This sounds like a good start - but government alone is rarely enough (see below): Inquirer: Mayor Street yesterday announced an ambitious plan to "end homelessness in the next 10 years.":
Street, speaking to a City Hall news conference packed with more than 100 advocates for the homeless and a group of formerly homeless people, said his staff had earmarked $10 million for the program.
Street said the goal would be achieved through better coordination of existing services, construction of 600 new units - 25 a month - of subsidized housing for homeless people, and the addition of 100 beds for the chronically homeless.
The homeless initiative will not involve new agencies or bureaucratic changes. Rather, Street said, it would involve fine-tuning and expanding current programs, which will involve intensive sidewalk outreach to homeless people and placement in small "safe-haven" apartments where they receive intensive counseling and support services.
Details of how the homeless program will work will be announced over the next weeks and months. For example, the location and manner in which the city will create 25 housing units a month and 100 emergency beds was not decided, the mayor said.
Remaining unsaid is how much we all have a role to play in making the lives of our communities safer and healthier.
Sister Mary Scullion, executive director of Project HOME, was on hand and offered the plan and administration praise.
Project HOME has been a vital part in helping to fight the cycle of poverty. The organization's "continum of care" approach to fighting chronic homelessness has caught notice of many nationwide and has provided a blueprint that others have followed.
To help, we are hosting a free blogad to support an important fundraising event for Project HOME, later this month, check our right hand rail. We will provide details here on how you can do the same. I'm planning to attend. It would be great if you can join me.
In addition we've started a new section titled "Breaking the Cycle", in which I encourage you to share your stories, and your thoughts, on the persistent poverty that effects some of us, and the temporary poverty that has touches the vast number of us who remain silent about it. Yes, this includes me. You can expect more from me, from my own perspective, that will be difficult to share - but it's high time for some honest discussion.
For more information, please feel free to click feedback or comment in this post.
