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Good morning, readers.
At its meeting this week, the Raleigh City Council voted to allocate $5 million to support a pilot program to help reduce homelessness, which has doubled in the city since the pandemic, according to city officials.
The Unsheltered Homelessness Response Pilot Program consists of three components: direct housing assistance (or subsidies to help people move into permanent housing); homelessness services system support (enhancing the city’s already existing services), and coordinated community response (working with local agencies and stakeholders to develop a community-wide homelessness response strategy).
As part of the housing assistance component, the city will provide $1.9 million in direct assistance in the form of monthly subsidies to families living in encampments.
The move comes after residents of a large encampment on state-owned property on U.S. 70 near the Raleigh-Garner border were ordered to leave late last month or face arrest by Raleigh police.
“Closing encampments is neither the most humane nor the most cost effective way to manage homelessness,” wrote city council member Megan Patton on X. “Super excited to see this new pilot to address root causes of homelessness by providing folks more access to housing!”
The direct housing assistance component of the program will cost around $3 million, while the city has allocated an additional $2 million to housing unit repairs, including $1.6 million to hotel unit repairs and $400,000 to scattered site units.
The homelessness system support component of the pilot will be considered in the city’s annual budget process.
Raleigh has an estimated 6,000 residents seeking unsheltered support services according to the nonprofit Raleigh Rescue Mission. Wake County’s annual Point in Time Count this year indicated 900 individuals experience homelessness across the county on a given night, a 200 percent increase over 2020.
“This program will continue the City’s work of building a more inclusive and equitable community for all residents,” a city release states.
Have a good Thursday.
—Jane
Durham
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein made a stop in Durham Monday to kick off teacher appreciation week.
Wake
Higher taxes and development pressures are threatening to displace Black homeowners in Southeast Raleigh.
Orange
Chapel Hill town manager Chris Blue presented his $156 million budget proposal to the town council this week.
North Carolina
In a 105-4 vote, the NC House passed a bill, the Shalom Act, that establishes a definition of antisemitism in state law. Critics say it is a politically motivated attack on free speech.
Another House bill would significantly expand areas for tree-cutting in the state in order to make room for billboards and other outdoor advertising.
Today’s weather
Rainy with a high of 86 degrees.
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