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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:21 |
By DAVID FORBES
The number of homeless in Asheville has dropped ÇƒÓ a trend that Amy Sawyer, coordinator of the cityës 10-year plan to end homelessness, hopes to continue, she told City Council on Sept. 19.
"Our goal is to get permanent housing first," Sawyer said. "We then try to coordinate that with services so the person can maintain that house."
To achieve that goal, the Affordable Housing Coalition, the non-profit agency that is in charge of implementing the plan, is securing apartments in Woodfin, with the goal of having formerly homeless people in 30 units by the end of the year.
The
plan, adopted by the city and county in 2003, involves coordinating
efforts between local non-profits and government agencies to decrease
the number of homeless people in the area through providing housing and
services.
However, Sawyer said, her organization still faces problems in implementing the plan.
"We still have
some significant obstacles," she noted. "One is public will. People
view the homeless in many negative ways. We need to educate those
people and try to bring people together to have a dialogue and move
forward. Another challenge that I canët underscore is the amount of
mental health services we have. The success of this ǃÚhousing firstë
approach depends on having good services."
Nonetheless, the
number of chronically homeless in Asheville has declined from 169 in
January of last year to 134 at the current time.
"We are seeing these figures decreasing slowly," she noted.
In response,
Councilman Jan Davis said he was pleased by the figures ÇƒÓ and by the
cooperation he believes the plan has fostered.
"It has
streamlined the process for all these organizations working together a
great deal and Iëm very pleased with that," Davis said.
Meanwhile,
Councilman Carl Mumpower, who has criticized the effectiveness of the
plan in the past, praised Sawyerës work, but said he still has qualms
about the plan and wants more information on how much money is being
spent on its efforts.
"This is where
Iëm really concerned ÇƒÓ with the dollars and cents," Mumpower said. "Iëd
also like to see that weëre doing something about the substance abuse
problem. Itës a worry that I personally have that these 134 are just
going to be replaced with another 134."
In separate
remarks, Vice Mayor Holly Jones, a proponent of the plan, said she is
already seeing some positive effects and thinks the strategies are
sound.
"You hear that
the new mental health clinic is already adopting some of the planës
strategies for detox," Jones said. "This is already having a lot of
ripple effects in a postive way. Going after these critical populations
is just the beginning."
However, with
the closing of New Vista mental health center, Jones did note that "Its
good weëre making these plans now, because weëve got a real crisis on
our hands in that area. But thatës out of your hands. Thank goodness we
have some plans for that population."
Later,
Councilwoman Robin Cape also said she agreed with the planës approach
of trying to get the most chronically homeless people into housing
first ÇƒÓ and believes it will have long-term benefits for the city.
"If you look at
the amount of resources that could be freed up if this is dealt with,
itës considerable," Cape said. "This is a really good step to
addressing this problem."
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