By Roxanne Cordonier
1st Vice President/Programs, DWGC

A 2025  annual survey of the homeless found that there were 739 unsheltered people in Greenville County, a 2 percent increase from 2024.

The lack of affordable housing in Greenville is fueling the crisis. A 2020 survey by the 

Greenville County Redevelopment Authority and the Greenville Housing Fund estimated that the county needs to build about 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030 to make up the current gap. 

Greenville Together: A Home For All is a collaboration of community leaders, local agencies and residents to create lasting solutions to the homeless crisis.

Its mission is to provide immediate support for the unhoused and offer access to critical resources including shelter. Greenville Together also works to strengthen systems to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.

Greenville Together’s goal this year is to house 80 currently homeless individuals; they provided housing to their first client in early July. After living in a tent for two years, that person was able to move into an apartment. Greenville Together hopes this is the start of a housing surge. One of the strategies employed is a “street-to-home approach” that moves chronically homeless and medically needy individuals directly into permanent supportive housing. All of these individuals will receive case management and support services to help them stabilize. 

For insight into this homeless initiative we look to Cody Carver, the director of Greenville Together. Prior to this assignment, Cody served as director of community initiatives at United Way of Greenville County. Cody will be one of our guest speakers at the August 11th meeting. Rev. Jennifer Fouse Sheorn, one of the pastors and director of Triune Mercy Center, will also be speaking. Triune Mercy Center is a partner in the effort to house 80 individuals this year. 

Greenville Together has established wide ranging partnerships with a host of other agencies, including United Ministries, United Way, United Housing Connections, the city of Greenville, Bon Secours St. Francis, Soteria, and business leaders like Carl Sobocinski. The task force also includes formerly homeless individuals, who serve on a “lived experience council.” 

Years ago, I worked at the Phoenix Center as an HIV/AIDS prevention specialist. A good portion of my job was to offer free HIV testing at places where high risk individuals would gather. I was a regular at Place of Hope, United Ministries’ day shelter for the homeless. 

Sitting down in a one-on-one setting and interviewing folks to assess their risk of contracting HIV was a life-changing experience. I began to see these human beings, whom I would have otherwise looked past, as individuals with their own unique stories and personalities. 

It changed me: I became incapable of looking past panhandlers and people living on the margins. One of the components of Greenville Together is ongoing community engagement. Part of the solution to homelessness is taking a compassionate view of their plight. We all need to find compassion for the homeless and work toward solutions that will allow everyone to live in dignity.