NC DHHS Homeless Home

Homelessness in North Carolina

Who is homeless?

Among the homeless are people mostly in urban areas who are literally homeless – on the streets or in shelters – and people who face eviction within a week from a private dwelling or institution and who have no subsequent residence or resources to obtain housing. In rural areas, which usually lack an urban-style homeless services infrastructure, homeless people are likely to live with relatives in overcrowded or substandard housing. A lack of decent, affordable housing underlies both urban and rural homelessness.

How many are homeless?

The N.C. Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs sponsored a third annual point-in-time survey on January 24, 2007. The survey was conducted in over 80 counties. It provides a conservative, but defensible, unduplicated count of people who were homeless in our state on one given night. The survey found that there were 10,904 people identified as homeless, including 3,280 people in families, 2,001 of whom were children.

The count continues to be a critical step in quantifying the size and scope of homelessness in North Carolina, and in measuring the success of measures aimed at reducing homelessness in our state.

Both the point-in-time count and Emergency Shelter Grant annual reports document the prevalence of disabilities among homeless people. Approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of homeless people are known to have mental illness, and an even higher percentage suffer from addiction disorders. Another factor reported from both sources is domestic violence, with at least 10 percent of all homeless people, and a much higher rate among families having a history of domestic violence.

A Ten-Year Plan

The ICCHP is aggressively shaping homeless policy in our state through the creation of a Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The North Carolina plan, joined by cities and counties, will build on new research and new service designs with documented outcomes that give our state new tools for working with what had seemed to be an intractable problem. The plan will provide a policy framework for maximizing existing resources and creating new tools to provide needed housing with appropriate services for preventing homelessness and serving people and families exiting the homeless service system. The plan will also identify strategies for reducing the connection between the back door of publicly funded systems and the front door of our homeless service system. The ICCHP will work with communities as they develop local plans to end homelessness, striving to maximize the efforts and increase the effectiveness of both the state and local plans.

The following local governments have adopted 10-Year Plans:

• Buncombe County/Asheville
• Durham County/Durham
• Forsyth County/Winston-Salem
• Guilford County/Greensboro/High Point
• Mecklenburg County/Charlotte
• Orange County/Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Carrboro
• Shelby
• Wake County/Raleigh
• Wilmington

The following local governments are developing 10-Year Plans:

• Cumberland County/Fayetteville
• Gastonia
• Henderson
• Rockingham

As more and more communities engage in this process, our most vulnerable citizens – families, unaccompanied youth, and people with disabilities – will no longer be sleeping on our streets. Instead, plans will direct coordinated, intentional strategies that provide outcomes we all seek and an end to homelessness in North Carolina.

A cooperative effort

The N.C. Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs (ICCHP) advises the Governor and the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on issues affecting people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The Council is charged with providing recommendations for joint and cooperative efforts to better meet the needs of the homeless residents of North Carolina. The ICCHP works with its member agencies on special initiatives aimed at ending homelessness in North Carolina.

The ICCHP consists of 28 members who are appointed by the governor and represent non-profit agencies serving the homeless, county and city government, housing authorities, the private sector, the state departments of Administration, Commerce, Correction, Cultural Resources, Health and Human Services, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Public Instruction, the Community Colleges System, the NC Housing Finance Agency and the North Carolina General Assembly. A seat on the Council is also reserved for a representative of homeless and/or formerly homeless persons.

For more information on plans to end homelessness and what you can do in your community, please contact Martha Are at 919-733-4534 or martha.are@ncmail.net.

Last Modified: December 17, 2007