Since Summer Launch, Wake At Home Has Rehoused 30 People from “Large Encampment”

Wake at Home, Wake County’s new initiative aimed at ending unsheltered homelessness, is experiencing some early momentum, Wake County commissioners heard on Monday. 

“We are extremely thrilled and proud of the work of the community who successfully rehoused over 30 individuals from one of the large encampment sites in our community,” said Eileen Rosa, the director of Wake County’s Continuum of Care, the county’s umbrella organization for homeless services, during a virtual meeting of the county Board of Commissioners’ Affordable Housing Committee. “This was about an eight-week process. It was a new approach.” 

Rosa didn’t give more details on the 30 people who were housed, such as which encampment they moved from, but indicated that county staff and partners were working to ensure they remained in housing. 

“Now we really have to make sure that [the residents] have that wraparound support, that connection to community to support improved income, improved health outcomes, and so on as folks stabilize,” Rosa said. “So we’re continuing to co-design that, fine-tune that in community and in our leadership groups.”

The county launched Wake At Home in July with the goal of moving 400 people from homeless encampments into housing over the next 18 months. Based on models in cities including Dallas, Tulsa, Denver, and New Orleans, the program provides direct housing support in order to eliminate encampments and prevent people from having to sleep outside, Rosa explained. 

Under the model, county staff and partners aim to assist people who become homeless by immediately helping them secure housing and providing rental assistance. Over the next year, residents will also receive supportive services, such as behavioral health care and workforce assistance, to help them stay permanently housed. 

“Particularly for those experiencing first-time homelessness and new to our system, we want to be able to react very quickly and to be able to leverage flexible funds to creatively address their housing barriers, problem solve, and divert from any long-term needs in the system,” Rosa said. 

A Model Worth Emulating

Commissioners heard more promising news about the county’s comprehensive homeless service response program, Bridge 2 Home, in Monday’s committee meeting. 

With the goal of reducing homelessness by 10% from 2024 levels by 2029, Bridge 2 Home is well on its way to meeting that benchmark, said Stephen Gruver, Wake County’s Homelessness and Prevention Services Division Director. Since its inception, the program has provided more than 21,100 services through partner agencies, including transportation, home furnishings, move-in deposits, medical assistance, job training services, and more. 

Since its implementation, Bridge 2 Home agencies have served 86% more clients than during a baseline period between 2018 and 2021, Gruver said, including a 62% increase in people experiencing homelessness for the first time. 

Year-over-year transitions to permanent housing have increased on average 39%, and the county has maintained homelessness rates since 2018, as measured by the annual point in time (PIT) count, despite serving more residents each year. Overall, Gruver said, Bridge 2 Home has transitioned 7,064 residents to permanent stable housing, more than double the number of people housed between 2018 and 2021.  

“Homelessness is solvable,” Gruver said. “When a community shares that informed belief, commits to proven practices, and backs the goal with the right resources, we’re able to do it.”

But there’s still work to be done, he acknowledged. 

The 2026 PIT count reported 1,150 people experiencing homelessness in Wake County. Of those, 27% were unsheltered and 26% experienced chronic homelessness. Wake County reports that 5,264 people experienced homelessness in the last two years, Gruver said.

In collaboration with Duke University’s Occupational Therapy doctorate program for Qualitative Data, the county will publish two reports on Bridge 2 Home later this month. The first, an impact report, will quantify Bridge 2 Home’s achievements since its inception, including measures such as exits to permanent housing, return to homelessness, and client income once they exit the program. The second report will provide a guide for other communities who want to implement a similar model.

“This is such exciting news,” said Affordable Housing Committee chair Commissioner Tara Waters. “I was resisting the temptation to put the celebration emoji and the clap emoji on throughout [the presentation]. So thank you for sharing such wonderful news and showing us holistically and comprehensively how we can support our neighbors who have the most needs.” 

