Charlotte, North Carolina, one of our Zero: 2016 communities committed to ending homelessness, interacts with CSH staff to obtain expert guidance on how to achieve its goal. A recent report from Charlotte bolsters the wisdom of creating additional supportive housing to end and prevent homelessness, and address other related issues.
Moore Place, a HousingWorks supportive housing program of the Urban Ministry Center, houses 85 former chronically homeless adults and is the first such facility in the Charlotte area to operate as a housing first model. A two-year study led by Dr. Lori Thomas, Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and College of Health and Human Services at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) suggests Moore Place has succeeded in maintaining a high housing stability rate with a clinically and socially vulnerable population. In addition, the program has helped transform its tenants’ use of community resources – reducing arrests, jail stays, and the utilization of emergency health services. Despite the myriad of health challenges the tenants of Moore Place face, the use of emergency departments and ambulance services has shifted notably toward more appropriate – and less expensive – use of primary health care.
