A Charlotte nonprofit is helping drug users find permanent housing, providing a path to stability for a population often excluded from the traditional rental market.

Queen City Harm Reduction secured a grant over a year ago to provide housing for its participants – people who use its northwest Charlotte center and mobile services for safe drug use resources and services – and the results are promising. After finding housing, many of them found employment and reduced their drug use.

Queen City Harm Reduction and its parent organization, the Center for Prevention Services, received funding for the Housing First program from North Carolina’s share of the settlement with McKinsey over that company’s alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. Millions of dollars flowed into North Carolina as a result of several states’ settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors – and in this case, the consulting firm that helped the companies increase their Oxycontin sales. The money is to be used to offset the harms of opioid addiction.

Lauren Kestner, assistant director of Queen City Harm Reduction, knows firsthand how difficult it is to get a lease when you have a past drug conviction. Kestner said she was fortunate to never be permanently homeless and to have her parents help her by co-signing leases, but she has seen people around her struggle to find jobs and housing because of their drug use.

Her application for a two-year grant to establish the Housing First program was to help the people who come to the syringe exchange achieve stable housing. Many have great difficulty getting a regular rental agreement because of low income, poor credit, lack of identification, criminal records, past evictions, active drug use and stigma from landlords.

“This was a very personal matter and I was determined to ensure that drug users were not denied access to housing,” she said.

As of June, the program had housed 29 participants, she said. Another 25 people are in the process of obtaining their identification documents and finding suitable rental housing. Kestner said housed participants have reported an 81 percent reduction in their drug use.

Finding the right landlords

Kestner argued that historically, society has required people to stop using substances like drugs and alcohol before they can be helped. But if people’s basic needs – shelter, food, support – are met, they are in a better position, she said.

Numerous experiments over the past two decades with the Housing First model of service delivery have shown better outcomes when programs are well-planned and provide a variety of supportive services for people making the transition from homelessness to housing.

“We’re seeing that people who, after having housing, are getting more hours and moving from part-time to full-time work, or if they weren’t working, are getting employment,” Kestner said. She released some preliminary data from the 2023 pilot program as a fellow in the Addiction Policy Scholars Program at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Participants have found work or increased hours in customer service, manual labor, security, hospitality, nursing homes, the service sector and house cleaning.

Getting those involved to sign a lease and finding landlords willing to give them a chance is no easy task.

To apply for a lease, participants must gather important documents that many have been missing for years, such as a driver’s license or social security card.

“They are homeless, so there is a stigma attached to them. When they go to these agencies, they know they will be stared at and may not be treated fairly, so they are hesitant,” says Darcell Walker, a social worker and harm reduction specialist with the Housing First program.

In one case, Walker accompanied a participant to the Department of Motor Vehicles after the woman was initially turned away.

In addition to preparing program participants for the housing search, Walker must also scout out potential landlords. Many rental properties in North Carolina are owned by large corporations that meet strict criteria: a high minimum credit score, an income three times the rent, no evictions and no criminal history, Walker explained.

Some of these strict criteria that exclude the people she works with are unfair, she added.

“Some of these requirements for moving in should be changed by law,” Walker said. “I’ve found in North Carolina that evicting someone is essentially a sentence of chronic homelessness because nobody wants to take a chance on you.”

“People face all kinds of obstacles and situations that can lead to them not being able to pay their rent at some point in their lives. But that shouldn’t mean they can’t find housing for 10 years or then move out of state,” she said.

While Walker has placed a few people in rentals run by property management groups, she has had the most success building relationships with private landlords. She has even organized meetings between landlords and prospective tenants to reassure them about issues such as potential property damage. The Housing First program provides rental subsidies until participants finish the program.

So far, no one has been expelled and two have graduated.

Walker said she can also reassure landlords by telling them that she will be checking on new tenants and their property during home visits several times a month.

“Many of our people have been homeless for years, so the transition to stable housing is scary and unfamiliar,” she said. “We try to get them out of the areas they’ve often lived in before, so they don’t know any of the resources. So I go out and show them where the bus stops are, explore the neighborhood, find the laundromat.”

The Housing First program also provides participants with psychological counseling and job search assistance. Walker has seen participants experience major positive changes in their lives.

Success stories

One participant had been working some odd jobs in the community while living in her car and seeking safe drug supplies at Queen City Harm Reduction. Although she had a small income, it was not enough to cover a rental agreement.

Walker helped the woman get a reliable monthly income through Social Security and eventually helped her move into her own apartment through the Housing First program.

“She’s doing well,” Walker said. “She even got a spot in a CNA (certified nursing assistant) course and we’re even going to help her with her tuition.”

However, success looks different for everyone. Walker told the story of another participant who was employed full-time as a restaurant host but lost his job because he developed visible sores on his arms. The man had been taking fentanyl, an opioid that has recently been frequently laced with xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that can cause severe skin lesions.

He went through the program and Walker found him an apartment, but when he had to start paying his own rent, he couldn’t. Walker did individual counseling with him and tried to connect him with job placement and therapy services. But he kept fighting.

“At some point he realized that with all the support he was receiving, he couldn’t manage his life,” Walker said. “So he eventually went to detox and is now in a long-term drug rehabilitation facility.”

“It wasn’t a traditional success in the sense of getting an apartment, but it was a success in the sense that he hit rock bottom and made a change. He’s now abstained from all substances.”

This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.