Mayor’s Task Force on Addressing Homelessness

The City of Montgomery Task Force on Addressing Homelessness was created by Mayor Steven L. Reed on April 5, 2022 and was part of the Envision Montgomery 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Homelessness affects hundreds of people in mid-Alabama each night and especially in Montgomery. An estimated 886 individuals are considered homeless on any given night with substantial numbers of families with dependent children, victims of domestic violence, veterans, and individuals with severe mental illness.

Homelessness is no longer confined to downtown Montgomery, Alabama. It has spread to every part of the city and county. Unfortunately, the increase is due to large increases in the number of unsheltered homeless people. Those who not only have no place to call home, but are not able to find even temporary shelter.

The demographics of homelessness are also changing. Several homeless individuals struggle with substance abuse disorders and mental illness. However, domestic violence, lack of affordable housing and employment opportunities, and the cost of health care have also pushed individuals into homelessness.

To successfully reduce homelessness, the City of Montgomery must continue to be creative, maintain consistency, continue to unite and motivate stakeholders, and keep moving forward. Each community is unique and may be at very different stages of addressing homelessness. However, to succeed in addressing an issue like homelessness, stakeholders must learn from each other to collaborate and forge partnerships. We look forward to the day when every citizen in Montgomery has a path that leads them to a home.

Objectives

1. Confront homelessness with a collective effort by partnering with key stakeholders to address the issue efficiently and effectively.

2. Establish a task force on addressing homelessness to cultivate a shared vision and citywide agenda in the fight to meet the needs of impacted residents.

3. The task force should be made up of key organization members and advisors.

4. Identify intervention gaps in aiding the needs of persons such as single adults, families with children, youth and young adults, veterans, victims of domestic violence, members of the LGBTQIA community, formerly incarcerated individuals, and those suffering from chronic homelessness.

5. Evaluate existing policies, or lack thereof, concerning issues around housing, shelter, health services, and panhandling.

6. Find and examine existing data detailing the state of Homelessness in Montgomery, Alabama.

7. Create a strategic plan that will integrate and promote best practices across housing and service inventions.

8. Identify new partners to help seize critical opportunities in addressing homelessness in the city.

9. Make specific administrative, policy, and funding recommendations that can alleviate and lift the housing, health, and holistic burdens of being houseless and homeless.

10. Develop a community driven marketing campaign or strategy that aids efforts to destigmatize those suffering from homelessness.

Issues Identified

The Task Force approved the following “problem statement” and definition of “what success looks like”.

A. Problem Statement:

Most of the City of Montgomery is a caring community that wants to address homelessness. City residents, business owners, nonprofit service organizations, the faith community, and those in City Hall have all observed an increase in street level issues and homelessness in the past three years. The impacts are most notable on the Eastern Bypass, Atlanta Highway, and downtown, but are occurring in other areas of the city as well. Residents observe more loitering, panhandling, and people sleeping outdoors in commercial areas and parks. The City has also experienced an increase in property crimes in the last three years, which may or may not be directly attributable to the increased homeless population.

B. Primary causes of homelessness:

Addiction
Domestic violence
Mental illness
Job loss & unemployment
Foreclosure
Post-Traumatic stress disorder
Throwaway teens

C. The Task Force understands that the following issues and conditions are of concern to the community:

Visible street homelessness
Mental illness and addiction issues suffered by some of the homeless
Panhandling
Problem behaviors including loitering, trespassing in private buildings to use restrooms, get clean and sleep; drug deals taking place on streets, alleys, parks and trail areas
Property damage including breaking of locks on buildings to gain access to private buildings
The hardships of homeless families and individuals

D. Concerns arising from these issues and conditions include:

City of Montgomery becoming less safe for residents and visitors
Businesses experiencing more aggressive behavior from individuals experiencing homelessness
City of Montgomery becoming a less attractive place for business and visitors
Residents afraid to use the library due to groups of young, apparently homeless, adults loitering in the vicinity
Landlords losing tenants, employers losing employees, and increased labor costs in response to frightening interactions with the homeless
Residents afraid to use public trails and parks due to groups of apparently homeless individuals living or loitering in these areas
Landlords and property owners suffering property damage, having to expend funds to repair damage and prevent future damage
Concern for the human suffering experienced by families and individuals living on the streets, parks and open spaces of our city

E. Constraints and obstacles to addressing these concerns and issues include:

Lack of places for homeless individuals to be

Lack of sufficient shelter to house individuals experiencing homelessness
Lack of affordable housing
Lack of day centers where individuals experiencing homelessness can be during the day
Lack of hygiene centers where individuals experiencing homelessness can get clean, take care of basic bodily needs

F. Difficult for individuals experiencing homelessness to help themselves:

An increasingly mobile society, with less family support available to people who fall on hard times
Lack of transit passes to help homeless people get to their jobs and needed services
Lack of job opportunities, particularly lack of jobs that will pay enough to afford housing
Difficulty in saving enough money to afford first, last month’s rent and security deposit in order to move out of shelters
Lack of knowledge on the part of both individuals experiencing homelessness and the general public about resources available to assist individuals experiencing homelessness
Lack of services, including mental health care, job training, addiction services
Lack of outreach services to connect homeless to services they need
Lack of places for the homeless to securely store their belongings
Difficulty in finding and permitting sites for homeless encampments
Lack of an effective coordinated regional process to identify sites where homeless facilities can locate

G. Hard for supportive agencies to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness:

Lack of public understanding of the complexity of homelessness
Some experiencing homelessness opt out of staying in shelters or using services available to them
Poverty in the region, increasingly generational poverty
Lack of adequate resources to address the challenges
Multiple government agency regulations and grant requirements create a burden on agency operations

H. Programs Focus on Symptoms Instead of Problem:

• On the whole, we spend more money treating the symptoms of homelessness when they’ve reached a crisis level than on providing housing and needed services. For example, the City, along with partner organizations, spends thousands of dollars each year cleaning up after homeless people, confiscating their property, storing their property, and treating street illnesses. These are symptoms of the problem of homelessness. This money does nothing to solve the problem of homelessness.

