Shifting Narratives: Igniting High Point to End Homelessness

The Shifting Narratives: Igniting High Point to End Homelessness summit was held on Thursday, September 25, 2025. Partners Ending Homelessness hosted the event in partnership with The Foundation for a Healthy High Point, the City of High Point, and more than ten community partners. More than sixty community members attended, participating in three panel discussions, a presentation of the High Point Racial Equity Scorecard, and a community resource fair.

The summit served as a pivotal gathering at the intersection of healthcare and homelessness. It brought together individuals with lived experience of homelessness, community leaders, healthcare professionals, service providers, and advocates to foster collaboration, share innovative solutions, and drive meaningful change.

Homelessness is too often discussed in isolation from health, systemic inequities, and community design. The Shifting Narratives Summit intentionally placed those intersections front and center. Attendees learned how health disparities contribute to homelessness and how integrated care and community partnerships can help create more stable outcomes.

Data as a Foundation for Dialogue

The event began with a presentation of the High Point Racial Equity Scorecard by Dr. Stephen Sills. In addition to highlighting health disparities, Dr. Sills explored key data regarding housing affordability in High Point, Guilford County, and across North Carolina. The goal was to ground the discussion in data that demonstrated how multiple systems overlap, rather than simply intersect on occasion through individual experiences. The data underscored that homelessness and health disparities are deeply connected to racial and economic equity.

Exploring the Intersections of Health and Housing

Following the presentation, attendees participated in three panel discussions that examined the intersections between health, housing, and equity:

• Unhoused & Unwell: Challenging Assumptions at the Intersection of Health and Homelessness featured healthcare, mental health, and homeless service providers who examined how health systems, housing instability, and social determinants overlap.

• When Care Is Not Enough: How Nutrition and Health Crises Contribute to Housing Instability brought together nutrition experts and a food pantry provider who discussed how nutritional deficiencies can exacerbate health conditions. Panelists emphasized the importance of dignity in providing assistance, noting that many individuals do not seek help because of negative past experiences.

• Rooted in Resilience: Community-Driven Solutions to Homelessness highlighted locally driven solutions and shared promising practices from other communities.

A Space for Learning and Collective Action

Attendees demonstrated a readiness to learn, to challenge personal biases, and to engage in cross-sector dialogue. Information about local resources and partnerships was shared to ensure that individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness could be better supported.

Participants did not shy away from equity-centered discussions or the examination of structural issues. They also engaged in candid conversations about well-intentioned efforts that may fall short, such as providing short-term hotel stays without long-term plans, donating food without considering dietary restrictions, or prescribing medications that require refrigeration or food access without ensuring that patients have either.

Confronting Root Causes

Many attendees expressed surprise at learning how certain challenges were interconnected and how systemic factors contribute to homelessness. This awareness is critical because many interventions fail when they ignore root causes.

During the summit, participants explored opportunities for new partnerships and solutions, including programs to support individuals who require medication refrigeration, medical care access while in shelters, and improved access to nutritious food.

Local Efforts, National Implications

Although this event focused on the High Point, North Carolina community, it reflects broader issues seen across the state and nation. Throughout the United States, housing instability and health outcomes are deeply intertwined. Chronic illness, mental health challenges, substance use, and nutrition all affect an individual’s ability to maintain stable housing.

Achieving system-level change requires collaboration among healthcare providers, social service agencies, housing authorities, community advocates, and people with lived experience.

The Power of Narrative

Narratives shape how communities understand and respond to homelessness. Framing homelessness as a health and equity issue can influence policy, shift resources, and increase accountability.

Local data drives local solutions. In addition to discussing the Racial Equity Scorecard, Partners Ending Homelessness is collecting data through a homelessness and healthcare gaps assessment to further inform community-based strategies.

A Call to Shift the Narrative

The Shifting Narratives Summit was more than a one-day event. It was a moment of convergence where health, housing, equity, lived experience, and community leadership met. Many policymakers, service providers, medical professionals, advocates, and individuals with lived experience shared that this was their first opportunity to engage directly with one another.

The summit provided a space not only for dialogue but also for reimagining how the community approaches homelessness and well-being. It concluded with a collective call to shift the narrative- from viewing homelessness as an individual failure to understanding it as a systemic outcome shaped by health, housing, and equity dynamics.

Participants were encouraged to take action: to engage, educate, and empower others with the knowledge and insights gained from this event.

For additional information about the Shifting Narratives Summit, visit: www.pehgc.org/shifting-narratives