City highlights new Homeless Services Team, expanded outreach and housing successes
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One year after the Derrick Street camp reset, the City of Huntsville is highlighting major strides in its coordinated approach to supporting unsheltered residents.
Through new staffing, expanded partnerships and a more intentional outreach model, the City’s new Homeless Services Team is delivering deeper, more individualized assistance and improving pathways to housing and treatment.
The City’s addition of its first Homeless Resource Specialist Charles Morris has helped coordinate and strengthen service delivery across organizations working with the unsheltered population.
The position allows the City to act as a more active partner and support system for outreach agencies—a shift that has broadened efforts well beyond the scope of the Derrick Street reset.
“The work underway today is much larger than anything that happened at Derrick Street,” said Scott Erwin, the City’s Community Development Manager. “The City is now better positioned to support the organizations doing the day‑to‑day work.”
Homeless Resource Specialist Morris, who brings experience from Priority Veteran, is overseeing a more structured approach to outreach.
The Homeless Services Team now focuses heavily on individualized case management, developing tailored housing pathways, setting new guidelines at Derrick Street and working closely with providers to meet people where they are.
This more hands‑on strategy has already allowed the team to help house 22 individuals, demonstrating the impact of increased collaboration, visibility and engagement.
“We’re meeting people where they are, building trust and developing real pathways to stability,” Morris said. “That’s what makes this approach work.”
Service providers from organizations like FirstStop, Partnership for a Drug Free Community and Wellstone report that closer coordination within the new Homeless Services Team has strengthened communication, allowing them to act quickly when individuals are ready for services such as treatment, ID recovery, crisis care or housing support.
They also emphasize that consistent engagement and trust‑building—often over long periods—are essential for helping unsheltered residents take steps toward recovery and stability.
The Huntsville Police Department’s Community Outreach Unit continues supporting the Homeless Services Team by helping ensure safe environments for service providers and strengthening relationships with unsheltered residents.
Officer Jonathan Savage said the evolution from the Homeless Outreach Initiative to today’s Homeless Services Team reflects the City’s commitment to a more comprehensive approach.
“Homelessness is a community problem requiring a community response,” Savage said. “At Derrick Street, trust built over time means residents are now more willing to call for help when they need it.”
The Homeless Services Team and its partners will continue to refine their outreach model, strengthen communication and build long‑term pathways to housing, treatment and recovery. The City’s goal is to sustain a system built on engagement, trust and shared responsibility across all agencies serving the unsheltered population.
For more information on Community Development, visit the Homeless Resources webpage.