For the second year in a row, volunteers found a person dead Thursday during Mecklenburg County's annual count to assess the state of homelessness.
Starting in the pre-dawn chill, community volunteers pushed trolleys across uptown with sleeping bags, canned food, and water while they fanned out across sidewalks, bus stops and small patches of woods to count the number of people sleeping outdoors.
Nicole Ayers is with the shelter program Roof Above. She was with a group of volunteers who found someone dead.
“It’s devastating. Homeless service work just shatters your heart, and today is one of those days. It’s just really hard work," Ayers said. "We say that especially in extreme weather it’s life and death for people, and it truly is life and death for people who are experiencing homelessness.”
Officials said the person was found at an encampment in a tent near Interstate 77 and Woodlawn Road interchange. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are investigating.
Last year, 52-year-old Abdul Wright was found dead in uptown during the point-in-time count. Liz Clasen-Kelly, who oversees Roof Above, was the group that found Wright dead last year.
"It's just a reminder of how fragile life can be," Clasen-Kelly said. "And how homelessness increases someone's vulnerability. So now this has happened two years in a row, it's just a reminder of the critical nature of this work."
Mecklenburg County confirmed the death in a written statement.
"It is always a tragedy when someone passes away in this manner while living unsheltered. It is a stark reminder of why staff and volunteers are passionate about this work, all attempting to make a difference in the lives of our community’s most vulnerable people. An incident like this reinforces that sometimes that difference can mean life or death for our neighbors, and why housing insecurity remains a Mecklenburg County priority," a spokesman wrote.
Clasen-Kelly was with a group of volunteers Thursday who paced across uptown to talk with people sleeping outside. One person whom they came across near a church where Wright had died last year didn’t want to share their name because of their situation. The individual who was wrapped in a sleeping bag says there are reasons why homelessness is increasing.
“People (are) losing their jobs, drugs and alcohol,” the individual said.
During last year's count, community members helped identify 444 people sleeping outdoors. Allison Winston was a team lead at this year's count. Winston is a homeless response specialist with Community Solutions. A group that focuses on reducing unsheltered homelessness.
“I think that homelessness has continued to grow and that unsheltered homelessness is a significant problem facing Charlotte Mecklenburg right now,” Winston said.
Last year, 60 more people were found living outdoors last year compared with 2024. Another individual, who asked not to be named, told WFAE on Thursday that a personal breakdown had led to them living outside for about the past six months.
“I was with this lady friend of mine. Me and her fell out," the individual said. "Me and her split ways, and I ended up where I am right now.”
As part of this year's count, a total of 400 gift cards were acquired to distribute to community members found sleeping outdoors. The gift cards were worth $10. Mary Ann Priester is with the county and helps oversee the count. Priester says there was a reason behind volunteers distributing the cards as well as other resources.
"Even though we try to take hot bags and lunchboxes out, they're supposed to keep things warm. By the time those sandwiches get to the camps, they're already cold or hard, and that's not serving anyone with dignity,” Priester said. "So we wanted to provide people with something where they had some autonomy about what their choice was that they were going to purchase."
In terms of the count results, community members can expect to learn more about the findings later this year in the fall.
