Building Bridges Blog

Housing instability, homelessness, and stable housing are often discussed as separate issues. In reality, they are interconnected stages along a single housing continuum that reflects whether households are able to obtain and maintain safe, affordable, and sustainable housing over time. The newly released Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability and Homelessness (SOHIH) Report examines this continuum by analyzing conditions at three critical points: housing instability, homelessness, and stable housing. Together, these stages illustrate both how households lose housing and what is required to restore and sustain housing stability. This blog is the first in a five-part series that takes a deeper look at findings from the 2025 SOHIH Report. Each post in this series examines a different stage of the housing continuum and explores what the data reveal about housing stability, homelessness, and access to stable housing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Together, this series provides a deeper understanding of how housing challenges develop and what is required to improve housing stability across our community.

Since its inception in 2019 , the “One Number” has served as the primary benchmark for the number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The One Number is the best snapshot available for the number of people actively experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. It provides the most accurate minimum number of people experiencing homeless and provides insights into the minimum number of housing units and subsidies needed today to address their homelessness. These data also provide timely insights into the number of people flowing into and out of the homeless services system. 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 2025 State of Housing Instability and Homelessness (SoHIH) report, released today, provides a comprehensive view of housing conditions across the full housing continuum from instability to homelessness to stable housing. Produced annually by Mecklenburg County Community Support Services, the report integrates local, regional, and national data sources to assess housing instability, homelessness, and access to stable housing, offering critical insight into both system performance and structural challenges. The 2025 report highlights the growing pressures facing households across Mecklenburg County and underscores the structural factors driving housing instability. Taken together, the findings show that housing instability remains widespread, homelessness persists, and deeply affordable housing remains critically insufficient to meet community need. These trends reinforce the importance of coordinated strategies that address both immediate housing crises and the upstream conditions that place households at risk. This blog post outlines the key findings from the 2025 SoHIH report and examines what these findings could mean for Mecklenburg County.

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 equip community stakeholders with information about emergent research, promising practices, and innovative solutions related to housing and homelessness. This blog highlights recent research and emerging practices that examine how medical debt contributes to housing instability, how coordinated reentry planning can prevent homelessness after incarceration, and how local rent dynamics shape affordable housing strategy.

Housing instability and homelessness increase a household’s exposure to a wide range of physical, mental, social, and financial challenges. These same households are also more likely to experience disproportionate harm during disasters and major disruptions, including economic shocks, public health emergencies, and extreme weather events. When housing is unstable, even short-term disruptions can escalate into long-term displacement or crisis. To better understand how well communities are positioned to withstand and recover from such disruptions, the U.S. Census Bureau developed the Community Resilience Estimate (CRE). The CRE provides a data-driven way to identify where social and economic vulnerability may limit a household’s ability to absorb and recover from future shocks. Last year, we examined Community Resilience Estimate data based on the 2023 American Community Survey. This blog builds on that work by incorporating newly released 2024 ACS data, providing an updated overview of the CRE, examining how vulnerability manifests locally in Mecklenburg County, and discussing how CRE data can inform housing policy, disaster preparedness, and resilience-focused decision-making.

Since its inception in 2019, the One Number has served as the primary benchmark for understanding the number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. It provides the best available snapshot of people actively experiencing homelessness and offers critical insight into the minimum number of housing units and subsidies needed today to address that need. The One Number also tracks how people flow into and out of the homeless services system over time. This week’s blog provides the most recent One Number update, key trends and analysis, and what the latest data mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Over the last three days, almost 200 community volunteers including Mecklenburg County staff and CMPD officers joined forces to make #EverybodyCountsCLT a reality. Together, 38 teams conducted outreach across Mecklenburg County to engage with and survey people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The 2026 Point-in-Time Count co-leads, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition, extend their deepest gratitude to every individual who shared their story, each partner who helped plan and implement the Count, and all who donated time, supplies, and resources or helped spread awareness about this critical effort. This blog shares highlights from the 2026 Count, outlines what happens next, and offers ways to stay engaged throughout the year.

Next week, hundreds of volunteers will fan out across Mecklenburg County to identify, engage, and survey people who are living in unsheltered locations in our community. These efforts help ensure that people experiencing homelessness are seen, counted, and their needs are better understood. This blog explores recent research on unsheltered homelessness, examining its root causes and the impacts on individuals and communities.