Rare & Brief is Durham’s plan to end homelessness as an ongoing experience — built by the City of Durham, Durham County, service providers, healthcare, business and faith leaders, residents, and people who have lived homelessness themselves.
OUR NORTH STAR
By June 2031, Durham will make homelessness rare and brief.
Rare. Brief.
Together, that’s called functional zero. It doesn’t mean no one is ever homeless on a given night. It means Durham can house people faster than new people lose their homes, so homelessness becomes a short disruption people recover from, not a way of life.
Rare
Few people lose their housing each month, because help reaches them before they do.
Brief
When someone does lose their home, they move quickly into stable housing again.
In plain terms, here’s what we’re doing
- Making it one system. Help used to mean finding the right program on your own. Now Durham’s programs work together through one shared front door, so neighbors don’t get lost between them.
- Moving fast, together. In Housing Sprints, outreach workers, case managers, landlords, and flexible funding all move at once. In the May–June sprint, 14 of 15 households were housed.
- Staying with people after move-in. Case managers keep supporting each household so they stay housed.
- Showing our work. We publish what’s working and what isn’t, every month.
HOW IT WORKS
From the first conversation to a home of your own
Durham uses one shared system, called coordinated entry, so every neighbor is treated fairly and no one has to tell their story over and over. There’s no wrong door: anyone can start at any of the places below.
STEP 1
Connect
A neighbor meets someone at a front door — Entry Point, Street Outreach, a day center, a hospital, a school liaison, or a domestic violence provider. They talk through what’s happening and what would help most, in private and at the neighbor’s pace.
STEP 2
Match
Using one shared assessment, the system matches each household with the kind of help most likely to end their housing crisis — from short-term rent help to long-term support — with priority for those facing the greatest barriers.
STEP 3
Find a home
With a provider by their side, the neighbor looks for an apartment and chooses one. This is where landlords make the difference: every move-in starts with a door someone was willing to open.
STEP 4
Stay home
The support doesn’t stop at the door. Case managers stay in touch after move-in to help each household keep their home and work toward their own goals — work, health, family, and community.
HOUSING SPRINTS
When the whole system moves at once
Most of the year, the system works at a steady pace. A few times a year, partners run a Housing Sprint: four to six weeks where outreach, case managers, landlords, and flexible funding all move together to house as many neighbors as possible. Sprints are how Rocky, Tony, and James got their keys.
HOW WE WORK
What guides every decision
- Neighbors choose. Help is shaped around each household’s needs and preferences, not one-size-fits-all. Housing is always part of the conversation, and never the only part.
- Fair to everyone. One shared assessment, used the same way across Durham, so similar needs lead to similar help.
- Open about results. We share what’s working and what isn’t, and people with lived experience help hold the work accountable.
- Together, not alone. Many organizations, one system. No single agency can end homelessness by itself.
- As fast as possible. Every day someone spends without a home matters, so the system is built to shorten that time.
WHO GUIDES THE WORK
Everyone has a seat at the table
Champions Table
Civic, business, philanthropic, and institutional leaders appointed by the City and County, who use their networks and influence to clear barriers no single agency can move alone.
Lived Experience Advisory Group
People who have experienced homelessness, reviewing policy and results and naming the barriers that data alone can’t show.
Executive Table
Leaders of the agencies doing the work, who line up resources and keep partners moving in the same direction day to day.
CoC Governing Board
One board, chartered jointly by the City and County, that governs Durham’s federally funded homelessness programs as a single system.
The HOPE Team in the Durham Community Safety Department serves as the backbone: coordinating the shared system, keeping the data, and supporting every table.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
This work belongs to many hands
City of Durham · Durham County · Duke University & Duke Health · Alliance Health · A.J. Fletcher Foundation · Housing for New Hope · Families Moving Forward · Urban Ministries of Durham · Family Promise of the Triangle · Open Table Ministry · Project Access · NC Coalition to End Homelessness · Community Solutions · HOM, Inc. · Bellwether Collaborative for Health Justice
Go deeper, or get involved
Read the full Strategic Framework, or find the role that fits you.
