‘More entire families becoming homeless’: New program helps households stay together

Homeless couples with children needing emergency shelter soon will have more options to stay together, thanks to a new program at the Salvation Army Center of Hope.

The shelter, which previously accepted only women and children, has added rooms for entire families, including fathers.

“We have seen the impact of this housing market,” said Deronda Metz, social services director for the Salvation Army. “Now we’re seeing more entire families becoming homeless than ever before.”

Families, unwilling to be separated, sometimes sleep in their cars or find other alternatives, she said.

A two-year, $300,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina funded renovations at the shelter, program staffing, hotel vouchers and money for up-front housing costs like rent and deposits for families after leaving the shelter.

Three renovated single rooms each have a private bathroom and can sleep four to six people, Metz said. Couples must be together at least six months and both must have custodial rights to the children with them. Metz said she expects the program, which begins in December, could accommodate 50 families per year.

Nearly 2,800 people were identified as homeless as of Sept. 30, according to Mecklenburg County data. That included 246 families with children.

Metz said while the Salvation Army doesn’t track how many such families were previously unable to enter the shelter, she estimated one in five families seeking shelter were from two-parent households.

The shelter typically serves more than 500 families per year.

Many communities around the country don’t have shelters for entire families, said Steve Berg, vice president of programs and policy for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

“It’s hard to imagine anything more traumatic for a family for losing than housing,” Berg said. “If that experience is followed up by having to separate in order to stay indoors, it just adds to that trauma.”

Other area shelters accommodating entire households include Charlotte Family Housing, which has 21 single rooms for two-parent households and single mothers or fathers with children. YWCA Central Carolinas operates 10 townhouses for homeless families with children, including two-parent households.

This work was made possible in part by grant funding from Report for America/GroundTruth Project and the Foundation For The Carolinas.