Ideas to end homelessness need support

As the National Alliance to End Homeless sees it, Cedar Rapids needs to build a clock.

The alliance has been working with Cedar Rapids, other local governments and nonprofits to seek solutions to a worsening homelessness issue.

“They said, your community has an amazing clock shop, you have a lot of different providers, the city, the county, that as a clock working are amazing and doing amazing thing,” Jennifer Pratt, Cedar Rapids community development director told our editorial board this week. “But to really end homelessness in your community, you have to take all of those and create one clock, so that each of you is a different gear and mechanism in that community clock.

“And I think it kind of changed the way we started looking at it. It's not about each individual organization, succeeding, it's how do we succeed as a community,” Pratt said.

The alliance held a two-day clinic in June that included the city, Linn County are nonprofit providers, police from several metro communities and the faith community. It also conduced a “360 survey” that included elected officials, front line provides and people using their services and experiencing homelessness now.

Among recommendations suggested by the alliance is the establishment of an oversight board with a full-time staff that receive funding to address homelessness. Other ideas include reimagining the current coordinated entry system for those seeking help and investing more resources and training in diversion, which steers people away from homelessness. Additional housing options will be needed.

We’re supportive of the recommendations from the national alliance, and encourage that the oversight group be put into place sooner than later. We understand there is a learning curve to even understanding current state, especially when some of the nonprofits can't themselves be part of the board.

It should be a high priority to get the group named and meeting. Identifying current situation and then identifying funding streams, etc., will take a few years. Hiring a project manager would be a smart call to keep the effort on track.

These discussions are coming at a critical time. The annual Point in Time count of homeless people in Linn County found 123 people living on the streets, according to reporting by The Gazette’s Elijah Decious. That’s more than ever before.

Many communities struggle with homelessness. As Cedar Rapids has led on disaster recovery, we encourage energy be put behind this to become a model to look to in homeless solutions, too.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com