Wake County will hold its annual Homeless Memorial on Sunday, Dec. 21, at 7:15 p.m. The event will take place at the South Wilmington Street Center in Raleigh and aims to honor community members who died while experiencing homelessness or after having lived through it.
Tara Waters from the Wake County Board of Commissioners stated, “Many of the people we’re honoring faced challenges that would test anyone. They were not anonymous or forgotten, they were family members, friends and neighbors. We invite the public to join us, hear their names and stand with us in recognizing their dignity.”
The memorial serves as a reminder of ongoing efforts by Wake County to address homelessness. In 2024, Wake County became the lead agency for the Wake County Continuum of Care, which coordinates local responses to homelessness. The county’s goal is to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
A key component of these efforts is Coordinated Entry—a process that connects individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness with shelter beds, housing programs, and support services. Providers use shared data and common assessments to match people with appropriate resources based on their needs.
The public can attend the memorial in person or watch it live on Wake County’s Facebook page.
