Last month, 13 mayors sent Governor Chris Sununu an open letter requesting a new statewide plan to address homelessness.  Sununu has since established a Council on Housing Stability to take up the task. Meanwhile, for those on the front lines of this issue, worries are mounting as winter approaches amid a pandemic. We discuss what contributes to this problem — and some possible solutions, both short-and long-term.

Airdate: Dec. 3, 2020

GUESTS:

• Andrew Hosmer – Mayor of Laconia and former Democratic state senator.  One of 13 mayors to sign an open letter to Gov. Sununu calling for more leadership on the state level to help with homelessness, Mayor Hosmer has also organized a task force that includes local businesses and nonprofits to address homelessness in the Laconia area.
• Tammy Joslyn – Executive director of Operation Blessing, a faith-based  social services program.   She also works part-time  at the Portsmouth Housing Authority as a residential services coordinator.
• Stephanie Savard – Director of the N.H. Coalition to End Homelessness and chief external relations officer for Families in Transition-New Horizons, an organization that provides emergency shelter and supportive housing in Manchester, Concord, Wolfeboro, and Dover. She is also one of several dozen members of Governor Sununu’s newly formed Council on Housing Stability.
• DD Travers –  Advanced nurse practitioner with Catholic Medical Center’s Health Care for the Homeless program, a federally funded partnership with the city of Manchester, which includes a Street Medicine program. Part of her job involves serving the medical needs of people living in encampments around the city.