Charlotte Emergency Housing

Charlotte Emergency Housing has a strong record of advocacy for issues related to homelessness and the development of affordable housing opportunities. CEH developed the Housing First for Families initiative to provide housing opportunities and comprehensive social work support to working homeless families. This was later blended with the community-wide initiative WISH. Currently CEH works with WISH and Project Hope (the new Federal stimulus program) to access affordable housing for its residents. We also have limited funds remaining from Housing First for Families which is used to assist families who do not need the intensity of support provided through WISH or Project Hope.

Building the relationships necessary to effect systemic changes that make a significant difference for our clients is time- consuming and requires a lot of outputs before seeing the meaningful outcomes. However, because CEH has been around for 25 years, we have been able to see the positive changes that have occurred through our advocacy for the homeless community.  Although time-consuming, we can see that our efforts eventually bring improved outcomes – more affordable housing for our residents.

CEH staff attended the following meetings at which they consistently advocated for more affordable housing for homeless families:
• City Council Housing & Neighborhood Development Committee (to monitor public awareness of housing issues for very low-income families)
• Homeless Services Network
• Homeless Services Network Advocacy Committee
• Homeless Services Network Steering Committee
• North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness
• Project Hope
• Ten Year Plan/Continuum of Care
• Unity Against Hunger and Poverty

The Executive Director appeared on “United Way and You” twice where she advocated for affordable housing as well as CEH’s programs. The Director of Development has also appeared on Access 21 “The Time is Now” and “Second Chance” programs.