Residents urge more transparency, data and sustained funding as county pursues functional zero for chronic homelessness

Speakers during the general public comment period urged the Douglas County Commission to increase transparency and outcome reporting on efforts to reduce chronic homelessness.

A resident who identified himself on the docket and later as John Narammore said the county’s stated goal — achieving "functional zero" for chronic homelessness by 2028 — is aspirational and made the case that the public and commissioners lack visibility into treatment delivery and outcomes. He urged new KPIs and regular reporting of population-level intake, treatment, delivery and outcomes similar to how hospitals report to federal programs: "Population, not individual treatment data should be released to the public and commissioners in a standard way," he said.

A virtual commenter, Sarah Cherylyn Wells, raised concerns about supportive housing and funding for a Bert Nash project, asking whether nonprofits that receive public funds must use them for the specified purpose or return unused funds. She also said people with serious mental illness have died homeless following mental-health reforms and asked the county for clearer outcome data.

Both speakers said that more regular, standardized reporting on treatments and outcomes — and clarity about sustained funding levels — are necessary to evaluate whether the county and its partners are making progress toward stated goals.

What the county said: Commissioners and staff did not provide immediate new commitments in response to these comments but accepted the requests for follow-up and noted that public commenters may leave written materials for staff and receive further answers through county staff channels.

Next steps: Commenters asked for staff responses and for their emails to be forwarded to county representatives; the meeting record shows the commission receiving these requests for follow-up rather than adopting immediate policy changes.