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Gate City officials gather information on homeless

By ADAM URQUHART - Staff Writer | Jan 2, 2020

NASHUA – City officials recently completed their second outreach effort to gauge Nashua’s homelessness situation before January’s annual point-in-time count.

The first such effort took place in November, as a few teams dispersed to find homeless encampments. At the time, officials identified 18 homeless individuals. However, they believe that figure is probably on the low side because it does not account for everyone.

This most recent outreach effort on Dec. 17 identified 11 people, but Nashua Welfare Officer Robert Mack said officials do not know if some of those people were included during the November evaluation. Of those identified in December, one person was sleeping in a tent, while the other 10 were found near the Nashua Public Library. Those engaged at the library identified as homeless, but declined to accept assistance from city officials.

“Doing these types of counts, it helps us to gather data and really analyze the situation of what the circumstances are, what the gaps are and what the needs really are,” Mack said.

Mack also said if looking at the issue as a system, a quick fix could be that the city needs more shelters. Although that may solve some issues, the question then becomes, where do these people move on from there. That has been at the forefront of the conversation, as officials are trying to focus on more affordable, long-term housing and other permanent supportive housing options.

However, “affordable housing” is a relative term that means different things to different people.

“It’s a complex issue, but I think the lack of affordable housing is one of the most impactful factors around homelessness,” Mack said.

Division of Public Health and Community Services Director Bobbie Bagley said a person should not be paying more than one-third of his or her income for housing. However, due to the relatively high cost of housing in Greater Nashua, many people are, and find themselves in a situation where their income does not support their household.

The annual point-in-time count will take place on Jan. 29. With officials having already identified some sites and engaged some people, Mack believes this will be beneficial if teams see these same individuals again to try to get more information from them. A questionnaire is being put together to go over with people officials encounter during this January point-in-time count. The questionnaire is currently being developed in partnership with the state since this is a coordinated effort across the state, and generally, across the country. It will include some identifying data that will keep the person’s anonymity, but allow officials to be able to identify them with that information to know if they have been seen before.

“There’s no cookie-cutter thing that you’re going to be able to fit for every single individual, but what we want to do is reduce as many barriers as we can so that folks have what they need,” Bagley said.

Bagley also said that what officials are trying to get at is the state of homelessness, the conditions people are living in, because there are different definitions. These questionnaires will help to better define the state of homelessness for each person encountered.

Mack said officials will also be gathering data from existing programs, such as shelter efforts and transitional housing programs. Some of those in those programs are still considered homeless, even once they are enrolled in these efforts.

Mack also said they would like to be able to provide people with options so they do not just end up living under a bridge or in the woods.

“Part of this effort is to, maybe, discern why it is they prefer that over something else,” Mack said.

Bagley said the biggest goal is to prevent families from going without stable housing.

“There’s not one simple solution to it, but there might be multiple things that we can look at of how to address the issue, and we just have to come up with the things that work the best within our system,” Bagley said.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.

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