Policy Order re Services for the Unhoused

WHEREAS:

In September 2015, a collection of City Departments and Community Based Organizations (under the auspices of the Cambridge Continuum of Care) launched an initiative to take stock of what services the City of Cambridge engaged in with regard to addressing the City’s chronically unhoused population, what services exist in terms of helping transition these individuals into stable, permanent housing, and what hurdles stand in the way of reducing the City’s unhoused population to zero; and

WHEREAS:

In November 2015, the Human Services & Veterans Committee held a hearing to review the recommendations that stemmed from that three day charrette, and in August 2016, the Cambridge Continuum of Care released a comprehensive report to provide further recommendations to the City, which can be read in full at this link; and

WHEREAS:

That report noted that the root causes of the chronically unhoused were varied and complex, that there was no one singular solution to resolving the matter, that this was not the first serious effort the City had undertaken to address the chronically unhoused, and it surely would not be the last such effort; and

WHEREAS:

As it has now been over a half a decade since that three-day charrette was convened, and as the challenges in adequately addressing the issues around the chronically unhoused in our community remain ever present, it would be wise to have a broad accounting of just what services the City has created and invested in to assist this community’s chronically unhoused population; now therefore be it

ORDERED:

That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council to provide an overview of the City’s various programs and services that are designed to assist the City’s chronically unhoused population and those in danger of becoming unhoused, and to report back on the metrics by which the City determines the effectiveness of these programs.