CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Advocate Health believes everyone deserves a safe place to call home. Housing isn’t just a basic need — it’s the foundation for good health. Building upon its years-long commitment to address key community challenges — including homelessness — across its geographic footprint, the Charlotte-based health system has announced it will invest an additional $1 million into A Home For All, an initiative designed to address aspects of homelessness and housing instability in Mecklenburg County.
“Good health doesn’t begin in a hospital room — it begins with the dignity and security of having a safe, stable place to call home,” said Advocate Health CEO Eugene A. Woods, who co‑chaired the initiative when it launched in 2021. “That’s why we’re proud to make this $1 million investment in A Home For All.
“This commitment builds on years of Advocate Health’s work to reduce homelessness and expand affordable housing across the Charlotte region — from investing $21 million in housing programs, to donating 14 acres of land for future affordable housing, to launching a street psychiatry service and more,” Woods added. “Charlotte is the home of Advocate Health’s headquarters, and we are deeply committed to this city. We will continue working alongside community leaders and elected officials to ensure homelessness becomes rare, brief and on‑recurring.”
Advocate Health follows what it calls a “for all” mission to help ensure access to health care, which aligns perfectly with A Home For All’s. Within two years of its founding in the spring of 2021, A Home For All had directed more than $12 million in grants to support such things as housing stability and homelessness prevention programs.
Advocate Health and its local care delivery brand, Atrium Health, have remained deeply involved in efforts with A Home For All and other community impact organizations to improve access to affordable housing. Since 2019, Advocate Health has committed $21 million to address housing needs in Charlotte, including this $1 million investment, which has helped create and support thousands of affordable housing units locally in partnership with Housing Impact Fund and Roof Above.
That’s in addition to commitments made as part of The Pearl innovation district being built near Pearl Park. Last fall, paperwork was filed by a developer to build out a residential complex at The Pearl which will include 5% of the units reserved as affordable housing for those who qualify, fulfilling a publicly stated objective Atrium Health announced during the planning phases of the district. Atrium Health is also contributing a 14-acre, $30 million parcel of land on North Tryon to be developed for affordable housing.
Other support Advocate Health and Atrium Health are providing to A Home For All includes the recent launch of a street psychiatry program, with Atrium Health’s behavioral health team partnering with local groups, like Alliance Health, Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte, MedAssist, Roof Above and United Way of Greater Charlotte to bring access to care directly into the unhoused community.
Advocate Health also works with Supportive Housing Communities on a “Health and Housing” program serving chronically unhoused individuals experiencing complex medical and behavioral health needs. This partnership offers more than just housing — it also provides wraparound support to stabilize participants' overall health and wellness. The initial years of the program have resulted in remarkable results. More than 90% of participants remain in stable housing, do not relapse and avoid needing emergency mental health services.
[Editor’s Note: To learn more about Atrium Health’s support of affordable housing and the unhoused in Mecklenburg County, visit: https://atriumhealth.org/about-us/affordablehousing.]
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