I. What does success look like?

Success for us in response to the challenge of homelessness in City of Montgomery will take several forms:

Improved sense of public safety.
A reduction in loitering, trespassing and other similar incidents in the city.
Greater understanding by residents and businesses of the complexity of homelessness, and greater engagement by residents and businesses to constructively respond to this challenge.
Better outcomes for homeless individuals: they are able to connect to the services and housing they need.
Enhanced capacity for our city, local service providers and faith community to help homeless individuals in a variety of ways.
City of Montgomery promoting unified actions to address the challenge of homelessness.

Elimination of homeless individuals from our city is not the goal. The City of Montgomery can and should continue to be a safe and compassionate community.

Members & Advisors

The Task Force consists of fifteen (15) members and sixteen (16) advisors, representing a diversity of resident, business, service providers, and faith community interests in the City of Montgomery.

Members

Mayor Steven L. Reed- City of Montgomery
Tara Davis- Executive Director, Friendship Mission
Lydia C. Pickett- Executive Director, Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless (MACH)
Tasha Cooper- Executive Director, Hands on River Region
Pastor Ken Austin- Executive Director, Mercy House
Donna Leslie- Executive Director, CARASTAR
Jayme Teague- Executive Director, Family Promise
LaDonna Brendle- Founder and President, Reality & Truth Ministries
Christina Thornton- Director, Emergency Management Agency
Jannah Bailey- CEO and President, River Region United Way
Meta Ellis- Director, Montgomery Pride United
Major Ann Johnson- Salvation Army
Major Harvey Johnson- Salvation Army
Erika Tyler- MPS, Education Specialist, Homelessness Programs
Jakia Sherrell- Thompson Veterans Administration

Advisors

Eddie Compton, III- City of Montgomery Senior Policy Advisor
Desmond Wilson- Director, Office of Community Development
Micah West- Southern Poverty Law Center
Ellen Degnan- Southern Poverty Law Center
Rev. Richard Williams- Metropolitan United Methodist Church/The Beacon Center
Shavon Mose- Montgomery County Department of Human Resources
CPT Brian Champlin- Executive Officer to the Police Chief, Montgomery Police Department
Mrs. Burton Crenshaw- Central Alabama Community Foundation
Dr. Catherine Williamson- Montgomery Public Schools Associate Superintendent Student Services
Glynis Tanner- Montgomery Housing Authority
Dr. Darrell L. Cates- Aletheia House, Jobs for Veterans Program (Montgomery)
Adena Kramer- City Development Technician, Economic and Community Development
Gene C. Crane- EVP & River Region President & Business Banking Manager
Rabbi Scott Kramer- Agudath Israel Etz Ahayem
Rabbi Scott Looper
David Graham- Veterans Wellness Center of Alabama
Dorothy Peten- Maranatha SDA Church (Montgomery)
Crystal Russell
Calvin Smith
Sissy Louise Moore
Alvin Rowell
Frederick Williams

211 Help the Homeless Campaign

The Mayor’s Task Force on Addressing Homelessness is partnering with 211 Connects Alabama to provide information to help the homeless and panhandlers in Montgomery, Alabama.

If you or someone you know is homeless, please dial 211, give them specific details about the person or persons and they will provide you with a number to call. An outreach person will be sent to assess the situation and provide the necessary help needed.

ABOUT 211

The 211 Information and Referral hotline is a free service which provides a 3-digit phone number serving as a first point of contact to “Get Help or to Give Help” within the community during everyday times as well as during disaster.

Information and Referral was introduced into the River Region in 1999 through HandsOn River Region. Over 20,000 callers reach out to HandsOn River Region’s 211 Connects Alabama hotline each year.

The 211 Connects South Central Alabama program, run by HandsOn River Region, serves 14 counties in Alabama. 211 Connects South Central Alabama is one of nine regional contact centers that make up the Alabama 2-1-1 Statewide Network.

An average of 2,000 callers are connected to critical community health and human services monthly in an effort to strengthen and empower those in need toward self-sufficiency and/or receive information regarding volunteer opportunities within the River Region.

HOUSING, HMIS, AND 211 AT HANDSON RIVER REGION

HandsOn River Region’s 211 database includes housing, health, and service agencies. HandsOn River Region partners with MACH, CaraStar, the Wellness Coalition, AIDS Alabama, Alabama Council on Compulsive Gambling, Alabama Department of Human Resources, the Alabama Department of Public Health, Health Services Incorporated, and the Alabama State Department of Education (among others) to provide those who call into 211 with supportive services and referrals to local housing, health and service agencies.

The 211 database for the Continuum of Care (CoC), the Mid Alabama Coalition for the Homeless’ (MACH) regional area contains hundreds of programs and services which can support individuals facing or at-risk of facing homelessness.

The streamlined system of access, assessment, data entry, and referral facilitated by HandsOn River Region, starting with 211 and ending with Coordinated Entry ensures those in need of housing services are accurately, assessed and referred to community resources. The Coordinated Entry Navigator, who performs assessments, is trained in the 211 resource database, iCarol, to ensure those who do not want housing services available in HMIS or who decline CoC housing services are provided community resources for their housing needs along with additional supportive services, depending on the need of the individual or household.