Roseanne Haggerty, president and CEO of Community Solutions, told the symposium that cities that have sustained reductions in homelessness combine three elements: a joined, accountable operating system; a rapid increase in housing supply across multiple housing types; and broad public narratives that homelessness can be made rare and brief.

Haggerty described the Built for Zero operating system used by more than 180 communities and summarized the approach as an accountable team that treats homelessness as a shared outcome, real‑time by‑name data to track inflow and outflow, and willingness to pivot when measures show stalled progress.

On housing supply, Haggerty highlighted two practical strategies several cities have used to accelerate housing availability: buying existing market units and converting underused institutional properties (for example dormant dormitories), and rapid modular or prefabricated construction where speed and cost control matter. She said her organization and partners have raised private capital to acquire existing market apartments and preserve them as permanently affordable units; she cited acquisition of more than 1,300 units across 14 projects in seven cities as an example.

Haggerty described the Melody project in Atlanta — a rapid, modular micro‑unit initiative built on city‑owned land — as an example of a fast build that paired philanthropic and city capital to produce units quickly. She also emphasized the need to map and inventory public land and institutional properties as a precondition to fast deployment.

Ending: Haggerty urged Nashville to use real‑time data, increase housing types and make successful efforts more visible to the public so civic leaders and private partners will support sustained reductions in homelessness.