A proposed change to the chronic homeless definition refines the episode criteria to denote that the four or more episodes must entail a cumulative stay of at least one year. This paper details the rationale for focusing housing prioritizations on cumulative bed utilization over the still undefined episode criteria. Communities with a mature Housing First implementation, such as Quincy, MA, should be encouraged to target the next cohort of frequent users after they have assisted those that meet the HUD definition of chronically homeless. The housing placement team in Quincy has refined their prioritization to now include clients with a cumulative stay of over 180 days during the previous year.
