Thrive In Place… Yes,
gentrification in Salt Lake City sounds like Fayetteville
How do other cities manage their homeless crises? Lots of problems, seems like not many solutions. Here’s a news report from Washington D.C. that could be the story of cities all over the country.
Washington DC saw a 40% spike in homeless encampments starting with covid. That’s huge! Their story has points that sound eerily familiar for Fayatteville. There are a LOT of homeless people, they just kind of appeared during covid, and they seem too have, and are causing, a lot of similar problems.
The neighborhoods where encampments spring up face similar challenges every day, and city officials are confused and struggle to know how to really resolve them. Some neighbors feel for the homeless on their sidewalks. Others just want them and their stuff to disappear. Sounds like Fayetteville.
The Director of Health and Human Services says: “we have enough housing vouchers to pay for everyone who is unhoused. The question of whether we have the housing supply is a lot more complicated” That’s an issue for our area too.
A neighborhood business woman says “Not one department is in charge of everything. We constantly have to reach out to different people.” DC claims there is a central point of contact but that apparently isn’t well-known. Fayetteville has no central coordination, but it would sure be helpful to housed and unhoused people alike.
Another camp experiment in Austin: Ezperenza Camp. Austin is getting famous for its well-run Community First Village of permanent housing for formerly-homeless people. Austin’s trying other experiments to get people off their streets too. But Austin has a whole lot of homeless people, and these camps are just scratching the surface.
Here’s a media report from May 17, 2021 that share the strengths and weaknesses of a state-sanctioned camp that’s been in Southeast Austin for 4 years now. It’s called Esperanza Community and. KVUE’s Molly Oak took us inside to see what’s changed and what’s working since it opened.