Based on its success as well as the overwhelming need demonstrated by  the Vulnerability Index, H2H is moving from a pilot project to a permanent program of UMC.   We currently have 15 participants who have moved from long-term homelessness to permanent supportive housing. All residents work closely with a full-time case manager who provides assistance on a variety of issues as well as linkages to essential services in the community. The program is committed to maintaining a 15:1 resident/social worker ratio, which is recognized nationally as a best practice for this housing and services model. UMC will seek additional funds to hire another social worker who will provide services to an additional cohort of chronically homeless, disabled adults. As with the original residents, rent for these individuals will be supported by Federal subsidy vouchers which have been allocated to the Charlotte region.  

 

Meet Two Residents

 

 

Eugene's Story

 

Life was going along quite well for Eugene Coleman until work-related hernia surgery and complications sent him into a downward spiral of job loss and substance abuse.  But that's not where his story ends.  It's where it begins again.  It was at the "giving up point" that he began coming to Urban Ministry Center for a midday meal and connected with a counselor to seek out additional support services. For more than 20 years, Eugene had slept on the streets, in chronic pain and depressed, too traumatized by his earlier medical experience to seek a second surgery he needed.  A doctor volunteering in the soup kitchen calmed his fears and got him to a surgeon who could help.  He was chosen to participate in the Homeless to Homes pilot program and subsequently entered into the intensive, nine-month SABER program for addiction recovery.  Through Homeless to Homes, Eugene moved into his own apartment last year where he  now serves as vice president of the Neighborhood Association.  Positive, focused and deeply dedicated to helping others who struggle, Eugene is a role model and inspiring example of the difference housing can make.  Photo:  Eugene receives the keys to his apartment.   

 

 

 

 Meet Billy Jo

 

Billy Jo joined H2H after nearly four years of living outdoors in a camp. He was identified during the Vulnerability Index as one of the 25 most vulnerable individuals surveyed – the combination of his age, physical and mental health conditions made him 4 times more likely to die on the streets. He told us in February, “I’m ready to go under a roof…I can’t fight the mosquitoes anymore.” Billy Jo moved into his new home in September 2010 and says he is happy to now have place that his son, an Iraq war veteran, can come visit him.  Photo at left shows Bill Jo in the camp where he lived for four years; at right he is at home in his new apartment.