Announcing a New Era for A Home For All
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (January 27, 2026) CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Home For All — a bold initiative to create a community where homelessness is rare, brief and nonrecurring — today announced its transition to a new home of its own: relocating from United Way of Greater Charlotte to a partnership between Foundation For The Carolinas and Mecklenburg County.
As the initiative has grown, so has the need for broader infrastructure to support its community-wide scope and longterm vision. To meet that need, A Home For All will transfer to a collaboration between Foundation For The Carolinas and Mecklenburg County. Foundation For The Carolinas will be responsible for raising private funding to support AHFA initiatives and convening and managing the A Home For All Advisory Council.
“United Way of Greater Charlotte was honored to be entrusted with the leadership of A Home For All, an initiative that began with a bold, innovative vision. Over the past four years, we have moved from vision to innovative, actionable strategies to support our neighbors experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness,” said United Way President & CEO Kathryn-Firmin-Sellers. “We’ve been proud to lead this work and are encouraged by the growing enthusiasm and commitment. We look forward to seeing its continued growth and success under the broad community leadership that such an ambitious plan requires.”
Over the last four years, United Way of Greater Charlotte has incubated A Home For All, convening more than 250 partners to address homelessness and housing instability while leading the charge on the implementation of the initiative. Throughout these years, United Way has formed eight implementation teams with participation from over 50 organizations and over 100 stakeholders to design and implement pilot programs.
“I want to commend United Way of Greater Charlotte for their leadership of this initiative. This transition ensures we continue to scale the program, attracting broad community support and creating lasting solutions to homelessness and housing instability,” said Foundation For The Carolinas CEO Cathy Bessant. “This initiative also relates to the very impactful work in our community around transportation and public safety. We are grateful to Mecklenburg County for shepherding the work on this critical component to housing stability.”
Throughout this transition, A Home For All will continue to work seamlessly with community partners, to avoid interruption of services and to ensure collaborative efforts. A Home For All will join other major community initiatives at Foundation for the Carolinas including, Arts & Science Council, Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, Read Charlotte and Leading on Opportunity.
In the broader scope of this work and for sustainability as the initiative continues to grow and evolve, Mecklenburg County is preparing to assume full responsibility of daily operations, contracts, and staffing for A Home For All. The goal is to be fully operational by April 2026. Upon establishment of Mecklenburg County’s Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), the A Home For All initiative will be fully integrated into OHCD.
“The County remains committed to members of our community who are dependent on housing stability services,” said Mecklenburg County Manager Mike Bryant. “Our goal is rooted in long-term stability and collaboration across sectors. When the County asked United Way to stand in the gap and lead the implementation of A Home for All Initiative, they answered that call with impact and action. This new era for A Home For Initiative allows us to continue to evolve the work by leveraging even broader community support, expand capacity, while also aligning housing and homelessness solution efforts. Mecklenburg County has been and will remain a committed partner for this work because collaboration and innovation will be the key to solving homelessness and creating affordable housing options for our neighbors.”
ABOUT A HOME FOR ALL
A Home For All is a community-wide initiative and the first of its kind that addresses all aspects of both housing instability and homelessness to ensure every individual and family has a stable roof over their heads and the resources to sustain it. This plan is funded by Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte as well as private funders that include Ally Financial, Carolinas Complete Health, Duke Energy, Merancas Foundation, Molina, SteelFab, Target, and U.S. Bank. United Way of Greater Charlotte was asked to take leadership of the implementation of the initiative.
Since launching in 2021, A Home For All has expanded eviction legal representation through Legal Aid to prevent families from losing their homes; launched a Property Provider Recruitment & Retention pilot with Housing Collaborative that successfully housed 300 people in the first year of the pilot, piloted a Critical Home Repair Contractor Assistance Program with Charlotte Works and the City of Charlotte to increase the number of contractors available to complete critical home repairs, and increased street outreach through Hearts for the Invisible and Roof Above. (it would be helpful to have other numbers available outside of the 300 people cited in this paragraph)
NEW LAUNCHED PROGRAMS
The latest launched programs through the initiative include Wellness Without Walls: A Street Psychiatry pilot program and an Upstream Rental Assistance program.
Wellness Without Walls is a psychiatry pilot program designed to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment to unhoused Mecklenburg County citizens. The initiative pioneered and organized by United Way of Greater Charlotte is intended to increase access to care and meet individuals where they are. A combined $200,000 from SteelFab and Duke Energy has been granted to street outreach teams Roof Above and Hearts for the Invisible, who work with the support of Atrium Health and Alliance Health. Other funding for the initiative includes $100,000 from The Merancas Foundation granted specifically to MedAssist to support the medication management for patients, along with supplies.
The Upstream Rental Assistance Program was created to prevent evictions and ensure housing stability in Mecklenburg County, addressing the needs of families, particularly post-pandemic, earning 50%–80% of the Area Median Income who often don’t qualify for traditional rental assistance. DreamKey Partners and the Ada Jenkins Center are leading the effort with $3.05 million in combined funding for the rental assistance programs in Mecklenburg County. In addition to the county, Target is also a funder of the initiative.
About United Way of Greater Charlotte
United Way of Greater Charlotte uses collective giving to build pathways to economic opportunity, primarily through neighborhood-based, grassroots and responsive solutions. For more information, please visit www.unitedwaygreaterCLT.org.
About Foundation For The Carolinas
Founded in 1958, Foundation For The Carolinas is a community foundation serving a 13-county region across the Carolinas. Remarkable impact is at the heart of the Foundation's mission, and the driving force of that impact is the thousands of nonprofits, families and companies who partner with FFTC to amplify the power of giving. Visit www.fftc.org.
Media Contact – United Way
Lindsay Harden
Lindsay@blackwednesday.co
Suzette Nedrich
Mecklenburg County Public Information
Suzette.Nedrich@MeckNC.gov
980-219-0495
Timothy Hager
Foundation For The Carolinas
thager@fftc.org