It was one year ago, last week, that Councilors Catt Workman, Bryan Lake and I and about 60 other people showed up at City Council committee meeting to call for a better plan to address housing and homelessness in Keene. As a result of this advocacy, the Mayor was pushed to convene an ad-hoc committee to make recommendations on a path forward.
The recommendations have been made and the work to implement them is ongoing. I've discussed this all a bit in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
Now here in Part 3 since its been a year, its worth taking stock of whats been accomplished. I've made a list:
- There is a new ordinance in the works that would reduce constraints on on Accessory Dwelling Units. This will expand the housing supply at the low end of the market.
- We're getting a slight improvement to the city's camping ordinance. We're not getting the campground that many wanted, but the city now will now have a little more flexibility to help people who are discovered camping on city property. Rather than summarily kicking people out, the parks director will be able to authorize campers to stay an extra night or two while they work with social services to arrange for better place to stay.
- Soon, people being released from protective custody in county jail will be able to get a ride to where they need to go, rather than being dropped off with no resources in the middle of Keene.
- State legislation has been proposed that would allow cities like Keene to recover more costs for sheltering the residents of other towns. It is hoped that this will provide financial incentive for those towns to find housing solutions for people locally, rather than sending people out of their communities and away from their existing support networks.
- A pilot program that located a porta-potty downtown lasted for about 12 weeks before the potty was vandalized by late-night drunks. However, there is still a desire on the Council to establish a more permanent (and vandal-proof) solution for public bathrooms - maybe as part of the ongoing downtown redesign.
- New signage directing people to the downtown bathrooms we do have (located on the second floor of City Hall, open 8 to 5) has been posted at Railroad Square.
- A safe parking program may be on its way, spearheaded by Southwest Community Services with the help of local churches. I haven't heard about this for a little while and I hope its still in the works. This would be a major win if it happens.
Taken as a whole, I think this list encompasses some good things that will help people, and I am proud of the work I've put in, with so many others, to help make them happen. But even these efforts are so limited and difficult - it lays bare the immense scale of what is yet to be done.
Onward.