June 29th, 2017 was a special day for Sanford and Lee County. This was the first time that a group of local people with a shared passion for helping the homeless would meet to form a task force. At that time, the group didn’t have a name, logo, committee structure, or any action plans. All they had was a mutual compassion and drive to end homelessness in our community. It is now one year later, and S3 Housing Connect is still going strong. In honor of S3’s first birthday coming up, let’s take a look back on everything that has been accomplished in just one short year.
June– June 29th was the first official S3 Housing Connect meeting. There was discussion about task force names, committee structure, and proposed mission statements. A consultant from the National Coalition to End Homelessness, Terry Allebaugh, and S3’s intern, Rachel Picard, were first introduced.
July– Each of the six committees met for the first time and gave their first meeting reports at the monthly S3 meeting. Plans for a white flag/extreme weather shelter started forming, and coordinated intake was first discussed. S3 Housing Connect (with the tagline “shelter, services, stability”) became the task force’s official name on July 27th.
August- Bill Hicks, Executive Director of Bread of Life Ministries Inc, presented official plans for the Extreme Weather Shelter. The shelter was to be held in Bread of Life’s facility, and would be ready to open by December.
September- It was realized that Sanford needed emergency shelter for extreme situations, so the idea for Sanford’s Emergency Community Response system was first introduced. This was a way for S3 to provide hotel rooms for people to stay in if it was a dire situation.
October- The City of Sanford and Lee County Commissioners agreed to fund the Emergency Community Response. Both groups gave $1,500 to go towards the initiative. Also, S3’s first informal Point In Time Count was held on October 4th.
November- Provision food boxes and other donated goods were obtained. These goods were to be given out at the Extreme Weather Shelter.
December- Coordinated entry points were decided upon and S3 members were educated about coordinated assessment. The Extreme Weather Shelter opened for the first time on December 8th.
January- The official HUD (US Department of Housing and Urban Development) PIT count was held on January 31st. This was S3’s first time coordinating the real count.
February- Members began partnering with Bread of Life to help them build capacity within their organization so they would be able to start working on the McIver Achievement Center. S3 started working with the Homeless Management Information System. Lastly, a small group of S3 members presented a progress report of S3 Housing Connect initiatives to the County Commissioners and City Council.
March- Committees began to have conversations with local landlords and developers about affordable housing production. A initiative was started called the Landlord Engagement Program.
April- A Community Partner breakfast was held to help service providers become familiar with S3. Some S3 members attended a state conference on homelessness, and a couple of our members even presented there! Also, Sanford gave $7,500 for the Emergency Community Response System.
May- A $57,000 donation was given to S3 Housing Connect from state legislature. This money will go towards helping Bread of Life.
June- Lee County approved their budget with $52,000 allocated to homelessness initiatives.
It has been quite a busy year for S3. When forming the task force, the first priority was to create a low barrier shelter in Sanford. That was accomplished by the Extreme Weather Shelter, but S3 isn’t satisfied yet. There is still more work to do and more people to help, and S3 is excited for its second year making Sanford and Lee County a better place!
