A 10-year plan may be 1st step to solve chronic homelessness
Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
The Wilmington City Council voted last year to create a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. On Monday, it invited surrounding counties to participate.
Elected officials from New Hanover and Brunswick counties joined Mayor Spence Broadhurst and three other council members Monday to talk about the plan. Unfortunately, none came from Pender County. Representatives of government and private agencies also attended.
Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said a 10-year plan could improve an area’s quality of life, with fewer people on the streets and in shelters and fewer emergency room visits and police calls.
“It’s time to move beyond punitive approaches that haven’t worked,” he said. “Be tolerant of your homeless neighbor but intolerant of homelessness.”
Solving the problem
Solving the problem costs less than ignoring it.
Boston studied 119 chronically homeless people for five years and found they accounted for 18,000 emergency room visits costing around $1,000 each, not including ambulance rides. (more…)
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