About Us

What is the Home Team?

The Home Team is the coordinated group that works to eradicate the problem of homelessness in our community. We are service providers, representatives of government, consumers, housing providers, and others who are interested in the problems of homelessness.

The Home Team meets bi-monthly with special committee meetings meeting monthly. Your input and expertise is requested and needed.

This Home Team desires to make Erie a socially responsible community and to make our community a better place to live for all citizens. Working together we hope to address and help eliminate homelessness.

How We Do It
The Home Team plans, implements, and evaluates the homeless services system through a Continuum of Care approach.  The Continuum of Care consists of:

  • Outreach and assessment
  • Emergency shelter
  • Transitional housing
  • Supportive services
  • Permanent supportive housing
  • Permanent housing

This coordinated group, as a Continuum of Care, individually assesses homeless people and engages them in a process that is designed to stop the cycle of homelessness.

Eliminating homelessness would strengthen Erie County’s overall economy and reduce our extremely high rate of children living in poverty.

What We Do

  • The Home Team was created to promote a comprehensive, collaborative and sustained community approach to homelessness.
  • The Home Team meets bimonthly to work toward eradicating homelessness.
  • It is a community-based planning process with a defined geographic area of Erie County.
  • The Home Team has distinct roles and responsibilities for its members.
  • Further, the Home Team collects data related to the homeless services system in Erie County.  The purpose of data collection is to ensure non-duplication of resources and to identify and address major gaps in the system.
  • Ultimately, the Home Team’s goal is to enable the person or family experiencing homelessness to become self-sufficient and to move into permanent housing.

Who We Are
The Home Team, formed in 1997, consists of local government representatives, service providers, business owners, consumers, and concerned citizens. The following agencies comprise the Home Team and its five standing sub-committees (Gaps/Information, Education/Outreach, Membership/Nominating, Housing, and Children and Youth):

  •     City of Erie School District
  •     Community of Caring
  •     Community Health Net – Health Care for Homeless
  •     Community Shelter Services
  •     Department of Human Services
  •     Department of Veterans Affairs
  •     Erie City Mission
  •     Erie City Planning Department
  •     Erie County Assistance Office
  •     Erie County Care Management
  •     Erie County Community Support Program
  •     Erie County Health Department
  •     Erie DAWN
  •     Erie United Methodist Alliance/ Project Hope
  •     Family Services of NW PA
  •     Gaudenzia Erie
  •     GECAC
  •     Housing And Neighborhood Development Services
  •     Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA
  •     Mercy Center for Women
  •     Mercyhurst Civic Institute
  •     My Father’s House of Erie
  •     Northwest Tri-County IU # 5
  •     Partnership of Women Religious (POWR)
  •     Penn State Erie, CORE
  •     Safe Horizons
  •     SafeNet
  •     St. Martin Center, Inc
  •     Stairways, Inc
  •     Tirak & Huber
  •     United Way of Erie County
  •     Voices for  Independence