Editorial: A welcome gift in Charleston’s fight against homelessness

By the Editorial Staff
December 14, 2020

The nonprofit homeless shelter One80 Place has served Charleston for almost four decades, and over that span, its leaders have learned that the best way to fight homelessness is to stop it from happening in the first place — before individuals or families are ever unsure about where they will spend the night. That’s why it’s such welcome news that One80 Place recently received a $5 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund, created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Executive Director Stacey Denaux realizes it sounds trite to say the gift will be transformational, but it does hold the promise of being life-changing: “What we’ve known for years and what’s even more obvious during the past eight months of the pandemic is many people are much closer to the brink of homelessness than most people recognize. Once they become homeless, it’s hard to get them back into housing.”

While the $5 million sum is four times larger than any single grant or donation the agency has received since its founding in 1984, no one should be fooled into thinking that One80 Place is now on easy street, with no need of our further help. The grant has restrictions and may only be spent toward the target goals of helping families. “This isn’t for shelter operations,” Ms. Denaux said. “This isn’t for soup kitchen operations. It’s not like winning the lottery. It’s not found money.”