Category Archives: Ending Homelessness?

Posted
January 19, 2011
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Guilford County homeless providers receive $1.4 million

HUD recently awarded renewal funds for existing homeless programs as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Continuum of Care Grants. Homeless service providers in Guilford County received a total of $1,449,318 — a modest increase of $8,244 overall from 2009. Most homeless service providers received the same funding as last year. With non-profits scrambling to find money in a depressed economy, the HUD grant awards are welcome news.

Here is a list of the Guilford County providers who received renewal funding, along with the amount each received this year and last year:

HOMELESS SERVICE PROVIDER PROGRAM NAME 2009 HUD AWARD 2010 HUD AWARD
Alcohol and Drug Services of Guilford, Inc.

Project Home Front

SHP

 $34,996

$34,996
Family Service of the Piedmont, Inc.

Clara House: emergency shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence in Greensboro

SHP

 $70,218

$70,218
Greensboro Housing Authority

Grace Homes: housing program for chronically homeless single adults with physical, mental or substance abuse disabilities in Greensboro

S+CR

 $0

$21,996
Greensboro Housing Authority Home at Last: permanent
supportive housing program for homeless people in Greensboro

S+CR

 $121,548 $0
Greensboro Housing Authority

Housing Opportunities: permanent supportive housing program for homeless people in
Greensboro

SHP

 $477,369

$477,369
Greensboro Housing Authority

Mary’s Homes: scattered site
single-family homes in High Point for homeless, substance abusing mothers in recovery, and their children

S+CR

 $316,152

$423,948
Greensboro Urban Ministry

Partnership Village:
transitional housing for formerly homeless individuals and
families in Greensboro

SHP

 $59,850

$59,850
Joseph’s House, Inc.

Joseph’s House Young Adult Independent Living
Program: permanent, supportive housing program for homeless young adults in Greensboro who are: 1) chronically homeless, or 2) victims of domestic violence, or 3)
disabled

SHP

 $43,730

$43,730
Mary’s House, Inc.

Mary’s House: transitional
housing for mothers in recovery from substance abuse, and their
minor children; located in Greensboro

SHP

 $135,982

$135,982
Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.

Arthur Cassell Memorial Transitional Housing
Program: transitional living facility in High Point for homeless recovering addicts and alcoholics

SHP

 $48,919

$48,919
Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.

HMIS – High Point: homeless management information system

SHP

 $13,750

$13,750
The Salvation Army

Case Management/After-Care

SHP

 $19,274

$19,274
The Servant Center, Inc.

Servant House: transitional housing program for disabled homeless men in Greensboro

SHP

$47,586

$47,586
Youth Focus Inc.

Youth Focus Transitional Living Program :
serves homeless young women in Greensboro ages 16-21

SHP

$51,700

$51,700
$1,441,074

$1,449,318

NOTES (from HUD.gov):

  • S+CR: Shelter Plus Care Program provides rental assistance for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities in connection with supportive services funded from sources outside the program.
  • SHP: The Supportive Housing Program helps develop housing and related supportive services for people moving from homelessness to independent living. Program funds help homeless people live in a stable place, increase their skills and their income, and gain more control over the decisions that affect their lives.

» Click here to see all 2010 grant awards of HUD’s web site.

 

Posted
September 26, 2008
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Article exposes problems with homeless housing initiative

About a year ago, chronically homeless people in Guilford County began moving from the street into permanent housing, with the help of housing support teams, as part of a state-funded pilot program.  Dozens of my homeless friends have moved into housing.  That is great and exciting, and I am thankful.  However, as part of the program, they were promised supportive services, such as treatment for addiction disorders and mental illness, and they are supposed to have the help and assistance of “enhanced providers” in obtaining needed services.  But that has not been the reality for many of my friends, and they have suffered as a result.

I would like to thank YES! Weekly’s Jordan Green for his article, “Formerly homeless clients find services lacking,” an honest and in-depth account of the serious and troubling issues with the “enhanced providers” contracted by Guilford Center to provide services for clients of the housing support program — including failure to provide contracted services.  Jordan’s article discusses audits, failure rates, deficiencies, corrective action plans, Medicaid/Medicare payment abuse, and more.  Until now, I haven’t seen anything in the media about the enhanced provider issues.  I appreciate YES! Weekly’s attention to this story.

» Read it here.

***Let me be clear: My friends and I have nothing but praise for the housing support team (Mitch and his staff) who are responsible for the housing piece — literally moving our friends from the street into their new homes. And they do so much more than that — stepping in to try to fill the gaps as much as possible, and seeming to work 24/7. God bless them all. Mitch is universally loved and appreciated. All of the issues that I’m aware of have been with the enhanced service providers. Read Jordan’s article to find out more about that.

