Guilford County government, which has been attempting to address homelessness in a big way in recent years, is turning things up a notch: The county is establishing a brand-new department solely focused on addressing that issue.
The new department director will oversee funding and resource allocation from Housing and Urban Development and other sources, data dashboards, crisis management, stakeholder engagement, system-of-care development, policy development regarding homelessness and more.
The job listing states that the director will supervise six positions budgeted under the new Guilford County Homeless Services Department.
After an ad for a director appeared on the county’s job website, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston confirmed to the Rhino Times that the county is creating a new department.
“The director will need some support staff,” Alston said.
Alston said he doesn’t know what the ultimate cost of adding the new department will be, but he said the problem had gotten to the point where the county needed a dedicated branch of government to address it.
The salary for the director position is listed with a range of $97,513 to $121,891 a year.
The job description states that the director will be in charge of coordinating the county’s efforts with the local Continuum of Care – which handles federal funding grants for addressing homelessness – and will also be in charge of developing and implementing strategies so that “homelessness is brief, infrequent and trauma-informed.”
Alston said he hopes the county gets the new department up and running “sooner rather than later.”
He added, “I hope it is by the end of the year.”
The region’s homelessness numbers have been creeping upward and complaints about the issue in Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point have been rising. Earlier this month, the City of Greensboro’s Community Relations Division noted that among resident complaints for fiscal year 2024-2025, two top concerns were homelessness and panhandling.
The new Guilford County Homeless Services Department is meant to provide a coordinated, strategic approach rather than a patchwork of independent efforts. The job description for the director indicates that he or she will have to keep one eye on federal Housing and Urban Development policies as well as another eye on local data dashboards, contracts, collaboratives and stakeholder relationships – from government agencies to nonprofits and community groups.
The county is facing a balancing act when it comes to this problem: The county needs to help the people out and provide them services but do so in a way that doesn’t attract more homeless to the county.
Homeless people talk with one another and the word gets around regarding the best places in the state or the region to go for the best treatment and services.
The creation of this new department – with the wholesale plan to have six support staff from the start – is different than the way the county handled the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Department.
That was done very gradually.
Years ago, the county’s MWBE efforts used to be handled entirely by an assistant director in the Guilford County Purchasing Department. Then the county hired a director. Then added two support staff. Then, in January of 2025 added five positions at once – which means now that department, with duties that were once handled part time by one county employee, now has eight employees. The budget of course also grew and it is currently well over $1 million a year.
Quietly, earlier this year, the county, like a magician, eliminated the entire department. That was after the Trump administration started defunding just about everything they could find related to diversity, equity and inclusion and minority advancement.
In place of the Guilford County MWBE Department, the county began an exact replica department with the same positions – only the new department was called Guilford County Small Business and Entrepreneurship Department; thus, it was less likely to be flagged by a Trump administration search for anything that smells like something promoting DEI.
The new Guilford County Homeless Services Department will include and fund the half dozen budgeted positions, and rely on the use of county clerical and managerial support, public relations/communications, data management and other resources.
The problem of homelessness is connected with the lack of affordable housing in Guilford County and the commissioners themselves may make some people homeless in the coming years since the current Board of Commissioners shows no signs that it will reverse its course of raising property tax bills and foreclosing on those who cannot pay those bills.
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Well, you can never have too many bureaucrats, can you?
We can all look forward to homelessness in Guilford County being a thing of the past….
Right.
More of the faithful on the dole. City/County taxes have become nothing more than a shake-down. Extortion.
VOTE!
I say, stop feeding the animals and they’ll go away.
feed them only where we want them with garbage can & port a pot & social worker & cop & EMS & attorneys & health dept & minimal shelter . . . in RR right of ways. lets garden/graze the big green mowed strip between highways by closest land owners ?
They’re gonna need that staff to handle all the people displaced by the upcoming property tax hikes.
More seniors on fixed income are, or shortly will be, taxed out of their homes. The confiscation of private property is Socialism, or more exactly, Communism.
Good job. Now they need to coordinate with the Cities and nonprofits that serve those in need. It’s about time the County realized this is a Human Services and Mental Health issue and is primarily, not completely, but primarily the County.
guilford county has > 100 charity / non-profits that are FUNDED but accomplish what ? specifically to address this needy population. what is their overhead burden ? where is the $$ going: their salaries & perks ! rebut this !
Oh, that’s what the homeless need is another agency that DOES NOTHING for them, and let’s pay collective salaries of $500k plus to produce memos that produce reports that “something needs to be done”. While we’re at it, let’s address the fact that white people in need usually receive little if nothing in terms of help. The Greensboro Police and Guilford County Sheriffs Departments know where the homeless encampments are and who’s in them. Ask them about a demographic breakdown. I’m tired of my tax money going to failed administration by people I never voted for.
the PEOPLE closest to the ‘problems’ don’t have agency – just titles ?
A new 7 position department for more government bloat and Skip has no clue of cost. No surprise there since he’ll increase your taxes some more for another pet project. The county allows panhandling and invites the homeless. It’s not very hard to see who and why the issues are growing. Don’t worry, John Q Public to the rescue. Along with increased taxes, another shot of DEI coming soon. As Scott stated, with the increased taxes, how many citizens will lose their homes? Bet Skip has that figured out too.
Imagine that, a new Department and all the costs associated paid for by Guilford County Taxpayers! Skip Alston is so good at giving your tax money dollars away to others. And that is to specific others! Wake up Guilford County Voters! The Fox is in the Henhouse!
We kust need some more DEI hires….
Do these people work for free
all nonprofit leadership should work for free . since their ‘day job’ is lucrative & quickly dispatched.
all charity work should be gratis otherwise it’s just another mercenary act – ‘good will’ in an accountant’s ledger. brownie points are worth collecting
Oh great! Just another reason to raise our property taxes by half next year. Not needed Skippy!!!
