Why Raleigh is now giving money to residents of a former homeless camp

Yahoo

01-03-2025

Nicole Reynolds doesn't panhandle.
But, if she did, she knows exactly what her cardboard sign would say.
'It would say 'You are one paycheck [away] from being right beside me,'' she said, as she stood outside a tent that housed her belongings. 'People always think you did something to get here, and I did nothing but pay my freaking rent.'
For months, Reynolds and dozens of others slept in the woods between Dorothea Dix Park and the State Farmers Market off of Goode Street.
She's been homeless since she was evicted during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite an eviction moratorium.
'I lost my place, and I spent my life savings paying [for] hotels and stuff,' Reynolds said. 'And that's with like being able to navigate things like getting discounts and things like that. There was no housing. There was no affordable housing.'
Now, she's one of a few to be part of a first-of-its-kind experiment in Raleigh. Over the next two years, the city will pay 45 families and individuals experiencing homelessness at least $1,450 every month to spend however they like. The Raleigh City Council will be briefed on the program Tuesday.
'We know through years of research and practice that a large majority of people, 80% to 90% of people, just need that two years of assistance and then they're able to stabilize after that time,' said Emila Sutton, the city's Housing and Neighborhoods director, in an interview with The News & Observer.
The city chose the Goode Street encampment to give long-term residents there a chance to find new housing before the city closed it Jan. 31. Reynolds got her debit card in mid-January.
'I took some of the money from what would be for rent and I got a hotel for a couple nights,' she said on Jan. 31. 'It was nice to take a shower.'
The Bringing Neighbors Home pilot program focuses on homeless encampments.
When Sutton came to work for the city in 2023, there were 50 identified encampments in Wake County, mostly in Raleigh. Now the number hovers around 80.
Forty of the 45 spots in the program are dedicated to those who lived off Goode Street. The site was chosen because the city owns the land, it had 'health and safety issues' and the camp needed to be closed before new attractions open at Dix Park, Sutton said. The Gipson Play Plaza opens this spring after three years of construction on the Lake Wheeler Road side of the park.
The remaining five spots in the pilot program are for people who are homeless and live in downtown Raleigh.
So far, 51 people have been enrolled including two families with children. The only requirement is that they were long-term residents of the encampment and make below 60% of the area median income. For one person that is $51,420. For a family of four, it's $66,060.
The money a person received is based on household size and the federal government's definition of fair-market rent. A one-person household would get $1,466 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.
People can spend the money however they like.
'It's designed that way because we've seen the success in other communities,' Sutton said. 'We know through these other programs there's not been an increase in what are called temptation goods spending. So people are not spending more on things like alcohol, drugs or whatever the temptation categories are. People are spending money on transportation, housing, child care, sanitary things that they need for themselves. Food, really just basic survival things, is what people spend money on.'
The program encourages people to take advantage of case management to connect them with services, though it's not required.
Sometimes that means helping people find a primary-care physician or drug treatment. Sometimes it means helping someone get an ID card or find new clothing.
Everyone has engaged with case management and 'everyone is either housed or has a housing plan,' Sutton said. And being housed looks like a variety of things including renting an apartment or hotel and staying at an Airbnb.
The pilot program costs a little over $3 million.
On the camp's last day, people loaded bicycles, suitcases and folding chairs into a large white van. One man carried a broken blue plastic laundry bin filled with jackets and other pieces of clothing.
'Love y'all. Be safe. Good luck,' said a woman who said her belongings on the van would go to a friend's apartment.
A blue blanket lay sprawled on the pine needles with items carefully stacked on it: a plastic bag filled with bottles of nail polish, another labeled 'hygiene' filled with deodorant and bars of soap, a tote bag with elephants, giraffes and zebras on it filled with yarn.
Reynolds had to stop herself from picking up trash near the blanket. The city would be throwing away everything left here, she explained. She had to stay focused on packing her own things.
'I hate waking up in the morning and coming out and it looks like some run-down garbage,' she said. 'And I will cuss everybody out if I see a dirty syringe.'
She kept getting interrupted. Someone spotting a box of Capri Sun fruit punch on the ground asked if it was hers and if she would share. She did.
People have to look out for one another, she said.
Raleigh is modeling its program after programs in cities such as Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City.
