BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham officials used the city’s second State of Homelessness Summit to roll out a new effort, called Birmingham Goes Home, that will shape how the city clears homeless encampments and moves the people living in them toward permanent housing.
Few specifics were released. Alanah Melton, who directs the city’s work on homelessness, said the goal is to have housing ready to offer before an encampment is closed, rather than simply telling people to leave. She called moving a camp with nowhere to send people one of the hardest parts of the job.
City leaders have set a target of reducing chronic homelessness by 40%. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham estimate about 1,100 people in the city are homeless on any given night. That count includes roughly 600 who are chronically homeless, 474 veterans and more than 200 children and teens. City figures show four in 10 people who enter its system have never been homeless before.
The new initiative builds on a roadmap the city adopted a year ago. At the first summit, Mayor Randall Woodfin set aside $1.5 million from the general fund for the problem. Since then, the dollars have flowed to the Birmingham Oasis Development, several local resource centers and the new Jimmie Hale Mission Service Center. Leaders described the Oasis project as a central stop offering case management, social workers, medical care and substance use treatment.
Melton shared progress reports on two existing efforts, the Jimmie Hale Emergency Plus Shelter and a program called Home for All Safe Sleep. Through its HOPE program, the city has teamed with the Birmingham Police Department to relocate at least one encampment, at Underwood Park. Melton said the city cannot do the work alone and is leaning on local nonprofits.
Section: More Birmingham AL politics news
Filed under: Birmingham AL Politics News
