United Way launches "Greenville Together: A Home for All," aims to house 50 unsheltered people in Greenville proper

Megan Barb, director of United Way of Greenville County, told the Greenville City Council at a work session that United Way will serve as the backbone organization for a new initiative called Greenville Together: A Home for All and will work to place 50 people who are unsheltered into shelter and connect another 30 to services in Greenville proper by the end of the year.

Barb said the community plan was finalized in January after consulting with Poppy and Associates and that United Way is responsible for raising the money needed to implement the plan over the next year and for bringing partners together as an accountability partner. "We have evolved this work to be called Greenville Together, a Home for All," Barb said. "That will be launched officially next week with the website and collateral around that."

The plan emphasizes coordinated outreach through a central "command center," stronger collaboration among nonprofits and city staff, monthly point-in-time counts to better track people experiencing homelessness, and efforts to build additional permanent supportive housing to address identified gaps. Barb said the command center will define roles so that city staff, council members, providers and residents know how to report and respond when someone needs help.

United Way will begin its fundraising and coordination work with an initial focus on the City of Greenville before expanding countywide. Barb said the 80-person target (50 rehoused and 30 reconnected) is intended to be "a robust plan to make sure that people are off the streets in a meaningful way and that they're getting the services that they need." She characterized the current moment as "critical" and said the work "is not for the faint of heart."

Council members and staff raised operational questions and concerns during the update. One councilor asked how the 50-and-30 targets were determined; Barb said the number is tied to shelter availability and the scale of a planned housing surge to create more permanent supportive housing. She said the initial work included visits to shelters and providers to assess capacity.

Council members emphasized outreach and rapid response: several urged a strong outreach team and faster-than-24-hour responses when residents or businesses report someone in crisis. Barb said the current service window is still under analysis and that the plan aims for 24/7 accessibility once systems are in place.

The update addressed a recent organizational change: Barb said the Greenville Homeless Alliance's steering committee decided to dissolve and its work has been absorbed into the new initiative. "We really want to honor the legacy of where the Greenville Homeless Alliance started," she said, adding that lessons from that effort will be carried into Greenville Together.

Speakers noted eviction and housing availability as drivers of local homelessness. Barb said on a conservative basis the broader community may have about 1,500 people experiencing homelessness and, on a more generous estimate, about 2,500; she cautioned that those figures span the county and include people couch‑surfing, living in vehicles or doubled-up with family, not just those sleeping on streets.

Barb also said the planning process includes people with lived experience; one participant identified as Troy told Barb he remained without housing despite meeting with providers, a point Barb said underscored the urgency for change. Councilors and staff said they want to see the full plan and regular updates as United Way begins implementation.

No formal actions or votes were recorded during the update; council received the status report and asked for follow-up detail on targets, funding strategies and operational hours for outreach.