Julia Orlando is coming up with solutions to a complex challenge: Homelessness.
She oversees the Housing, Health and Human Services Center in Bergen County, New Jersey.
"We look at housing as a reward instead of a right," Orlando said about the way many view those experiencing homelessness.
Perfection, for Orlando, would be ending homelessness. Progress is what they've done so far. Bergen County was the first, and remains among the few in America to reach "functional zero" for chronic homelessness. "Functional zero" means they have all but eliminated long-term homelessness among veterans and those dealing with a disabling condition.
The number of Americans experiencing homelessness has gone up every year since 2016. Headlines and state laws often focus on punishing those without shelter or pushing them out of downtowns.
In Bergen County, the focus for 14 years has been bringing people in need to the center, providing every need they might have under one roof, and then securing them their own roofs in a matter of months.
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Stephanie Zahn is one of the people who takes advantage of the resources in Bergen County. She meets with a counselor every week.
"Mentally I'm just stressed," Zahn told her counselor. "But I'm taking my medication. I'm keeping my appointments."
Now, she's close to having a new place. That's where Orlando says the county truly stands out. They have services to help, but they also have the vouchers and affordable housing to place those in need.
"It's very hard to work on your mental health and your addiction when you're on the street," Orlando said.
To date, just a handful of communities have achieved "functional zero." But "functional zero" doesn't mean "absolute zero." On a given night in Bergen County, hundreds remain without homes. Dozens show up at the center for dinner and stay in the shelter.
"We have many referrals here that are people over the age of 80 years old," said Orlando. "That is a concern to me because we're a community that's reached functional zero, I think people maybe think, 'Then shouldn't your shelter be empty?' Your shelter's never going to be empty."
Progress, for Orlando, comes from the county's consistent will to not punish, but to treat. It's the message ingrained around the center: Savor progress in pursuit of perfection.
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