Best questions for citizen survey about homelessness response

Here are some of the best questions for a citizen survey about homelessness response, plus practical tips on how to design them. We use Specific to generate thoughtful surveys in seconds—it’s a game-changer for quickly gathering real, actionable insights.

Best open-ended questions for a citizen survey about homelessness response

Open-ended questions help citizens tell us what's on their mind in their own words, offering richer detail than multiple-choice forms ever do. They're especially powerful for uncovering residents’ true thoughts, specific concerns, and suggestions—key for complex challenges like homelessness, where “one size fits all” answers rarely work.

With an 18% surge in homelessness in the United States in 2024, now reaching more than 771,000 people, these questions help highlight community experiences and priorities. [1]

1. What do you believe are the main causes of homelessness in our community?

2. How has homelessness or visible homelessness impacted your neighborhood or daily life?

3. What strengths do you see in your city’s current response to homelessness?

4. What important challenges or shortcomings do you notice in how homelessness is addressed?

5. Have you interacted with someone experiencing homelessness? What was your experience?

6. What support services do you think are most needed for people experiencing homelessness?

7. If you could change one thing about our city’s approach to homelessness, what would it be?

8. How do you think homelessness affects families with children or youth in the area?

9. What do you wish more people understood about those experiencing homelessness?

10. What ideas do you have that could improve our city’s homelessness response?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a citizen survey about homelessness response

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for quantifying opinions or kickstarting a conversation. Sometimes citizens find them easier to answer on the spot—they just pick what fits best. That way, you get clear stats and can dive deeper with follow-ups later.

Question: How would you rate the city’s current efforts to address homelessness?

• Very effective

• Somewhat effective

• Not effective

• Unsure

Question: Which area do you believe needs the most improvement in our homelessness response?

• Shelter availability

• Mental health services

• Job and income programs

• Public safety

• Other

Question: How informed do you feel about homelessness services offered in our city?

• Very informed

• Somewhat informed

• Not informed

• Never heard of them

When to follow up with "why?" It’s smart to ask “Why did you choose this?” as a follow-up, especially after choices like “not effective” or “needs improvement.” This follow-up uncovers the context behind the choice, like “I see more people sleeping in parks.” For example, if someone chooses “mental health services” as the area needing the most improvement, we might ask: “What specific changes to mental health services would you like to see?”

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” when you’re not sure your options cover everything citizens might mention. People’s experiences with homelessness response are varied, and “Other” plus a follow-up question can reveal solutions and pain points we might otherwise miss.

NPS-type question for citizen surveys about homelessness response

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) question—“How likely are you to recommend our city’s homelessness response efforts to a friend or neighbor?”—is a simple, powerful way to gauge overall sentiment. Even in public service contexts, it helps us see at-a-glance how supportive (or critical) the community is. We can then use open-ended follow-ups to learn why a citizen rates it high or low, helping prioritize improvements. Try generating an NPS survey for citizens about homelessness response—it takes seconds and delivers direct, actionable data for city leaders.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions turn standard surveys into dynamic conversations. With Specific, AI instantly probes a citizen’s answer with context-aware follow-ups—digging deeper just like an expert interviewer would. Read more about our automatic AI-powered follow-up questions to see how this works.

This matters because open-ended surveys without follow-ups often end up with incomplete, unclear responses—missing the “why?” behind a citizen’s feedback. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Citizen: “I’m not happy with current solutions.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share a specific example or moment that made you feel dissatisfied with the city’s homelessness response?”

How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, 2–3 automated follow-ups work best. That’s enough to clarify and deepen responses, while an option to skip lets us move on once we’ve collected key information. Specific’s follow-up settings allow you to configure this in a click.

This makes it a conversational survey—people share more (and more honestly) when it feels like a chat, not a test.

AI analysis, qualitative insights—Using AI to analyze and summarize conversational survey responses makes insights accessible fast, even from a sea of unstructured citizen feedback. Here’s how to easily analyze survey responses with AI.

Follow-up questions and instant AI analysis are a new standard—try generating a survey and see it in action for yourself.

How to prompt ChatGPT for great questions about homelessness response

If you prefer using ChatGPT or other GPT-based tools to craft your questions, get the most out of them by writing specific, context-rich prompts. Here’s a quick starter:

First, prompt for a base set of open-ended questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for citizen survey about homelessness response.

But AI does its best work when you provide extra context about your goals, audience, and local challenges:

I am a city researcher writing a homelessness response survey for citizens in a city where visible homelessness has increased. I want to learn how people perceive shelter services, youth homelessness, and root causes. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover actionable, specific feedback.

Once you have your list, you can organize it by asking:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, drill down by the categories that matter most to your team or situation:

Generate 10 questions for categories “youth homelessness” and “public health impacts.”

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys use AI to engage each respondent in a flowing back-and-forth, rather than just having them tick off boxes. The result is richer data, more authentic stories, and insights you just don’t get from old-school forms. With the spike in chronic and youth homelessness—38,170 youth and more than 152,000 facing chronic patterns in 2024 [2]—the extra context from real conversations is invaluable.

This isn’t just a smoother experience for citizens. It’s more efficient for teams, too. Let’s compare how traditional manual surveys stack up against AI-generated, conversational ones:

Why use AI for citizen surveys? Survey creation is much faster, conversational, and custom-tailored using an AI survey generator. You can even chat with the AI to change questions and follow-ups on the fly. The result: more thoughtful surveys, rich insights, less mental overhead. If you want a practical walkthrough, we cover the whole process step-by-step in how to create a citizen survey about homelessness response.

Specific delivers a best-in-class conversational survey experience—mobile-friendly and intuitive—so both citizens and city teams benefit from a seamless, engaging feedback loop.

See this homelessness response survey example now

Explore what an AI-powered, conversational citizen survey feels like—see genuine examples and experience the unique benefits of Specific’s smart follow-ups, rapid creation, and deep insights for yourself.