The King (Skipper” wears no clothes.
That’s one way to reduce the homeless population by seven people.
Another way to pass the blame and CYA!!! And cost the taxpayers.
Can someone explain how this will be funded and if it is internal (our money), why worry about the name of the department wrt to the Trump administration?
Chris, I assume this new department, like other departments, will be funded primarily with county taxpayer dollars.
Even this CHRIS thinks it’s a big increase in spend given the limited results from the county to date…..but not my issue anymore since I moved out of Guilford County.
Good for you! I live in the Land of Randolph.
you will have to buy an expensive passport to enter guilford county if i am elected . . . king. i want/need NADA in randolph county & will recommend tolls on every inter-county road which will < our property tax responsibility.
Again Chris this is Guilford County. You can’t vote here nor do you pay taxes here so no part of this is Your money
Uh, no. We all have the right to express our opinion. Don’t we complain about Raleigh? Washington? Portland?
Well well, we seem to have a Chris fan among us.
Seven employees that would pay to help a lot of homeless people everyday. What do you suppose with salary and benefits we’re talking about $600,000 or over half million a year. They will not be the resources needed.
Most of the issues with the homeless can be attributed to mental health, drug or life choices. We have mental health, health and human service departments already. There are non governmental organizations already working on these problems. Salvation Army, Habitat for zHumanity. Instead of hiring six or seven more, hire one to act as liaison and help get these folks finding. Why try to re-invent the wheel except to add another bureaucracy and fill the pockets of a friend or voting block.
Skip has friends and family that need jobs…
I appreciate the concern for efficiency and the desire to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. At the same time, it’s important to name that many of our current systems—mental health, human services, and nonprofit networks—are overwhelmed, underfunded, and often inaccessible to those most in need. The wheel isn’t broken, but it’s not reaching the ground.
We keep naming the same problems—leases, access, accountability—but continue electing the same types of leaders, whether new faces or familiar ones. It’s not just about tenure—it’s about reenactment. The Democrats, and Greensboro residents more broadly, make sure they keep these people in office—then complain about them later. It’s a vicious cycle, and we’re on that same corrugated wheel, expecting traction from a system built to stall.
This election feels like a farce, and I expect it to get worse now that Skip’s slate has won. Familiar names, recycled gestures, and loyalty politics won’t move us forward.
Hiring a single liaison might sound efficient, but it risks placing the burden of systemic navigation on one person while unhoused neighbors remain caught in bureaucratic loops. What’s needed isn’t more titles—it’s principled coordination, timestamped accountability, and leadership that refuses to collapse into gestures or favoritism. Some are are already modeling that discipline—quietly, consistently, and without asking for applause but if we do not vote them in we will continue the cycle.
Hope didn’t fade. It collapsed—under the weight of loyalty politics: voting for people on the ballot because you were told to, not because they’ve earned it.
The Democrats got stronger. The Guilford GOP disappeared. This wasn’t a shift—it was a cycle repeating itself.
Instead of gripping, fix the Guilford GOP. Otherwise, this will keep happening.
We can’t keep outsourcing harm and then acting surprised when it arrives.
There will be a wave of DEI creations—and no organized resistance to stop it.
When there is no idea how to fix a problem and consistent with Democrats’ passions, create a worthless, taxpayer funded department. Thank God for Trump. He is dismantling many federal departments favored by Democrats.
How much of the total Guilford County personal property taxes collected comes from District 8?
Just for the record minority women business enterprise MWBE did not disappear because of Donald Trump. There was a Supreme Court ruling about a similar endeavor in another state, the Supreme Court stated it was discrimination based on gender and ethnic origin. I’m sure Guilford County still uses the same criteria just changed the name.
Since Guilford County is approximately 33 per cent black, we can expect two of the seven to be African-American.
Right…?
I’m thinking a “Rainbow Coalition.”
I bet not a single white male (unless he’s gay).
i’m thinking rainbow trout but not farm raised from our mntns.
I would say that Natalie Craver, Assistant County Manager for Successful People and Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, whined that her department was overworked and could NOT POSSIBLY take on the responsibility for the homeless problem. She wants to keep her shining reputation unspoiled. But that is exactly where the problem belongs because this is foremost a health and human services problem. If housing is found for the homeless without fixing the real problem, they become druggies or mental health patients with a roof over their head.
If the Successful People Department needs to hire a couple of people to tackle the problem, fine. But creating a new department dedicated to ONE problem is a waste of property taxpayer money.
Again, how much of the total Guilford County property taxes collected comes from District 8?
baseline requirement: how much blood n treasure are people closest to any ‘problem’ willing to expend (lose) ? too many people believe there are distant strangers with superpowers that will ‘rescue’ them in exchange for nothing ?
Vote Tuesday.
OMG ! Another taxpayer funded scam that will answer to someone besides the taxpayers.
A PERFECT example of what voter apathy will get you.
Yet no money to supplement SNAP during the shutdown. Go figure.
their salaries & overhead burden could feed many but their salaries will buy that nice ride
Every day, more citizens of Guilford County should be realizing that one of the biggest threats facing them is the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, who continually make asinine decisions in opposition to the needs of the majority of taxpayers.
On a positive note, I would suggest that the homeless be employed for “enviornmental reclamation”. Or cleaning up the streets, land, landfills, highways, etc.. For that, they get 3 hots and cot.
Otherwise, nothing. Or we can bus them to the center of progressiveness – Chapel Hill.
ditto & many will reach for that higher rung with this level of support . three hots & a cot & a locker will build a good base & care for the mental