC staff were able to “keep up the momentum” from the training regarding “how we approach data and use it collaboratively.” By using data analysis to inform decision-making, CoC staff were able to identify innovative possible solutions and ways to improve stakeholder collaboration by pinpointing possible improvements to their CES vulnerability matrix and convening client-level and provider-level focus groups.

Households are not proportionately accessing coordinated entry

Why this matters: Coordinated entry is the front door to housing. If they’re not accessing the system, how can we ensure we’re moving them out of homelessness?

In conclusion: Hispanic, White and Asian populations are underrepresented in coordinated entry compared to the total homeless populations; Hispanic households see the biggest difference of 5%.

Supporting CoC Members with Lived Experience of Homelessness

Interest in stronger data skills is evident among people with lived experience of homelessness, who are increasingly part of CoC efforts to combat homelessness in their jurisdictions. In the GPL’s interviews with people with lived experience in New Jersey, they said that a lack of comfort with data was a significant barrier preventing them from fully participating in CoC work. “My weakness is that I am not computer literate,” said one CoC member with lived experience the GPL interviewed, adding that she could “greatly benefit from more data training.” Training that is designed to create a shared approach and understanding of data is one way to support all those involved, including those with lived experience of homelessness.

Equipping staff to respond to the complex challenges of homelessness

The GPL has long recognized that building staff capacity is a crucial part of building a sustainable homelessness response system. In collaboration with Delivery Associates and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Office of Homelessness Prevention, the GPL supported the state of New Jersey in its efforts to address these crises by investing in CoC staff. The GPL’s 12-week training for New Jersey CoC staff focused on building skills in reading, understanding, and drawing out basic insights from data; critically engaging with data; and participating in collaborative data-driven conversations to inform decisions. The goal, as Michael Callahan, Director of the New Jersey Office of Homelessness Prevention stated, was “to equip communities to gain actionable insights that build toward meaningful progress on reducing homelessness.”

“Being better versed in data has been really impactful for us in our day-to-day work.”

In post-training surveys and interviews, participants indicated that the GPL’s training had contributed to:

• Better understanding of community needs. “When we applied what we were learning at the end of the training,” said one participant, “we discovered something we had overlooked. People were being discharged from our shelters into places not meant for human habitation, and the majority of these people, we discovered, had a disabling condition. It was an eye-opener for everyone in our CoC. Now that we know what the problem is, we can figure out how to provide the services that are needed.” Another participant noted, “Being better versed in data has been really impactful for us in our day-to- day work. Now rather than relying on anecdotal information we can address the evidence. We have a better understanding of questions like: Where are people learning about our services? Where are they accessing our services? Where are the gaps in our services? We’re looking at things more holistically.”
• Better solutions to the challenges of homelessness. “When we were doing the training, we started looking at our data, and things started jumping out at us,” said one participant. “The data helped us realize, ‘We can do something about this.’ Once we had the data, we started brainstorming solutions.” Another participant agreed. “The training helped us move from the anecdotal to the practical. When we dug into some of the data, the results weren’t surprising, but our analysis gave us stronger evidence of what is happening in our community. It positions us to start addressing some of our issues, like discrepancies in who is accessing housing. We are using the data to go from talking points to defining and tackling serious problems.”
• Improved decision-making. “Before the training, my approach to data was reporting and basic analysis,” said one participant. “However, now I view data as a critical asset for strategic decision- making: not only looking at past performance but predicting future trends, identifying opportunities for improvement, and driving innovation in particular programs.” Or, as a third participant summed it up: “Now the decisions we make day-to-day have evidence behind them.”
• Improved communication with stakeholders. “Prior to starting this training, I noticed that we’d create lots of dashboards and charts, but they were difficult to understand,” said one “The charts themselves weren’t clear enough. If the chart doesn’t make sense, if it’s not visually appealing, if it doesn’t catch your eye, people won’t focus on it. With the GPL training, I was able to learn how to make it easier for people to digest data visualizations, follow along, and understand.” Another participant concurred. “I came out of the training better able to meaningfully engage our administration, our funders, and policymakers. I can offer clear illustrations; it’s easier to make my case. It was really exciting to be able to say, ‘This is what we need to do,’ and have them say, ‘Yes, we need to take action.’ When you’re looking at the same data, you can draw the same conclusions.”
• Increased collaboration among homelessness-system staff. “Having better charts and better dashboards has helped me bring more people to the table and helped them understand the data,” said one training Another participant agreed: “One of the most important things we got out of the training was the space to come together with the other agencies we work with, which we weren’t doing otherwise. It’s our job to create a system to end homelessness, and no one can do it alone. We need to work together, and the training helped us jumpstart this process.”

