Spartanburg is tackling homelessness in 2025 with a collective, multi-layered approach led by the countywide initiative “A Place to Call Home.” This public-private partnership unites city officials, nonprofits, healthcare providers, faith groups, and community leaders to address the core issues of housing instability, prevention, and crisis support. Their work is shaped by data showing more than 3,000 Spartanburg residents face housing instability, with seniors and school-age children among the most affected.​
Core Strategies and Initiatives
Prevention First: Spartanburg is implementing Housing Court models to streamline the eviction process, reduce trauma, and help tenants and landlords resolve disputes more fairly. The city is working to close gaps in rental screening and to educate residents about their rights, aiming to prevent homelessness before it starts.​
Crisis Response and Engagement: The Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART), now operating under “A Place to Call Home,” proactively engages with unsheltered residents to connect them to services, shelter, healthcare, and job programs.​
Safe, Stable Housing: The city continues investing in affordable housing through Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), HOME partnerships, rehab programs, and fresh housing developments. These efforts are especially targeted at low-to-moderate income households and people with special needs.​
Community Coordination: Strategic partners—including United Housing Connections, Miracle Hill Ministries, Spartanburg Housing, OneSpartanburg Inc., and local schools—share data to identify needs, improve service delivery, and keep families off the streets.​
Public Service and Quality of Life: Public outreach, resource guides, and annual agency fairs strengthen the safety net for those in need, offering access to food, shelter, mental health, and addiction services across the county.​
Measuring Impact and Challenges
The HEART team aims to reduce homelessness by 10% and connect at least 75% of unsheltered residents to resources, while facilitating community education and engagement.​
Key challenges include a shortage of affordable housing, high eviction rates, and increasing needs among both families and seniors, prompting new collaborations and policy reforms each year.​
Spartanburg’s approach in 2025 emphasizes prevention, rapid response, housing access, and coordinated care—treating homelessness as a solvable community problem rather than an inevitable reality.Spartanburg is fighting homelessness in 2025 by bringing together a wide range of local partners under the countywide initiative “A Place to Call Home.” This group engages city services, nonprofits, healthcare providers, faith groups, schools, and people with lived experience to prevent, reduce, and ultimately solve homelessness through improved support, housing programs, and advocacy.​
Strategic Approaches
“A Place to Call Home” focuses on a whole continuum of care, from prevention (including legal reforms to make eviction processes clearer and fairer) to direct support for people in crisis and expanded housing opportunities.​
Spartanburg launched its Homeless Engagement And Response Team (HEART) to proactively connect unsheltered residents with shelter, health care, and social services while minimizing adverse impacts on the community.​
The city’s 2025 Annual Action Plan targets development of affordable housing, owner-occupied housing rehabilitation, and support services for low- and moderate-income households as part of its federally funded Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs.​
Community Partnerships and Data-Driven Solutions
United Housing Connections coordinates regional efforts and manages the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to track cases and outcomes, working closely with the Continuum of Care (CoC).​
Spartanburg Housing and Strategic Spartanburg help bridge the gap for those at risk, focusing on eviction prevention, improving landlord-tenant policies, and connecting residents to vital support including educational outreach and agency fairs.​
This coordinated effort enables Spartanburg to focus on prevention, rapid crisis response, and expanding permanent housing solutions—addressing both immediate safety and long-term stability for its most vulnerable residents.
SOURCES
[1](https://www.cityofspartanburg.org/249/Homeless-Resources)
[2](https://www.cityofspartanburg.org/DocumentCenter/View/2009/2025-AAP—DRAFT)
[3](https://www.onespartanburginc.com/news/2025/01/10/organizational-news/hannah-jarrett-named-founding-director-of-a-place-to-call-home-a-collective-effort-to-address-homelessness-in-spartanburg-county/)
[4](https://www.strategicspartanburg.org/our-dialogue-discourse/a-place-to-call-home)
[5](https://www.aptchspartanburg.org/the-issue)
