Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless

Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless is dedicated to addressing and ending homelessness through collaborating with communities to help individuals and families achieve housing stability, financial health, and improved quality of life. To achieve this, we focus on supporting and coordinating our homeless service provider partners in their work providing direct services to individuals and families experiencing or facing homelessness. We prioritize serving the hardest-to-serve and highest-risk individuals, grounded in the Housing First approach that centers quick access to housing solutions and support. Data-driven decision-making and best practice approaches guide our initiatives. We advocate for effective community support services outside the homelessness system of care and strive to increase housing options for vulnerable individuals and families. Strong leadership, especially in fundraising, grants management, and advocacy activities, is critical to our mission. We manage an annual budget of $1.26 million in our work to end homelessness, providing funding directly to core homeless service provider partners to support their work.

We set annual system performance goals that encompass reducing overall homelessness, minimizing the time individuals spend in homelessness, facilitating successful transitions to permanent housing, preventing returns to homelessness, and supporting income growth among individuals in homeless services. We actively participate in the international Built for Zero initiative, maintaining an accurate by-name list of individuals experiencing homelessness and working towards functional ends to veteran homelessness and chronic homelessness. In May 2023, we were able to reach our community’s threshold for a functional end of veteran homelessness and are now focused on maintaining this incredible achievement moving forward. During the height of the pandemic in May 2021, we were part of a collaborative project to purchase an old motel for intermediate use as a non-congregate shelter program and site of a new, 80-unit permanent supportive housing development that will break ground in May 2024. Through our dedication to effective, data-driven interventions and practices, we aim to make a tangible difference in addressing and ending homelessness and improving the lives of those facing housing insecurity.