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Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig explains why the city took down the homeless encampment on the sidewalks of Manchester and Pine Streets.
“The focus of the city of Manchester and the non-profits and our faith-based community has been and always will be the safety and health of our community, so that is the reason why we moved on that yesterday.”
In an interview with New Hampshire Today’s Chris Ryan, the Mayor of Manchester Joyce Craig discusses the shutting down of a homeless encampment along Manchester and Pine Streets in the Queen City; outlines the services which the city is providing to deal with the homelessness problem; and describes ways to address the mental health crisis which is an integral factor in homelessness.
Mayor Craig explains why the city moved yesterday to take down the homeless encampment on the sidewalks of Manchester and Pine Streets.
“The focus of the city of Manchester and the non-profits and our faith-based community has been and always will be the safety and health of our community, so that is the reason why we moved on that yesterday.”
With the city now having additional shelter facilities becoming available, the Mayor believes that the timing was right to take down the makeshift tents and shelters. As a result, it appears that the 30 or so homeless individuals moved to the safer environment of one the shelters.
When Joyce Craig ran for re-election as mayor in 2021, she promised to deal with the homelessness issue, and she address the perception that the problem seems to be worse.
“We know for a fact that, after COVID, homelessness has increased across this country, but I can say with confidence that the city of Manchester has invested significant funds to address this.”
Mayor Craig stated that the city has put $11 million towards affordable housing, partnered with nonprofit organizations to increase shelter capacity, and looked for creative ways to provide supportive housing.
Homelessness is a complex problem which frequently involves individuals with mental health and/or substance misuse issues. Mayor Craig believes that the problem has reached crisis proportions in Manchester and other cities in New Hampshire.
For that reason, she, and the mayors of other cities in the Granite State have called on Governor Sununu and the state government to do more to help with increasing low-income housing.
The state has devoted $100 million to the InvestNH Housing Fund which is intended to increase affordable rental units throughout New Hampshire.
Mayor Craig points out that this housing is only available to persons with a yearly income of $56,000. That amount is way beyond the income of the homeless population.
“While I appreciate the $100 million going to increased housing, we need to really focus on affordable, supportive housing to address the urgent, immediate need that is happening in this state.”