When choosing to implement a Registry Week, the primary goal should be “to prevent or reduce [people’s] duration of homelessness and minimize re-entry into the homelessness system.” This approach aims to improve response effectiveness by enabling a deeper understanding of individuals’ needs, as it provides an “objective and actionable assessment of the problem as directly informed by people requiring housing” (Mercy Foundation, 2017).

The By-name List moves beyond traditional street enumeration by capturing a broader picture of homelessness in the community. Rather than relying solely on outreach to individuals in public spaces, data collection is extended through partnerships with a range of service providers and screening locations. Therefore, this methodology has the potential to enumerate individuals experiencing hidden homelessness and ensure they are connected to coordinated support and housing opportunities.

Additionally, the data collected during Registry Week contributes to building and maintaining By-name lists, allowing for ongoing tracking of the size, makeup, and patterns within the homeless population. These lists help communities allocate resources more effectively, evaluate the impact of system changes, and determine whether their efforts are reducing homelessness over time by monitoring inflow, active homelessness, and outflow (Community Solutions). Communities use a scorecard to advance the quality, reliability, and completness of the data. 

By-name Lists are also typically paired with a Housing Resource Inventory, a complete record of all housing resources that are allocated through the process. This integration helps ensure that available housing is matched efficiently to individuals based on need and priority. A case-conferencing group is also established to review the BNL, identify new inflow (people new to the BNL), prioritise who will be matched to what housing resource, and identify next steps based on the data. 

Given the nature of the method, once trainings, surveys, and data analysis are complete, the findings must be shared with the community. After removing all identifiable elements from the data, a report should be presented to key stakeholders to foster a better understanding of the scope and characteristics of homelessness in the area; this is typically done through a “Community Briefing” (Mercy Foundation, 2017).

By-Name Lists present multiple challenges at technical and organizational levels. First, it requires an infrastructure to ensure data consistency across services, which also correlates with budget requirements and a staff trained to implement the method (OECD, 2025).

Another important difficulty is to ensure privacy and data protection, since the data collective is highly sensitive and detailed. The recommendation is to anonymize or replace personal information with a “unique identifier,” but “safety concerns become even more critical in cases involving individuals fleeing violence, such as gender-based violence, abusive relationships or human trafficking” (OECD, 2025, p. 21).

A key limitation of the By-Name List is that it excludes individuals who are not currently engaging with service providers, as well as those who choose not to be registered. As a result, while it offers a detailed picture of people actively connected to services, it should not be viewed as a complete or definitive account of the real-time state of homelessness in a community (Homeward Trust Edmonton).