Michael

Michael, one of the first residents of Reedy Place, picked out a corner unit because he could look out the window and see Paris Mountain. It was his first home in about 20 years. Before Reedy Place opened near downtown Greenville, Michael was experiencing homelessness and sleeping in the woods.

United Housing Connections established Reedy Place to serve people experiencing chronic homelessness with a serious mental illness. Mental health workers told Michael, who had schizophrenia and was actively using crack cocaine and alcohol, about Reedy Place about two years before it opened. At first, he was skeptical. 

Traditionally, help for those experiencing homelessness includes a program or case management, usually while residing in a temporary shelter or transitional housing.

Reedy Place uses the Housing First model, an approach that does not require sobriety or participation in services before a person can obtain housing. People who experience chronic homelessness are often reluctant participants. However, once housed they become more open to other services such as mental and physical healthcare.

The first night Reedy Place was open there was a community dinner meeting. Michael didn't attend. He stayed out all night, likely drinking and using drugs. He stayed out all night long every night for the first two or three weeks.

That changed when he tripped on a curb on his way out one night and broke both of his ankles. When he returned to Reedy Place in a wheelchair after a six-week hospital stay, he was unable to go out at night. Massey started tracking his weeks of sobriety. He also sat on the porch of Reedy Place and tried to talk other residents into staying there instead of going out to use drugs. Michael lived at Reedy Place for about seven years until his death.

By providing an extremely creative and complex solution, Reedy Place solves one piece of the homelessness puzzle for people like Michael.