Entries by Mary Ann Priester

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Imagine A County Where No One Has to Sleep Outside

Over the past two days, 28 CMPD officers and 35 teams of over 200 community volunteers came together to ensure #EverybodyCountsCLT. Together these dedicated community members facilitated a successful 2024 Point in Time Count by providing logistical support and conducting surveys with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness across Mecklenburg County. Point in Time Count co-leads, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition would like to express their sincere gratitude to each person experiencing homelessness who completed the survey and all who engaged in the planning, volunteered their time, provided supplies and financial donations, or raised awareness for this year’s event. The work does not stop here.

This blog provides an overview of the Count, what’s next, and how you can stay involved throughout the year.

January 25, 2024 by
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A Home For All: 2023 Reflections and Look Ahead

In August, United Way of Greater Charlotte (United Way) released the A Home For All Implementation Plan. Building on the priorities identified in the Strategic Framework, the Implementation Plan outlines which priorities to advance first in order to address housing instability and homelessness across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. We recently posted a series of blogs examining the initial three pillars of the A Home For All Implementation Plan: People, Prevention, and Production. A fourth pillar has been added as there is an increasing need for supports related to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. We will take a deep dive into the Emergency Response pillar next month.

This blog provides reflections on the work of the implementation teams, specifically critical home repair (Prevention pillar) and the People pillar, and a look ahead.

January 17, 2024 by
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Property in Charlotte Dedicates Units to Veterans Exiting Homelessness

The Charlotte homeless response team partnered with Community Solutions to purchase Park at Ferentino, a 216-unit apartment building. Half of the units will be dedicated to veterans exiting homelessness, while the other half will be leased as affordable homes. This resource will help the Charlotte-Mecklenburg homeless response team make progress toward solving veteran homelessness while preserving existing affordable housing.

This blog provides an overview of the project and the anticipated impact for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

January 9, 2024 by
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2023 in Review: “Top Five” List for Learning More About Housing Instability and Homelessness

Each year, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) releases an annual report series on housing instability and homelessness. The report series consists of two primary research products. The first, an integrated data report, is produced by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. These reports link cross-system data sources to explore  housing instability and/or homelessness through an intersectional lens. In May, CSS released an integrated data report describing the rate and characteristics of people experiencing homelessness before and after incarceration by combining data from the Homeless Management Information System and the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.  An upcoming integrated data report will use combined information sources to describe risk factors for homelessness among foster care involved youth.

The second major output in the series is the annual Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report. This report includes local, regional, and national data on the full housing continuum. It also features data from the Point-in-Time Count; housing inventory; rental gaps; and system performance metrics. It provides a single resource for all housing and homelessness-related data and information pertaining to Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The 2023 Report featured new data sources, and was released in early December.

In addition to the locally produced housing instability and homelessness outputs described above, several other housing-related reports have been released during the past year. A previous blog post providing a “top five” reading list for Summer 2020. This blog post will update that list and provide you with a 2023 “top five” reading list, including a brief overview of each report, why you should read it, and what each means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

December 21, 2023 by
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A Home For All: Production Pillar

In August, United Way of Greater Charlotte (United Way) released the A Home For All Implementation Plan. Building on the priorities identified in the Strategic Framework, the Implementation Plan outlines which priorities to advance first in order to address housing instability and homelessness across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. This is the third post in a series of blogs examining the three pillars of the A Home For All Implementation Plan: People, Prevention, and Production. For more information on the People Pillar, click here, and for the Prevention Pillar, click here.
This blog provides an overview of the Production Pillar.

December 19, 2023 by
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2023 State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report Released Today

Today, December 7, 2023, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services  released the 2023 State of Housing Instability & Homelessness (SoHIH) Report. The annual SoHIH report synthesizes local, regional, and national data on the full housing continuum. It provides a knowledge base that Charlotte-Mecklenburg uses to make informed policy, practice, and funding decisions to facilitate optimized resource allocation and systems of care.

This blog post outlines the key findings from the 2023 SoHIH and what it could mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

December 7, 2023 by
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2024 Point-In-Time Count: Volunteers Needed To Help Ensure #Everybodycountsclt

The 2024 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Point-in-Time (PIT) Count will take place on Thursday, January 25, 2024. This annual event is when the community comes together to survey and count each person experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness on one night in January. On January 25th, volunteers and outreach teams will canvass the community to locate and engage individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Last year, in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 1,916 people were counted, including 171 families, 106 unaccompanied youth (18-24), and 288 people sleeping outside. Preparations and planning are underway for the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count and we need your help. Full community support and engagement is needed to not only make this year’s PIT a success but to also move forward the work to prevent and end homelessness in Mecklenburg County.

This blog post provides information on how individuals and agencies can get involved and support this year’s PIT Count.

November 29, 2023 by
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Research and News Roundup: November 2023

This blog is the first of a monthly blog series that will feature a curated list of recent news and research related to housing instability, homelessness, and affordable housing. Together, these topics provide insights on the full housing continuum and are intended to keep community stakeholders informed about emergent research, promising practices, and innovative solutions related to housing instability and homelessness.
This month’s Research and News Roundup features an innovative approach to using utility payments to predict first-time homelessness; opportunities and resources to increase affordable housing by converting commercial properties; and proposed expansion of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a first of its kind program that provides non-medical interventions that address housing instability and other social determinants of health (SDOH) to Medicaid participants.

November 22, 2023 by
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Addressing Veteran Homelessness: Services and Collaborative Efforts in Charlotte-Mecklenburg

As of November 1, 2023, there were 268 Veterans experiencing homelessness in Mecklenburg County. Forty-six of these Vets are chronically homeless, which means they have a disability and have been homeless one year or longer or four times in the past three years. Interagency collaboration between organizations like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Mecklenburg County, and non-profit organizations is essential to preventing and ending Veteran homelessness.

This blog describes Veteran homelessness and highlights the services of some of the many organizations working to address Veteran homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

November 8, 2023 by