Salvation Army fighting city's homeless problem

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — The Salvation Army in Charlotte is working to establish a long-term solution to the city's homeless problem.

The agency helps close to 400 homeless women and children.

Officials said more than 70 percent of them have never been homeless before.

Cynthia Winchester spent two years living on the streets.

"I was living in the streets and at the top of stairs at churches," she said.  "It was hard and scary. When it rained, I had nowhere to go."

The Salvation Army and the Men's Shelter are modeling plans for a solution after the success in Columbus, Ohio where agencies used federal money to re-house hundreds.

Shelter officials are surveying every resident about their employment and education history to map out who could move out of the shelter in 30 days.

"Federal statistics show if we could rapidly re-house 70 percent of the families that come into the shelter and give them rental subsidies for three months, 12 months or 18 months, they could sustain living  on their own," said Shelter of Hope director, Deronda Metz.

"I think that's good because people shouldn't use this as a place to live," said Winchester.  "It's supposed to be temporary housing until they can get on their feet."

More job training could also help parents find permanent homes so nearly 200 children won't wait for the school bus from the shelter's front door.

The Salvation Army hopes to find the resources like funding and available housing to start a pilot program in April.

They hope to rapidly re-house at least 50 families.

WSOC