Inclusive data practices ensure that information about homelessness captures the diversity of experiences and realities across communities. This includes co-producing data with people who have lived experience of homelessness, building partnerships with marginalized groups for community-owned data, and designing systems that allow their insights to directly shape data collection, indicators, research questions and analysis/interpretation. Collecting disaggregated data is central to this work — helping reveal patterns and needs among specific populations such as women, youth, LGBTQ+ people, migrants, and people with disabilities that might otherwise remain hidden. By prioritizing inclusion, collaboration, and transparency, we ensure that data is not only accurate but actionable — guiding data-informed decisions that drive more just, person-centered, and effective responses to homelessness at every level.
Inclusive approaches produce better data. When people most affected by homelessness help design and interpret data, the results are richer, more accurate, and more relevant to real-world challenges. Diverse perspectives strengthen data quality, reveal gaps in understanding, and lead to solutions that are grounded in lived reality. Ultimately, inclusive data creates actionable evidence, driving more just, targeted, and impactful responses to homelessness.
Resources: Inclusive and Equitable Data and Outcomes
Inclusive Data
Single Homelessness Project: Hidden Homeless Research – Link
Homelessness Learning Hub: Homelessness Among Women and Gender-Diverse People: Hidden Homelessness – Link
UK Office of National Statistics: Research on women experiencing “hidden” homelessness in the UK – Link
Researching LGBTQ+ homelessness and building social justice in the UK & the US: methods, ethics, recruitment – Link
Gender Data Resources by Data 2X: Link
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data: Inclusive Data Resources – Link
Omni: Inclusive Data Collection Guide – Link
Inclusive Research
Chicago Beyond: Why Am I Always Being Researched: Research Equity Guidebook. Link.
Crimsonbridge Foundation: Reaching and Engaging with Hispanic Communities: A Research-Informed Communication Guide for Nonprofits, Policymakers, and Funders. Link.
Co-production
Homeless Link: Co-Production – working together to improve homelessness services – Link
Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative: Creating Authentic, Effective Partnerships between Organizations and People with Lived Experiences: A Toolkit – Link (including a section on research)
Brookings Institute: Supporting a community-led data infrastructure to build local and equitable governance that advances policy – Link
What makes co-production sustainable? A comparative case study of three self-managed homeless programs – Link
Outcomes
Creative Reaction Lab: A Method for Co-Creating Equitable Outcomes. Link.
Encompass: Mapping Outcomes: Embedding evaluation in the life of an organization for improved social change programming –Link
Data Equity
Community Commons: An Introduction to Data Equity – Link
Urban Institute: Equitable Data Practice -. Link.
World Economic Forum: Advancing Data Equity: An Action-Oriented Framework – Link
Data Resources on Racial Equity
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP): A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration. Link.
Everyone Home: Centering Racial Equity in Homeless System Design. Link.
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority: Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness (Executive Summary) Link. Article: Link. Full report: Link
International Journal of Population Data Science: A Framework for Centering Racial Equity Throughout the Administrative Data Life Cycle. Link.
National Association of Social Workers: Racial Equity webpage. Link.
Funders Together: Racial Equity Resources List. Link.
Racial Equity Tools: Collecting Data. Link.
Racial Equity Tools: A Handbook of Data Collection Tools: Companion to “A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy. Link.
IGH is a partner of the Inclusive Data Charter. The Inclusive Data Charter’s aim is to advance the availability and use of inclusive and disaggregated data so that governments and organizations better understand, address, and monitor the needs of marginalized people, and ensure no one is left behind. Our goal by 2030 is to have more specific data that helps allocate resources effectively for those who need them most.
Inclusive data refers to data that is representative, especially of those who are often marginalized, ensuring that data are collected for all people, regardless of their location, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, or other characteristics.
Inclusive data goes beyond data disaggregation, looking across the data value chain – from data collection, analysis through to its dissemination and use. To build inclusive data systems, organizations must:
– Ensure that the production of data is inclusive by closing the data gaps that inadvertently facilitate discrimination and bias in monitoring, evaluation and decision-making.
– Ensure that the dissemination and use of this data is inclusive, open and transparent by establishing mechanisms to share the data back with the people and communities from whom it is collected and building the capability of users to make use of the data.
IGH’s Commitment to Inclusive Data
Advocating for international homelessness policy at the global, national and local level, focused on definition and disaggregated measurement that produces inclusive and equitable data.
Center the experiential knowledge of people with lived experience throughout all stages of data collection— from design and collection to interpretation and use — ensuring their insights shape how data is understood and acted upon.
Pursuing partnerships with a diverse range of communities to support inclusive and equitable data.
Provide education and resources on inclusive data practices to strengthen understanding, skills, and accountability across all partners involved in collecting, analyzing, and using data.