This is a call to support a plan recently announced by the Interagency Council on Homelessness in Cranston. It calls for a 130 million dollar plan to provide a long-term solution to effectively end homelessness in Rhode Island. What makes this plan different than most, is that instead of concentrating on temporary shelters the funds will instead go directly towards building housing. A radically different approach then the stopgap measures of a dirty cot for a night, but one that has had amazing amounts of success in other parts of the country.
This plan however still awaits state funding. Something which many people argue will be unfeasible given Rhode Island’s currently tattered budget. What people forget is that budget is already supporting an already overburdened system of shelters. Yet this money is invested in the temporary, while the needs of the homeless are not.
It is up to every single Rhode Islander to help the state recognize how monumental this decision could be, and to tell their legislators to support this plan when it reaches the state house. If you are interested in more information about this initiative, you can read more here.
Check here to get the contact information for your local legislator, and call them to urge them support this plan and make Rhode Island the first state to actually take the initiative homelessness.