Building Bridges Blog

The Division of Youth and Family Services (YFS) within Mecklenburg County's Department of Social Services (DSS) partnered with First Place for Youth (First Place) to conduct a thorough ecosystem mapping and analysis. The analysis focused on understanding and addressing the needs and gaps of the system serving the county’s older foster youth (18-21) who are preparing to transition out of foster care. The comprehensive analysis process involved extensive stakeholder interviews, targeted focus groups, data analysis, desk research, and meaningful listening sessions with over a dozen youth with lived experience in foster care and encompassed an evaluation of services provided, available community resources, policies, and agency capacity. To launch the endeavor, a group of young adults with lived experience in the system, YFS staff, and other key stakeholders co-created a future vision for how the system can support older foster youth in the years ahead: “All youth and young adults transitioning out of foster care in Mecklenburg County have the life skills required to thrive and attain self-sufficiency by age 21.” Mecklenburg County Community Support Services’ Housing Innovation and Stabilization Services Division was also engaged to share insights on other supportive housing models throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg.  Although funding and resources existed for this vulnerable population, deeper investment and more strategic engagement were necessary in order to create better outcomes for aged out youth. This blog provides an overview of key learnings and recommendations from the ecosystem analysis and how Mecklenburg County is moving from insights to action to improve outcomes for youth transitioning out of foster care.

Recently, United Way of Greater Charlotte (United Way) released the A Home For All Implementation Plan. Building on the priorities identified in the A Home for All Strategic Framework , the Implementation Plan outlines which priorities to advance first in order to address housing instability and homelessness across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Following the publication of the Framework, the community asked United Way to serve as the lead of the enduring structure charged with guiding the work over the next four years and translating the framework into an actionable implementation plan. United Way convened a Technical Committee comprised of 70+ individuals with professional and lived expertise related to homelessness and housing insecurity. The committee helped ensure that implementation priorities were community and data-driven and informed by best practices. Over the last nine months, preliminary initiatives from the Strategic Framework were prioritized and synthesized into the Implementation Plan. This blog will provide an overview of the work of the Technical Committee and the process for getting from the Strategic Framework to the Implementation Plan.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires Continuums of Care (CoCs) to assess their collective efforts in addressing homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has created seven System Performance Measures for this purpose. Annually, Charlotte-Mecklenburg is required to report its performance on six of these measures to HUD. These measures are not only important for securing CoC funding but also serve as tools for local monitoring and system improvement. This is the second post in a series of blogs that will examine Charlotte-Mecklenburg's performance on these measures and the implications for the local community. This blog provides an overview of and presents data on System Performance Measure Two: Returns to Homelessness Within 24 Months.

Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the Executive Summary for their 2023 Worse Case Housing Needs Report to Congress. The  2023 Worst Case Housing Needs Report to Congress analyzes recent data from the 2021 American Housing Survey (AHS) to examine critical housing challenges facing low-income renters. The 2023 report highlights a consistent increase in severe housing needs across demographics, households, and regions in the US since 2019. The rising demand for affordable rental housing continues to surpass income growth and the capacity of government to develop affordable housing stock and provide housing assistance. These factors have led to a record-breaking number of families facing worst case housing needs. This blog provides an overview of worst case housing needs, the 2023 Executive Summary, and what it means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

As we begin the 2023-2024 school year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) already has 2,369 students who are enrolled in McKinney-Vento services. CMS closed out the 2022-2023 school year with 4,815 homeless students, a 15% increase from the 4,206 students (including Pre-K and younger siblings) who experienced homelessness and housing instability during the 2021-2022 school year. Homelessness has a significant impact on the physical and mental health of children, often resulting in diminished social-emotional and academic well-being. Children experiencing homelessness and housing instability are at risk for higher rates of school absenteeism, poorer performance in math and reading assessments, school suspensions, and have an elevated risk of high school drop out. This blog provides an overview of student homelessness and the services that are in place to support them.

Beginning in August 2022, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Continuum of Care (CoC) engaged with Erica Snyder Consulting to conduct a community assessment to identify current system-wide landlord engagement practices and to facilitate a community-engaged planning process . The goals of this effort were two-fold: increase access to available rental units and develop a strategy for targeted landlord recruitment and retention. The assessment and planning process involved meeting with homeless services housing providers and partners currently engaging with landlords to determine strengths and areas for growth in the existing system. Initial findings were presented at a community meeting led by the CoC Landlord Engagement Workgroup. In December 2022, CoC partners came together for two half-day sessions to discuss creating a CoC-wide vision for a landlord engagement system. This blog provides an overview of the community assessment and planning process and outlines recommendations for improved system-wide landlord engagement.

This month, 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 Plan represents the culmination of months of rigorous planning, research, and community-wide collaboration. Over the last year, meticulous work has facilitated narrowing down the 99 initial priorities put forth in the A Home For All Strategic Framework to create this Implementation Plan. The plan outlines nine initiatives to move forward over the next four years. United Way, with support from Mecklenburg County, serves as the Enduring Structure leading this work. To read the A Home For All Implementation Plan, click here. This blog post will provide an overview of the Plan as well as key takeaways.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act mandates that Continuums of Care (CoCs) evaluate their performance as a coordinated system to assess their system’s collective work towards preventing and ending homelessness. To that end, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has developed seven System Performance Measures. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is required to report performance on six of these measures to HUD annually. The measures are not only a part of the selection criteria for CoC funding awards but can and should be used locally to monitor progress and drive system improvement.  Over the next several months, the Building Bridges Blog will examine local performance on each System Performance Measure and explore what these measures and local performance mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg. This blog provides an overview of the HUD System Performance Measures and presents information and data on System Performance Measure One.