People experiencing homelessness were forced to move from an encampment off of U.S. 70 near Garner. (Photo: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)
Tristin Taylor grew emotional as she recalled slipping into homelessness after debilitating migraines caused her to lose her job.
Taylor, 63, had been a regional salesperson for a high-end skin care line, earned a good salary and considered herself solidly middle class. After burning through her savings, she landed in the shelter. She rode Raleigh city buses to pass the time because the shelter where she slept closed its doors at 7 a.m., and didn’t reopen them until 4 p.m.
“It was just traumatic,” Taylor said. “It really was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in my life.”
About 18 months ago, a week before Thanksgiving, Taylor was able to leave the shelter with help from the Cooper Charitable Foundation, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that provides housing stability grants to help people experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing.
The foundation was created in 2024 by John Cooper, president and CEO of Cooper Tacia, a Raleigh-based general contracting firm. Cooper founded the nonprofit to honor his grandmother, who he says set an example of “giving to others.”
The $2,500 Taylor received from the foundation was the answer to her prayers.
“It was just a miracle that day,” Taylor said. “I fell to my knees and was like, ‘There is a God.’”
With a deadline to move out of the shelter approaching, Taylor had worried that she would be pushed onto the streets. She didn’t have an income, so she couldn’t pay rent or the upfront costs to move into an apartment. Taylor had been approved for Social Security disability benefits, but the monthly checks had not yet begun to come.
The Cooper Foundation stepped in with a housing stability grant to help Taylor with first month’s rent, security deposit and last month’s rent. The typical grant averages about $2,500, according to the foundation.
Mary-Ann Baldwin, Executive Director, Cooper Charitable Foundation (Courtesy photo)The upfront cost to move into permanent housing is what often keeps people trapped in homelessness, said Mary-Ann Baldwin, the foundation’s executive director and a former Raleigh mayor.
Baldwin said the foundation has helped 311 people — including 163 children — secure or maintain housing since launching its first fundraiser in June 2024.
When Baldwin began working at the foundation, she wrongly believed that most grants would go to help families and individuals avoid evictions.
“That has been the opposite of what has happened,” Baldwin said. “Ninety percent of our grants have been awarded to people who are working. They can afford the monthly rent. What they can’t afford is the security deposit, first and last month’s rent, and a utility deposit.”
The remaining 10% of grants were awarded to keep people in housing by paying for car repairs or covering rent payments for people who experienced illness, a job loss or other trauma.
“People are quick to judge,” Baldwin said. “But many of these individuals are working, trying to take care of their families. They just need that initial help to get on stable ground.”
Still housed a year later
A recent examination of 60 grants administered by one of its nonprofit partners, Oak City Cares, found that 97% of the people who received help through the Cooper Foundation were still in stable housing one year later, Baldwin said.
“Everybody but two people,” Baldwin said. “One was a woman who unfortunately passed away, and another was a gentleman who was incarcerated,” Baldwin said.
Oak City Cares is a nonprofit, public-private partnership that serves individuals and families at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. It’s partnering with the Cooper Foundation to vet applicants and provide support services, such as budgeting and referrals for food assistance. The housing stability grants are paid directly to landlords or utility service providers.
The success of such programs reinforces the importance of pairing financial assistance with supportive services, Baldwin said.
One man’s journey through homelessness produced the ‘greatest story never told’
“It’s not just about the funding,” she said. “It’s also about the services.”
Baldwin said people living in hotels have an especially hard time saving up the $2,500 or more they would need to move into an apartment.
When she was mayor, Baldwin said the City of Raleigh budgeted $25,000, which was matched by the Carolina Hurricanes, to help people move out of hotels. The $50,000 Compassion Fund was kind of a precursor to the housing stability grants, she said.
“And then, COVID hit, and oh my goodness, we had to use that money to keep people in hotels so they weren’t homeless,” Baldwin said. “We never got to test out our theory [that such grants work to keep people housed].”
Small grants, big payoffs
Now, through the housing stability grants, the Cooper Foundation is demonstrating how relatively small financial interventions can keep people previously experiencing homelessness stably housed, she said.
Similar programs in Raleigh and elsewhere are showing comparable results, Baldwin said. She pointed to the city’s “Bringing Neighbors Home” initiative, which helps move people out of encampments and provides financial support during their first year in housing.
That program has maintained housing stability for more than 90% of participants after six months, Baldwin said.
According to Raleigh city officials, unsheltered homelessness in Wake County has doubled since 2020. They told the city council at a recent meeting that taxpayers spend up to $96,000 per unhoused person a year on shelter, encampment clean-ups, emergency room visits, law enforcement, jail time, and other crisis services. In contrast, housing with support services costs far less — approximately $27,000 per person a year.
Despite the success of such programs, Baldwin warned that broader economic pressures such as rising food, gas and housing costs could worsen housing instability.
She also cited a decline in charitable giving, noting that donations to nonprofits have decreased as more funds shift toward political causes.
Baldwin called for policy changes, including the creation of a standalone state housing department and expanded funding for housing stabilization programs.
“If the government would put more into getting people into housing, it would cost less than dealing with the consequences of homelessness,” Baldwin said.
Finding peace
Giving up a job she liked because of the migraines was tough, Taylor said. It required lots of driving which she could no longer do.
“It’s just the way the ball bounced,” Taylor said. “They cried when I left. I cried. It was really hard.”
Shelter life was tough too, she said. But 18 months after passing her days on a city bus, Taylor has found peace.
“I just sat in my apartment with my little dog Lil Laci that very first night and cried,” she said. “We don’t have to worry anymore. We have a home now.”
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