Rock Hill’s model for helping the homeless catches the attention of surrounding cities

ROCK HILL, S.C (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — There is no formula for solving homelessness, but Charlotte and Mecklenburg County leaders are trying to find a way to tackle the growing issue.

Nationwide, the homeless population grew 12 percent from 2022-2023. Recently, Rock Hill has captured the attention of surrounding cities due to its model for success.

“Now that I can actually stop moving like a chicken with its head cut off, I realized just how tired I actually am,” said Devon Battles.

Last Saturday, Battles says he hit rock bottom. The house he was living in got sold, and he had nowhere to go, and not enough money to find a new place.

“I was trying to drink myself to death. I went through a lot of alcohol really fast in a really short amount of time,” he said. “It just seemed like the only way out.”

Police officers in Lancaster County brought Battles to Pathways Community Center in Rock Hill. The nonprofit operates out of this 40,000-square-foot old school building. Each so-called classroom is a local nonprofit offering different services.

“Here, I have a chance,” Battles said. “They’ve got caseworkers here, people to work on my disability, my SSI and it’s just one step at a time.”

Battles struggles with depression, mental health issues, is blind in one eye and found himself struggling without the services to help him.

“You have Catawba Mental Health doing mental health care. Keystone Substance Abuse Services providing peer support specialists for harm reduction and a connection over to treatment services for addiction,” listed Alex Greenawalt, Pathways Community Center Director. “You have Side Story Ministry helping victims/survivors of domestic violence.”

For Battles, it started with a lending ear.

“It’s a welcoming load off your chest just to be able to say, ‘hey, somebody knows what’s going on with me and they didn’t just tell me to suck it up,'” he said.

What Pathways is doing, offering services from 16 different nonprofits in one building, is catching the attention of other municipalities. Mecklenburg County leaders visited Rock Hill recently to see if there’s anything they can implement. Tuesday, the city of Dillon also inquired about their model.

Some of the non-profits in the building have a 90% success rate, and while hope is a strong word right now, but Battles is optimistic that one day he too can be that success story.

“To me, the success would be just to get a hold of myself again, get back on my feet, own a property and just get back on with my life,” he said.

Another program that caught the attention of the Mecklenburg County District Attorney is the Rock Hill Homeless Court. It’s a program that offers rehabilitation programs and treatment in exchange for the dismissal of fines or expungement of an offense.

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