Homelessness is a major problem in the U.S., and it’s getting worse: A record 650,000 Americans were homeless on a single night in January 2023, according to the most recent point-in-time report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That amounts to one out of every 500 people nationwide. Homeless service providers are vital in supporting the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

My state, Georgia, has seen a consistent rise in homelessness since 2017. By 2022, the number of unsheltered homeless individuals in Georgia – in other words, those living on the street or in cars – surpassed those who had access to emergency shelter, according to state data.

Politicians have been paying attention: Every year, the federal government allocates billions in funding to local governments and nonprofit service providers to help fight homelessness. Yet this money hasn’t been enough to turn the tide. Why?

Homelessness has many complex causes, including unemployment, housing affordability, and health problems. But speaking as a professor of operations management, I think an underappreciated problem is how homeless service providers – mainly nonprofits – measure success. Too often, the system incentivizes quick fixes over long-term solutions.

Homeless Service Provider Nonprofits Offer a Wide but Threadbare Safety Net

Across the U.S., nonprofit agencies offer a range of services to people who are homeless, including shelter, housing, rehabilitation, job training and counseling. There are more than 12,000 such providers nationwide, including over 50 in metro Atlanta alone.

Homeless service providers, like other nonprofits, often publish metrics of impact to illustrate their success. This doesn’t just help them gain insight into the effectiveness of their operations – it also helps them communicate their values to the government, donors and the public.

Homeless service providers often tout their effectiveness in terms of meals served, beds provided or classes offered, research has shown. However, none of these measurements reflect success in terms of reducing homelessness.

These are measures of outputs, not impact. Outputs are the tangible results of activities, while impact refers to long-term changes and benefits from activities. It’s surprisingly uncommon to see homeless service providers measure impact related to reducing homelessness – that is, whether the people served have become self-sufficient and are no longer homeless.

Read the full article about homeless service providers by Morvarid Rahmani at Utah News Dispatch.