Mayor forms task force to tackle homelessness

LACONIA — Calling homelessness a growing concern, Mayor Andrew Hosmer announced he is forming a task force to explore ways the city can combat the problem and assist those who have no stable place to live.

“We want to understand the size of the situation and provide the appropriate level of services,” Hosmer said at Monday’s City Council meeting, where he announced the initiative.

The mayor acknowledged the reasons that people are homeless are complex.

“I don’t think there is a simple solution,” Hosmer conceded.

The task force, he said, would be a “cooperative effort,” with members including nonprofit organizations, businesses, and taxpayers. He stressed he does not want the panel to duplicate the work that is already going on to help the homeless.

Police Chief Matt Canfield said Tuesday that he estimates that about “four dozen” people in the city are living on the street. But he acknowledged that it is difficult to get a precise number, in part because there are different degrees of homelessness, and there are so many transients who come through the area. In addition, there are the so-called couch surfers – people who stay temporarily in a series of other people's homes, typically making use of improvised sleeping arrangements.

The overall homeless population in Belknap County declined 16.67 percent — from 60 cases to 50 — between 2017 and 2019, according to a survey put out by the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness. But the number of people considered chronically homeless went from four to 21, an increase of 425 percent, the survey showed.

Hosmer said that in recent visits to a couple of homeless encampments in the city, he learned that those living in these places are “younger people and younger people with children.“

The mayor said he wants the city to explore how other communities around the state are dealing with the homeless problem. He specifically mentioned Manchester, where the city has taken steps to break up some encampments while working to provide services for those who have been living in them.

The co-commanders of the local Salvation Army Corps are among those closely involved in dealing with the area’s homeless. The Salvation Army operates one of two homeless shelters in the city.

“I do see quite a bit of homelessness and drug abuse in the community,” said Lt. Brian Perks. “But I do see quite an effort being made to address these as well.”

As a culture, “we tend to see people who are homeless as lazy. That’s not the case,” Major Mike Davis, Perks’ colleague, said in an interview earlier this month. “There’s a reason why people become homeless. We need to learn people’s stories and know their hearts. Then we can gain a good perspective on how we can better their lives.”

As of January 2019, New Hampshire had an estimated 1,396 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of that Total, 206 were family households, 113 were veterans, 84 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 218 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.