Each year, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services (CSS) releases an annual report series on housing instability and homelessness. The report series consists of two primary research products. The first, an integrated data report, is produced by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. These reports link cross-system data sources to explore  housing instability and/or homelessness through an intersectional lens. In May, CSS released an integrated data report describing the rate and characteristics of people experiencing homelessness before and after incarceration by combining data from the Homeless Management Information System and the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.  An upcoming integrated data report will use combined information sources to describe risk factors for homelessness among foster care involved youth.

The second major output in the series is the annual Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report. This report 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. It provides a single resource for all housing and homelessness-related data and information pertaining to Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The 2023 Report featured new data sources, and was released in early December.

In addition to the locally produced housing instability and homelessness outputs described above, several other housing-related reports have been released during the past year. A previous blog post providing a “top five” reading list for Summer 2020. This blog post will update that list and provide you with a 2023 “top five” reading list, including a brief overview of each report, why you should read it, and what each means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Today, December 7, 2023, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services  released the 2023 State of Housing Instability & Homelessness (SoHIH) Report. The annual SoHIH report synthesizes local, regional, and national data on the full housing continuum. It provides a knowledge base that Charlotte-Mecklenburg uses to make informed policy, practice, and funding decisions to facilitate optimized resource allocation and systems of care.

This blog post outlines the key findings from the 2023 SoHIH and what it could mean for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

This blog is the first of a monthly blog series that will feature a curated list of recent news and research related to housing instability, homelessness, and affordable housing. Together, these topics provide insights on the full housing continuum and are intended to keep community stakeholders informed about emergent research, promising practices, and innovative solutions related to housing instability and homelessness.
This month’s Research and News Roundup features an innovative approach to using utility payments to predict first-time homelessness; opportunities and resources to increase affordable housing by converting commercial properties; and proposed expansion of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a first of its kind program that provides non-medical interventions that address housing instability and other social determinants of health (SDOH) to Medicaid participants.

As of November 1, 2023, there were 268 Veterans experiencing homelessness in Mecklenburg County. Forty-six of these Vets are chronically homeless, which means they have a disability and have been homeless one year or longer or four times in the past three years. Interagency collaboration between organizations like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Mecklenburg County, and non-profit organizations is essential to preventing and ending Veteran homelessness.

This blog describes Veteran homelessness and highlights the services of some of the many organizations working to address Veteran homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

The voices of people with lived expertise of homelessness are crucial to all planning and decision-making activities related to the Continuum of Care. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Continuum of Care (CoC) Lived Experience Committee (LEC) is a collaborative of individuals who work together to provide a platform for individuals who have experienced homelessness to share their insights, perspectives, and recommendations on issues related to homelessness and the services, policies, and strategies designed to address it.

This blog post will provide an introduction to Lived Experience Committees and highlight the work of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Continuum of Care Lived Experience Committee.