Charlotte nonprofit provides affordable housing for neighbors with disabilities

CHARLOTTE — One Charlotte nonprofit is fighting homelessness by providing affordable housing to people with disabilities.

Tiffani Whitmire is a volunteer at Supportive Housing Communities.

“To me, it’s important to provide support when I can, because I can, because we don’t know what our tomorrow is,” she told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis.

Over the last year, Whitmire has worked to raise awareness about the nearly 3,000 people in Charlotte experiencing homelessness.

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“Every neighbor here has fought homelessness for at least a year,” she said. “It could be me, you know, anytime from now, my neighbors, my family, like people I care for, and then I may not be able to help people. So what can I do now?”

She’s helped with fundraising and handed out turkeys around the holidays — a definite change from her fulltime banking job.

“Pretty much my entire 25 plus years has been helping people with mortgages,” Whitmire said. “It’s, you know, sobering when you understand the realistic issues that our communities face with homelessness.”

Supportive Housing Communities is working not only to put people in homes but also to rebuild lives. Each tenant or family is assigned a case worker.

The nonprofit has a 94% success rate of keeping its residents in stable housing.

Whitmire says just a small contribution can create more of those success stories.

“If we all give our little pieces, it becomes a big impact,” she said.

The nonprofit is gearing up for its Warm Soles Night Walk. The immersive fundraising event, sponsored by Novant Health, is happening Feb. 28. It’s designed to put participants in the shoes of our neighbors experiencing homelessness.

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