“It’s our job to create a system to end homelessness, and no one can do it alone. We need to work together, and the training helped us jumpstart this process.”

Initial lessons from a data skills training pilot

Based on our work with CoCs in New Jersey and across the country, the GPL offers three early lessons for funders or governments interested in supporting the homelessness-sector workforce:

• First, staff can benefit from foundational data skills training. The GPL found that staff came into the training with a wide range of comfort with and ability to use data, and many participants started out with a very basic understanding. In one pre-training diagnostic exercise, for example, the GPL found that 50% of those surveyed misinterpreted a basic graph. Participants indicated that a better grounding in basic data skills (data collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication) could make them more effective in their work. As one participant noted, “To the untrained eye, you can put a graph in front of someone, but if they don’t know what they’re looking at, it’s hard to process… bringing more people to the table who can understand [is crucial].” The GPL elevated the following topics: defining data types, getting to know Excel, reading a graph to derive insights, and identifying performance indicators. A strong foundation in data skills like these can help support systems-level thinking and ongoing conversations about the success of homelessness response operations over time.
• Second, while individual skill development is important, building a shared foundation of understanding around data and systems thinking within and across teams is crucial. In post-training interviews, several participants spoke about the value of a collective understanding of data principles. “Our stakeholders come from a variety of backgrounds: policy, social justice, outreach, mental health,” said one participant. “Everyone is coming from very different places. But by learning to approach data in the same ways, we’ve been able to come together and build a shared understanding of where the gaps are and how our systems interlock. For example: Our welfare system and our CoC seem like they operate pretty separately, but by looking at our data, we’ve been able to see these two systems really are more connected than it seems at first glance. We’ve been able to identify places where individuals are being denied for welfare but also not finding housing support. When the data started speaking, it was a real eye-opener. Now we can try to address that gap preventatively so that we can avoid our seniors becoming homeless, or our mothers with children becoming homeless, as these are currently our largest populations facing homelessness.”
• Third, training that emphasizes the concrete, practical ways staff can apply new skills in their daily work can quickly translate into real-world use. “The illustration and overview [using examples from another jurisdiction’s] CoC was helpful, as it is something that I have been trying to work on within my CoC,” said one participant. Others pointed out how applicable the training was: “I can absolutely take the information learned and apply it to [my work]. … This will lead to better and more efficient program design and outreach attempts.” In addition to finding value in training connected to their day-to-day work, participants also emphasized how helpful it was to be able to dedicate protected time to focus solely on training.

Given the magnitude of the homelessness crisis in the United States, and the extent of the challenges faced by workers in the homelessness response field, no single intervention will be sufficient in mitigating the difficulties of workload, low pay, or staff turnover. A comprehensive response should be multi-faceted, well-resourced, and supported by a broad continuum of stakeholders. As governments, CoCs, and funders consider how to strengthen and support the homelessness response workforce, one promising approach is investing in training on data-driven approaches to homelessness response. As one training participant who had experienced homelessness stated: “We keep doing the same things. If we had a better understanding of data, we could realign programs with better outcomes for those experiencing homelessness. With better training, agencies and CoCs could proactively support their people and be more effective.”