For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: November 29, 2005

Interagency Council honors 22 local governments for adopting plans to end homelessness

RALEIGH – Twenty-two local governments received recognition today from the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs (ICCHP) for establishing plans to end homelessness.

The ICCHP presented 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness Leadership Awards to 14 cities and eight counties. The awards were presented during a luncheon at the ICCHP’s Ninth Annual N.C. Conference on Homelessness.

“Over the past decade the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased in our state.” said Carmen Hooker Odom, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “The leaders of these cities and counties have made a commitment to use the latest research and data to develop outcome-driven plans that will lead to measurable decreases in our homeless population. I encourage leaders of all our communities to consider adopting a local plan.”

North Carolina’s state 10-year plan is the work of the ICCHP, which advises the governor and Hooker Odom on issues affecting people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

The following cities and counties received the awards:

• Asheville and Buncombe County
• Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and Orange County
• Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
• Durham and Durham County
• Fayetteville and Cumberland County
• Greensboro, High Point and Guilford County
• Raleigh and Wake County
• Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
• Gastonia
• Henderson
• Shelby

The local governments in North Carolina are among more than 200 communities nationwide that are engaged in the development and implementation of 10-Year Plans to End Homelessness.

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