Building Bridges Blog

On Thursday, January 23, 2025, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community will come together to conduct the 2025 Point-in-Time Count. This annual event is about more than just counting the number of people experiencing homelessness. It is an opportunity to acknowledge and support every person experiencing homelessness in our community and to contribute to the community effort to create long-term solutions for some of our most vulnerable community members. This blog post provides information on how to get involved and support the 2025 PIT Count.

During the month of September 2024, 71% of people who entered the homeless services system were experiencing homelessness for the first time. This week’s blog post provides a deep dive into the most recent One Number update with a focus on first time homelessness and what these data mean for addressing first time homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

In 2018, Mecklenburg County partnered with Community Solutions, Built for Zero, to intentionally work toward ending veteran homelessness in Mecklenburg County. Since then, there has been almost a 50% reduction in veteran homelessness with a 29% reduction in the past year. This week’s blog post provides a deep dive into the most recent One Number update with a focus on veteran homelessness and an overview of what is being done to prevent and end homelessness for veterans in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Since its inception in 2019, the “One Number” has served as the primary benchmark for the number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Generated from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the One Number encompasses individuals enrolled in Emergency Shelter (ES), Transitional Housing (TH), Street Outreach (SO), Permanent Housing (PH) (if no move-in date to housing is recorded yet) and Coordinated Entry (CE) programs in HMIS. It includes both those experiencing sheltered homelessness and a portion of those experiencing unsheltered homelessness. It also provides a comprehensive By-Name List of each person experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Housing Data Snapshot, the hub for the latest data related to housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, not only provides an overall count and demographics of homelessness by household type and subpopulation, it also highlights inflow to (Newly identified, Returns from Permanent Housing, Returns for Inactivity) and outflow from (Exit to Permanent Housing, Exit to Inactivity), homelessness. This week’s blog post provides the most recent One Number update; a synopsis of recent dashboard updates; the latest One Number trends and analysis; and what this means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Are homes in your neighborhood getting bigger or smaller? Are residents in a specific community able to access essential services, such as grocery stores, or public transportation? Where should our community building efforts be focused? The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer can help answer these questions and many more. This blog provides a brief overview of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer and how it can be used to better understand various housing dimensions at the Neighborhood Profile Area level.

The Research and News Roundup is a monthly blog series that features a curated list of recent news and research related to housing instability, homelessness, and affordable housing. Together, these topics provide insights about the full housing continuum and provide community stakeholders with information about emergent research, promising practices, and innovative solutions related to housing and homelessness. This month’s Research and News Roundup highlights the recently released USICH Federal Homelessness Prevention Framework, one community’s plan to end chronic homelessness, and research focused on equity-oriented affordable housing.

The Housing Data Snapshot is the hub for the latest data related to housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. It provides an overall count and demographics of homelessness by household type and subpopulation and highlights inflow to (Newly identified, Returns from Permanent Housing, Returns for Inactivity) and outflow from (Exit to Permanent Housing, Exit to Inactivity), homelessness. This week’s blog post provides a deep dive into the most recent One Number update with a focus on family homelessness and what these data mean for addressing family homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Faith-based development initiatives are an emerging promising practice to facilitate the growth of a community’s affordable housing stock. These efforts can help address the current affordable housing crisis while also providing mutually beneficial community development outcomes. Find out below how the City of Charlotte is taking action. Their initiative aligns strongly with Mecklenburg County’s strategic objective to expand affordable housing and reflects our commitment to innovative, community-led solutions. This blog provides an overview of how faith-based organizations (FBOs) are engaging in housing solutions, and what is being done locally in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to help these FBOs to increase their readiness to engage.