Our Focus: Housing and Health

Homelessness is solvable when we work together as a connected community.

In support of this idea, Piedmont Health Foundation has partnered with the Greenville Homeless Alliance to launch a Housing Navigator pilot to build a bridge between frontline service providers and housing providers.

Housing Navigator Pilot Initiative

The Housing Navigator pilot seeks to prove the concept that connecting people to housing will improve the overall health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness in Greenville County.

The Housing Navigator will work to build connections and relationships with housing providers such as property owners and property management companies to expand the database and increase the number and types of housing options for the most vulnerable in Greenville County.

The Housing Navigator will work closely with a coalition of frontline service providers to identify people who are experiencing chronic homelessness and are ready for housing. Chronic homelessness is defined as someone who has experienced homelessness for a year or more and is challenged with a disabling condition.

The Housing Navigator will build relationships with frontline service providers and work to eliminate any barriers between people ready for housing and housing providers. Together, the goal is to connect a minimum of 24 people to stable housing.

In 2024 the initiative’s work will also include:

• The Housing Navigator will network with housing providers to understand what perceived and real challenges providers have faced in the past with individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness.
• The housing navigator will ensure that housing providers know how working through the initiative can eliminate some of the perceived risks and develop and connect them to incentives that could mitigate some of these risks.
• In addition to the online resource guide that GHA’s Collaborate Working Group created, the Housing Navigator will develop and oversee a centralized housing list to increase options for people in need of housing. The goal is to keep the housing list updated monthly.
• The Housing Navigator will also work to identify the supportive services needed to keep a person from experiencing homelessness again once a person is housed.
• The Housing Navigator will create a universal database that reports on exits from homelessness and quantifies the success of the initiative.

To learn more about the Greenville Homeless Alliance and other initiatives in this area, please visit gvlhomes4all.org.