143 Days to House 200 Homeless Vets

Last November the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County announced an audacious goal of ending Veteran homelessness in our community by the end of 2015. As of this month, the coalition working to make this happen says they have a list of about 200 left to house in order to reach that goal.

 

The list of names was compiled from both state and federal Veteran’s Affairs registries. Getting to this moment is a key milestone for Housing Our Heroes, a coalition led by the mayor’s office of seventeen government and non-profit entities in our region.

 

“Up until now our meetings have been all about the number housed each week,” says Mary Gaertner, Neighborhood Program Coordinator for the City of Charlotte. “We’re going to reverse that now, because we know by name who needs housing.”

 

Reaching this threshold is both an exciting achievement and a daunting reminder of the work left to do. Branden Lewis, Director of Veteran Services for Community Link and one of the chairpersons for Housing Our Heroes, says, “there’s not a lot of time left, and we’re all working like crazy to get to zero by the end of the year.”

 

The Housing our Heroes coalition was formed in response to a nationwide Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran’s Homelessness issued by First Lady Michelle Obama and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). New Orleans was the first to announce, in January of this year, that they have achieved “functional zero” Veteran homelessness.

 

The concept of “functional zero” recognizes that ending Veteran homelessness isn’t a one-time task. “Does saying we’ve achieved functional zero mean we’ll never have another homeless Veteran on the street?” asks Gaertner. “Of course not. What it does mean is that we will have a plan and resources in place to have any Veteran who becomes homeless quickly housed and into sustainability and self-sufficiency.”

 

The Housing Our Heroes coalition has stepped up their efforts as of this month, meeting weekly instead of twice a month and increasing the number of people going out into the community trying to find homeless Vets.

 

Gaertner says she feels confident that we can reach the goal of ending veteran homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County by the end of this year.

 

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