The mission of Homeless Support Services is to fill a gap in the local Continuum of Care of Homeless Services by providing outreach, engagement, comprehensive assessment and referral services to people who are homeless or at great risk of homelessness; and to assist clients in developing a plan of action that moves them toward self-sufficiency.
 

Eligibility 

Services 

Outreach & Partnerships 

Other Homeless Resources



Point In Time Count

The Summer 2010 Point-In-Time/Community Homeless Count for Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina has been released.  (FULL Summary)

Here are key highlights for the Summer 2010 Count:

The total summer 2010 community homeless count exceeds 6,800, which is a conservative estimate. The count was 6,500 in July 2009, showing an estimated increase of 5 percent this past year.

The total count includes three categories: HUD defined homeless (2,713 this year, up from 2,397 in July 2009, a 13 percent increase), CMS McKinney Vento Federal definition homeless children (4,437 this year). This is a much larger number than reported last year (2,989) but represents a full school year total which may include some duplicate counting as this is a cumulative number and not point in time. CMS homeless children numbers are reported with the community count because the HUD Point In Time only counted 416 children, about 10 percent of the CMS documented full school year number. The third category is the “community other” count (1,003) which is slightly down from last year and includes jail inmates, hospital homeless, foreclosed and evicted, and agencies not counted in other above categories.

We are working with CMS to refine the McKinney Vento counting and reporting process in the future for use with our summer and winter community homeless counting.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department continues to report a significant number of street homeless in camps and outdoor settings. The summer 2010 camp count is 737. Last summer it was 703, a 5 percent increase. CMPD indicates there may be some duplicate counts in this number, but also believe they did not count all the street and camp homeless.

In February 2010, the Urban Ministry Center partnered with New York City-based Common Ground and other service providers to complete a vulnerability index in our community, to identify chronically homeless individuals. This initiative surveyed 807 chronically homeless individuals in Charlotte, many of whom are street homeless. This Vulnerability Study documented that nearly half had a high mortality risk and pose a very significant challenge to our homeless service community.

The combined community count of homeless persons (excluding CMS) for summer 2010 is up 46 percent from summer 2007, a period of three years.

Overall, the numbers and needs of homeless persons in Charlotte-Mecklenburg have continued to increase.

Click HERE for the full summary prepared by Peter Safir, Mecklenburg County Homeless Services Director, Community Support Services Homeless Support Services Division

For information about HUD's definition of, and response to homelessness, go to: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/index.cfm  

For more information on the effects of homelessness in our community, call the Homeless Support Services at 704-926-0617.