<
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/12/20/newark-may-have-found-a-fix-for-chronic-homelessness>
"ON A SINGLE night every January, volunteers all over America search parks,
woodlands, subway tunnels and pavements to count those without shelter. It is
part of the annual count mandated by the federal Department of Housing and
Urban Development. The point-in-time count results were released, at last, on
December 15th. Roughly 650,000 people were homeless, a 12% increase over the
year before. The count is the highest since reporting began in 2007. The
snapshot is useful for spotting trends and attracting federal funding. Most
experts agree it is an undercount and often out of date.
After seeing their own figures for homelessness increase by 20% between 2022
and early 2023, New Jersey officials were shocked into action. Officials
tweaked existing programmes and spent more on rental assistance for those at
risk of becoming homeless. More services for people living rough has led to a
rise in sheltered homelessness. The state also gathers near-real-time data,
rather than taking an annual snapshot. In November New Jersey’s Office of
Homelessness Prevention released its own figures. They showed unsheltered
homeless falling across the state by 23% year on year.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city and home to the state’s largest homeless
population, recorded the biggest decrease. A year ago Ras Baraka, the mayor,
unveiled a plan bringing together state, local and private-sector financial
support to reduce street homelessness, improve the shelter system and expand
housing and prevention services. Mobile crisis teams, behavioural-health
providers, community leaders and the police formed a coalition. It seems to be
working. Newark has achieved a 58% reduction in unsheltered homeless since the
start of the year."
Via David Byrne at
Reasons to be Cheerful.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
