The city of Raleigh is launching a two-year pilot program aimed at tackling homelessness and encampments in the area. The 鈥溾�� initiative was as part of an affordable housing plan for residents.
The council also approved $5 million, with about $2 million of those funds going to help convert a hotel into housing units. Emila Sutton, the director of Raleigh's Housing and Neighborhoods Department, said the program has three key components.
鈥淭hey are direct housing assistance, which includes supportive services and case management,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t also includes peer support and additional street outreach support to better serve people experiencing homelessness and to rapidly house folks that are experiencing homelessness. The third part is housing unit repairs.鈥�
The city purchased an extended stay hotel in 2021, which is now known as Studio at Brentwood in Raleigh. A spokesperson for the city says part of the hotel is livable, but all the rooms do need upgrades and only a small percentage of the rooms aren鈥檛 available. The first phase of the construction repairs for those affordable housing units is expected to start Oct. 4, and people could begin living in those units sometime next year.
鈥淲e expect to be able to serve 40 to 45 people,鈥� said Sutton, the director of Housing and Neighborhoods for the city of Raleigh.
Those individuals can request to live in any affordable housing unit they choose, including the hotel.
More than 900 people experience homelessness in the county on any given night, according to the latest data from Wake County鈥檚 2023 point-in-time count. That鈥檚 a 200% increase from 2020.
