Editorial: Losing - War on homelessness needs new troops and strategy
Six years ago, a coalition of city, county and nonprofit officials came together and declared war on homelessness. We will, they declared, eradicate the problem in 10 years.
With just four years to go, it's reasonable to conclude the effort will fail.
We have made little progress in finding ways to put people in good housing. In truth, we are going backward. The ranks of homeless are growing.
It was discouraging to see the numbers posted last week, as the Women's Giving Circle delivered its annual report on key indicators about the health and welfare of women and children in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. The young and fast-growing charitable nonprofit decided several years ago to monitor those trends, and especially to research the causes and cures for homelessness.
This year's one-day, "point in time" countywide homeless head count found that the number of sheltered or unsheltered homeless in this county had increased by 545 people over last year, rising to 1,606 from last year's 1,061. The number of homeless women rose from 190 last year to 396 this year - it more than doubled. And the number of homeless children and unaccompanied youth grew from 379 last year to 514 this year.
In a different count, the Cumberland County schools found even more homeless children - 748 of them in the school system.
For perspective's sake, consider these comparisons:
Fayetteville and Cumberland County have 1,606 homeless.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, with about the same population as Fayetteville and Cumberland, have 556 homeless - about a third as many.
Raleigh and Wake County, with three times our population, have 1,132 homeless - 474 fewer than we have.
Something is terribly wrong with that picture.
And it appears the biggest piece of the gone-wrong scenario is the same problem that has plagued our anti-homelessness army all along. It's an uncoordinated effort that is desperately short of the most fundamental building block that the homeless need - transitional housing and the assistance to help the homeless find a place in productive society.
We also know that we will never end homelessness altogether. Drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness are responsible for some of it, just as they are a key reason for our overflowing jail.
But we also know that most of those women - and all of the children - are not on the streets by choice. They want, need and deserve better.
A spinoff of the Giving Circle - Connections of Cumberland County - was formed to provide the missing coordination between agencies, and to create more emergency shelter space and transitional housing. We hope the new group succeeds where others have, so far, failed. We may never end homelessness here, or anywhere else, but we've got to do a better job for those who don't want to be homeless, especially our children.
With just four years to go, it's reasonable to conclude the effort will fail.
We have made little progress in finding ways to put people in good housing. In truth, we are going backward. The ranks of homeless are growing.
It was discouraging to see the numbers posted last week, as the Women's Giving Circle delivered its annual report on key indicators about the health and welfare of women and children in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. The young and fast-growing charitable nonprofit decided several years ago to monitor those trends, and especially to research the causes and cures for homelessness.
This year's one-day, "point in time" countywide homeless head count found that the number of sheltered or unsheltered homeless in this county had increased by 545 people over last year, rising to 1,606 from last year's 1,061. The number of homeless women rose from 190 last year to 396 this year - it more than doubled. And the number of homeless children and unaccompanied youth grew from 379 last year to 514 this year.
In a different count, the Cumberland County schools found even more homeless children - 748 of them in the school system.
For perspective's sake, consider these comparisons:
Fayetteville and Cumberland County have 1,606 homeless.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, with about the same population as Fayetteville and Cumberland, have 556 homeless - about a third as many.
Raleigh and Wake County, with three times our population, have 1,132 homeless - 474 fewer than we have.
Something is terribly wrong with that picture.
And it appears the biggest piece of the gone-wrong scenario is the same problem that has plagued our anti-homelessness army all along. It's an uncoordinated effort that is desperately short of the most fundamental building block that the homeless need - transitional housing and the assistance to help the homeless find a place in productive society.
We also know that we will never end homelessness altogether. Drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness are responsible for some of it, just as they are a key reason for our overflowing jail.
But we also know that most of those women - and all of the children - are not on the streets by choice. They want, need and deserve better.
A spinoff of the Giving Circle - Connections of Cumberland County - was formed to provide the missing coordination between agencies, and to create more emergency shelter space and transitional housing. We hope the new group succeeds where others have, so far, failed. We may never end homelessness here, or anywhere else, but we've got to do a better job for those who don't want to be homeless, especially our children.
