The article in today’s Bee about the homeless plan reaches the same conclusion that we reached in our Lower Reach Report, posted on our website, that the chronic homeless, those who have been camping illegally along the Parkway for years, need to be placed in housing before they can begin to deal with their other issues.
The approach we like, which we hope to see implemented here, is the one New York based, Pathways to Housing, has had an 85% success rate with, and includes a treatment team approach that addresses the mental, drug addiction and other issues directly.
The Bee also published our letter to the editor today about the Sacramento Zoo we posted on a few days ago.
Homeless plan supported
City, county officials back strategy, await details
By Judy Lin -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Calling it a moral imperative, Sacramento city and county elected officials wasted no time Tuesday in endorsing a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness but left tough funding decisions to be worked out later.
"I see a lot of risk and cost, and yet, on the other hand, a lot of promise," said Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway.
The plan is premised on a "housing first" approach that is showing success elsewhere in the country. The idea is that the best way to help the homeless is to find them shelter, and then they may be more receptive to using various programs designed to make them more self-sufficient.
Local elected officials got their first in-depth look Tuesday at the draft of the 10-year plan that is aimed at the estimated 1,600 chronically homeless people in the county. The plan defines this group as those who have been homeless for more than a year or who have been homeless at least four times in a three-year period.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13949556p-14784238c.html
