She was joined by Councilman Michael Boylan, Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey, Sulzbacher Center CEO Cindy Funkhouser, and Changing Homelessness CEO Dawn Gilman. Administration staff Tracye Polson and Joshua Hicks also joined as co-leads of the 21-person working group that developed the plan.

The plan focuses on data-driven decision-making, transparency, and accountability. It increases the city’s bed capacity in existing shelters, a homeless village, and hotel rooms, while putting more funding into outreach and intake teams that connect people with housing and wraparound service options. It builds on JSO’s existing Homeward Bound program that ensures the city is focusing on the individuals who live here. All these pieces work together to create a 24/7 network of places to go where no one is turned away. The 12 recommendations announced today are intended to specifically address HB 1365 and are part of a larger 5-year strategic plan on homelessness that is being finalized and will be announced in the weeks ahead.

“In every community conversation I’ve been to over the past year, one of the things I heard most often was the need to address homelessness,” said Mayor Donna Deegan. “With that feedback in mind, our 12-point plan makes progress on this significant issue and complies with HB 1365. Our goal is to build safer neighborhoods and make homelessness a rare, brief, one-time occurrence in a person's life.”

The mayor’s proposed 2024-2025 budget allocates $10 million towards this effort with an anticipated total cost of nearly $14 million. The city is calling on the private sector to close that gap. This critical funding is needed to address the unfunded state mandate and make substantial progress on reducing homelessness. Without this plan, the city will be at risk of lawsuits starting January 1, 2024.

Click here to read the full plan.

Click here for the mayor’s remarks.