Homelessness is a Solvable Public Health Emergency

COVID-19 revealed homelessness as the urgent public health issue it has always been. Those unable to "shelter in place" cannot protect themselves or those they interact with from exposure or illness.

As we rebuild our public health infrastructure to contain and prevent pandemics, it can be designed to prevent and contain homelessness as well. Rosanne Haggerty will share their path-breaking work with 80 US cities and counties that are achieving reductions in homelessness using a public health approach.

Biography

Rosanne Haggerty is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions. She is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. Community Solutions assists communities throughout the US and internationally in solving the complex housing problems facing their most vulnerable residents. Their large scale change initiatives include the 100,000 Homes and Built for Zero Campaigns to end chronic and veteran homelessness, and neighborhood partnerships that bring together local residents and institutions to change the conditions that produce homelessness. Earlier, she founded Common Ground Community, a pioneer in the design and development of supportive housing and research-based practices that end homelessness. 

Ms. Haggerty was a Japan Society Public Policy Fellow, and is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ashoka Senior Fellow, Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and the recipient of honors including the Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism from the Rockefeller Foundation, Social Entrepreneur of the year from the Schwab Foundation, Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award and Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.