Greenville Together tackles homelessness with ‘housing surge,’ community meetings
Homelessness in Greenville is a problem that cannot be solved alone.
That concept sparked the creation of Greenville Together: A Home for All, a community-driven effort uniting community leaders, organizations and residents to tackle homelessness. The objective is to provide immediate aid to those experiencing homelessness while working toward long-term prevention.
Greenville Together aims to help 80 people experiencing homelessness within the city find permanent housing by the end of 2025. To accomplish this goal, a housing surge will launch in mid-June to rapidly rehouse unsheltered individuals. Triune Mercy Center was selected as the lead provider responsible for implementing and managing the housing surge.
The housing surge will be completed through several avenues, including a “street to-home approach.” This method will move chronically homeless and medical fragile individuals directly into permanent supportive housing. Resources such as two years of housing assistance and services will be provided to these individuals.
Cody Carver, director of Greenville Together, said the group has worked on building a strong foundation to ensure it is ready to begin the housing surge this summer. Recent efforts included raising additional funding, building Greenville Together’s team, providing training and technical assistance to service providers, improving outreach services and more.
Read more about Greenville Together: A Home for All
“We recognize that homelessness is growing in our community and that our current responses and our current approaches to homelessness were not enough,” Carver said. “Folks are suffering and even dying on our streets simply because they don’t have a safe place to call home every single night.”
Greenville Together is hosting a summer series of neighborhood community conversations to discuss homelessness. More than 90 people attended the first meeting on May 21 at Triune Mercy Center to learn about the local homelessness crisis and the needed solutions. A panel discussion was also held during the meeting, which included:
- Beth Paul, general manager of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and a member of Greenville Together’s community task force
- Sarah Branan, Greenville Together’s steering committee member and housing surge co-chair
- Dan Weathers, a member of Greenville Together’s lived experience council
- Matt Foster, CEO of NOAH Property Management
- Robin Barton, social worker at Triune Mercy Center
One of the topics discussed by the panel was the need for more permanent supportive housing in Greenville. This type of housing option provides both shelter and support services for those exiting homelessness. Greenville Together intends to create a funding plan to help build more permanent housing options.
Carver said Greenville Together is also working to develop partnerships with landlords and housing providers to create more housing options for people exiting homelessness. For example, NOAH Property Management plans to provide apartment units for Greenville Together’s housing surge.
“We need more landlords to offer second changes and opportunities for those that may not be the most stable resident, to give them a chance to live in their house or in their apartment,” Foster said.
Greenville Together will host two additional community conversation meetings in July and September. For more information, visit greenvilletogether.org/events.
Housing surge
Three strategies will be used to implement Greenville Together’s housing surge:
- Street to Home: An approach to move chronically homeless and medical fragile individuals directly into permanent supportive housing
- Rapid Exit: Provide one-time assistance to help someone secure stable housing
- Leverage existing programs: Connect unsheltered individuals to temporary housing and other resources
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