THE HEARRT PROJECT
HEARRT is a collaborative project developed by City with Dwellings, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Empowerment Project, and the United Way’s Housing Matters Initiative which launched in July of 2019.
The collaboration builds on the strengths of each partner and is focused on ending the cycle of chronic homelessness in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County for people who have been living on the streets for an extended period of time. The HEARRT approach combines housing as an immediate intervention with consistent, supportive services for highly vulnerable persons in our community, so they can become stable in their housing and better engage in the community.
HEARRT focuses on a population that has difficulty accessing traditional services, are chronically
homeless and often suffer from a dual diagnosis of mental illness and addiction. They are frequently institutionalized, use emergency medical services as primary care, and are reluctant or refuse to use traditional homeless shelters. The HEARRT team partners with the Continuum of Care’s Community Intake Center to manage a by-name list of 25 to 30 of the most vulnerable individuals who meet these criteria in our community.
The HEARRT PSS is part of the CwD staff, lives in the
same apartment complex with program participants and is available 24-7 to support HEARRT
residents as they become stable in their housing and engage in their communities. This wrap-around approach to support HEARRT residents utilizes the unique role of the Peer Support Specialist, who can support residents as they learn to manage finances The HEARRT project uses a modified Critical Time Intervention (CTI) model in its work with individuals
transitioning from homelessness to housing.