• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • CAREERS
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT US
  • AGENCY PORTAL
Calgary Homeless Foundation
  • MEET US
    • Who We Are
      • Our Purpose & Ambition
      • Board Members
      • Executive Leadership Team
      • Lived Experience
        • Client Action Committee
        • Youth Advisory Table
      • Work for Us
        • Our Organization
        • Our Culture
        • Our Benefits
        • Job Listings
    • What We Do
      • Allocate Resources
        • How We Are Funded
        • How We Fund
        • Who We Fund
      • Build Knowledge & Understanding
      • Galvanize Public & Political Will
      • Report to Community
        • Our Report to Community
        • Past Reports to Community and MD&As
    • History
      • Our Beginning
      • Art Smith
  • DISCOVER & LEARN
    • Learn About Homelessness
      • Homelessness in Calgary
        • Homelessness 101
        • Who Experiences Homelessness?
        • Causes of Homelessness
        • Chronicity and Complexity
        • Myths About Homelessness
    • Our Approach to Fighting Homelessness
      • How We Define Success
        • Functional Zero: How We Measure Success
        • Housing First and People First
      • Research & Data
        • Research
          • Research Vision
          • How We Use Research
        • Data
          • How We Use Data
          • Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS)
          • Data Sharing
          • Point in Time Count
          • Data That Makes a Difference
        • Data Dashboard
        • Research Library
          • Our Published Papers
          • Other Organizations’ Papers
      • Community Collaboration
        • Our Role as a Community-Based Organization
        • Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care
      • System Planning
        • Coordinated Access & Assessment
        • Agencies and Programs
        • Accreditation
        • Frameworks and Resource Guides
      • Plans
  • DONATE
    • Donate
    • Sidewalks to Door Locks
    • Community Led Fundraising
      • How Do I Create a Community-Led Fundraising Event?
      • Partnering With Us
      • Success Stories
    • What Else Can You Do?
  • BLOG
  • NEED HELP?
  • Search
  • Menu

Functional Zero: How We Measure Success

You are here: Home1 / Discover & Learn2 / Our Approach to Fighting Homelessness3 / Functional Zero: How We Measure Success
  • Functional Zero
  • Housing First and People First

Focusing on the Achievable: Absolute to Functional Zero

When the City of Calgary launched its 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness on January 29, 2008, its primary goal was Absolute Zero, or the complete elimination of homelessness. As part of this initiative, Calgary Homeless Foundation helped house almost 10,000 people and built nearly 600 units of permanent housing.

However, it became clear that achieving Absolute Zero would be a challenge without corresponding changes to housing, income supports, justice, children’s services and health

In 2018, we worked with our partner agencies to release an updated plan outlining a new goal: Functional Zero.

This revised objective represents a major shift in focus. Instead of seeking an end to homelessness, Functional Zero is about preventing homelessness or making it a rare, brief, and non-recurring experience in a person’s life.

Today, we acknowledge that homelessness may never disappear entirely, but we envision the day when homelessness is merely an episode in someone’s life, rather than a condition that defines it.

How does Functional Zero work?

The goal of Functional Zero is to create housing spaces that exceed the people who need them. That way, people can move quickly into housing and out of homelessness.

To reach this goal, two groups must work together:

  • Government ministries, like housing, income supports, justice, children’s services and health
  • The network of agencies known as Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care

Functional Zero envisions the following web of cooperation:

  • Step 1: government ministries stop people from experiencing homelessness in the first place through measures such as affordable housing, increased income support, and mental health services.
  • Step 2: if people fall through the cracks, Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care  reconnects them to programs and services offered by government ministries.
  • Step 3: meanwhile, government ministries and Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care collaborate to increases housing spaces and emergency shelter beds, so people experiencing homelessness can move into a home quickly.

What are the advantages of a Functional Zero end to homelessness?

Functional Zero safeguards the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals by helping them move into a home quickly.

Functional Zero also reduces the costs that arise when people without homes use emergency services, such as shelters, hospitals, police services and the criminal justice system.

Finally, Functional Zero keeps all of us in Calgary focused on the unified fight against homelessness.

Additional Resources

  • Together to Zero: Calgary’s Plan to End Homelessness

    Together to Zero, 2018 Report – (PDF)

Contact Us

Calgary Homeless Foundation
Rocky Mountain Plaza
Suite 1500, 615 Macleod Trail SE
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 4T8

Ph: (403) 237-6456
Fax: (403) 262-2924

Guiding the Fight Against Homelessness

Support Pages

  • Need Help?
  • Donate
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Careers
© Copyright Calgary Homeless Foundation. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement
The Calgary Homeless Foundation is a registered charity: BN# 88084 6829 RR0001
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Site Map
Scroll to top