Recommended Podcasts for Understanding Housing Instability and Homelessness

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Last month we provided a list of books that provide innovative information and meaningful insights on both the causes of and solutions to housing instability and homelessness. These books provide foundational information that is necessary to understand the current landscape of housing instability and homelessness as well as what policy and practice strategies are needed to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring locally and nationally.

In addition to this recommended Summer reading, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability and Homelessness report, integrated data reports, the Housing Data Snapshot, and the data and research featured in the Building Bridges blog, there are several podcasts that present emergent research, promising practices, and timely and relevant information related to housing and homelessness.

This blog post suggests four podcasts that highlight local and national strategies and recent research focused on housing instability and homelessness and provides a brief overview of each podcast and how the content can be used strengthen the systems in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

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One Number Update: June 2024

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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.

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2024 Summer Reading List: Three Key Books For Learning More About Homelessness And Housing Instability

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Each year, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) releases an annual report series on housing instability and homelessness consisting of two primary research products. The first is an integrated data report produced by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute which links cross-system data sources to explore  housing instability and homelessness through an intersectional lens.

The second major output in the series is the annual Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report which 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 providing a comprehensive resource for housing and homelessness-related information in Mecklenburg County.

In addition to the locally produced housing instability and homelessness outputs described above, there are several books that provide innovative information and meaningful insights on both the causes of and solutions to housing instability and homelessness in Mecklenburg County.

This blog post provides a 2024 suggested Summer book reading list, including a brief overview of each book, why you should read it, and what each means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

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Leveraging Stella P to Enhance Homeless Services Systems: Demographics

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The Stella Performance Module (Stella P) visualizes a homeless system’s performance using the CoC’s Longitudinal System Analysis (LSA) data. Stella P empowers communities to develop and monitor strategies to improve system performance. This blog is the fifth and final installment in a series of blogs examining Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s latest LSA data utilizing the Stella P Module.

This blog provides an overview of demographic data, disaggregated data for the LSA’s three primary metrics: days homeless, system exits, and returns to homelessness, and highlights opportunities to improve equity within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg homeless services system.

Previous blogs provided an overview of LSA data and the Stella P dashboard and system performance map, system exits, days homeless, and returns to homelessness. This blog focuses on the demographics section of Stella P and provides information on the three key metrics by race and ethnicity.

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Research and News Roundup: June 2024

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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 an innovative partnership to support households facing eviction, local program that supports veterans in overcoming workforce barriers, and key findings from the 2024 State of Housing report .

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One Number Update: May 2024

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Almost five years ago, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services introduced the “One Number”. 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 persons experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

One Number data not only provides an overall count of homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, but also can be broken down by household and population type and disaggregated by demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age. In addition, One Number data also facilitates the examination of inflow and outflow patterns associated with homelessness. The Housing Data Snapshot, the hub for the latest data related to housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 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 an overview of the One Number update, what’s changed, the latest trends and analyses; and what this means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

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Analyzing Returns to Homelessness: Insights from Stella P for Charlotte-Mecklenburg

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Stella, developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), serves as an analytical and strategic tool for Continuums of Care (CoCs) to examine the dynamics of their homeless services system performance. The Stella Performance Module (Stella P) visualizes a homeless system’s performance using the CoC’s Longitudinal System Analysis (LSA) data. Stella P empowers communities to develop and monitor strategies to improve system performance. This blog is the fourth installment in a series of blogs examining Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s latest LSA data utilizing the Stella P Module.
This blog provides an overview of returns to homeless, local performance on this metric, and highlights opportunities for performance improvement within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg homeless services system.

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Research and News Roundup: May 2024

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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 features an overview of mental health and housing instability, guidance on how health care systems and hospitals can collaborate with communities to address homelessness, and a recent analysis assessing office space to housing conversion potential for 83 major cities including Charlotte.

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2024 Point-in-Time Count Data: Sheltered Homelessness and Overall Counts

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Annually, Continuums of Care (CoCs) across the United States conduct the HUD Point-in-Time (PIT) count to gather data on homelessness. The primary goals of the PIT are to estimate the number of individuals and households experiencing homelessness and to better understand their demographics and living conditions. These data are used in tandem with other local and national data to inform policies and programs focused on preventing and ending homelessness. The PIT count has two components: the Sheltered Homeless Census, which counts individuals in shelters, safe havens, or transitional housing, and the Unsheltered Homeless Census, which counts those living in places not intended for habitation, such as streets or vehicles. Together these components provide a comprehensive snapshot of homelessness on one night in January in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

A previous blog provided data from the 2024 Unsheltered Homeless Census and a discussion of the limitations of the PIT count. This blog provides an overview of the 2024 Sheltered Homeless Census and overall PIT count data.

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