The Charlotte City Council and County Commission has tasked the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Coalition for Housing with overseeing the implementation of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Ten Year Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness. 
 
The Ten Year Plan focuses on three primary goals:

• Housing – Get homeless families and individuals into appropriate and safe permanent housing as soon as possible.
• Outreach and Engagement – Link chronic homelessness to housing, treatment and services through intensive outreach and engagement.
• Prevention – Promote housing stability for those families and individuals most as risk of becoming homeless.

The Coalition was established as a joint effort by local government to include  the development of housing, often referenced as “bricks and mortar” with social services needed by families and individuals as they move from homelessness to permanent housing.
 
To accomplish this task, the Coalition will work with service providers and  the community to determine a comprehensive and deliberate strategy for moving from homelessness to permanent housing.  The Coalition will look at national best practices, analyze data and recommend priorities for programs to the governing Boards.  The Coalition is also responsible for recommending priority areas for the use of housing bonds to City Council.
 
The Coalition will provide an annual report the City Council, County Commission and the community.

Important Initiatives

• Partnered with the Souls of Our Neighbors project to develop year long series of events on affordable housing and homelessness.
• Will hold an Interfaith Summit on Affordable Housing and Homelessness on March 9, 2012 from 9 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at The Park Expo and Conference Center.

• Executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services Department, the Mecklenburg County Community Support Services Department and the Housing Authority of the City of Charlotte by which the parties will seek to work together as part of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Coalition for Housing.  This MOU ensures that affordable housing opportunities are paired with appropriate support services which further the effort to implement the community’s Ten Year Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness.
• Held community meeting to receive comments on the supportive service housing RFP/RFQ that will be let in February 2012.

• Received catalyst funding from the Foundation For The Carolinas to develop a community data mart project with the Institute for Social Capital at UNC Charlotte. This project will assess the current data in the Homeless Management Information System and will help guide funding and policy priorities for implementing the Ten-Year Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness.