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Family Service of the
Piedmont Targets Homelessness
Family Service of the Piedmont, an
Alliance member in Jamestown, N.C., has embarked on a new
three-agency effort to assist homeless men and women with mental
health issues find housing, access the services that they need to be
successful, and become integrated into the community. A
collaborative proposal by the three partner agencies—Family
Service of the Piedmont,
Greensboro Housing Coalition, and
Open Door Ministries—won
a competitive bidding process to receive more than $600,000 in grant
money for the new Housing Support Team initiative.
“The timing was very good,” says Mitch McGee, Housing Support Team
coordinator, who represents Family Service of the Piedmont on the
three-agency leadership group for the Housing Support Team. “The
community was just finishing up a
Task
Force on Ending Chronic Homelessness in Guilford County, so many
partnerships had been well established. … there was a lot of
interest around this issue.”
According to the findings of the Ending Chronic Homelessness task
force, on Jan. 24, 2007, there were more than 1,100 homeless people
in Guilford County, North Carolina. More than 200 of these people
had been homeless for more than one year, and some for as long as 20
years. While hundreds of these individuals moved from transitional
living facilities into permanent housing during 2006, for others,
homelessness has been a chronic condition—one that’s often
associated with mental illness or substance addiction.
“Currently about 10 percent of homeless folks are using up a large
percentage of the resources,” McGee explains. “This program [the
Housing Support Team] targets these individuals directly.” By
helping these “high use” individual achieve stability, the Team
expects that more resources will be made available to assist others.
Referrals to the Housing Support Team come through hospitals, law
enforcement, and social service agencies. To be eligible, clients
must be homeless at the time they are enrolled or living in a
shelter or transitional program. The team also meets with potential
clients prior to discharge from jail or hospital, if it is believe
that they will be homeless upon discharge.
More than one dozen clients already are enrolled in the Housing
Support Team program, but the Team expects to serve upwards of 75
individuals throughout the life of the project..
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