Jennifer Cordova
Liberty University
GEOG200
Professor Ananga
10/01/2024
Geography Project Plan
Mission Statement
By offering the homeless a safe and stable place to live in a faith-based organization, we
can aid in many ways.
General Overview
While homelessness is everywhere and continues to be an issue throughout every state, in
Charlotte there are adults, children, and complete families trying to make it day by day.
According to Mecklenburghousingdata.org “As of August 30th, 2024 roughly 3,169 individuals are
experiencing homelessness. This includes 1,815 single individuals, 146 unaccompanied youth,
346 households with minor children and 49 families with multiple adults.” As we can see the
cost of living is increasing from the cost of rent to the cost of food, making it impossible for
people to survive, thus placing them on the streets. Charlotte has plenty of housing resources
that can be utilized as well as plenty of places for addiction so they can attempt to get those
with a substance abuse problem the help that they need and deserve. Places like Rubicon
Recovery Center, Roof Above, and Hope Haven can all help the homeless, they also have
shelters that are strictly male and strictly female. According to datausa.com “11.7% of the
population for whom poverty status is decided in Charlotte, North Carolina (101k out of 861k
people) live below the poverty line.
Region Relevance
Charlotte has coined the nickname “The Queen City” due to those who had founded it
Charlotte has an extensive nightlife filled with plenty of things to do, however, Charlotte is not
all that it seems according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s crime statistic reports.
It reports that there were 3693 violent crimes in 2024, 61 homicides, 2,844 aggravated assaults,
121 rapes, 413 robberies, 4,011 vehicle thefts and 81 arson cases. So, while it is not the safest
for individuals who are homeless. Charlotte is said to have a humid subtropical climate, and the
Queen City is found several miles East of the beautiful Catawba River and near gorgeous Lake
Norman. However, do not let it fool you, the Winters in Charlotte are very cold and could
potentially lead to life threats to anyone that has to live outside.
Location Relevance
Charlotte in the year 2022 has a population of 875,045 people with a poverty rate of
11.7% and a median property value of $312,800. Charlotte is 312 square miles and holds the
spot at number 15 for the most populated city in the United States. However, with a population
that is greater comes more diversity. According to datausa.com in Charlotte 39.7% of the
population is White, 34.7% of the population is African American, 6.49% of the population is
Asian and
3.17% of the population is Multiracial (not Hispanic) and there is an exceedingly small part of
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders. Now, Charlotte’s rent or mortgage is 10% lower than what
you would see as the National average, while the lights and water are 12% lower. With the
median rent being $1,337 which is also a smaller difference then let us say Wilmington, North
Carolina, however, if jobs are not paying livable wages and you are by yourself it does make it
difficult. In this case I am a prime example of living paycheck to paycheck.
Place Relevance
Charlotte has a high living, and low wages cost unless you are working somewhere that
offers things such as weekend pay or shift differential. The minimum wage in North Carolina is
$7.25, while, if you look up the living wage in Charlotte, North Carolina for one adult with no
children to live comfortably the wage you need to make is $24.36, and with two adults and one
child the wage you need to early hourly is $38.10 an hour. Another example of not even making
close to that is myself, I make $17.51 base pay with a $2 differential because I work night shift.
Not is not even close to the livable wage in Wilmington, North Carolina without constantly
having to pick up extra shifts weekly. Most individuals in Charlotte are making between $14 and
hour and possibly $17 an hour depending on where you work at. This causes individuals to fall
behind on things to the point they have no other options but to live on the streets that are filled
with a high crime rate. When I took a trip to Charlotte awhile back the amount of homeless
people I seen on the streets attempting to keep warm absolutely broke my heart. Watching
people suffer because of the high cost and living and low wages was insanely depressing.
Movement Relevance
What I want to carry out is to move information, goods, and people and for me to be
able to do that, which thankfully because it is laid out like it is it allows the movement to take
place with hopefully zero flaws. According to CLTToday the average commute time through
Charlotte is 24.1 minutes each way totaling to 48.2 minutes daily which totals to 196.82 hours
per year.
Which for the city being as large as it is, is actually impressive due to the population and traffic.
With Charlotte being such a large city they have plenty of public transportation that can be
utilized. The main things I have seen in Charlotte is public busses, which while they do cost it is
very minimal. The roads in Charlotte are usually very well maintained and due to the amount of
people who walk and ride bikes there are quite a few sidewalks making it bicycle accessible.
There are also many businesses that offer public WiFi for free that can be used to offer added
resources for those who are homeless. What I would like to do is give resources to the homeless
to utilize. By providing a pamphlet that educates them on resources available to them when it
comes to food, housing, medical and transportation it is a small and easily accessible resource.
Human-Environmental Interaction Relevance
So normally, Charlotte is not prone to natural disasters, until recently when a hurricane
hit Western North Carolina. However, Charlotte is prone to incredibly cold winters. The below
freezing temperatures in North Carolina caused 20% of hypothermia death cases to be from the
homeless population according to spectrumnews.net which obtained the information from the
National Library of Medicine. A lot of the time when the temperature gets below freezing,
shelters open their doors for the homeless to reduce the number of deaths caused by the cold.
However, facilities do fill up overnight and with the homeless population growing rapidly it
makes it complicated to help all of them without any added aid. Unfortunately, despite shelters
and organizations opening their doors, there are still an abundance of homeless people who do
pass because of the cold.
Summary
It is hard to tell if homelessness increases or decreases year after year, however there is
so much work to do to help them. Yes, you can give them information and resources, but some
might need a little more guidance. As the city grows, so does the population, then of course
housing becomes more expensive and scarcer. Making it to where they genuinely have no other
choice and placing them in a bigger bind. If we give them resources, show empathy and
compassion, we might be able to make a small decrease in the every growing homeless
population.
References
Pierre, J. (2024, January 17). Homeless population feeling the sting of brutal cold temps, as
overnight shelters fill up nightly. Wcnc.com; WCNC.
https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/freezing-weather-homeless-shelter-
capacitycharlotte/275-0fce9a0e-9f34-43d2-8a76-c8bb1655f083
McCoy, S. (2024, January 17). City leaders look for alternatives to bring the homeless in from the
cold. Spectrumlocalnews.com; Spectrum News 1 Charlotte.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2024/01/17/white-flag-
shelterhomeless
Beausoleil, M. (2024, June 5). The average daily commute in Charlotte, NC. CLTtoday.
https://clttoday.6amcity.com/city/charlotte-nc-average-commute
Living Wage Calculator - Living Wage Calculation for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
(n.d.). Livingwage.mit.edu. https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/37119
Cost of Living in Charlotte, NC | PayScale. (n.d.). Www.payscale.com.
https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator/North-Carolina-Charlotte
Charlotte, NC | Data USA. (2017). Datausa.io. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/charlotte-nc/
Charlotte, NC Climate. (2022). Bestplaces.net.
https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/nc/charlotte
Crime Statistics Report. (n.d.). Www.charlottenc.gov.
https://www.charlottenc.gov/cmpd/NewsInformation/Crime-Statistics-Report
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