Entries by John Gaulden and Courtney LaCaria

What Does It Mean to Go “HOME” in A COVID-19 WORLD?

On March 18, a new Building Bridges blog series was launched to share solutions from other communities and highlight key interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week’s blog post focused on how communities can integrate telecommunication as a permanent component of housing-focused supportive services. This new Building Bridges series looks at community responses to COVID-19 using a prospicient lens: What short-term, community responses can become long-term, systemic solutions?  Which immediate interventions can effectively and efficiently address the structural issues that lead to housing instability and homelessness? What “new thing” can evolve into “business as usual?” And what is needed to create healthy, stable communities permanently? This week’s blog post is co-authored with John Gaulden, Managing Director and Principal at Gensler, a global design and architecture firm. This post illustrates how changes in the concept of “home” pre- and post-COVID-19 have important implications for multiple audiences working to address housing instability and homelessness, including planners; funders; builders; developers; service organizations; and elected officials.

May 13, 2020 by

Housing Counts: 241 Days to Permanent Housing

Each month, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) releases an update on community housing data.  This is done via the Housing Data Snapshot. The Housing Data Snapshot provides a regular update for the total number of people experiencing homelessness in the community, as well as the total number of households seeking housing assistance via Coordinated Entry. This month, CSS has added a new metric to the Housing Data Snapshot: the average length of time to access permanent housing. This blog post provides an overview of the new metric, why it matters, and what it means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

March 4, 2020 by

February 2020 Data Update: One Number & By-Name List

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) partners with homeless services agencies in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to enter, collect, analyze, and report data on housing and homelessness in the community. As part of this work, CSS first released the Housing Data Snapshot in June 2019. Since then, the Housing Data Snapshot has been updated, expanded, and released each month.  The Housing Data Snapshot now provides a regular update for the One Number; “By-Name” List; and Coordinated Entry. This blog post highlights the latest changes and provides further analysis of the data added to the Housing Data Snapshot and what these changes mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

February 26, 2020 by

Reflections on the 2020 Point-in-Time Count: What I learned from Seven Days of Surveying

This week’s blog post offers a perspective from Elyse Hamilton-Childres, Prevention and Intervention Services Director with Mecklenburg County Community Support Services. Elyse has been working in the field of intimate partner violence since 2010. This year marked my first time participating in the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count.  I wanted to get involved for a number of reasons:  1) The domestic violence and homelessness fields have become more integrated and aligned.  As a person who works with those involved in domestic violence, it is crucial that I understand the experience of homelessness more broadly.  2) I am a more effective leader when I take time to engage with people who may receive services from the programs I oversee.  Data and research inform my work but cannot replace the value of lived experience and a human voice.  3) I believe in the power of authentic human interaction.  I cannot end homelessness today; however, I can sit down with our homeless neighbors, shake their hands, hear their stories, and see them – really see them, and honor their dignity and worth.  Participating in the PIT Count over seven days at three different locations was extraordinary. This blog post covers a few of my insights and takeaways and how it can inform the work in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

February 6, 2020 by

CoC Governance Charter & Update

Since August 2019, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) has led a broad community engagement process.  The goal of this work is to develop a new Continuum of Care (CoC) Governance Charter. The CoC Governance Charter identifies the purpose, responsibilities and oversight of the CoC. The CoC is responsible for, among other things, operations (holding regular meetings and adopting a written board selection process); designating a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS); planning; and preparing an application for funding. This blog post provides an update on this important work, and what it means for the community.

November 22, 2019 by

CoC Governance Charter & Update

Since August 2019, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) has led a broad community engagement process.  The goal of this work is to develop a new Continuum of Care (CoC) Governance Charter. The CoC Governance Charter identifies the purpose, responsibilities and oversight of the CoC. The CoC is responsible for, among other things, operations (holding regular meetings and adopting a written board selection process); designating a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS); planning; and preparing an application for funding. This blog post provides an update on this important work, and what it means for the community.

October 24, 2019 by

October 2019 Housing Data Snapshot Update

Community Support Services partners with homeless service agencies in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to enter, collect, analyze and report data on housing and homelessness in the community. This June blog post describes the release of a new Housing Data Snapshot page, which provides regular reporting on three critical data points: the One Number, “By-Name” List Movement, and Coordinated Entry. The newest data has been added to the Housing Data Snapshot. This blog post highlights the latest changes and provides an in-depth analysis to describe what these changes mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

October 10, 2019 by

Built for Zero in Charlotte-Mecklenburg

Charlotte-Mecklenburg is one of more than 70 communities participating in the Built for Zero movement. Built for Zero communities seek to change how local systems work to achieve greater impact. Built for Zero seeks to unite entities around a commitment to measurably ending homelessness while incorporating real-time, by-name data. More than half of the Built for Zero communities have achieved reductions in the number of people experiencing chronic and veteran homelessness. And, of those 11 communities have proven they can end veteran or chronic homelessness altogether. This blog post focuses on the key messages part of the Built for Zero movement and what it means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

October 3, 2019 by

The Housing & Homelessness Ecosystem

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS), in partnership with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, releases today (September 12, via the Dashboard) the Housing & Homelessness Ecosystem of community providers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Ecosystem is one part of a multi-step process in creating a culture of continuous improvement. To read more about why an Ecosystem matters for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and about how definitions are organized, check out the last two blog posts on the Building Bridges Blog. This week’s blog post highlights the main components of the Ecosystem and suggests ways to use the information. The Ecosystem is not a static document; rather it is a dynamic site contained within the Dashboard that will be updated annually.

September 12, 2019 by