Alliance
Greenville has made investments in addressing unsheltered homelessness, but even with these resources, there remain challenges. The GVL iGNITE Fund is part of the Greenville Homeless Alliance Housing Navigator pilot that is working to address gaps in available resources by supplementing clients’ incomes for stable housing. Many Greenville residents who experience chronic homelessness have Social Security Income (SSI), a consistent, non-varying amount of money coming in monthly. The 2024 monthly maximum Federal amount for SSI is $943 per month for an eligible individual or $11,316 per year. At that income, the affordable rent rate of 30% of an individual's gross income is $283 per month. The 2024 one-bedroom fair market rent for the Greenville metropolitan area according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development is $1074/month. This ongoing financial gap is leaving people on our streets who yearn for a safe home of their own with few to no options.
United Ministries’ Place of Hope Associate Director of Homeless Services, Nick Bush, describes the GVL iGNITE Fund as having the latitude to be flexible and adaptive. That means the funds are not bound by the strict statutory regulations that come along with federal funding. These regulations can disqualify applicants due to a previous eviction, felony criminal record(s), or a history of misdemeanor charges.
Stable housing is known to reduce the overuse of public services like hospitals, jails, and emergency shelters, thus providing cost savings to the community. The GVL iGNITE Fund will help evaluate the effectiveness of unconditional housing under the guidance of dedicated organizations like United Ministries and professionals like Nick. The fund was developed after extensive research by the Greenville Homeless Alliance of initiatives in cities like Charlotte, NC and organizations like the Lotus Campaign which were finding solutions to homelessness.
“We were able, through the Greenville Homeless Alliance Innovate Working Group, to develop the criteria, the documents, and the overall process for testing the use of the GVL iGNITE Fund,” says Nick. Nick and members of the Innovate Working Group from Miracle Hill Ministries and Triune Mercy Center also participate in Coffee Club, a collaborative group of Greenville County professionals who meet weekly to discuss the most vulnerable chronically homeless persons and to address their specific needs.
Nick has known the client, Alan, for over ten years. “He has some addiction issues, and has had a criminal past, but has been in recovery for a while. A lot of my work with him will be through the EMPath approach, which helps with economic mobility, savings, education, basically working toward Alan’s own financial goals.” But Alan’s primary goal is to have his criminal record expunged. Pro-bono legal services offered through Time Served will help him work toward a pardon. “Once his background is cleared, his barriers for housing would essentially be eliminated.” Don Austin is an example of someone who had his record expunged after moving off the streets. He is featured in the SEEN | HEARD | VALUED mural to help the public understand that homelessness is solvable.
So Alan’s goals become Nick’s goals and the alliance between the two will be more demanding than even his typical workload of day services at the United Ministries Place of Hope. Nick works alongside each client to connect them to counseling, crisis management, education, family support, physical and mental health services, transportation, legal, and of course most importantly, safe housing. Nick acknowledges that he can’t do this work alone and has relationships with all of the direct service partners. In fact, client-direct service partner relationship is the foundation of the Housing Navigator pilot, and it is the commitment to that relationship that will often determine the client’s success. After fifteen years of working with unhoused participants, Nick is no idealist. He is optimistic, yet guarded, has ‘seen it all,’ yet is not jaded. Nick is the personification of graceful authenticity – hope dispensed with a healthy dose of reality.
Today, Nick says the Housing Navigator paired with the GVL iGNITE Fund is one of the only sources of hope for chronically homeless people to find safety and stability. The Greenville Homeless Alliance can help more of Nick’s clients move off the street if you give to the GVL iGNITE Fund.
In 2023, GHA partnered with the Piedmont Health Foundation to hire DeAndra “DJ” Hillman as GHA’s Housing Navigator for Greenville County. The ignite fund was created to help people experiencing chronic homelessness (more than one year) move into stable housing. Working together with frontline service organizations, landlords, and GHA’s Housing Navigator, the GVL iGNITE Fund can be the missing piece that completes the housing puzzle for someone working to exit homelessness.