The increasing presence of homeless individuals in Georgetown is an issue town leaders have faced for years. Last year, officials created the 10-person Supportive Housing Issues Committee to help find solutions.
During this week’s Georgetown Town Council meeting, Linda Dennis, who chairs the committee, said their final recommendations won’t be an end all, be all solution due to the “moving target” nature of the issue.
“Everytime we turn around there’s a new report, there’s a new committee, there’s new issues that are raised. But, when you finally look at it- it’s a problem that’s going to be with us for a long time, regardless of what we recommend. Bottom line is: there aren’t enough resources to do what needs to be done.” she said.
Dennis notes that’s especially true for those who are “exceptionally difficult to reach” as she describes it- referring to people who aren’t receptive to services.
She adds many agencies that address homelessness are siloed and not communicating effectively with each other to expand or amplify their services.
Dennis says one of their recommendations will likely focus on de-siloing those places.
“You know, there’s a lot of overlap. There’s communication on the client level, but not on the systems level. So, that still does exist- where you have the silos. But, that also happens at the state level, so it’s a big issue and it needs to be addressed.” she said.
Dennis adds resources are too scarce for organizations to be fully effective working in isolation. She adds the committee also observed some territorial tendencies in service providers, which she would like to end.
Dennis plans to deliver a final recommendation package mid-summer.
