Today I would like to share with you something I find to be absolutely amazing here in Charlotte. Earlier this month, partners from all over Charlotte came together to launch Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg, an initiative to eliminate chronic homelessness in Charlotte by December 31, 2016. Given that New Years is one of my favorite holidays and this is a cause about which I feel particularly passionately, I cannot think of a better cause for celebration when this initiative is able to accomplish its goals.
You may ask about the intersection of homelessness and emergency preparedness, as the average homeowner with emergency stores probably does not interact with the local homeless population on a regular basis, and this isn't a topic that would necessarily regularly frequent a blog of this nature. However, chronic homelessness has everything to do with emergency preparedness. Many of these people are stuck on the streets with little more than a blanket and a jacket, and while we are lucky to live in a warmer climate, we have already seen temperatures dipping down into the low teens and we've barely made it through one month of winter. By eliminating chronic homelessness, we are able to protect an entire population who would have been exposed to these conditions with little option for basic needs like shelter and warmth. I have posted before about hypothermia and the effects of extreme cold, and while these are concerns for people like me who are lucky enough to live in an apartment with working heat just in my time spent outside, these are much more significant for those with no escape, especially in the case that we wind up with a heavy snow later this winter.
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| Both of these pictures are from the January 6 launch of the Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg initiative earlier this month. |
As contributors from Urban Ministry Center (a major partner in this project) mentioned at last month's Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Response Team training, many of us have had a moment when we have been one step away from homelessness. I recognize that I am younger, and let me tell you, college was quite the confusing scramble at points as far as housing was concerned. During my summer breaks, I was lucky enough to have a mother willing to let me live with her while I worked, and when I graduated, I was lucky enough to have resources to obtain a room in an apartment I found via Craigslist. Since then, I have moved through several different housing situations (including a tent in the Mississippi woods, but I digress), but in many of these situations, I easily could have been left without housing had I not been so well-connected or simply lucky. Many of these people simply missed one opportunity along the way that I was lucky enough to find, and in that respect, I could have ended up stranded in the cold as easily as they have been.
Partners in this project include the Urban Ministry Center, as I mentioned, as well as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Carolinas Healthcare System, Crisis Assistance Ministry, and many others, and I am quite excited to see what happens.
Should you so desire to get involved with Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg, please click here and check out their website. It is an amazing cause, and I cannot believe we are planning to eradicate chronic homelessness in our community before the dawn of 2017. Further, I am reaching out to see if it is too late or not to join the Point in Time Count, which is listed on their website, but in the case that it is not, I will be sure to relay this information as it becomes available. I cannot wait to see the successes of this project, and I hope many of you will join with me as we help these goals become realized.
If you would like further information on chronic homelessness in Charlotte, feel free to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org, and I can help connect you with information and ways to get involved with local agencies as well. We have partnered closely with Urban Ministry Center and Crisis Assistance Ministry here at Hands On Charlotte in the past, and I would be glad to help relay information to willing volunteers and those curious in the local community.
And, because the Rolling Stones speak to my soul and this is one of my favorite songs of all time, here's the all too tempting Gimme Shelter:
Stay warm and stay safe, Charlotte!
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