Staff writer Olivia Schaber spoke with Corey Root on her goals as the new homeless program coordinator of Orange County.
The Daily Tar Heel: Why did you decide to become the new homeless program coordinator?
Corey Root: Well, I was really excited about this position. I work sort of in a similar capacity right now, but for 79 counties instead of one. I was really excited that I would go from 79 counties to one, to have more impact. Orange County is so progressive, and they have so many great resources.
There’s a lot going on already that is really successful. We talk about why someone becomes homeless and there are as many different reasons as there are homeless people, but someone needed support and the support wasn’t there. Veterans, when they get out of the service, the support is not there. The aid in the foster system support is there, and when they age out, it is not there. Those crises will continue to happen, people will continue to become homeless — when we say we want to end homelessness, we want them to be housed.
DTH: What do you think are the biggest issues facing the homeless population, in general and specific to Orange County?
CR: I do more on the systems level, like how things are working. There are three key system levels that also could be applied on the individual level. Systemically, like what we need to do to end homelessness, we need access to affordable housing, they need a home. Appropriate services — the word appropriate is very key, what I need is different than what you need.
The homeless system has not done a great job with the one-size-fits-all approach. What one person might need is not what another needs. We need individualized care for sure. We have folks who need a lot of services over a long time and folks who need a light touch approach. National data says that people who enter homelessness get help and get out of the system and never reenter. We need to figure out what the key is there. Also income, for some people this means jobs, for some people this means benefits because they are not able to work due to disability.
DTH: What do you mean when you say the goal is to ‘end homelessness’?
CR: So, when we talk about ending homelessness it does not mean, unfortunately, that no one will ever become homeless again. People become homeless for many, many specific reasons but one theme that runs through all the individual stories of why a person becomes homeless is that person has a crisis and for whatever reason there is not enough support surrounding that person at that time and the person becomes homeless.
