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.
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.
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.
Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting focused primarily on the growing concern about homelessness, in particular, the piles of belongings left abandoned for hours along Elm Street and other main arteries.
The report reveals continuing increases in the number of children identified as homeless in New Hampshire’s public school system. Over 4,000 students were identified as homeless during the 2016-2017 school year, an increase of almost 21 percent from just two years ago.