Since 2012, Houston has reduced its homelessness by 60% and housed 30,000 people, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County.
The city estimates it costs $96,000 a year in emergency services, law enforcement and health care for a homeless person living outside. Putting someone in a home and making services available to them costs $20,000 a year, saving taxpayers $76,000.
'We always say it is a solution for heartstrings and pursestrings,' Sutton said. 'It works for addressing the tragedy of homelessness and what people endure going through that, and it is efficient and effective and it saves taxpayer dollars.'
Houston's model is the best practice because it's cost-effective, compassionate and 'meets the moment,' said Mandy Chapman Semple, who designed and co-managed its implementation. She's now a managing partner of Clutch Consulting Group, which helps bring Houston's approach to other cities.
'It allows local communities to manage spaces for health and safety, while also connecting people living in encampments directly to what they need to recover and stabilize, ending their homelessness.'
Houston has disbanded 127 homeless encampments, and most former residents have remained housed since.
'In cities where we've successfully implemented this approach, like Cleveland and New Orleans, progress has been driven by bold leadership and strong partnerships with local governments that bring new investment and capacity to the table,' Semple said.
'Historically, homelessness response systems and city governments haven't worked in such a direct, coordinated way,' she said. 'I'm encouraged to see the city of Raleigh stepping up with resources and leadership to tackle this solvable issue.'
When a camp gets shut down and people are kicked out, they scatter, sometimes into other camps.
'People get really caught up in a lot of the mythology around homelessness and what their judgments are about folks in this situation,' Sutton said. 'And it really is a housing issue, right? And we know that to be true, and this is a really highly efficient and effective way to solve an issue versus just moving people around the city and increasing the amount of homelessness that's happening.'
The Goode Street encampment saw eight new residents when the N.C. Department of Transportation closed a camp where South Saunders Street meets Interstate 40 last year. About 20 people were living in the woods near the exit ramp and about 45 tons of trash was removed once the camp was closed.
'What we like about the Bringing Neighbors Home pilot project is it's offering a solution that we can do more than just move displaced people into different parts of the community,' said Chris Budnick, executive director of Healing Transitions
The nonprofit offers free recovery services for people with alcoholism and drug addictions and was located across the street from the encampment.
'The status quo is not effective,' Budnick. 'What we've done has not been effective. Solutions and approaches have not reduced the problem so that creates an openness for me to try something new, and I've been persuaded by the experience of other communities: to say this is worth exploring, worth trying.'
On Jan. 31, Reynolds said she didn't know exactly where she would go but would likely stay in a hotel for a few days. She didn't have a phone at the time. Her partner, Jerel Smith, was also accepted into the program. On Jan. 31, the two packed up their belongings in a U-Haul truck.
His focus will be on 'needs, not wants,' when Smith gets his money.
'You know, that's the biggest thing.,' he said. 'Some people are about wants. I want to get this car because this person had a nice car. I'm like, [expletive], I can ride my bicycle. It's a lot of needs.'
Housing and getting a license are the first things on his list.
'I'm fed up,' he said. 'Fed up with my old life. This is my chance to get it right. I'm a habitual felon so I am trying to get my life right.'
Kenneth Edwards is one of the people who was not accepted into the city's program.
A former manager at an automotive center, he got into an argument with one of his co-workers.
'I quit thinking I could just go out and, you know, get another job. That it would be easy,' he said. 'But whenever COVID came around, it was hard to find a job.'
He had lived at the Goode Street encampment since Halloween but was told he didn't qualify because he hadn't lived there long enough. But, he said, he's seen others who have lived at the camp for less time get a card.
A resident needed to be living at the camp between October 9, 2024, and January 3, 2025, and their residency needed to be validated by at least two people including one from a service provider like Healing Transitions, said Erika Brandt, assistant director of the city's housing and neighborhoods department.
People who didn't want to join the program or didn't meet the qualifications were referred to other community resources, she said.
Edwards has a propane heater and small tent for the winter time. In the summertime he tries to find places deeper in the woods where it's cooler and he can catch a breeze. The bigger tent comes out in the summer time, but it still needs a fan, he said.
'I've got a bunch of power banks, and I keep those charged up,' he said. 'I can keep things powered through the night, and I do have a little laptop so I can watch some TV and movies and stuff like that.'
As he packed up his tarp, he said he didn't know where he would go next.
'I'll find a spot off the train tracks or something.'