Priority of Larry Oaks should be encouraged. Sandler recognizes limiting discussion to Cambridge may be misguided. Other cities have more accessible housing, e.g., Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River, Brockton, Worcester, Springfield, Pittsfield. Cunningham mentions "the voice of the Community." Who speaks better for people without homes, than those people? Only ownership is permanent housing. Even that can be ended by government taking. Councilor McGovern remains focused on delivering taxpayer funded health care to persons without homes. More business for the human services industry. Disappointing conclusion for another review of the findings. How many times must housing persons without homes be studied? How much time and money is wasted studying this problem instead of stopping the waste of taxpayer funds and housing people. Stop the nonsense. Here's an action plan. Get people off the streets.
[From article]
Larry Oaks, director of Corporation for Supportive Housing, [. . .] said. “Who can address their other issues when they’re living on the street?”
[. . .]
One idea was to offer landlords more incentives for providing affordable housing, possibly through the city’s housing department.
[. . .]
Bill Cunningham expressed a concern that the meetings had not adequately represented “the voice of the community.”
[. . .]
Questions arose as to whether the housing would be transitional or permanent housing; whether there was “flexible funding” for it, so people can get in without waiting for months; and whether there was funding for services to go along with the housing.
[. . .]
“The homeless are mobile, so you need to help people beyond the borders of Cambridge,” said Martha Sandler, executive director of On the Rise,
[. . .]
Another speaker added that suburban towns could be doing more to provide more low-income housing.
[. . .]
Mark McGovern, director of Cambridge-Somerville Health Care for the Homeless, strongly recommended “low-barrier” shelters where homeless individuals can bring their belongings, pets and partners. There, he said, visitors could also access appropriate health services.
[. . .]
“early warning systems” can help in prevention. Something as simple as someone not paying their rent could be a sign. Also assessments are needed of who needs what kind of assistance or intervention, and if it should be short or long term.
“People don’t know who to call or what services to ask for. We need to help them do that,” said Oaks.
Ultimately, though, the goal to is “move people on,” according to Oaks, so they are back in the mainstream.
The next steps in the process of helping the city’s homeless will be to review all the findings from last week and to draft an action plan, according to Shelly Chevalier, planning and development manager for the city’s Human Services Programs.
http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150923/NEWS/150928267
Housing challenges take focus at Cambridge Charrette on Homelessness
By Paul Angiolillo
Cambridge (at) wickedlocal.com
Posted Sep. 23, 2015 at 2:10 PM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle
No comments:
Post a Comment