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.

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 third installment in a series of blogs examining Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s latest LSA data utilizing the Stella P Module.
This blog provides an overview of days homeless, local performance on this metric, and highlights opportunities for performance improvement within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg homeless services system.

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 the most recent One Number update; latest trends and analysis; and what this means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Stella is an analysis and strategy tool developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support Continuums of Care (CoCs) in understanding the performance of their homeless services system. The Stella Performance Module (Stella P) visualizes homeless system performance using a CoC’s Longitudinal System Analysis (LSA) data so that the community can develop and monitor system performance improvement strategies. This blog is the first in a series of blogs that will examine Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s most recent LSA data using the Stella P Module.
This blog provides an overview of the LSA and Stella P, highlights the System Performance Map, and explains how this tool can be used to develop system performance improvement strategy in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

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. In July 2023, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Continuum of Care implemented a new Homeless Management Information System (HMIS): Clarity Human Services: Bitfocus. This system transition was undertaken to facilitate system improvement by strengthening and enhancing the local homeless services data system. The transition was necessary in order to support the community’s shared goal of delivering efficient and effective, impactful, data-informed homeless services. However, due to the transition, One Number metric data updates on the dashboard were delayed as we worked to develop the needed reports to provide these metrics to the community. We are excited to share that with the support of Community Solutions, Built for Zero, the needed reports have been finalized and we are able to resume our monthly reporting of the One Number.

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.