20200409-bc-homeless (copy)

In this file photo from April 2020, a homeless shelter sits at the Weir Water Control basin.

 Alex Horvath / The Californian

Kern County got props Wednesday for achieving "functional zero" in the battle against chronic homelessness, a narrowly defined term that isn't necessarily what it sounds like.

An organization called Built for Zero announced the county, along with the city of Bakersfield, has joined four other U.S. communities that have created an effective system for protecting highly vulnerable people with nowhere else to go.