Next week, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services will release the annual Housing Instability & Homelessness Report, intended to provide data across the housing continuum in the community. This report is part of the Housing Instability & Homelessness Report Series, which is produced by UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and funded by Mecklenburg County Community Support Services. Now in its second year, The Housing Instability & Homelessness Report has been updated to align with the structure and definitions outlined in the recently released Ecosystem. In addition, new data has been added within each section of the continuum. This blog post highlights what to expect, including the new data and features for the 2019 report.
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS), in partnership with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, releases today (September 12, via the Dashboard) the Housing & Homelessness Ecosystem of community providers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Ecosystem is one part of a multi-step process in creating a culture of continuous improvement. To read more about why an Ecosystem matters for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and about how definitions are organized, check out the last two blog posts on the Building Bridges Blog. This week’s blog post highlights the main components of the Ecosystem and suggests ways to use the information. The Ecosystem is not a static document; rather it is a dynamic site contained within the Dashboard that will be updated annually.
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) in partnership with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, is producing the Housing & Homelessness Ecosystem of community providers as a first step in what is envisioned as creating a culture of continuous improvement. Last week’s Building Bridges blog post discusses why an Ecosystem matters for Charlotte-Mecklenburg. This week’s blog post provides more detail about the information contained on the Ecosystem, which will be released on the Dashboard in September.
An Ecosystem describes a group of interconnected elements both individually and by their interrelationships in a defined area. The typical ecosystem is a feedback loop, wherein dependencies and other conditions stressing one group can stretch an entire system to the breaking point. Observing, defining, and quantifying the discrete elements; cataloging their interconnectedness; and standardizing the tools for studying and evaluating the system is the only way to ensure the system is fully maximized for efficiency and effectiveness. To that end, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) in partnership with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, is producing the Housing & Homelessness Ecosystem of community providers as a first step in what is envisioned as creating a culture of continuous improvement. In order for the Ecosystem to be meaningful to those observing it (such as funders) and credible to those within it, certain things must be accomplished to establish a baseline. These components include standardized definitions; identified roles and responsibilities; quantified capacities; and named funding sources.
Community Support Services partners with homeless service agencies in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to enter, collect, analyze and report data on housing and homelessness in the community. This June blog post describes the release of a new Housing Data Snapshot page, which provides regular reporting on three critical data points: the One Number, “By-Name” List Movement, and Coordinated Entry. This blog provides the newest data update from the Housing Data Snapshot, highlights changes, and provides in-depth analysis to describe what these changes mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
On August 14, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services hosted a Continuum of Care (CoC) Governance Kick-Off Meeting. This event shared important updates to the local CoC Governance process and provided opportunities for individuals and organizations to get involved in the establishment of a new CoC Governance Charter for the community. Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte are partnering to shift the management of the Continuum of Care (CoC) from the City to the County. This change is being made as part of a comprehensive response to the community need for permanent, affordable housing. (To read more about the transition process, read last week’s blog post.) This blog post provides a recap of the Kick-Off Event and highlights ways to get involved in the CoC Governance process.
Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte are collaborating strategically in new and different ways as part of a comprehensive response to continued community needs around permanent, affordable housing. One of these strategies is a partnership to transition the management of the Continuum of Care (CoC) from the City to Mecklenburg County. This blog post provides an update on this important work and what it means for the community.
Last week, the Building Bridges blog post described the community focus on and impact of HMIS data quality in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. As part of the work to improve local housing and homelessness data quality, Community Support Services created the HMIS Data Quality page on the Housing & Homelessness Dashboard. This post is dedicated to the new HMIS Data Quality page launched today, Friday August 2nd. The page covers date quality as well as completeness for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Continuum of Care (CoC). In addition, the post shares how this data can be employed and some potential impacts for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
Community Support Services partners with homeless service agencies in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to enter, collect, analyze and report data on housing and homelessness in the community. This June blog post describes the release of a new Housing Data Snapshot page, which provides regular reporting on three critical data points: the One Number, “By-Name” List Movement, and Coordinated Entry. Starting with this blog post, as new data is added to the Housing Data Snapshot, we will highlight changes and provide in-depth analysis to describe what these changes mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
Mecklenburg County recently allocated $1M to Community Support Services to replicate the MeckFUSE model in a new program with up to 50 families participating. Called Keeping Families Together (KFT), this program is a model of permanent supportive housing. Designed in partnership with Corporation for Supportive Housing, KFT is specifically for a subset of child welfare-involved families who typically present with an array of co-occurring challenges. To date, KFT has proven to be a promising practice in improving child wellbeing and decreasing child welfare involvement among the most vulnerable families. This blog post provides an overview of the program and its potential impact in Mecklenburg County.
