North Carolina's homelessness crisis is closer to home than you think.
Most people who become homeless in North Carolina are doing so for the first time. Older adults on fixed incomes. Working parents. Veterans. Neighbors priced out of the towns they grew up in.
Learn about real solutions.
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What’s happening
Rising Housing Costs Create First-Time Homelessness
- First-Time Homelessness is on the Rise – 66% of people
who became homeless last year had never been homeless before. - It’s More Unaffordable in North Carolina than Ever Before – Rents climbed. Costs of living increased. But paychecks didn’t.
- Priced Out – That’s the story behind the numbers. People who did everything right are losing their homes.
More people in North Carolina are closer
to homelessness than they think
North Carolinians are more worried about the cost of living than ever. The people who lose their housing are the people who were already stretched to the edge. 43% of North Carolinians already say homelessness could happen to them or someone they know.
The new faces of homelessness
They are seniors. They are veterans. And they are people who are being priced out and are now homeless for the first time. Everyday residents in North Carolina are unfairly being priced out of communities they have lived in their whole lives. These are people like you.
Who it’s happening to
The Gap Is Growing.
State Leaders Aren't Closing It.
There’s far less help out there than most people assume.
Waitlists for rental assistance fill before people can get on them. Local organizations are scraping together solutions without the funding to meet the need.
78% of North Carolinians say the state must do more.
As one man experiencing homelessness told us, “The government treats the symptoms, not the root cause.”
The fastest solution is keeping
people housed, not in handcuffs
Rental assistance can reach a family weeks before an eviction turns into a shelter stay. Housing navigation can get someone back into a home in a matter of weeks.
Health care, job training, and voluntary treatment help people stay stable once they’re housed.
North Carolina needs real solutions
to help reduce homelessness
North Carolinians want action. That means more affordable housing, rental assistance, and mental health services. NOT pointless arrests and sweeps.
Very few residents see jail as the answer. Here’s why they know we can’t arrest our way out of homelessness:
Sweeps move people, but not out of homelessness. With no home to go to, someone is just relocated a few blocks over.
Jail is the most expensive option. People come out with nowhere to go, and the cycle starts again.
It pulls officers off the work communities need them for. Those hours aren’t spent serving our communities.
How can you help
Support solutions that work
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is working with North Carolina and communities across the country to support programs and services that can prevent people from becoming homeless and get people off the street.
To do so, we must invest in:
Keeping People
Housed
We need to make sure people don’t lose a place to live because they no longer can afford it. A broad variety of rental assistance programs and affordable housing options are essential to ensure that people don’t become homeless in the first place.
Immediate Help
For those already experiencing homelessness, it’s crucial that safe and dignified shelter options are available to get people out of tents, into a safe environment, and ultimately back into housing.
Connecting people
to services
To best help and stabilize people experiencing homelessness, frontline workers need the resources to provide critical services – like housing connections, case management, street outreach, mental health counseling, employment assistance, and tailored services for seniors and others with high medical needs.
Long term solutions
To end homelessness, it is essential that policies are made to keep rent affordable, permanent supportive housing investments provide intensive services to those with the greatest needs, and commitments are made to dedicated year-to-year funding for homelessness and affordable housing options.
Too many Carolinians are at risk from
losing their homes
A job loss, medical bills, rent hike, divorce, or the passing of a spouse can leave someone with no options.
If we don’t expand real solutions, more of our neighbors will end up on the streets.
About NAEH
We’re working to end homelessness for good
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a leading voice on ending homelessness in America. We advocate for smart, effective solutions that actually reduce homelessness.
Join US