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Homelessness an ongoing battle

By Staff | May 14, 2013

By best estimates, more than 300 people are homeless in the Nashua area. That’s 300 more than civic leaders wanted 13 years ago when they vowed to bring homelessness to an end within a decade.

The goal was admittedly ambitious and looking at all that’s happened since, it was an impossible dream. But that doesn’t mean civic leaders haven’t made strong progress in getting many of the city’s most vulnerable residents off the streets.

By establishing a “Continuum of Care,” the city has be able to coordinate efforts to identify at-risk people and target resources to address their needs.

Two areas where the city has had the most success is with HIV/AIDS patients and veterans.

With the help of federal funding secured by the city and the Southern N.H. HIV/AIDS Task Force, nearly all of Nashua’s HIV/AIDS patients at risk for homelessness have secured housing.

Harbor Homes has opened four housing facilities specifically for veterans, virtually eliminating homelessness among the city’s veterans population. Earlier this year, outreach workers counted only one homeless veteran during their annual one-day tally. That number is down from more than 100 in 2007.

“Certainly, homelessness was not going to be eradicated in 10 years, but we’re all putting steps forward,” Wendy LeBlanc, chairman of the Continuum of Care and vice president of the HIV/AIDS Task Force, told The Telegraph last week. “We’ve done a good job of continuing to bring new funding into the community whenever it’s available in order to target specialty populations.”

Now, the challenge is to better target the general population. The number of families at risk for homelessness has increased in recent years during the national recession. Unemployment rates, though comparatively low in New Hampshire, have increased steadily in Nashua and around the state. Foreclosures have reached a record high. Meanwhile, funding has been harder to come by as local, state and federal lawmakers have tightened their belts.

Advocates and civic leaders hope those numbers will continue to level off as the economy returns to life. The new goal is to lower the city’s homeless count to 150 within three years. That won’t be easy to achieve, but certainly within reason.

Nashuans can take pride in the strides its leaders have made in addressing the difficult issues surrounding homelessness and hopeful they will continue that level of achievement.

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