Douglas County and the City of Lawrence, in partnership with the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, have launched a public dashboard displaying data on homelessness in Douglas County. The tool, updated monthly, offers real-time insights for those working on the community’s five-year strategic plan to end chronic homelessness, A Place for Everyone. The dashboard is available at dgcoks.gov/aplaceforeveryone.

“Douglas County has been a Built for Zero community since March 2020, focused on ending chronic homelessness,” Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur said. “A foundational part of this work is having quality data, so we know who is experiencing homelessness in real time.”

The dashboard tracks individuals enrolled in homelessness services within the past 90 days, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, safe haven and street outreach. However, it may not capture all individuals experiencing homelessness, particularly those not engaging with service providers.

In March 2025, 589 individuals were documented as experiencing homelessness, with 79 exiting the system while 46 entered or returned to homelessness. The dashboard provides detailed data on adults, families, youth, chronically homeless individuals and veterans, as well as usage statistics for Lawrence’s emergency shelters - the Lawrence Community Shelter and The Village.

The data comes from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and the Coordinated Entry System (CES) and is collected through the Kansas Balance of State Continuum of Care’s HMIS enrollment process.

The A Place for Everyone plan is a component of the 2024-2029 Community Health Improvement Plan, with Jolicoeur and Brandon McGuire, Assistant City Manager, City of Lawrence, serving as conveners. They emphasized that the dashboard will help inform local investments in affordable housing and supportive services while providing a clearer picture of both the challenges and progress in connecting people to stable housing.

“Ending chronic homelessness in Douglas County requires a coordinated system of resources in which many organizations work together,” Jolicoeur said. “These systems help us gather a clearer picture of where things stand so we can work toward functional zero.”

For more information about A Place for Everyone, visit: dgcoks.gov/aplaceforeveryone.