Gwinnett’s newest, most ambitious homelessness initiative has signed a lease for space it will use as an assessment center and shelter, its leader told county officials on Tuesday.
Matt Elder is the director of HomeFirst Gwinnett, a partnership between the United Way, Gwinnett County and other community groups that was formed last summer. Its goal is to develop a more effective and efficient system for helping those in need of housing assistance — and things are moving quickly.
Elder told Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that HomeFirst recently signed a lease at a Norcross-area church where it hopes to open its very first assessment center and a 20-bed shelter for women and children.
The county, which has one of the largest homeless populations in metro Atlanta, has been without a true emergency shelter since last fall. (A new Gwinnett homelessness count was completed last week but results are not yet available.)
The shelter that closed in September, the SaltLight Center, was the only one in Gwinnett and offered just 11 beds.
HomeFirst hopes to have its rental space at the former John Wesley United Methodist Church at 5320 Jimmy Carter Boulevard up and running by June. The shelter component will be significant, but the facility will also be home to the county’s first assessment center — a concept that lies at the core of the strategy that HomeFirst hopes to implement.
Upon visiting such a center, those in need will be assessed (“What do you need and what do you qualify for?,” according to Elder’s presentation); prioritized (”How vulnerable are you?”); and referred directly to a provider that has the availability to serve them immediately.
While it sounds simple, it’s not how things in Gwinnett have traditionally operated. The current system essentially functions as follows: needy folks can call the help line operated by the Gwinnett Coaltion, where they get a list of service providers that may (or may not) be able to help.
From there, they’re largely left to navigate the system — and try to figure out who can actually help — on their own.
The assessment center would remove that burden and simplify the process, Elder said. And the on-site shelter would be able provide immediate assistance for those awaiting longer-term help from programs like Family Promise and Rainbow Village.
“Our focus is on the system of service delivery, not the delivery of services,” Elder told commissioners. “... What we're trying to do is create an easier, more efficient system.”
Elder said HomeFirst also hopes to open a second assessment center and shelter by the end of the year. No geographical area has yet been targeted, he said.
Elder’s presentation gave officials a more detailed rundown of how HomeFirst — which also receives support from United Way, Primerica and many other donors — hopes to spend the nearly $1 million that Gwinnett County included for the program in its 2019 budget. The county money would help cover a number of initiatives, including the creation of an entity to oversee the programs offered at assessment centers; an emergency housing assistance pool; and a diversion program.
While the county funding was already included in this year’s budget, it will still have to awarded by the Board of Commissioners.
Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash stopped short of vowing definite approval of the funding as proposed.
“But there’s obviously lots of agreement on the need for this kind of effort,” she said.
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