Potential New Non-Congregate Shelter Space and Day Services for Women 

At its regular meeting Monday evening, the Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 to purchase the property at 3211 Bramer Drive in Raleigh for $4.15 million. The 24,000-square-foot building on the property, a former charter school, is currently leased to The Women’s Center, which is temporarily operating a drop-in shelter there while the county’s new emergency drop-in shelter, Second Street Place, is undergoing renovations. 

Those renovations will be completed in December and day shelter operations will then shift to Second Street Place. As part of Monday’s vote, county commissioners agreed to convey the Bramer Street property to The Women’s Center, a 50-year-old nonprofit that operates the county’s only day shelter for single women as well as offering non-congregate shelter and medical respite.

The Women’s Center will then upfit the Bramer Street building for up to 20 units of non-congregate shelter that the nonprofit will operate in time for the winter 2026-27 white flag season, plus year-round day services for women. 

The acquisition is contingent upon The Women’s Center obtaining a special use permit for the non-congregate shelter; a hearing will take place on the matter later this month, according to Morgan Mansa, the county’s Director of Housing. 

Commissioner Vickie Adamson, who along with Waters voted against the purchase and transfer of the Bramer Street property, questioned Mansa about the due diligence county staff had undertaken before proposing to buy and convey the property to the The Women’s Center. The county has been eyeing the site for years to use a shelter, and Adamson asked why the county hadn’t followed its usual process and put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) instead of entering into the agreement with The Women’s Center. Adamson said she had not heard about the county’s plans for the facility until the item was placed on the commissioners’ agenda on Friday.

Mansa explained that the county had to move quickly when the property’s owner dropped the sales price to one within the county’s budget. 

“… If we don’t quickly mobilize around this, we’re not sure if we’ll have this site within our possession long-term,” Mansa said. “Next month is November, which is the start of the white flag season, so if we don’t have this access on this site acquired and in the hands of The Women’s Center, then we won’t have that additional capacity for white flag [shelter] for women.”

County staff, Mansa added, have confidence in The Women’s Center’s ability “to take on this venture.” 

Adamson proposed splitting the purchase and conveyance of the property into two motions for a vote, but didn’t have the support from the full board.

“I am totally in favor of purchasing the building, I think it’s a good purchase,” Adamson said. “I wish the Commission had been involved in the opportunity to decide the programming in the building. I do think it’s unfair to our other nonprofits and the taxpayers to not put an RFP out for the conveyance of the building.”

Could Manufactured Homes Help Alleviate Wake’s Housing Shortage?

Also at the committee meeting Monday morning, commissioners heard about the potential for so-called manufactured housing to alleviate the county’s housing crisis. 

A new federal bill, the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act that Congress enacted in July, deregulates manufactured housing in ways that may make it easier to comply with local zoning regulations and streamline its production. The bill, which does not include funding, makes financing for manufactured homes more accessible so that they’re easier for potential owners to buy. It also extends federal grants for home rehabilitation and preservation to manufactured homes and could open the door to making Community Development Block Grants and other federal funds more flexible for building new affordable housing, including manufactured homes.

Wake County is home to 13,209 mobile homes, about 2.7% of the county’s overall housing supply. Manufactured housing mostly serves the county’s lowest-income residents—those making less than $40,000 a year—and these residents are vulnerable to development pressures and displacement.

During the meeting, the commissioners received an update on Chatham Estates, a mobile home community in Cary that recently sold to a developer. The sale displaced roughly 700 people from 141 households who had been paying about $400 a month for the land which housed their mobile homes. 

André Anthony, the CEO of NeighborUp, a nonprofit that worked alongside the Town of Cary to rehouse residents, reported on those efforts to the commissioners.

With an additional $118,000 in community donations, NeighborUp and partner organizations assisted 94 families, 80% of whom remained in Wake County, and 40% of whom were able to remain in Cary, Anthony said. About 20% of those households became homeowners and 20 families moved their mobile homes successfully. Others moved into apartments, affordable senior housing, or other homes.  

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