Over the past three to four years, 32 mobile homes and trailers abandoned on city streets have been towed and stored at the transfer station on Dunbarton Road.
I’ve heard elected officials in Manchester responding to criticisms about their mishandlings of the homelessness crisis by saying “homelessness is a complicated problem”. For those of us who face the horrific consequences of these mishandlings out on the streets it certainly can be complicated. However the solution is quite simple.
Held at Bronstein Park in Manchester on March 21 at 6:30 p.m., right across from the Waypoint Youth Shelter, the in-person gathering will include speeches from Waypoint staff, food, opportunity to dance, and vendor stands, including the Pop-up Gallery.
The city’s winter warming station is scheduled to close next Friday. I understand it has been serving between 25-60 people daily, depending on the weather. One of those people, for a time, was Lexi Ramirez.
On Friday morning, Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais made a pledge to provide homes to all homeless veterans in Manchester by the end of his term, which ends in 472 days.
In a press release issued Wednesday from City Hall, Ruais recapped his recent efforts to reduce the number of visibly homeless and restore public spaces – primarily parks – from becoming encampments for the homeless.
Six months on the job as mayor, Ruais says there’s progress – last Tuesday the Board of Aldermen banned camping in the city and transferred half a million dollars to the police department to provide “hot spot patrols” in problem areas. Those two things will begin to move the needle, says Ruais.
The median cost for a two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire is about $1,584. To afford it, someone would have to earn about $31 an hour. With the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, someone working 168 hours a week — every hour of every day — could not afford the rent. To kick off an occasional series on homelessness, Melanie Plenda talks with Jennifer Chisholm, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness, about the problems and solutions related to homelessness in New Hampshire.
Twice a day the fire department can expect a call relating to homelessness in some way, whether it’s a fire at an encampment that needs to be extinguished; the river flooded with high rains and campers are stuck on the banks, or a medical emergency requires the departments’ attention
The mayor’s office on Thursday announced a collaboration with Members First Credit Union and Catholic Charities NH to launch a pilot program for those experiencing homelessness and utilizing services at the Engagement Center.