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CoC Statement: New Bern Ave Hotel Displacement
An emergency meeting of the Wake County Continuum of Care’s (CoC) Coordinated Access System Committee was held on the morning of Friday, May 13, 2022. While the meeting was a closed session, invitations were extended to community leaders from the City of Raleigh, Wake County, nonprofit organizations, and faith communities.
The CoC is deeply empathetic to the crisis the guests of the Quality Inn Hotel are now in. Homelessness is a deeply traumatic experience that can uproot a person’s ability to maintain current employment, access to services, and overall health. Unfortunately, 425 referrals are already in queue for emergency shelter for people also experiencing crisis in Wake County. When incidents like this arise, our CoC is challenged to consider if this crisis justifies creating a side-door around all the other people also in crisis. We have a duty to provide services equitably. It is a difficult reality that our community is suffering from a homelessness crisis in which people are faced with waiting lists for emergency services.
CoC member organizations, such as the Raleigh Police Department’s ACORNS Unit and Salvation Army, have been to the hotel to assess safety and well-being of the remaining guests and distribute information about the Access Hub, a crisis hotline for people experiencing or at immediate risk of homelessness in Wake County. The CoC is working together to streamline the waitlists for Emergency Shelter and coordinate existing Prevention Programs and new Diversion Programs meant to divert households from ever entering the homeless response system.
If you are experiencing homelessness or about to become homeless, you can call the Access Hub at 919-443-0096 or complete the inquiry form at https://partnershipwake.org/access-hub/.
For more details, please follow this link to a news story on the topic
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