By Eugene T. Lowe
June 19, 2006

The Conference of Mayor Hunger and Homelessness Task Force reviewed June 2, some of the major elements of the 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness in the cities of San Francisco, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara and Gastonia. The task force was also briefed on the challenge of hunger in America and some of the efforts being made to address the problem.

Task Force Chair San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom moderated the meeting that heard presentations from Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, and Gastonia (NC) Mayor Jennifer T. Stultz. The task force also heard from Phil Mangano, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and Frances Nam, Vice President of Government Affairs of Sodexho, the leading food service and facilities management company in North America.

Phil Mangano opened up the discussion of the 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness with an overview of what is taking place across the nation. He said that the number of chronic homeless people is decreasing on city streets. He attributed the progress to “assertive community treatment” He said, “Instead of having an outreach worker who goes out and often enables (the homeless) to stay out, have a multidisciplinary, clinically-based team of people who have expertise in mental health, addiction, housing issues, to engage people and establish a relationship. That kind of relationship creates the trust for the person to come in.”

Blum talked about her city’s approach. Santa Barbara has established a “restorative policing” program where officers befriend homeless people and help them in getting social services and to appointments. Over time, the officers get the homeless to go to shelters for the services. Blum said that 30 people have been “pulled off the streets” with the program.

Stultz has had similar efforts in Gastonia where police officers have played a major role in helping the homeless. She talked about how her city’s lost textile jobs and how the homeless population grew. Many parties came together, including churches, along with those making an effort to revitalize the downtown to work toward ending homelessness.

Goodman asked the question of the day: “If someone can give me an answer as to how we can help (the homeless) with being sued for civil rights violations, I’d like to hear that.” The mayor described his city’s homeless intervention and prevention services, and how Las Vegas went about developing an interagency continuum of care.

In San Francisco, Newsom has created and established “Project Homeless Connect.” A video was shown to the task force about the San Francisco initiative. The mayor said that he brings “…over 2,000 volunteers every other month to engage with the homeless and connect them to vital services. To date, over 16,000 San Franciscans have participated in this innovative program, and have served 9,900 homeless.”

Nam talked about the major effort Sodexho is making in feeding children and families. She said that Sodexho will continue to make efforts in an attempt to eliminate hunger in America. Sodexho sponsors the annual hunger and homeless study of the Conference of Mayors.

The task force meeting concluded with a discussion of four homeless resolutions that would be considered by the Community Development and Housing Committee the next day. Most of the discussion was about a resolution authored by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich to expand the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of homelessness to include “…people who are sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reasons, and those who are staying in motels because of the lack of adequate alternative accommodations.”