<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0SXGmv_1Eqo0Hyq00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0SXGmv_1Eqo0Hyq00" width="1200" height="675" ><figcaption>Ashwikaa Balasubramaniyan, Graphic Illustrator</figcaption></figure>A new program aims to move homeless individuals in Wake County into permanent housing.Wake at Home, a public-private partnership from Wake County Continuum of Care, marked its first encampment closure Aug. 28, moving 33 individuals into permanent housing or temporary placements.The program, launched in July, aims to connect 400 people living in encampments to housing and support services, while helping 1,000 people exit from shelters through the next 18 months.Individuals with mental or behavioral health needs will be referred to support services. Residents receive case management services and year-long rent support.According to the 2025 point-in-time count, over 1,000 individuals experience homelessness in Wake County. That number includes roughly 300 who are fully unsheltered, and over 700 who are living in shelters or transitional housing.This represents an increase from 818 individuals recorded in 2018, with roughly 28% more individuals experiencing homelessness. Homelessness is also a problem at NC State, with a 2020 survey finding almost 10% of students experienced at least a short episode of homelessness within the past year.City Councilor Jane Harrison, who represents District D (including NC State University), said there are roughly 80 homeless encampments in the city of Raleigh. Harrison pointed to high costs and unaffordable rents in the city that are pushing people out of stable housing and into homelessness.Harrison also highlighted city efforts to clear encampments and move individuals into stable housing, including an effort to clear an encampment in Dorothea Dix Park that resulted in 90% of the individuals being moved into housing.Bringing Neighbors Home was the housing resource and relocation initiative that helped move individuals from Dix Park into housing. The initiative works to provide housing assistance, mental health care and job support services.Raleigh’s Addressing Crises through Outreach, Referrals, Networking and Service program also helps provide services to homeless individuals in the city. ACORNS pairs social workers with police to facilitate nonviolent response and facilitate outreach.Raleigh’s outreach likely served as a model for Wake County, Harrison said, adding that housing homeless individuals is often cheaper than unsheltered homelessness itself, due to needed medical care, potential stints in jail, shelter costs and other factors.“Raleigh was truly a leader and provided the model for how to provide housing directly to people experiencing homelessness. And now Wake County is following in our footsteps,” Harrison said. “The public cost of homelessness, if people stay homeless… that can actually reach almost $100,000 per individual per year.”Eileen Rosa, Wake County Continuum of Care lead agency director, agreed with Harrison’s assessment.“We’re building on some of the local projects that have existed and want to expand those, like the city of Raleigh’s unsheltered homelessness pilot, which successfully closed the encampment at Dix Park and rehoused about 90% of the folks who were staying there to permanent housing,” Rosa said.Direct vouchers for housing are only $24,000, Harrison said, representing a cost reduction.Harrison said individuals in her district are often concerned about the welfare of individuals in encampments and how to help.“They might be concerned for the welfare of those people in the camps. If there are crime or cleanliness issues, then they might be concerned for their own welfare within the neighborhood,” Harrison said. “I think most of our residents are very sympathetic to when people have experienced a hard time and are living outside and braving the elements.”Shelters often have restrictive hours or strict rules for couples and people with pets, forcing these groups out into the elements. Harrison added that providing independent housing is particularly helpful for these groups.“Some of what’s challenging is that we don’t always have the housing offer to make when we’re doing that type of engagement,” Rosa said. “The key difference is that they actually had the housing resource.”Rosa added that in the future, once unsheltered homelessness is reduced significantly, program coordinators hope that funds can be moved upstream to prevention.The program currently uses existing networks to reach participants. Rosa said individuals receiving services are not generally required to engage with substance abuse treatment or mental health services prior to entering housing.Programs targeting housing affordability also aim to prevent individuals from becoming homeless in the first place. Raleigh residents will vote on a $101.5 million affordable housing bond in November, with $12 million dedicated to homelessness response, building on a 2020 affordable housing bond that is now concluding.Harrison said what she’d like to see is city land being used to build perpetually affordable housing.“We will work with a nonprofit affordable housing developer, and we’ll basically say, hey, you can use this land, build an apartment complex here. And so then they figure out the financing to do that, but we provide the land, and then that way we will know that housing will be affordable forever,” Harrison explained.Harrison added that the city has worked to expand affordable housing in recent years.Raleigh Housing Authority, which manages public housing for the lowest-income individuals in the city, has not received adequate federal funding for upkeep in recent years, leading to deferred maintenance, Harrison said.“We really have to redevelop a lot of those sites for public housing because they’re at the end of life when it comes to an apartment building or a home,” Harrison said.Rosa said the program started when county officials realized they didn’t need to come up with a complicated plan — just provide resources where assistance is needed.“We don’t need to recreate the wheel; we don’t need a five-year plan. We actually just need to put the resources where the gaps are,” Rosa said.</div></body>

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A new program aims to move homeless individuals in Wake County into permanent housing. Wake at Home, a public-private partnership from Wake County Continuum of Care, marked its first encampment closure Aug. 28, moving 33 individuals into permanent housing or temporary placements. The program, launched in July, aims to connect...

New programs aim to address homelessness in Raleigh

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A new program aims to move homeless individuals in Wake County into permanent housing. Wake at Home, a public-private partnership from Wake County Continuu

New programs aim to address homelessness in Raleigh

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