The cafe’s example of giving is but one among many people and organizations from all walks of life doing what they can to assist Manchester’s homeless community.
“I’m grateful that the meeting occurred and I think it was eye-opening for the state to hear directly from the mayors, and what we are encountering in our communities,” Mayor Joyce Craig said of the Jan. 20 meeting with DHHS interim commissioner Lori Weaver and others in Concord.
New Hampshire is in the midst of a housing crisis that extends beyond the shortage of market-rate units, past the working poor to include the state’s homeless population, a problem that has been accelerated by a lapse in statewide emergency housing funding and an increasing number of people being evicted after the COVID-19 eviction moratorium expired over the summer.
Others see the affordable housing crisis as directly affecting their stability even as they work and volunteer within New Hampshire communities. Briefly looking at three of those populations who might not be thought of as being affected by housing insecurity and the lack of affordable housing might help explain why the housing crisis leaves many on the outside looking in. These three groups are those with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD), those with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and abuse survivors attempting to flee their abusers.
Homeless people in the Queen City are reporting to outreach workers that they are increasingly concerned about encampment clearings, and the outreach members are losing connection with individuals and service momentum with each clearing, according to a monthly report by the Manchester Homeless Outreach Collaboration.
I don’t know Benjamin Horton or his intentions in writing his opinion piece [Enough is Enough for downtown Manchester July 23, 2020]. For all I know he had a similar upbringing to mine although I doubt that if he feels like walking in downtown Manchester is like “walking in a war zone.” What I do know is that none of what he recommends would actually solve any of the problems he described.
Led by a panel of expert practitioners from the public and nonprofit sectors, you’ll get a deeper understanding of the challenges we face, the work that’s being done and what you can do to help.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday dug in to the continued issue of statewide demand for Manchester services with no assistance – or money – from the state.
Breaking down the current influx of homelessness in the city.
Maybe 10 yards into the tree line laying beside a fallen tree sat Frank – lost, tired and confused. Frank, as I later learned his name to be, was, is, and likely will always be a homeless person. Worse than homeless, Frank is also touched in the head, not quite all there.