MSC’s Fundamental Beliefs

Written by Carson Dean on September 17, 2014. Posted in Carson's Blog

Over the next five weeks, I’d like to lay out and briefly discuss the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte’s (MSC) rationales for our fundamental beliefs.  These five statements frame our agency’s decision-making process, but they are more than planning or values statements.  Each statement illustrates a core belief about homelessness and sets the tone for how MSC will end homelessness for the men we serve (our mission).  First, let me introduce MSC’s fundamental beliefs:

The Men’s Shelter of Charlotte believes:

1.  Homelessness was created by society and can therefore be solved by society.

2. To successfully end their homeless experience, men need support and assistance appropriate to their individual situations; providing too much assistance is wasteful, while too little support fosters failure.

3. Shelter is more appropriate than the streets, and most other forms of housing are more appropriate then shelter.

4. Substance addiction recovery is a life-long process and best supported through a harm reduction approach.

5. The solution to ending each man’s homeless experience is through intense focus on MSC’s Equation: Income + Housing + Support = An End to Homelessness.

Tune In to Learn More

My hope is that you will join me each week as I unpack these fundamental beliefs and attempt to connect our beliefs to our daily work and, more importantly, the impact MSC is having on not just serving men experiencing homelessness, but actually helping them end their homeless experience.

So,  next week we’ll start with a brief history lesson.  Homelessness as we know it is a fairly recent creation, brought about by some interesting societal decisions.  That’s all I’ll give you for now, you’ll have to tune in next week for more of the story…

Tags: Carson Dean, emergency shelter, end homelessness, homeless, homelessness, Men's Shelter of Charlotte, more appropriate housing, non profit