Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist presented the City Council with the latest update regarding the homelessness crisis in the city at Monday’s work session meeting.
Sundquist said he wanted to update the City Council members on recent efforts to alleviate the issue of homelessness in Jamestown, especially since winter is quickly approaching and threatening to further complicate the issue.
“As you know, we started to see the first form of snow that occurred today,” he said. “It is a stark reminder of the need to do something soon.”
As the mayor has warned many times, rapidly dropping temperatures have already created safety hazards for city residents.
“You may have also seen we had a fire at 40 Winsor, which was, based on the initial investigation, set by folks that may have been squatting at that location,” Sundquist said. “We have said all along, that is a huge fear of folks going into abandoned buildings and abandoned homes. Many council members have echoed that same response.”
Sundquist told the City Council that his administration has been working to coordinate efforts with resource providers, churches and medical providers. He explained the three groups have met together to discuss a variety of approaches to the homelessness crisis.
“We had some interesting discussions ranging from long-term solutions to help with homelessness and the need to provide emergency sheltering right away,” he said. “I am happy to say that COI is helping to take the lead working with this, along with the county and others.”
The mayor also had encouraging information to share with the council regarding the city’s work on homelessness.
“We have, as of this morning, potentially identified one to two sites that would be emergency sheltering available, which would be for the wintertime,” he said.
Sundquist explained the potential sites would provide emergency sheltering from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. In addition to shelter, the emergency locations would also provide security, food and other resources, which would be provided by other churches and other groups in the community. Sundquist said social workers and resource providers would be able to come to the potential locations and provide essential services for those in need. He also said the city is holding discussions regarding a medical organization potentially providing weekly services at the locations.
“We are still in further discussion about this, but it’s something we want to try to get done within the next week,” he said.
Additionally, Sundquist said the city has secured $194,000 from the department of Housing and Urban Development to fund the city’s efforts to combat homelessness. He explained the next step is for the city to create an action plan to show how the city will use that money; however, he added that HUD is encouraging Jamestown to use the resources for a “rapid response” to the issue of homelessness.
Over the next couple of weeks, Sundquist plans on meeting with the city’s resource providers to continue outlining plans to help the city’s homeless population. Nevertheless, the city’s top priority will be finalizing the details for emergency sheltering within the week.
Although Sundquist shared optimistic updates regarding the homelessness coalition, he also shared details concerning the expected severity of the homelessness crisis this winter.
Sundquist said Chautauqua County typically has to shelter about seven individuals for an average night during a “code blue” situation when the weather is under 32 degrees.
“That number is expected to double or triple this year just in Jamestown alone,” he said.
As a result, the mayor said the city is working hard to develop a rapid response emergency sheltering plan that will be able to adequately meet the needs of the increasing homeless population.
“There’s certainly a need,” Sundquist said. “I can tell you that most of the shelters are full. I just appreciate all the work and the ideas that you all provided to help us move this initiative forward to provide a rapid response to homelessness here in the city.”
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