Posted
July 7, 2008
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Making an economic case for housing the homeless

In an ideal world, we’d all do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. But this is the real world, and sometimes people need incentives. Jehan Benton, director of Guilford County’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, talks to the N&R’s Joe Killian:

“You can break it down where you end up spending $20,000 in public resources on one person, with no change. They’re right where they were when you started. Or you can spend $10,000 and they’re in a home, they have services and they’re not using thousands or tens of thousands in public resources.”

Jehan also discusses education, job training, stereotypes, and more. Read the whole article here.

Posted
June 25, 2008
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Greensboro Urban Ministry to begin housing program for homeless families thanks to $1 million bequest

From Mike Aiken, executive director, Greensboro Urban Ministry:

The Greensboro Urban Ministry Board of Directors approved the start-up of a new program, Beyond Pathways, and the establishment of a new fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, thanks to the receipt of a nearly $1 million bequest from the estate of Nancy Richmond Hudson.

“Nancy Hudson had a passion to share God’s love with the poor and needy. What a wonderful way to make sure that her commitment to help others will continue forever through the establishment of the Nancy Richmond Hudson Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. This Fund will provide start-up funding for Beyond Pathways and will support Urban Ministry programs for years to come,” commented Rev. Mike Aiken, Executive Director, Greensboro Urban Ministry.

Nancy Hudson retired from the U.S. State Department, returned to Greensboro, and was an active volunteer and supporter of Greensboro Urban Ministry until her death on August 18, 2006. At an earlier time she made a gift to Greensboro Urban Ministry in memory of her late mother, Sue Richmond Hudson, and her late father, Dr. C. C. Hudson, a former Director of Public Health in Greensboro.

The homeless family waiting list at Greensboro Urban Ministry’s Pathways Center has been steadily growing. In 2007, 248 families applied for shelter at Pathways – a 10% increase over 2006. Only sixty-six of those families were able to be housed. Their average length of stay was 101 days. The average length of time on the waiting list was around seven weeks. During the summer months, as many as forty families were on the waiting list.

In order to better address these growing numbers of homeless families on our waiting list, Urban Ministry is developing a Housing First for Families program: Beyond Pathways. Beyond Pathways was conceived at Urban Ministry’s Futures Conference, held last fall at First Lutheran Church. Tying into the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, the program will emphasize moving families into housing quickly and providing case management and support in order to prevent homelessness in the future.

The goal will be to case manage up to 20 families at any one time and serve from 40 to 60 additional families in a year.

Some families will be able to move out of Pathways with minimal financial assistance for example, a security deposit and first month’s rent. Others need slightly more assistance- perhaps a short-term subsidy that helps families pay for housing for several months or a shallow subsidy of $100 to $300 that lasts for up to a year. This short-term assistance will be coupled with intensive services designed to help the family increase their income so they will be able to continue to pay for housing after the subsidy ends.

[emphasis mine]

My response? PRAISE THE LORD! This is amazing and wonderful news for GUM and for soon-to-NOT-be homeless families in Greensboro! Nancy Hudson demonstrated God’s heart for the poor with hands-on service during her lifetime and a financial legacy of love that will have an impact an others for years to come. What a blessing! I thank God for Nancy Hudson’s gift, and for GUM’s commitment to care for the “least of these” (Matt 25:31-40) and “to bring the homeless poor into the house” (Isaiah 58:6-7.)

Update: The News & Record’s story, 06/26/08.

Posted
February 27, 2008
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Letter to the Editor: Progress on Ten Year Plan?

A social work student writes a very optimistic letter to the editor of the News & Record:

“Guilford County has moved forward with a 10-year plan… efforts are solidifying.”

Really? Please tell me more, because I’m actually on the Task Force and I haven’t heard a thing in months.

“In January 2007, more than 1,200 people were homeless in Guilford County, and more than 200 of them were chronically homeless. However, during the previous year, 243 people moved from transitional to permanent housing. This is a major step in the right direction.”

Moving people into permanent housing is always a good thing, but the total number of homeless people in Guilford County actually increased from 1108 in 2006 to 1269 in 2007. So that’s a major step in the wrong direction.

“… discharge plan … … 24-hour resource system … … day center …”

Those are all needed and wanted — agreed!. And proposed under a plan that is not yet implemented. Fortunately, there are some other groups of folks who are coming together to find ways to create some of these resources.