Durham's City Council confronted mounting crises across homelessness, school capacity, and infrastructure during its September 5 meeting, while also celebrating the music industry and advancing equity goals.
The most urgent issue facing the city is homelessness. Staff revealed that 35 families and 55 single adults are currently unsheltered and waiting for emergency shelter beds, but the city has only 93 total emergency shelter beds across the entire system. Over the past year, 3,491 people called the coordinated entry system seeking housing assistance. The point-in-time count shows 405 people experiencing homelessness, up from 354 in 2016. What's worse, permanent supportive housing success rates have declined from 43% in 2018 to 34% today because of rising housing costs and stricter landlord requirements. Council members expressed alarm at the scale of the crisis, with Carl Rist noting the city hasn't updated its permanent supportive housing needs analysis since 2019, when there was already a deficit. The $5 million annual homeless services budget forces impossible choices between temporary shelter and permanent housing.
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