[Neighbors] Concerned about the street people? Things you can do.

[Spencer Nelson]

Concerned about the street people? Here are some things you can do from 
informing our local and state officials to volunteering your time and 
money. The problem is not going be improved without lots more effort in 
many areas from increasing the number of police and social workers to 
supplying much more housing.

I have found that our City Councilor really wants to help reduce the 
number of people living on the street. But she cannot do it alone. 
Listen to her, tell her your opinions and observations, and help her to 
convince the other Council members to provide the resources for programs 
that work.

Councilor Nichole L. Rogers' next "Meet and Greet" Session is
Aug 01, 4 to 6 PM at
Frontier Restaurant
2400 Central AV

Also
Email Councilor Nichole Rogers: district6 at cabq.gov
or her assistant Policy Analyst Paloma Garcia:
district6 at cabq.gov
505-768-3152

The same goes for bothering our state representatives and executives and 
our county officials.

If you look into what other cities have done for this issue you'll find 
that some are really making progress while others barely tip the scale. 
Newark, New Jersey, has reduced the street-living population by 50 
percent in recent years by getting organized and coordinating with the 
state and private non-profits to increase resources in every area of 
help including a lot of housing and 24 hour-a-day intervention. You can 
find a bunch of articles on Newark's attempts and about other cities 
that have successful and unsuccessful programs.

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/06/op-ed-newark-mayor-ras-baraka-discusses-newark-strategies-helping-homeless-people/

I volunteered a little with one of the private groups that is trying to 
reduce homelessness, Family Promise. It is a tiny program that accepts 
homeless families and provides shelter, food, and transportation while 
working with the adults to get them a job and an apartment. They give 
each family about three months to do this and have had a high success 
rate. But they can only help about three at a time. At least it works.

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