Building Bridges Blog

Unsheltered Homelessness is a brief report delving into the needs and experiences of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Charlotte Mecklenburg in 2024. This blog post is highlights the key findings of this brief report. Additional information is available in the report linked here.

People experiencing homelessness often have higher rates of chronic illness yet frequently lack access to routine and preventative care. Homeless palliative care is an emerging interdisciplinary field that focuses on improving the quality of life for people who are homeless and at the end of their life but also those who have serious, chronic, and life-limiting illnesses. This is a two-part blog series that will examine homeless palliative care. This blog provides and overview of homeless palliative care and the need in Mecklenburg County. A future blog will explore promising practices and what it would take to address the local need for homeless palliative care.

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 housing challenges faced by older adults, opportunities to improve neighborhood choice for households using housing vouchers, and an innovative scattered site shelter model.

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.

The Housing First Model addresses homelessness by offering households housing without preconditions such as sobriety, employment, or treatment requirements. Supportive services such as case management, mental health counseling, substance use treatment, and employment assistance are made available in tandem with the housing, to support households in stabilizing and working towards self-determined goals. A recently released report co-authored by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) and the University of Pennsylvania estimates the cost of providing housing using the Housing First Model to all households experiencing sheltered homelessness in the United States. This blog provides an overview of the report, highlighting the estimated need and policy considerations for addressing the identified gap.

Last week, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) released A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration 2.0. The toolkit which was first released in 2020, helps organizations mitigate bias in data practices. Version 2.0 expands this work by adding strategies for handling Race, Ethnicity, Language, Disability (RELD) and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGIE) data, working with Tribal Data, and managing risks associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). In addition the updated toolkit provides a companion workbook and provides additional examples of Work in Action. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is one of the communities featured as a Work in Action example. This blog provides an overview of the toolkit and highlights the Charlotte-Mecklenburg's featured work.

Housing instability and homelessness increase a household’s risk for a variety of physical, mental, social, and financial challenges. In addition, those most likely to experience homelessness and housing instability are also more likely to be socially vulnerable to the impact of disasters. To assess the capacity of households to absorb the stresses associated with the impact of a disaster, the United States Census Bureau has developed the Community Resilience Estimate. This blog provides an overview of the Community Resilience Estimate (CRE), local and state estimates, and how the CRE could inform decision-making in Mecklenburg County.

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.